Blame game starts with Coughlin
GaryFL
Monday, November 27, 2006
BY STEVE POLITI
Star-Ledger Staff
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- He even screwed up his clichés. This is how bad it
was for Tom Coughlin, flush-faced and flustered, as he tried to
explain a loss yesterday that truly defied explanation.
"You push all the dials," the Giants coach started, before pausing to
try again. "You dial it all up, and somehow, some way ... I don't have
the words to talk about it right now and probably won't when I see it
again. I'm going to be sick about this one for ... for ... forever!"
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Forever might start as soon as this season ends. Make no mistake,,
this 24-21 implosion to the Titans was the type of crushing,
unthinkable loss that could cost a head coach his job -- and, if the
Giants don't find a way to recover and make the playoffs, it's hard to
see how they could move forward with Coughlin.
The coach is on the clock now. He has five games to prove the Giants
are not a bust. Five games to prove that he hasn't lost this team
despite the almost weekly criticism directed his way from his players,
that he can solve the riddle that is his starting quarterback, that he
can finally bring some of his supposed discipline to one of the most
undisciplined teams in the league.
You want to blame rookie Mathias Kiwanuka for not wrapping up Vince
Young on fourth-and-long with a chance to end this game? Easy enough.
You want to blame Eli Manning for that awful interception that set up
the game-winning field goal? Hey, have at it.
But it starts with Coughlin. He is in the third year of a four-year
contract, which means when the season ends, the Giants have three
options: 1) Give him an extension, which seems unlikely if a team with
this much talent fails to make the playoffs. 2) Let him coach as a
lame duck, which will make his already tenuous grasp on this locker
room even looser. 3) Fire him.
Five games to go, the Giants still can make the playoffs in the weak
NFC, and a victory against Dallas next Sunday puts them back in first
place in the division. Maybe if that happens, the Giants can forget
what has been a disastrous season for the head coach, from game
management, to play-calling, to discipline issues, to handling the
egos of his star players.
Where do you even begin? The dumb decision to go for the field goal
against the Bears that turned around that game two weeks ago? The
equally dumb choice not to attempt one in the fourth quarter yesterday
with a chance to go up 24-0? The fact that each week, a new player
questions his decisions or leadership? The bad penalties, such as the
out-of-bounds hit on Young by Frank Walker that led to a Tennessee
touchdown?
The supposed king of discipline has not gotten through to Plaxico
Burress, who continues to make as many negative plays as positive
ones, or Manning, who continues to regress each week.
Manning threw a pass that a Pop Warner quarterback wouldn't have tried
to seal this one. The Giants, backed up at their own 29 with 32
seconds left after Tennessee tied the game, needed to run out the
clock and go to overtime. Instead, Manning tossed a wobbler toward the
sideline that cornerback Pacman Jones intercepted.
Two plays later, the Titans were kicking the winning field goal, and
Coughlin wanted to kick his QB.
"There's no way you can throw an interception under that circumstance
at the end of the game," Coughlin said, and of course he's right.
Manning might never develop into a franchise quarterback, but the
team's future depends on him doing just that. Coughlin has had two
years to find a way to fix his quarterback.
Maybe it can't be done. But on days like this, you wonder if the
Giants would be better served with a coach who has a proven track
record developing young passers. Charlie Weis helped turn Tom Brady
into a three-time Super Bowl winner when he was in New England. He's
called coaching the Giants his dream job.
With general manager Ernie Accorsi retiring, the Giants will have a
chance to start with a clean slate after the season. Would Weis leave
Notre Dame to come here? And would the Giants be bold enough to make
that change if this team continues to fall apart this season?
Coughlin has five games to make that question a moot point. He enters
those five games with a team that didn't like him in the first place,
and one that completely quit on his predecessor, a coach they actually
liked.
"It's a terrible shock to everybody in the organization," Coughlin
said when this one ended. "For everybody. There's no excuse. There's
no sympathy. There's no nothing."
Nothing, except a desperate team trying to salvage a season, and a
flustered head coach trying to save his job.
Steve Politi appears regularly in The Star-Ledger. He may be reached
at spo...@starledger.com
tigercat
the right move at this time?
"GaryFL" <xx...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8p2mm2dm634skegu5...@4ax.com...
gary_c_...@hotmail.com
tigercat wrote:
> Okay then, what are the odds of Charlie Weiss coming to NY and would that be
> the right move at this time?
They'd first have to get the GM situation squared away; Weiss may not
want to come unless he's the GM.
As to whether it would be the right move, well IMHO any move at this
time would improve this sorry situation.
GW
prance boramito
news:8p2mm2dm634skegu5...@4ax.com:
> http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/politi/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/11646
> 1014312480.xml&coll=1
The blame starts with the dumbshit exec who listened to the whines of an
old QB daddy trying to protect his little baby boy from those horrible
people in San Diego.
You know. Those guys down there with the 9-2 record and the QB that the
NY guys said was no good.
Best trade in NFL history.
--
Stealer fan nursery school. Home of the crybabies.
http://www.blackandgoldforums.com/forums
Mirror site:
zxasqw12
> Make no mistake,this 24-21 implosion to the Titans was
> the type of crushing, unthinkable loss that could cost
> a head coach his job
Yup. That's what I said at halftime of the Seattle game too
Ryan
"prance boramito" <over...@black.and.moldy.org> wrote in message
news:Xns988883D...@194.177.96.26...
He looked real good yesterday against the worst team in the league. Hop off
it, numb nuts. Where were you last year? In the basement? Do us all a favor
and go back with the rats.
Kurgan Gringioni
Ryan wrote:
> >
> > The blame starts with the dumbshit exec who listened to the whines of an
> > old QB daddy trying to protect his little baby boy from those horrible
> > people in San Diego.
> >
> > You know. Those guys down there with the 9-2 record and the QB that the
> > NY guys said was no good.
> >
> > Best trade in NFL history.
>
> He looked real good yesterday against the worst team in the league. Hop off
> it, numb nuts. Where were you last year? In the basement? Do us all a favor
> and go back with the rats.
He's right though.
ShEli for Rivers/Merriman/Kaeding/Oben and a fifth round pick that got
traded to the Rams.
Very, very nice trade. It's been a pleasure doing business with you!
Big Blue
<kgrin...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Let's evaluate for real shall we?
Eli - already done many good things and led a team to 11-5 in his
first full season as starter, looks to continue to improve. Yes he's
struggling but who doesn't struggle early in their careers?
Rivers - verdict remains to be seem but he is very impressive.
Merriman - cheating steroid bastard, let's see how good he is without
the roids.
Kaeding - solid center but nothing spectacular. Stop acting like he's
Larry Allen
Oben - again, solid be not spectacular.
Don't get over excited.
Kurgan Gringioni
Big Blue wrote:
>
> Eli - already done many good things and led a team to 11-5 in his
> first full season as starter, looks to continue to improve.
lol!
You gotta be kidding me. She's not improving. That's the problem with
this trade (for you).
thanks,
K. Gringioni.
Clint
> Kaeding - solid center but nothing spectacular. Stop acting like he's
> Larry Allen
> Don't get over excited.
Totally laughable evaluation from someone who knows absolutely nothing
about nothing.
-Clint
Big Blue
<kgrin...@hotmail.com> wrote:
You trolls are so funny. A player goes into a few weeks of slump and
you idiots jump all over it. Totally ignoring the fact Eli came off
as good of 2nd year stats for a young QB as any other QB in the
history of the game. Come back and talk when Rivers actually throws
for 3700+ yards, 24 TD and carries a team to 11-5 record ok?
Big Blue
wrote:
Hmmm... knows nothing about nothing, which makes it...
I'm so glad American public school is working...
Milo
"Big Blue" <acla...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:cbcnm2pngt88cqvn6...@4ax.com...
LOL Idiot doesn't even know the difference between a center and a kicker...
gives a lot of creedence to anything else he has to say.
Big Al
If you don't like it, then snip the crosspost fucktard. I'm sure most
Charger and Steeler fans could give a rats ass of whether you guys like
Coughlin or not.
Kurgan Gringioni
Big Blue wrote:
>
> You trolls are so funny. A player goes into a few weeks of slump and
> you idiots jump all over it. Totally ignoring the fact Eli came off
> as good of 2nd year stats for a young QB as any other QB in the
> history of the game. Come back and talk when Rivers actually throws
> for 3700+ yards, 24 TD and carries a team to 11-5 record ok?
I'm not trolling. This is reality. Here's are the stats for this year.
From:
http://www.nfl.com/stats/leaders/NFL/PRAT/2006/regular
Phillip Rivers: 215 of 331, 2440 yards, 15 TDs, 6 INTs, 94.5 passer
rating
Eli Manning: 211 of 362, 2345 yards, 17 TDs, 15 INTs, 76.0 passer
rating
Eli is getting better! That stats don't lie!
Then there are those intangibles. That fantastic leadership ability.
thanks,
K. Gringioni.
Big Blue
Waa waa
Big Blue
<kgrin...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Those are not "stats" but "selective stats." I can always take the
worst year of any QB and proclaim him a joke. Like I said, you
evaluate QB for an entirely, not just a few slumping games. Even if
Eli continued this for an entire season, it merely signals he's in a
season long slump but his potential and last season's performance
shows he's capable of more.
Rivers on the other hand is in a hot streak, and as a rule you know he
will go into slump sooner or later, and once he does how will he
bounce back or get out of it? That's the question.
Big Ben looked like a first-ballot-hall-of-famer until he loss Jerome
Bettis as his teammate and now he has to use his arm to win games, and
the result....
eacan...@post.com
Shaun Alexander for Ron Dayne. The disasterous 1999 draft day. The Eli
trade which hindered filling holes elsewhere on the team. The coaches
he hires. Many bonehead moves.
Big Blue
>Hey, I've said that EA needed to go for the past few seasons. Passing
>Shaun Alexander for Ron Dayne. The disasterous 1999 draft day. The Eli
>trade which hindered filling holes elsewhere on the team. The coaches
>he hires. Many bonehead moves.
>
Yeah, in Ernie's tenur the Giants only made it to the Superbowl and 3
times NFC East Champs.
Not many executives can say the same.
Savage Lizard
> Kaeding - solid center but nothing spectacular. Stop acting like he's
> Larry Allen
HOLY SHIT! We've had Kaeding playing center???
Savage Lizard
Doug
Yeah, didn't ya know? I found this two weeks ago:
11-18-2006 DENVER, CO (NAP) -
In what may be the biggest surprise move all season in the NFL, San
Diego Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer announced today that place
kicker Nate Kaeding will start in place of center Nick Hardwick for
tomorrow night's prime time matchup versus rival Denver Broncos.
"Right now, I feel that [Kaeding] gives us the best overall chance to
beat the Broncos," coach Schottenheimer stated in the press release.
"He's scored 85 points for us up to now. It is silly to keep one of
our team's top point producers on the sideline because we always wind
up in the end zone."
Nick Hardwick was unavailable for comment; however, a teammate speaking
under condition of anonymity stated that Hardwick was "devastated" by
his demotion and that he is going to work "day and night" to reenter
the starting lineup.
Tomorrow's game between the Chargers and Broncos will be shown at
8:15PM ET on NBC as part of the NFL's new flex scheduling package.
ES --- NAP
Fujikawa Yamamoto
news:12motlk...@news.supernews.com:
Helluva move. Seems to be working out really well too. ;0
smacdo
> Kaeding - solid center but nothing spectacular.
He is among the best centers in the league...
smacdo
>
> Those are not "stats" but "selective stats." I can always take the
> worst year of any QB and proclaim him a joke. Like I said, you
> evaluate QB for an entirely, not just a few slumping games.
Well, by the time the QB are able to be judged on their "entirely", its
too late. I am telling you, and this is pretty much indisputable, Eli
Manning would have to become something pretty freakin' special (think -
Peyton, but with playoff success) to make this deal even. The Chargers
knocked it out of the park with those extra draft picks.
> Even if
> Eli continued this for an entire season, it merely signals he's in a
> season long slump but his potential and last season's performance
> shows he's capable of more.
He is capable of more. But you usually don't want your QB taking season
long steps backward.
> Big Ben looked like a first-ballot-hall-of-famer until he loss Jerome
> Bettis as his teammate and now he has to use his arm to win games, and
> the result....
It wouldn't also have something to do with that little boo-boo he picked
up in the offseason would it? Or maybe the surgery he had early in the
year? Its not like the Steelers don't have a running game...Willie
Parker is more than capable.
smacdo
>> Kaeding - solid center but nothing spectacular.
PS Numbnuts...I just read the rest of this thread and you haven't caught
on yet...
Next time you are dumping on a guy for being "nothing spectacular"...try
and get his position right. It helps with your credibility.
KAEDING IS A FUCKING KICKER YOU IDIOT!!!
Kurgan Gringioni
Big Blue wrote:
>
> Big Ben looked like a first-ballot-hall-of-famer until he loss Jerome
> Bettis as his teammate and now he has to use his arm to win games, and
> the result....
Sure. I totally agree.
The Chargers scored 42 points in the second half at the Bengals a few
weeks ago by running the ball.
thanks,
K. Gringioni.
Big Al
You're the one whining about the trolls cockbreath.
>
Big Al
"smacdo" <fa...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:m_0bh.3787$J32...@read1.cgocable.net...
Big Booboo can't help it. He seems to have been born that way.