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No Sam Madison, no Osi, no Justin Tuck. Gulp!
Guess Tom Coughlin decided Madison wasn't ready, even though Ol' Sam said he was. R.W. McQuarters starts in his place; Frank Walker is out too, meaning Kevin Dockery is the nickel/dime CB. Jason Bell is back.
For the Bucs, ex-Giant Mark Jones is out. The rest aren't that important.
And it's windy.
I was always partial to Bugs Bunny and the Laff-a-lympics, but this is really not about me. Swear.
Two humorous moments from today... The first was in the Giants locker room, which was light and typical of a Friday afternoon.
An intrepid reporter -- OK, it was me -- sauntered over to Jeremy Shockey's locker. He was hurrying around, trying to get out quickly. I really didn't care if he gave me an interview, because when he's hurrying around, he's going to be terrible anyway.
"What'd you write today?" I thought I'd butter him up with an innocent question about his latest column for that other paper.
"I have no idea," he said, without missing a beat. When he realized that sounded a little odd, he added, "I wrote it on Tuesday. Don't remember."
Well, I thought it was funny. So did Antonio Pierce, whose locker is next to Shockey's.
"There's no one here like him," Pierce said. "Guy just plays football, says some funny stuff. Can't beat that."
Actually, you can.
I went on the Bucs website this evening to look up a statistic for my Sunday story on Ronde and Tiki Barber. I'd heard that the folks at Buccaneers.com did some humorous video intros for each week, so I watched the one this week.
I wish I'd seen it sooner, and I implore you all to see it before they change it. It features cartoon versions of Barber, Michael Strahan (whoever does his voice on the bit is excellent), Eli Manning and Shockey in a spoof of "The Ring" -- they watch a tape, it scares the heck out of them... And it turns out to be the tape of the Bucs-Eagles game.
That's not the funny part... The funny part is how they portray Shockey. I won't give it away and some may feel it's insulting, but I laughed my behind off. You will too, Giants fan or not.
OK, the game.
It will be windy, they say -- and it's pouring now, which they also said, so I'm starting to believe the windy part. That means Manning's toss-up throws to Plaxico Burress will not be so on-target. It means the running game will do the work for both sides. It means no mistakes anywhere, because points will be at a premium.
Remember the Vikings: That's my mantra for this week. Last season, the Giants were rolling when Minnesota came to town. The Vikings were hapless, hopeless, an embarrassment to the league after the "Love Boat" thing. And they beat the Giants because the Giants beat themselves.
Ryan L. and BB are right: These Giants do love to play down to their opponents' level. And at 2-4, the Bucs' level appears low. But it's not. They've won two straight, they lost by a field goal in their previous two and they don't turn the ball over much. This is a team on the rise and the Giants can't relax.
I say they will. I know, I know, I thought you guys had to convince me, but I convinced myself, and I do truly believe it: Bucs 17, Giants 14.
Inactives Sunday morning. Stay dry.
And all is well.
I don't call it an IPod because I don't have an IPod. It's a Dell MP3 player and you could fit about 10 IPods into it... When I try to exercise with it, I swear it looks like I've got a turntable around my neck and a backpack full of LPs.
But it's mine, and it's got my stuff on it, and that works for me... And since I thought I'd lost it, here are the five tracks I'm most happy to not have to download onto a new MP3/IPod thing:
Cherchez La Ghost -- Ghostface Killah
Sweet Jane -- Gang of Four
Days of Being Wild -- ... And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead
Return of Django -- The Upsetters
At Your Funeral -- Saves The Day
Moving on...
So Adrian Awasom is up to the big club and LaVar is out. It's the smart move, especially since Awasom knows the schemes from last season. Also smart is Carlos Emmons taking Arrington's starting SLB spot. Emmons needs to stay healthy, but when he is, he's more than capable. Frankly, the way Antonio Pierce and Brandon Short have been playing, the Giants just need someone capable to complement them.
No one's released any info on Osi, but the fact that Tom Coughlin acknowledged on Wednesday that Umenyiora wasn't playing on Sunday is not a good sign. I can't see Osi playing before the Bears game, and maybe not even then.
We'll see what Mathias Kiwanuka has to offer. As a person, he has a ton to offer -- he's quiet and confident and gives the impression of being smart enough to know where to be without just trying to rely upon his natural ability.
Lastly, I'd like to say that Blauber has taken to calling me "Grunge Boy" because of my music preferences... Which says a lot, mostly that Blauber doesn't know anything about music. But I already knew that, given the encounter I had with him on a flight to the west coast last season.
He was listening to his CD player -- which cements his old-guy status -- and I asked what it was. "Dan Fogelberg," he replied. Nuff said.
So from now on, Blauber is out. We'll call him FGOS -- Fifty Going On Seventy. Come up with something better than Grunge Boy, FGOS!
I do like some music made this century and this Fall Out Boy song -- while I was in Dallas, a friend was kind enough to remind me who sings this one -- runs on a loop through my head every few days or so.
And Big Rich is right! It's Leaders of the New School, not the Jungle Brothers, who rhyme on Scenario. Thanks for the heads up.
Now, this Fall Out Boy track could describe one of two things: 1) My ability to pick NFL games, or 2) The Cowboys.
The Giants were pretty impressive last night, despite Eli Manning's so-so game -- he made a few good throws but way more bad decisions than he has in a long while -- the season-ending injury to LaVar Arrington and the other nicks and bruises that forced a revolving door of players on defense.
The Cowboys... Not so much. Bill Parcells may have greased his own skids by taking Drew Bledsoe out; Tony Romo can run around a little, but he's going to need a lot of work to round into shape. So the Cowboys and Redskins seem to be sinking, leaving the Giants fighting it out with the Eagles in the East.
As for Arrington, it's no coincidence that the Giants' defense had a terrible few downs after he was carted off the field. If nothing else, LaVar is a happy, funny guy. He genuinely enjoys being around people, he smiles a lot -- he also says "You guys" to reporters a lot, which usually is followed by a derogatory phrase ("You guys counted us out," "You guys love to bash us," etc.) -- and his teammates wanted him to be a force.
His future is seriously in doubt now, staring at maybe a full year of recovery. Tear up that seven-year deal now; Arrington will truly need to play his way back to respectability, and not get paid very much to do so.
As for the horse-collar rule, I was scratching my head too. Roy Williams did it twice to Barber, and he's done it three times to Tiki since the rule was enacted. Tom Coughlin said the officials explained to him that the runner has to be yanked down immediately by the horse-collar and not keep running as Barber usually does.
So, basically, to see a flag thrown on that dangerous play, a guy has to kick his legs up Wile E. Coyote style -- or like that poor marathoner who wiped out crossing the finish line in the Chicago Marathon last weekend -- to make it stick. That's dumb.
And one of you Giants fans out there is going to have to make a very persuasive argument to make me pick against them this Sunday, or next.
In honor of my favorite band from Big D, The Reverend Horton Heat...
The inactives are the usual Giants (Ward, Emmons, Moss, etc.), plus Jason Bell, whose concussion is still lingering. Gibril Wilson returns.
No surprises on the Dallas side, save perhaps S Keith Davis.
Game on!
Definitely in my top 5 hip-hop tracks. Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers and Busta Rhymes.
(Time for a bad segue...)
And the Giants' scenario tonight is suddenly a tad different: Beat the Cowboys and the G-Men are in first place in the NFC East. Can you imagine? A month after the Stinkbomb in Seattle, the Giants are a win away from sitting atop the NFC East headed into three straight home games. My, my.
But I don't think it's going to happen. This isn't just me picking against the Giants cuz that's what I do; I genuinely believe they won't win tonight, for any number of reasons.
Chief among them is the Cowboys' ability to stuff the run. Tiki Barber has mentioned Jeremiah Trotter's name about a hundred times since the Giants' huge comeback in Philly; it seems as if the Eagles LB is the main reason Tiki is hanging up his spikes after the beating he took from Trotter.
DeMarcus Ware, Marcus Spears, Bradie James... These guys will be thumping Tiki tonight. The Giants' running game will not get going, which means it's on the defense to keep the game close until Eli Manning can figure out a way to make the offense click.
That strategy hasn't exactly worked so well on the road -- yes, the Giants are 2-1, with comebacks on the Eagles and Falcons, but a Bill Parcells team isn't going to let a double-digit lead slip away. Terrell Owens loves Monday Night -- I think he loves any night that people are paying attention to him -- and the Cowboys have owned the Giants in MNF play.
Shouldn't mean anything, but why do the Giants keep rolling over for the Cowboys on Monday Night?
Prediction: Cowboys 20, Giants 16.
I'll get out inactives as soon as they're available.
Screaming Trees, early 1990s... Best song to come out of the grunge era, and that includes every Nirvana and Pearl Jam song. It's on the "Singles" soundtrack. Get it. This also reminds me of another list I'll have to work in somehow: Best Opening Acts. That would be shows you went to see for one act, only to be more impressed with the opening act.
Mark Lanegan, the Screaming Trees front man, joined Queens of the Stone Age for their opening set at MSG a couple years ago. Red Hot Chili Peppers were the headliners... QOTSA blew the doors off the place, and RHCP had me yawning.
Anywise...
Took a most informal poll of some guys on offense today to see who would get their Pro Bowl vote thus far (you can't vote for your teammates). Tiki was unanimous, naturally, and Shaun O'Hara was next with a couple votes. Chris Snee got one too, as did Luke Petitgout, who is the subject of my story for the paper on Sunday.
Petitgout is in his eighth season and he began each of them as a starter... He's a first-round pick, so some will always view him with a critical eye, but I think he's having a tremendous season thus far.
Look at the DEs he's faced so far: Dwight Freeney, Darren Howard, Grant Wistrom, Phillip Daniels and John Abraham (kind of -- he didn't play a ton). In Philly, Howard was the only DL who didn't crumple Eli Manning (though his backup, Juqua Thomas, did get there); Freeney was invisible on opening night, and the other three barely made a dent. In fact, they were too busy watching Tiki run by their side to worry about Petitgout.
Luke will probably never make a Pro Bowl -- he's got Walter Jones and Chris Samuels at his spot. And Luke will probably be done in a year or two. But take note of the season the man is having, because it's rare to for an O-lineman to get any positive reinforcement during the season. We usually like to ask them about false starts, or getting beat for sacks, or why Tiki is so amazingly awesome.
And I guess I can pick baseball games right... I got a lunch out of the Mets inability to get a clutch hit off of a bunch of no-name pitchers. Jeff Suppan? Remember when he was supposed to be the next Luis Tiant for the Sox? Yeesh.
Tigers in 5.
Maybe the greatest song ever written... And only the Bob Marley acoustic version will do for me.
Now, my man BB, this prediction thing doesn't work if YOU do it. For all I know, you've been picking the Giants all season; I'll do it, all in good time. Which means Monday night.
To test if this works for all NY teams, I took the Cards tonight over the Mets in a couple of informal wagers with friends.
Tiki's locker was jammed today with all the TV folks who didn't get their own version of Barber saying he might be done. I steered clear, with Blauber in the house. I did catch a glimpse of fellow blogger Jay Feely working on his latest online entry, this one about how the league is wrong for looking to crack down on group celebrations like the Giants' defense and its jump-shot sack dance.
I like Jay personally. I don't often agree when we discuss politics, but he knows his stuff. And his blog, over on NBCsports.com, is worth a look. And no, BB, there's no Xs and Os there either.
And we do agree on that subject: If you don't penalize a guy for celebrating on his own, why punish guys who want to celebrate together?
Also had a quick chat with Frank Walker, another of my favorite guys in the locker room. It may not have been visible on Sunday's broadcast, but Walker got popped in the head by Falcons receiver Adam Jennings during a Giants punt; there was no flag. I asked Frank today if he thought there would be a FedEx envelope in Jennings' locker today, the telltale sign of a fine levied by the league.
"I don't know," he said. Jeff Feagles was nearby. "A couple of years ago, Frank would've thrown a punch back," the punter said.
"A punch? I would've beat the (snot) outta that dude."
He's maturing, obviously.
As for some actual, you know, football talk... Everyone loves to talk T.O., but he's the least of the Giants worries. OK, maybe not the least, but if the Giants can't stop Julius Jones or Marion Barber on the ground or put Drew Bledsoe on his back, Owens catching passes will only be icing on the cake for Dallas.
It's a West Coast offense that Parcells runs over there, and that spelled bad news for the Giants for three quarters in Philly. The corners have to be alert and play tight and the pass rush has to be as good as it was in Atlanta. Yes, BB, the Giants could control the clock with their own running game, but the Cowboys will be ready for the run -- I think this one will be on Eli Manning offensively, which should make it interesting.
More tomorrow.
Most underrated Clash song in their repertoire.
Moving on... Glad to see everyone's coming out of the woodwork during the two-day break -- Tiki Barber included. What say you all in Giants Nation about Barber's saying he's done after the year? Bad timing? Not a distraction?
I have actually flip-flopped like John Kerry on this one... Initially, I thought it was a mistake by a guy who should know better. Even if everyone in the locker room knows he's done, it's still going to be a topic of conversation for the rest of this week. And if the Giants lose on Monday night... You get the idea.
But after a chat with Blauber and before my chat with Tiki, I changed my mind. This is a guy who co-hosts a radio show, a TV show and releases children's books during the season. He's a terrific teammate, but not the sort who just hangs in the locker room and the film room; when he's in the stadium during the week, he's getting all manner of treatment to get his body ready for the next game.
I don't really think this can be a distraction. And if someone wants to say Tiki's being distracted, I'll quote the man himself: "Did they watch the game last week?" Touche.
It's certainly a little odd for the league's leading rusher to say he's done after the season, but that's Tiki. He's different.
Sorry, Big BB -- the Xs and Os stuff will have to wait again. But yes, I'll agree with those of you who pointed out that the Falcons' O-line is not as tough as the Cowboys'. But the Giants' front four should still be able to get to Bledsoe, as it did seven times in the two games last season.
I've decided to go with blog entry titles that are some of my favorite song titles... Today's is the first cut off Helmet's "Meantime," and it's the sort of track that gets me going when I'm driving to Giants Stadium on a Monday. At noon. Yes, I love my job.
JD and all the rest of you folks out there can rub my nose in my bad prediction, but what are you gonna do when I pick the Giants to beat the Cowboys and it doesn't work out? Blame me? Yeah, probably. I can take it.
It's going to be hard to pick against the Giants, though, based on the last 26:53 of yesterday's game. After Warrick Dunn ran through the pylons -- er, Giants -- to the end zone for 90 yards, the Giants put the clamps down. Dunn did nothing else, and Michael Vick really made me scratch my head. The guy has all the talent in the world, he can heave the ball a long way, but smart decisions are not his strong suit.
Faced with an excellent defensive scheme -- I see the message boards that rip Tim Lewis, but you have to admit the Giants defense has been well prepared the last two weeks for two very different offenses -- Vick crumbled. He was also rag-dolled around pretty good; Antonio Pierce's late hit in the final minute was just icing on the cake.
If the Giants can sack Vick seven times, think what the same fierce pass rush could do to Drew Bledsoe.
Giants are off the next two days, so I'll be happy to answer questions, listen to more taunts for picking against your beloved G-Men, anything you like.
You don't recover from those missing toenails right away.
This is a big blow. James Butler is in, but he is not 100 percent. The Giants will need big plays from their safeties today, whether wrapping up Michael Vick or Warrick Dunn or keeping Vick from throwing a long pass after scrambling his way out of trouble.
The other inactives contain no surprises:
RB Derrick Ward
LB Carlos Emmons
OL Na'Shan Goddard
DT Jonas Seawright
OT GuY Whimper
WR Sinorice Moss
This is why I saved my prediction for now... I picked the Falcons in the paper on Friday, and I'm sticking with it. The Giants cannot afford any kind of a slow start, because coming back on Atlanta is too difficult. This will be like a miniature version of Seattle, with another late comeback falling short.
Falcons 28, Giants 20
Well, Big BB, I'm not sure everyone else out there in blogville wants the technical terms that only a few folks understand... You watched the Redskins game, I'm sure. Did you see the Giants doing anything drastically different than they tried to do the first three games? Sometimes, it is just a matter of doing things the right way.
They rushed four guys most plays. They weren't stunting Strahan or Osi much. They didn't blitz eight guys. The coaches gave their players, especially on defense, the same scheme and said, "Do it this time." Hey, it worked!
For this Sunday, they won't have a spy for Michael Vick, but I'm guessing that Gibril Wilson could play a big role in keeping the Falcons from breaking big runs. Wilson hasn't had the best season in coverage, but he was a monster against the run in Philly to key the comeback.
I'd much rather tell y'all about Jay Feely's stories of Falcons consultant Alex Gibbs, who was the assistant head coach/Offensive line for 2004 and the Broncos' O-line coach the nine seasons prior. Gibbs loves to teach his linemen to cut block, considered the dirtiest legal play in football. He also apparently has a big problem with kickers.
Feely said that he was running routes for Vick in practice one day with the Falcons, finished and went to get some water. He heard a voice boom out: "What's that kicker doing drinking our water???" Feely was not pleased, and he had a few other tales of Gibbs that I could go into another time.
Suffice to say that if Gibbs is on the Falcons sideline Sunday, Feely might be tempted to go all David Akers on him on a kickoff coverage.
We've also heard that the Falcons aren't staying at their usual hotel in Atlanta due to a conference that has all the downtown hotels booked solid... You never know what that strange bed can do to a player.
I'll save my good judgment for the end of the week.
To answer a couple of questions from y'all... Sinorice Moss isn't doing much of anything, really. I imagine if there were a pressing need for a fourth (or fifth) WR, Moss would be placed on injured reserve and asked to come back in April for the rookie and first-year player mini-camp, when his strained quad would presumably be healthy.
Tom Coughlin hates nothing more than nagging, not-so-easily explained injuries... Maybe a writer questioning his coaching philosophy is worse for him, but this Moss injury is not his favorite subject. Coughlin also gives out key assignments to rookies very, very rarely, and he had high hopes for Moss that have been dashed.
So Moss is out and I bet he doesn't play again this season. So the go screens will be thrown to Plaxico Burress, Brandon Jacobs (did anyone see that? I love that call!) and maybe our man Mike Jennings, who I hope against all hope takes one to the house in Jacksonville on Monday night so his Momma can be there to see it.
As for the other question, Strahan allegedly came up with the fadeaway jumper sack celebration, "something from my high-school days." All well and good, Michael, but watching Fred Robbins do the fadeaway move only reminded me of George trying to jump in Jimmy's special sneakers on Seinfeld. Maybe if my fellow blogger and short-ish pal Mike G. from the Star-Ledger (5-7 in flip flops, I think) were guarding Robbins, big No. 98 could hit a fadeaway. Otherwise, not so much.
Back to work tomorrow. We'll see what the Giants have planned for Warrick Dunn and Michael Vick.
Me? I'm going to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in ATL on Saturday. Beyond that, I have no predictions yet.
I take a glance at the picks me and my colleagues do in the paper every Friday and see that I'm winning the race, picking the games reasonably well. So I'm getting something right -- just not the team I cover. Strange, but true.
I really should have known better yesterday. The Redskins have been in my dog house all season, especially when people were touting them as some legitimate NFC power in training camp and they promptly lost their four preseason games and looked even worse in their first two regular-season games. They'll be 7-9 or 8-8, and I knew it from the minute they ran out on the field on Sunday.
Anyway, you Giants fans out there should want me to keep picking against the boys, since I took them the first three weeks. Look where that got you.
The Giants were good, not great. It looked amazing, considering how they had been playing, but it was really just a solid step back to respectability. Strahan and Osi got sacks, Tiki ran the ball, Eli made good throws, Burress and Toomer made good catches... Jay Feely kicked some field goals. Solid all the way around.
If the Giants can do it again in Atlanta on Sunday, then there's cause for celebration and thoughts of doing some damage in the NFC. But that's a ways off.
For the Giants:
RB Derrick Ward
S James Butler
LB Carlos Emmons
OL Na'Shan Goddard
DT Jonas Seawright
T Guy Whimper
WR Sinorice Moss
For the Redskins:
CB Shawn Springs
OL Jim Molinaro
DL Ryan Boschetti
OL Todd Wade
WR David Patten
DT Anthony Montgomery
Brandon Short starts in place of Emmons, and Kenny Wright starts at CB in place of Springs for the 'Skins.
Enjoy.
We've FINALLY got a football game today. My condolences to the Yanks fans out there, but if I were one of you, I'd be completely outraged at how little heart these guys have shown since the Sawx beat them in '04. Even if you weren't a Yankees fan in the late 1990s, you still had to admire the way they played. They played hard.
This team hasn't played hard in a long while. And that's the sort of thing that would make you not want to be a fan.
Moving on...
The Giants need a 'W' today. The players can all say it's only the fourth game, there's plenty of time -- I love Tom Coughlin's "We have 13 one-game seasons left" line; if that's true, can he be fired after next "season"? -- but the Giants have to win.
Here's why: If they lose, they're 1-3 with games in Atlanta and Dallas. If they lose today, they will probably lose because their defense is still not right, and the Redskins will be able to run when they want and pass at will. The Falcons would then have plenty of confidence to run the ball down the Giants' throats, and the Cowboys would be able to throw the ball all over the field and not have to worry about Drew (The Statue) Bledsoe getting hit.
So 1-3 becomes 1-4, then 1-5. Then the 10 "seasons" left would be meaningless, and feel just as long to complete.
That said, I still have no feel for this team. If Tiki Barber and Brandon Jacobs control the first-down chains and the clock from the outset, the Giants could dominate; a few three-and-outs early -- or worse, a few turnovers -- and this could look as bad as Philly did at the break.
I say Clinton Portis runs for big numbers, the Giants don't put Mark Brunell on his behind enough and the offense can't rescue the Giants again.
Prediction: Redskins 30, Giants 21
So says Gerris Wilkinson, so there's not much spin on that. This is pretty standard for Tom Coughlin -- give the young guy a chance to work in some reps with the first team, but hedge your bets and start the veteran. So Brandon Short takes Carlos Emmons' weak-side LB spot on Sunday, with Wilkinson ready to sub in.
Other than that, it's now been 12 days since the last game... I'm out of ideas. I'll do my game preview tomorrow.
Obviously, I shouldn't make any assumptions anymore... Wide receivers coach/all-around great guy/most upbeat member of Tom Coughlin's staff Mike Sullivan starts off his workouts with "Jingo" by Carlos Santana... It's only music on his IPod, no war-movie dialogue... The "Rocky" theme may, in fact, be on there (kudos to Plaxico Burress for calling that one)... And Sullivan's even got some Ludacris.
We're not allowed to speak with the assistants anymore this season, so to save Sully some grief, we got his IPod playlist from a source inside the locker room.
Back to the actual news of the day, which revolved around No. 55. First, the salvos from D.C. -- Redskins LBs coach Dale Lindsey was asked on Wednesday what impact Arrington's knowledge of the Skins' schemes would have on Sunday's game. "None," he said. "He didn't know anything when he was here. What makes you think he'll know something up there?"
Redskins CB Shawn Springs added his voice too: "I don't think LaVar knew all of the defense when he was here," Springs said.
Arrington fired back today in a more subdued way, but still a response. Here's a transcript of some of his comments:
Q: Are you surprised? Your linebackers coach basically said you didn’t know what you were doing.
A: Like I said, I’m not even going to justify it. I’m not even going to shed any light on it. It is what it is, and I think that it’s one of those things where when people show themselves enough then people see what it is for what it is. I don’t even have to try and defend myself (against) comments or remarks like that. I’m here, I’m happy. Like I said, it’s important that this team gets back to winning. That’s our main focus. That shows itself. That speaks for itself. That speaks all by itself. I don’t even have to start a war of words. It’s not even worth it.
RE: Dale Lindsay’s comments that he did not understand the Redskins’ offense
A: I don’t think it is. I don’t think there is any type of T.O. spin to this whatsoever. Not at all. Nor will it become anything of that, unless somebody tries to paint it that way. People tried to paint it that way when I was there last year. I’m a team guy. I try my best to be a team guy and I don’t cause confusion like that. I’ve said things in the past, but that was because things were said and they were repeatedly said over and over again, so at some point you have to say something that represents who you are. That’s the only reason why some things were stated while I was there, but by no means have I done anything to try to create controversy or confusion. I think it was more so attacks toward me, just like now. And I’m in New York. So, like I said, that speaks volumes all by itself. I can only imagine what they look like when the say that – But it doesn’t matter. I had some great years there. I have great memories there, but now it’s time to make great memories here in New York. That’s my main focus. I’m not trying to have any word wars with anything.
Q: It’s one thing to come from the coaching staff, but when Shawn Springs says something, does that surprise you?
A: Like I said, it’s not worth justifying. One way or the other, there has to be a reason why someone like Shawn Springs would make that comment. People are going to believe what they want to believe. Some people may believe that, all right, well, maybe it’s true because it came from a player. In most frames of minds, that’s a brilliant game plan: make a statement, have a player validate it, and then it’s believable and then you go from there. But, you know, am I surprised? No. I’m a New York Giant, not a Washington Redskin, so what does it matter? It’s a game. We have a game to play. We have a game to win. This isn’t a personal battle. I’m not going to get caught up in any personal battles. I sat up and I had so many calls last night after the statements were made, and Shawn Springs, all he really did for himself is show himself to the Redskins fans. That’s stupid, to even make a comment like that, to be honest. He showed himself, and he has to deal with that, not me. I’m here and I want to win. I feel like I’m on a very talented team. I’m just ready to get back on track. I’m ready to get out there. My health has been feeling very, very good lately. I’m just excited about the opportunity to get back on track and, ironically enough, it’s with the Redskins coming to town.
Q: Calls from whom?
A: A whole bunch of family members, a whole bunch of people I know from Washington, Virginia, Maryland area. They were telling me, ‘kick their tails’, talking trash and stuff like that. For two seconds I got bothered by it. I had some very interesting thoughts about it and thought about saying it today, but it’s not worth it. It’s really not. I spent four years battling my tail off for that team and I have no regrets about it. I have no regrets about the way the fans feel about me and the way I feel about them. To sit there and throw that all away over some remarks – it’s not even worth it.
Q: Did you say four years?
A: Yeah, four years.
Q: What happened to the last two?
A: I said four years.
Q: Have you heard from any Redskins teammates?
A: I don’t talk to them. I have some close friends and one of them I keep in contact with. We text (message) more than anything else, but I really don’t talk to the guys. It’s the season. I don’t have mixed feelings about, oh, should I have stayed there or should I be there or anything like that. I’m all in, so I don’t even keep in contact with those guys.
Q: Were you close with Shawn Springs?
A: Obviously we must not be that close. You get some guys, they feel like they know a whole lot of things and maybe he was one of those guys who feels like he knows a whole lot. I don’t know. It’s interesting to me. I don’t even know that he’s even playing, so why would you make a snide remark and you’re not even having anything to do with the outcome of the game? Like I said, it just shows itself. You throw a statement out there, you have a coach throw a statement out there. You get a company guy to sit there and co-sign it, and what do you get? People believe it.
Q: Do you really think that was the strategy or the game plan?
A: Why not? You don’t think that those people knew that that was going to be the topic of conversation this whole week? I don’t understand – I don’t know if you guys understand the type of person I was in Washington and hopefully I have an opportunity to build that type of rapport with those fans and the community here, if given the opportunity. There, I built quite a rapport with the people there and that was going to be a big deal. That was something that was going to be a big deal, and to justify things – you throw something out there that’s further justified – I mean, they’re not the best team in the NFL right now. They’re not 4-0. I’m sure there’s a lot of fans who sit there and say, “We should have never gotten rid of LaVar.’ I’m sure there’s some who say, ‘We should have.’ I haven’t made too many big plays this year, so people are saying what they’re going to say, but the bottom line is I’m getting healthy. This is the best I’ve felt since, I don’t know, for awhile, and I think it showed a little bit in last week’s game – well, the week before. I had a week to get even more healthy and another week to practice for this game. That’s my thing, and I don’t have to sit there and try to make personal attacks on them. There’s no reason to.
Q: You said you’re getting healthy. You’re playing against a team that you have a reason to play well against. Do you look at this game like this could be your breakout game?
A: I hope so. I sure hope so. I’m a patient guy, so as long as I’m steadily improving, that’s my main focus. That’s my main concern, is to steadily improve, not get tangled up with word wars. I’m sure that’s just another way of getting people to watch the game or want to be interested. I’m not getting involved with that. It’s not worth it.
Q: Coach Coughlin spoke with you earlier this week about them coming up?
A: We’ve had our sit-down talks and I told them the little bit that I know about the Washington Redskins. It was like a two minute conversation. But what I didn’t know, I do have your playbook. So if I didn’t understand it, I’m sure Coach Coughlin can decipher it.
Q: You still have the playbook?
A: Sure I do.
Q: Aren’t you supposed to turn that in?
A: I’m gone now. Arrington property now. New York Giant property now. And I understand some things. I won’t disclose that, but it’s not very much. They don’t have anything to worry about. I don’t know anything, so it’s good. We’re good. I told Coach Coughlin today and yesterday that I really didn’t know anything, so you guys have to either talk to Antonio (Pierce) or do the best that you can, and we’ll go from there.
Q: Did Coach Coughlin warn you to not get too crazy about this whole thing?
A: I don’t think he needed to. I think he knows he didn’t need to. I’m a professional. I’m not a child. I’m not going to get caught up in all of this. That’s the bottom line.
Q: On game day are you going to have cordial greetings for any of the –
A: No. No. Not until after the game is over, maybe, but not before the game … It’s such a platform. It’s a platform to get caught up, it’s a platform for everybody to hear what I want to say, but it’s not worth it … I don’t know. I can’t say for sure. Like I said, if we were undefeated, I think I would have more a focal point on it being the Redskins, but we need to win. We’re getting blasted, and it doesn’t matter who we’re playing this week. We’ve getting blasted – ‘lack of ‘D’’, ‘Tim Lewis should go’, ‘LaVar should go’, ‘why are we getting him’, ‘our offense sucks, what’s Eli Manning doing’. We’ve been getting blasted, so it doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We put pressure on ourselves regardless of who we’re playing … Whatever. That’s what you’re supposed to say, but honestly, I feel more pressure to get on track and perform so that the Giants fans have something to cheer about rather than sitting there trying to prove something about who we’re playing against. It’s more pressure to perform right now than it is anything else. Maybe that’s a blessing in disguise, because I honestly do not have a serious focal point toward trying to get back at the Redskins. At this point, they happen to be the team that we have to – We have to win this game. In my opinion, we have to win. We have to get back on track.
Q: Looking at what Antonio did in this game last year, he seemed to have something to prove or be playing with extra motivation.
A: Antonio’s situation is different from mine, though. I gave money back to get out of a horrible situation. They did not want to pay Antonio what he was worth, so it’s two different situations. It’s not a situation where, “oh, we got rid of him because he wasn’t good enough.’ I don’t know what would have happened if I didn’t give money back. I don’t know. But I know that that wasn’t where I needed to be and it wasn’t a great situation at all to be in that place. My situation is not that – I’m not bitter over that. I’m here to play a game. I’m here to win football games. I’m not concerned with all of that other stuff that they’re trying to create by just so many circus acts that people try to create out of there. I’m not going to get involved in that. I’m not juggling any balls, I’m not throwing any horrible words at anybody. I’m just not going to get involved with that. I wish them the best, except on Sundays when they’re playing against us. That’s it. Bottom line.
Q: Joe Gibbs yesterday on the conference call was extremely complimentary of you, and in fact himself said that ‘I have to learn from things that happened.’ Do you buy it?
A: I don’t, but whatever. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care. I could care less. He’s extremely complimentary, and he has another coach sitting there saying I didn’t know anything. Hello? You do the math. You do the math. You show yourself enough that people will see you. That’s the bottom line. Bottom line. But I really could care less. That’s not my coach now. If Coach Coughlin feels a certain way, then that’s something that me and Coach Coughlin have to address, but that’s not the case here. If Coach Lewis feels a certain way, that’s something me and Coach Lewis have to address. I don’t have to address those people. They’re nothing to me except our opponent for this week. The last time I checked Joe Gibbs or Dale Lindsay, they’re not putting on any pads and coming out and having anything to do with that game physically, so it doesn’t mean anything to me what they say.
Q: Coach Gibbs did say he has remorse for how the last couple of years went. He said, “I wish I would have done things differently.’
A: I could care less. I could care less. He’s Joe Gibbs, man. If he wanted something to be different, it would have been different. Am I wrong? Is that an accurate statement? Yeah, I would say that -- He’s a part of the trinity, some people would say. If he wanted something to be different, it would have been different. But there’s no need looking back on that – It is what it is. I could care less. Joe Gibbs could call me the worst person in the world, or he could call me the best person in the world. It doesn’t matter. Who is he? He’s just a coach of another team that we’re playing. That’s what he is.
Q: Do you wish you would have done anything differently those two years?
A: No. Get the hell out. I’m sorry it took two years to get out.
Q: Do you have to rein your emotions in on Sunday, or can you kind of ride them?
A: Oh, I’m going to ride them. I’m going to ride them. I’ve been feeling my emotions since – and this is the honest-to-god truth – I’ve been feeling my emotions ever since I’ve been feeling like the fans here feel like, ‘maybe we shouldn’t have brought him here.’ That’s the emotion I’m riding on. Not the emotion of, ‘I need to prove something to the Redskins.’ I’m riding on the emotion that I need to establish who I am within this organization, within this community. That’s what I’m riding, and I’m high on it right now, believe me. I’m high on it. But it’s not what people are trying to predict. It’s not riding the emotion of playing against my former team. In essence, I had two years to get over being a Redskin. I had two years. Two. That’s a long time. This is nothing new to me. It might be new to you guys, but it’s not new to me. I’ve moved on. I moved on -- before I had even left out those doors, I’d moved on.
Q: How much did Joe Gibbs matter or affect –
A: I already told you. You heard me.
Q: I know, but you’re alluding, you’re not telling me.
A: It doesn’t matter what the man thinks at this point. I’m not running back to get a job from him. I don’t see myself ever going to get a job off of him in the future, so what does he mean to me? Nothing. He means nothing. So what his opinions are or –
Q: He meant something the last two years, though.
A: No, he didn’t. You’re not listening. It didn’t mean anything to me, because I was getting over being a Redskin the last two years. Because of the way things were done, the way things were handled, I was getting over being a Redskin.
Q: Did you play your hardest the last two years?
A: Of course. When I play I –
Q: You said you played hard for them for four years.
A: No, I said I enjoyed four years. I am not on trial, thank you. I will not go to jail if you sit there and try to find something. I play hard every time I go on the field. Every time. I don’t ever cheat my fans. Other things, other aspects, that’s different, but I will never not play hard. I carry my name on the field every time I go out there. That means something. I’m not going to embarrass myself. Or my family.
That about says it all. If Arrington were ready to make an impact, Sunday would be the time.
This is what happens to me when I'm faced with 45 minutes in a locker room devoid of LaVar Arrington, Michael Strahan, Eli Manning or Tiki Barber. Yes, I did get some work done, and yes, my job is really the greatest job on earth, but sometimes the mind wanders... Like when the Giants' wide receivers coach walks through the locker room after a workout with his IPod on.
Sullivan is, like a lot of Tom Coughlin's assistants, an extremely gracious and friendly guy with a military background. He's also the sole reason Plaxico Burress hasn't done a Shockey on the head coach. So, after posing the title question to fellow beat guy and blogger Mike G. from one of the Jersey rags, we headed over to Burress' locker and asked the same question.
"I know he's got the 'Rocky' theme," Burress said. "Maybe some salsa, since he's from San Diego."
I tossed in something Army-related -- maybe "Reveille." We also decided on some audio clips from great war movies, inspirational stuff... The Robert Duvall "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning" speech from Apocalypse Now, maybe something from Patton.
Anyway... There's a game on Sunday, so there is plenty of other stuff to discuss. Like Santana Moss, who tied his career high with three TD catches last week. The first time he did that was against the Giants when Moss was a Jet in 2003.
"A lot of these speed guys, it's not about how fast you are, it's the vision," Sam Madison said. "They've got Moss, (Antwaan) Randle-El, these guys have been punt returners before. When they get the ball, sometimes they're not even looking at the first wave of guys coming at them."
Which is good, because the way the Giants have defended the pass, they won't see a first wave. Or a second. Or any waves.
But the Redskins have been getting it done on the ground and through the air, with the third-best offense in the league, right behind the Giants. If they try to establish the run on Sunday, the Giants might be able to figure things out, since their run defense hasn't been all that bad, to be honest.
Madison said the defense would be viewing the cut-ups of the Redskins' third-down situations tomorrow, so he'd have something to say about it then. The Giants have allowed 27 of 46 (58.7 percent) third-down conversions, which is astonishing and worst in the league.
And I will find out what's on Sully's IPod tomorrow.
It didn't appear that the Giants did much work today, but they were back in town from their various homes across the country after a needed three-day break. Maybe from an overall team health standpoint the break could have come a bit later, but from the mental health standpoint, it came at just the right time.
The story my and my media brethren will beat to death this week will be LaVar Arrington facing his old employers; as far as I'm concerned, that ship sailed in the preseason. You'll still see me spend a day writing about it in the paper, but a day is all it's worth right now. It'll mean more when the Giants travel to D.C. for the season finale, especially if a playoff spot is on the line and Arrington has been more of a menace than he's been so far.
Right now, frankly, every Giant should play like he's facing a team that didn't do right by him. If not, the Giants could be 1-3 with road trips to Atlanta and Dallas coming up. "Every game is desperation," Antonio Pierce said today. Maybe not every one, but Sunday sure is.
The real story among the linebackers is Gerris Wilkinson jumping in as the starting weak-side LB in place of Carlos Emmons. Wilkinson took all the first-team reps last week and assumes he's the guy, with Brandon Short dressing for the first time as the backup. Wilkinson said the jitters are gone after filling in at Seattle, but preparing for two weeks to make your first NFL start might be a different level of pressure.
And it's not like it's a big game or anything...
We've got the Yanks and Mets in the postseason too this week, so maybe it'll be a cozy little group of us leading up to Sunday. One can hope.
