Coughlin is dragging down Giants
Posted: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 7:25 AM
The NFC East used to be the toughest division in the NFL. Not anymore. The Eagles are totally dependent on the state of Donovan McNabb’s health. The Redskins continue to try to find themselves under the second coming – and, soon, the second departure – of Joe Gibbs. The Cowboys are on the rise and are probably the class of the division, but they have an unproven quarterback and a new coach who may or may not be an upgrade on gnarly old Bill Parcells.
And then there are the Giants, who may be in the worst shape of them all. You don’t want to draw a lot of conclusions about a team from exhibition games, particularly the first one of the year. But off what the Giants showed in losing to the Panthers, you’ve got to wonder what G.M. Jerry Reese and the team’s owners were thinking during the past offseason.
I’m talking about their decision to keep the inflexible and unpopular – and un-winning – Tom Coughlin as their coach. He had another year on his contract, and the team decided not to give him an extension after his team finished 2-6 in its final eight games last year and 8-8 on the season. But instead of firing a man the team quit on, the Giants decided to let him finish out his contract.
The first result of that decision was losing Tiki Barber, who had a lot of football left in him, but couldn’t see spending another year working for Coughlin and quit. It’s unlikely that Michael Strahan’s decision to hold out is because of Coughlin, but it’s also not out of the realm of possibility that a different coach with a different outlook could have changed Strahan’s mind about staying at home when training camp started.
Strahan’s absence was evident when the starting defense was on the field against Carolina. The Panthers blithely shoved the ball down the Giants’ toothless throats. The defense will get better, but so will the opposition offenses.
The division is weak this year. And if ever there were a time for the Giants to do something bold, this was it. They’ve been watching Eric Mangini, a young man brimming with enthusiasm and positive vibes, turning the Jets into a contender. They’ve seen a lot of teams go with young coaches and have success doing it: Lovey Smith’s first head coaching job was with the Bears, and all he did was take them to the Super Bowl.
It was clear from last year that the division would be in rebuilding mode this year. That made it a perfect time to bring in a fresh face to coach the team on the theory that enthusiasm and a positive attitude alone could wring another win or two out of a team that had lost its desire to play for the crabby tyrant they’ve been stuck with for too long.
But the Giants stuck with Coughlin, who’s best known to the public as that red-faced old sourpuss who spends his Sunday afternoons screaming at the refs instead of tending to his team.
He’s the tough guy who brought his own inane concept of discipline to the team – both feet on the floor during meetings and a scheduling concept that punishes players for arriving on-time to meetings.
His own players have ripped him and his coaching after losses. This year, Coughlin made some changes in his staff, but it’s still the same guy on top – the guy his players hate.
There’s no rule that says the players have to like the coach. But they do have to play for him. Whine all you like about how modern players don’t have any self-discipline and should be professional enough to perform no matter who’s the coach, but you’ll be wrong. Players are like all of us. They perform better when they like their boss.
There’s been no indication they like Coughlin at all. And that’s a problem they don’t need, because they’ve got enough other things to keep them up at night: Eli Manning’s failure to progress as a quarterback, the loss of Barber, Strahan’s holdout, a revamped offensive line.
This is a season in which the NFC East could be stolen. But the odds are overwhelming that the Giants won’t be the team to steal it. They’ll be too busy grousing about the coach to even notice they have a shot.
