2007 NY Giants Articles and Video

jerseygiantfan · January 23, 2007

Eagle guru goes Blue

Giants tap Spagnuolo to lead defense

BY RALPH VACCHIANO

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Steve Spagnuolo

The Giants have been getting headaches from Jim Johnson's blitz-happy Philadelphia Eagles defense for most of the last decade. Now they'll finally have a chance to show the Eagles how it feels.

Steve Spagnuolo, the Eagles' linebackers coach since 2004 and one of Johnson's top disciples for the last eight seasons, was named the Giants' new defensive coordinator yesterday. He replaced Tim Lewis, who was fired two weeks ago, and he vowed to try and revive the Giants' sagging defense by using Johnson's scheme.

"Obviously, you guys have seen the Giants-Eagles contests the last few years," said the 47-year-old, who got his start as a graduate assistant at UMass in 1982 after three seasons as a wide receiver at Springfield (Mass.) College. "That's obviously going to be the bulk of what I am and what I do because I believe in it and it's successful."

That was also, obviously, a huge selling point for Tom Coughlin, who was searching for a coach who had been an apprentice to one of the NFL's masters.

"It wasn't just a matter of the aggressiveness because the scheme we have played here has been an aggressive scheme," Coughlin said from the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. "I just thought it was such an attractive commodity to have a guy who has worked to a great extent and in great detail with one of the recognized outstanding defensive coaches in our league."

Spagnuolo wasn't specific about much of what he planned to do with the Giants' defense, which was ranked 25th in the NFL this season, or whether the Giants even had the right personnel for the new scheme. He was only offered the job after an interview on Sunday, so he admitted, "I don't have a good feel for that right now."

Coughlin obviously has a good enough feel for him, though, since he said Spagnuolo was the only candidate he formally interviewed. Spagnuolo even has a tie to Coughlin in his past. He was the defensive line and special teams coach of the then-World League's Barcelona Dragons in 1992. Barcelona's head coach was Jack Bicknell, who was Coughlin's boss at Boston College from 1981-83.

Most importantly, Coughlin said, "(Spagnuolo's) philosophy is an aggressive philosophy." And Spagnuolo knows he wants the Giants to add players who "play aggressive and play fast."

Coughlin said all the other defensive assistants are expected to return next season. He also said his search for a new quarterbacks coach - the lone remaining vacancy on his staff - is "ongoing."

Originally published on January 23, 2007

jerseygiantfan · January 27, 2007

Eli Manning proud of big brother's success

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Associated Press

Posted: 22 hours ago

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - For however long he spends in Miami over the next 10 days, he'll be the other Manning, the one not preparing to make his first appearance in the Super Bowl.

While Peyton Manning's public appearances will be tightly managed as his Indianapolis Colts focus on the challenges posed by the Chicago Bears, Eli Manning will have plenty of time to mingle with the common folk - and probably hear all about his more accomplished older brother.

If nothing else, the overall experience will give the younger Manning a whiff of the atmosphere every NFL player hungers to experience.

"I'm going to enjoy the time, and when it comes time for next year I'll know what the feeling is," Manning said by phone Thursday. "I know I won't want to be shaking hands with people congratulating me about Peyton. I'll want to be in the hotel studying film and getting ready to prepare to play for the championship."

The comparisons to his older brother are something Eli has had to endure since he was a youth. But a year ago, as he led the Giants to a playoff berth in his first season as a starter and Peyton failed once again to get a talented Colts team to the Super Bowl, the gap seemed to be closing.

That was before the 2006 season. Numbers-wise, Eli Manning in 2006 was virtually identical to Eli Manning in 2005 in touchdown-to-interception ratio (24-17 in '05, 24-18 in '06) and passer rating (75.9 in '05, 77.0 in '06). He also continued to be error-prone at key moments.

Peyton, meanwhile, finally shed his image as one of the best NFL quarterbacks never to reach the Super Bowl.

"I don't know if he felt he needed to get there," Eli Manning said. "I know he wanted to get there. It's every player's goal to get to the Super Bowl. You don't play for stats. You try to play well to win games. He's played well and he's proven himself as one of best quarterbacks in the league, but he's been disappointed the first eight years of his career because he didn't get to the Super Bowl."

Whether Eli can follow in his footsteps is a question that concerns many Giants followers who fear the team may have missed its window the last two years, sabotaged by injuries, inconsistent play from Manning and internal bickering.

With Giants career rushing leader Tiki Barber headed off to retirement, there will be even more pressure on Manning to produce. His most reliable threat has been Plaxico Burress, and the two have combined for 139 catches, 2,202 yards and 17 touchdowns the last two seasons.

Manning conceded both he and Burress need a little more time if they are to develop into a combination to rival Peyton and wide receiver Marvin Harrison.

"We've gotten better over the last two years but we've still got a ways to go," he said. "He wants to be thought of in that category just like I want to be thought of in Peyton's category. We have good timing and make good plays, but we're not what you think of as unstoppable or dominant yet."

jerseygiantfan · January 27, 2007

Stadium tab: 1.4 bil

The anticipated costs for the new stadium for the Giants and Jets at the Meadowlands have risen to $1.4 billion, and there still are 3-1/2 more years to go.

The latest estimate was $200 million higher than the last one and nearly double the original $750 million estimate the Giants gave when they began this project on their own in April 2005.

The skyrocketing total costs were revealed yesterday when the teams announced they have placed a $998 million order with a Swedish construction company to design and build the 82,000-seat, open-air stadium.

The plan calls for the stadium to be completed in time for the 2010 season, with groundbreaking expected late this spring or early this summer.

The company, Skanska AB, previously built Reliant Stadium in Houston and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. It is also participating in the construction of the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

Designs of the exterior of the new stadium are expected to be unveiled late next month.

The Giants and Jets, who are financing the project themselves with the help of a $300 million loan from the NFL, have cleared most major hurdles to get the stadium built. They still are awaiting the results of an environmental impact study from the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection. Approval from that department isn't expected until March.

Ralph Vacchiano

jerseygiantfan · January 28, 2007

A Super time

Two decades later, Big Blue feels spirit of '86

BY HANK GOLA

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Twenty years ago this past Thursday, the Pasadena sun painted an indelible mark on not just a team but on a group of young men. When Super Bowl XXI ended with ol' Blue Eyes serenading Big Blue with "New York, New York," those giddy boys of winter became teammates forever.

Go ahead. Call any of the '86 Giants. From Harry Carson to Herb Welch, they remember the year and the moment because, in a sense, they never stopped feeling it.

"I only played with the Giants for four years and compared to the 20 years that passed, it only seems like a drop in the bucket," said the team's right guard, Chris Godfrey. "But we go through life together in a sense and it's because we had those strong relationships forged together. That moment, frozen in time 20 years ago, has cemented us all."

"We won a lot of games and we won another Super Bowl, but that Super Bowl sealed a lifetime bond with a family of teammates," linebacker Carl Banks said. "It was just one of those teams where one man's fight was every man's fight."

Or as Phil McConkey said, "Harry Carson and George Martin will be my captains forever."

Why is simple. Of the 40 Super Bowl winners, the '86 Giants are one of the most unique, their story most special. The NFL's flagship franchise hadn't won the championship for 30 years and the ghosts of Yankee Stadium had taken residence at the Meadowlands. But the bad years paid dividends in the draft, with players such as Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor, Joe Morris, Terry Kinard and Banks. A general manager named George Young would hire (and almost fire) a coach named Bill Parcells, who would lean on old guys from the lean years, such as Carson and George Martin.

Motivated and undrafted free agents such as Jim Burt, retreads such as McConkey, USFL refugees such as Maurice Carthon, Bart Oates and Sean Landeta added to the mix. And after making a pact with each other in the bowels of Soldier Field, where the 1985 season ended with a playoff loss to the Bears, the 1986 championship was destined.

"When I came to mini-camp, I could just tell that everyone's attitude was completely different," Carson said. "That loss to Chicago really was the thing that galvanized us. We were just (ticked) that we came so close and lost. From that point on, it wasn't about getting to the playoffs because we knew we were going to get to the playoffs. It was about winning the Super Bowl."

They lost two games that year, one on opening day in Dallas, the other in Seattle. They picked up momentum with the now-legendary fourth-and-17 pass in Minnesota, where Simms broke out and the passing game joined the fray. They continued the roll by beating eventual AFC champ Denver, thanks to a George Martin interception return for a touchdown that Parcells calls the "greatest football play I've ever seen." They refused to die in San Francisco, where Mark Bavaro dragged Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott halfway to the Golden Gate Bridge and then, a week later, destroyed the Redskins at RFK Stadium behind a dominant game by L.T. The steamroller wasn't stopping.

"We were a juggernaut at the end of the season," Burt recalled. "No one could touch us."

Bavaro played with a broken jaw for six weeks, sucking food through a straw. Burt forced himself into games with a bad back. Brad Benson wore a Band-Aid on the bridge of his nose.

"There were different guys in the locker room, all very youthful, full of piss and vinegar, just coming together for one cause," Leonard Marshall remembered. "New York hadn't had a team to identify with for almost 30 years. And then this group comes along and puts New York on its back and says I'm going to carry New York every time I walk out the door. I'm going to carry the attitude, I'm going to carry the toughness, I'm going to carry the resilience it takes to be identified as a champion."

"It was a bunch of guys that just wanted to know when and where," McConkey said. "If you told that team the game was at midnight on the Brooklyn Bridge against the Jersey City Destroyers, those guys would show up and play hard."

"Parcells called us lunch-pail guys," Bavaro said. "I didn't understand it, but looking at the players today, absolutely. What was the line called? The Suburbanites? That's what we did. We woke up in the morning, came to work, did our job, went home, had dinner and went to bed."

Burt called it "a blue-collar situation.

"Even L.T., as great as he was, he wasn't a flashy guy. We were fighting with Parcells, going back and forth, but no one ever came out and said anything in the paper. We had Wednesday, we had Thursday, we had Friday and we never took the pads off. We would grind on people, grind on people. We did it the grinding, grinding, grinding way. And you know what? That goes for the quarterback too."

In the end, Simms, who had once been benched for Scott Brunner, who had been maligned as someone who could never do it, did it, with one of the finest games ever by a Super Bowl quarterback.

"They were, I think, resilient, like all championship teams, mentally tough. They understood what it was, knew how to play and physically, they were pretty dominant," Parcells said from his Valley Ranch office this past week, a couple of days after announcing his retirement as the Cowboys' head coach.

And the same grit that gave the team its identity has held it together all these years later. The same lessons the team learned on the field have evidently been applied in life. A look at the list of what the '86 Giants are doing now reveals a majority of success stories.

"I sure am proud of them and of course indebted to them as well," Parcells said. "The thing I'm most proud of is the widespread success that a lot of the kids have had in their personal lives going forward. They were pretty achievement-oriented. It was a pretty special group of guys. It's like a blood kinship. You just like them all."

Indeed, as Banks said, "from defensive backs to offensive linemen, when the guys see each other, it's a hug, it's a kiss, it's just a wonderful thing."

"I don't miss playing. I don't miss the road trips. I don't miss any of that. But I miss being around those guys," McConkey said. "You can't substitute that feeling anywhere else. Twenty years later, when guys get around and sit around, it's not about, 'remember that play against the 49ers.' It's the same guys getting on the same other guys for the same B.S. 20 years later.

"And I miss that," McConkey went on. "I miss laughing. Just the little stupid things."

Some of those memories came back this week. Most everyone remembered that Thursday was the anniversary. Most everyone said that the Super Bowl season is still part of them.

Simms, during his travels for CBS, was switching channels when he came across a rebroadcast of Super Bowl XXI. He had to stop and watch the rest of it.

"I watched myself and my teammates and said, 'Damn, Look at us. We were young. We were strong. We were athletic. And wouldn't it be great to be all of those things just one more time?' "

"I sit back now and I look at it and I get chills down my spine," said Jerome Sally, one of the defensive linemen, now an assistant principal in Missouri. "When I go downstairs in my exercise room, I still think we're the same people who are up on those walls."

Hank Gola was a beat writer assigned to the Giants in 1986. He was with them from mini-camp to Pasadena.

Originally published on January 28, 2007

jerseygiantfan · February 3, 2007

Strahan a fan of

English accent

BY RALPH VACCHIANO

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

MIAMI BEACH - It will be an unusually long trip for a regular-season game when the Giants play in London in October, but there should be no worries about the Giants getting knocked out of their regular routine.

"We'll just set Big Ben back five minutes," Michael Strahan said. "That'll keep everybody on schedule."

Tom Coughlin will have the opportunity to do that on Oct. 28 when the Giants play the Miami Dolphins in the first NFL regular-season game ever played outside of North America. The game, which was officially announced yesterday and reported in the Daily News last month, will be played at the new Wembley Stadium at 6 p.m. London time (1 p.m. in New York).

The Dolphins will be the home team, and both clubs will have their bye the following week.

"Most players probably don't even have a passport, but we're all excited," Strahan said. "We have to realize the world is a big place and people out of our country care about what we do."

The details of the game still need to be worked out, but the Giants are considering traveling to London on the Friday before the game. It's possible the league will ask them to either arrive early or stay late to do some promotional work, since promoting the NFL in Europe is what this game is all about.

"Brand extension is the name of the day," Giants treasurer Jonathan Tisch said. "The new world is getting smaller and the global aspect of our game is getting much bigger."

The league has committed to a five-year overseas program, with up to two regular-season games being played abroad every year. Strahan, who grew up in Germany, hopes the game becomes an annual tradition for a long time to come.

"I look at what's happened with the Thanksgiving Day game," Strahan said. "At first people maybe thought that was a little strange. But how many of us would be able to survive a day with the family without that game, having to talk to them all day? That game has actually saved us.

"Hopefully this will be that type of ground-breaking situation where this game becomes a tradition and people look forward to this game."

MIKE ON MARK: Strahan said his injured foot, which landed him on injured reserve late last season, is "fine" and his recovery is "definitely on schedule."

jerseygiantfan · February 4, 2007

The Giants are coming!

The Giants are coming!

So why doesn't anyone in London seem to care?

The Giants are heading to London next October for a regular-season game against the Miami Dolphins, the NFL's first true overseas blitz. Before they pack, Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey probably should be forewarned about something: English sports fans and journalists really have very little understanding or patience for this sort of thing.

Today isn't Super Bowl Sunday in Camden Town or Wimbledon. As amusing as it is to imagine Tom Coughlin sparring this autumn with the Fleet Street tabloid bulldogs, the clash of customs will not likely lead to a marketing love affair.

Yes, the scantily-clad cheerleaders and halftime show should titillate the same British imagination that finds "Page 3 girls" so appealing in The Sun. But there is an undeniable heaviness to the sport; too many play stoppages and odd-looking equipment - from clumsy yardage chains to oversized shoulder pads.

Coaches calling the plays via radio signals from the sidelines? Passive, huddled masses? Much of this goes against the natural grain, and the image of the iconic British sportsman.

I know this is true from Colin Nicolson, history professor emeritus at the University of North London and the world's biggest rugby fan. Colin, who is a friend, had a vague curiosity about our football, attracted by its color and more violent elements. He made the mistake of attending a game live, and left swearing off such foolishness forever.

"I went to see a live game down in West London, only to find a huddle of anonymous swaddled figures milling intermittently around in the misty distance - and no slo-mo or replays," Nicolson says. "As I had no stake or interest in the result, I did not repeat the experience."

Throughout most of Europe, in fact, American football is considered a fairly incomprehensible affair, poorly paced and frighteningly shiny. They don't get us, and you can't really blame them.

While our inventions of baseball, basketball and volleyball have caught on elsewhere (though, again, notably not in Britain), our form of football has been knocking its helmet against the English Channel for many years. The Super Bowl may attract 80 million TV viewers today in the U.S., but it is no more than a late-night curiosity in Islington.

NFL Europe has been a notable failure, everywhere but in Germany. The league basically abandoned London, which was its original headquarters and part of its first master plan. The London Monarchs played their games at White Hart Lane, home of Tottenham Hotspur, on a field just 93 yards long. After stopovers in Birmingham and Bristol, they relocated to Berlin.

There are multiple reasons for this flop: "No midfield," complains Simon Barnes, the London Times columnist, whenever he is asked about virtually any American sport.

Nicolson offers a laundry list of complaints about our football, difficult to counter:

1. Body armor and helmets remove all individuality from the players.

"Rugby players come in all shapes and sizes, an intriguing array of South Sea Islanders, Maoris, Argentinians, brutal Frenchmen and Vikings, all bringing different styles and traditions to the game," Nicolson argues. "Under their uniforms, all American football players tend to morph into bulging automatons."

2. Play seems to be constrained in a very narrow area of the pitch.

3. There seems to be no continuity.

4. Kicks by specialists at the goalposts are a foregone conclusion, "rather than a nail-biting test of skill from the touch-line by a player who may have been tackled and crunched just seconds before."

5. Muted fistfights.

"When there is a rugby punch-up," Nicolson says, "spectators can usually see fists crash into noses, and the subsequent melee, in gratifying detail."

Finally, Nicolson argues, the sport reflects the unfortunate modern image of invade-first, ask-questions-later Americans. "Football conjures up 'shock and awe' tactics and giant, armored bully-boys kicking in doors," he says.

No doubt the new Wembley Stadium, a very costly piece of real estate at $1.4 billion, will be filled in October with novelty seekers, plus a lot of New Yorkers imported for the occasion. The NFL should do fine, as long as it limits its quota of international games to two per season.

"We certainly live in a world dominated by brands and there are few brands as dominant as the NFL," Giants treasurer Jonathan Tisch said.

Tisch may be in for a culture shock. If the NFL wishes to export its special brand of sporting spectacle, it might try losing the helmets, the pads, the downs and the forward passes. Maybe the handballs, as well.

Originally published on February 4, 2007

UK-Giantsfan · February 6, 2007

The Giants are coming!

So why doesn't anyone in London seem to care?

Dont worry .....I care JerseyGiantfan

I hope you make it over to London

You'll love it

jerseygiantfan · February 6, 2007

Pierce headed

to Pro Bowl

MIAMI - Antonio Pierce finally is going to the Pro Bowl.

The Giants' middle linebacker, who believes he has played at a Pro Bowl level in each of the last three seasons, is on his way to Hawaii for the first time after Chicago Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher pulled out of Saturday's game. Pierce, the first alternate, will be a reserve on the NFC squad. Seattle's Lofa Tatupu will start.

Pierce, a six-year veteran, had a career-high 137 tackles this season with one sack and one interception. He'll join retiring running back Tiki Barber as the only Giants in the game. Tight end Jeremy Shockey was selected, but decided not to play due to an ankle injury.

Urlacher, whose Bears lost, 29-17, to the Colts in the Super Bowl on Sunday, apparently pulled out of the game in part because of a left toe injury that has nagged him since November.

Ralph Vacchiano

jerseygiantfan · February 6, 2007

The Giants are coming!
The Giants are coming!

So why doesn't anyone in London seem to care?

Dont worry .....I care JerseyGiantfan

I hope you make it over to London

You'll love it

Yeah i'm sure i would, But I'm not going to London to see the game. Thats a little far for me!

Lubeck · February 6, 2007

Yeah i'm sure i would, But I'm not going to London to see the game. Thats a little far for me!

You are just afraid of the hooligans busting your head open.

jerseygiantfan · February 6, 2007

You are just afraid of the hooligans busting your head open.

what hooligans? and why would they bust my head open?

TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt · February 6, 2007

Believe it or not....there are a couple of amatuer American football leagues in France and it is much more popular there in Frogland than in England or Deutschland. I have a French friend with whom I correspond with almost daily (ex soldier and a tanker like my father was; so he is not a prissy anti-American Frog - That's his internet name too Hian the Frog) and he is a big fan of football. The only thing I wish I could beat out of him is his love of the 69'ers....bad Froggie bad Froggie now go and wash those armpits or something.

UK-Giantsfan · February 10, 2007

American football much more popular in Frogland than in England or Deutschland.

sorry...not true sir !

there were an estimated 130,000 fans who played fantasy football this year in Europe

90,000 were in the UK

20,000 were in Holland and Germany

20,000 the rest of Europe in total ( very few indeed from France )

regards

UK

TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt · February 10, 2007

sorry...not true sir !

there were an estimated 130,000 fans who played fantasy football this year in Europe

90,000 were in the UK

20,000 were in Holland and Germany

20,000 the rest of Europe in total ( very few indeed from France )

regards

UK

I stand corrected. :doh: Last time I heard way back in the infancy of the NFL Europe there was mention that the Frogs had a couple of amatuer/semi-pro leagues. I wonder if they are still around.

jerseygiantfan · February 11, 2007

Tiki scores TD as NFC falls to AFC

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tiki Barber reaches the end zone for the final time in his career during yesterday's Pro Bowl.

HONOLULU - Even while the star-studded AFC cruised to a comfortable lead in the Pro Bowl, Carson Palmer could sense a wacky finish lurking just beyond everybody's control.

"With this much talent, anybody could change the game at any time," the Cincinnati quarterback said. "You've got to expect something crazy to happen, because it will."

Palmer's hunch proved correct in the improbable final minutes - but thanks to Palmer's poise and a costly NFC penalty, the AFC's Hawaiian vacation ended with another win.

Nate Kaeding kicked a 21-yard field goal as time expired to cap another strong drive led by Palmer, the MVP of the AFC's 31-28 victory Saturday in the 57th edition of the NFL's all-star game.

The NFC trailed 28-14 with 3 minutes to play before injecting a little drama into this normally mellow exhibition. Steven Jackson scored on a fourth-down TD run, and Ronde Barber recovered an onside kick to set up Anquan Boldin's 47-yard TD catch from Tony Romo with 1:48 left - followed by a tying 2-point conversion catch by Carolina's Steve Smith.

Suddenly, the AFC's $40,000 bonuses for winning the game were in doubt. But just as quickly as the NFC's playmakers got back in the game, the AFC got it together again.

"I had a feeling they were going to have one more shot," Jackson said. "These games are all about who lands the last punch, and Carson is a great player."

Palmer, who passed for 190 yards and two touchdowns, calmly got the AFC across midfield - and then Arizona's Adrian Wilson, mistakenly believing Palmer's long pass had been tipped, leveled Chad Johnson at the goal line before the throw reached them.

The 39-yard pass-interference penalty put the ball near the goal line. San Diego's Kaeding easily made his field goal, setting off fireworks at sold-out Aloha Stadium for the talent-rich AFC's eighth win in the last 11 Pro Bowls.

Palmer threw a 42-yard TD pass to Johnson and a 72-yarder to Reggie Wayne, and Baltimore's Ed Reed intercepted two passes before the frantic finish. Palmer, who took over for Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning after just two series, went 8-for-17 in his first Pro Bowl appearance after missing last season's game with a knee injury.

"This is all just a fun game," said Reed, who tied the Pro Bowl record for interceptions. "Carson made two great throws, and those guys made great catches. We needed those points."

League MVP LaDainian Tomlinson also ran for a score as the AFC underlined its regular-season superiority - but until things got tight, neither side cared much about the result in the league's annual postseason showcase.

Instead, they welcomed new stars such as Vince Young - the first rookie quarterback here since Dan Marino in 1984 - and said goodbye to older pros who won't be back.

Tiki Barber, the New York Giants' running back who's retiring after a 10-year career, scored on a 1-yard run in the second quarter. Kansas City guard Will Shields, who appeared in his record-tying 12th Pro Bowl, also is contemplating retirement.

Baltimore's Adalius Thomas returned Marc Bulger's fumble 70 yards for a confusing score in the first half, but there was no confusion about the game's best play: Sean Taylor, the maverick Washington safety, broke the unwritten rule about hard hits in an exhibition when he viciously leveled Buffalo punter Brian Moorman on an attempted fake in the third quarter.

"Believe it or not, it wasn't as bad as it looked," Moorman said. "It was just hard. It took me a second to realize that it didn't hurt so bad, so I got right back up."

Tiki Barber threw an interception and rushed for just 4 yards on seven carries, but the veteran scored the game's first touchdown. He got a standing ovation from the crowd and his fellow players when a video tribute to his career was shown on the scoreboard with 1:58 to play.

"I've been ready for this for a while, and I've been expecting it," Barber said. "I'm excited. I'm not sad and upset that it's over. I'm just real happy that it happened the way that it did, and I achieved all that I have, and get to go out on my terms."

Romo passed for 156 yards in the second half, and San Francisco's Frank Gore made an early TD run. The crowd actually booed Romo in the second half as the NFC's early comeback attempt stalled, but the Dallas quarterback led three strong final drives.

He was stopped on a fourth-down quarterback keeper on the first drive, but after Young fumbled, Jackson made a gutsy scoring run on another fourth down with 2:54 to play. The NFC tried a fake on the conversion attempt, but Romo - who had no trouble holding for kicks after his infamous flub in a playoff loss to Seattle - couldn't find an open receiver.

Manning capped his week of tropical relaxation with 67 yards passing in just two series as the AFC's starting quarterback. NFC starter Drew Brees also played just two series before dislocating his left elbow - a scary moment for Sean Payton, his coach with both the Saints and the NFC squad, but one that's unlikely to affect next season.

Originally published on February 11, 2007

jerseygiantfan · February 13, 2007

Reese's Giant purge

Luke, LaVar, Emmons all told to take a hike

BY RALPH VACCHIANO

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Carlos Emmons ...

... LaVar Arrington ...

... and Luke Petitgout all had injury-plagued seasons for the Giants, which leads to their release yesterday in a stunning shakeup.

Jerry Reese's first move as the new general manager of the Giants was big and unexpected.

And he might just be getting started.

Showing that he's serious about making the Giants a younger, healthier team, the first-year GM said goodbye yesterday to three expensive, injury-plagued veterans - left tackle Luke Petitgout and linebackers LaVar Arrington and Carlos Emmons. Combined, the trio missed 23 games last season and was due nearly $8 million in salary this year.

Just moments after the Giants announced that Petitgout had been released, his main backup, Bob Whitfield, announced his retirement on Sirius NFL radio - a move that may have been done because he was about to get cut, too. And there still could be more cuts coming, with receiver Tim Carter and kick returner Chad Morton - two other injury-plagued Giants - possibly on the chopping block, according to a source.

The release of Emmons wasn't much of a surprise, since he was hardly healthy during his three seasons with the team. But the axing of Arrington and Petitgout was a shock. Arrington had just completed the first year of a seven-year, $49 million contract, and said he was progressing nicely in his rehab from the torn Achilles he suffered on Oct. 23.

Petitgout was the Giants' best lineman and was having his finest season before he broke his leg on Nov. 12, and was so valuable that the team refused to place him on injured reserve until the final week in the slim hope he'd be available for the playoffs.

"Luke has been a valuable performer for our team," Reese said in a statement released by the Giants. "Throughout his career he showed his versatility and toughness. Because of that, this was a difficult decision, but it was one we felt we had to make to take the first steps in improving our team for 2007. Carlos has had a tough time staying on the field consistently because of injuries the past couple years. LaVar's situation is unfortunate because he was just starting to really become a factor in our defense at the time of his injury."

"These are difficult decisions," Tom Coughlin added in the same statement. "But as Jerry and I looked at the roster, they are decisions we felt we had to make."

Neither Reese nor Coughlin was available to explain the moves any further, but a team source said they were all the result of a combination of factors - reliability, durability, performance and money. Injuries have destroyed all three of Coughlin's teams with the Giants, and were a huge factor in last season's second-half collapse. That's a problem Reese is determined to correct.

And the three players who were cut were huge parts of the problem. Emmons, 33, had missed 11 games over the last two seasons and hadn't started all 16 games since 2001. The 28-year-old Arrington - who called the Giants "a class organization" yesterday and indicated he's considering retirement - has had two knee surgeries and Achillies surgery in the past three seasons, in which he's played only 23 games.

Compared to those two, the 30-year-old Petitgout has been relatively durable, though he's been plagued by a chronically bad back.

Cutting them not only gives the Giants a chance to get younger, more durable players at those positions, it also saves them $1.6 million against the 2007 salary cap. Add in the savings from two retirements - Tiki Barber's retirement became official yesterday - and the Giants have cleared about $6 million in salary cap space, leaving them approximately $20 million under the $109 million cap.

That could make Reese a major player in the open market, where he is expected to focus his efforts on linebackers and cornerbacks. David Diehl, who started the final two games of last season at left tackle, is the most likely candidate to replace Petitgout. And Rich Seubert could step in and replace Diehl at left guard, especially if free agent center Shaun O'Hara is re-signed.

Originally published on February 13, 2007

jerseygiantfan · February 13, 2007

Tiki's set to tackle TV news

Barber inks NBC deal to appear on 'Today' & NFL pregame show

BY BOB RAISSMAN

and LEO STANDORA

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Barber has signed multiyear NBC deal.

Tiki time is about to take off.

Tiki Barber, the magnetic star running back of the New York Giants, has signed a multiyear deal with NBC News and Sports and will start work in April, sources told the Daily News.

Terms of the multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract were unavailable, but one thing is clear: Television viewers will be seeing an awful lot of Barber's handsome mug in the coming years.

Barber, 31, who broke Giants fans' hearts when he retired at the peak of his career, will be a correspondent on the "Today" show. He will also join the team on NBC's "Football Night In America," the NFL pregame show on Sunday night, sources said.

He will also have a role in the 2008 and 2010 Olympic telecasts and possibly handle a variety of other assignments from other NBC news shows.

NBC will make the formal announcement today.

The deal ended a reported bidding war with the Fox network for the talented Barber, the Giants' all-time leading rusher.

But now that Barber will be carrying the ball for NBC, he'll be using a different set of skills: his easygoing manner, winning smile and poise in front of the cameras.

Those talents were evident when he was as host of the weekly "Fox and Friends" morning news show until his contract expired last fall.

ESPN and Disney, which own ABC, reportedly also were courting Barber.

Sources said Barber made it clear to NBC that he has no interest in being pigeonholed as a sports reporter or commentator but hopes to be an all-round news broadcaster.

In interviews, he has often named Matt Lauer, co-host of "Today," as the type of broadcasting personality he hoped to become. Now, he will be working with Lauer on the popular morning program.

During his career, Barber rushed for 10,449 yards, earning him trips to three Pro Bowls. In 2005, he was the NFL's top yardage gainer from scrimmage, and from 2000 to 2006, he gained the most yards from scrimmage by any NFL running back in any seven-year period.

Originally published on February 13, 2007

jerseygiantfan · February 13, 2007

GM's risky business

Must be right on Luke

Jerry Reese didn't need much time to start discarding the broken-down team Ernie Accorsi left behind.

The pressure is on Reese to reshape the Giants on the run, get them deeper into the playoffs than a wild-card loss and avoid a fourth straight season of debilitating injuries. He started yesterday by cutting three veterans, including the starting left tackle, one of the hardest and most important positions to fill with a quality player.

When he was promoted to general manager on Jan.16, Reese said he was "sick" that the playoffs were still going on and the Giants were out of them.

Clearly, he was not going to be content taking the same team back into training camp that turned a 6-2 start into a 2-6 nightmare finish. He inherited Tom Coughlin, who was given a one-year extension less than one week before Reese was given his new job. So, if the team was going to be contructed in Reese's image, he had to start carving up the roster, which has been decimated by injuries four years in a row, especially in the second half of the season.

If that doesn't work and the Giants have a miserable season, then Coughlin will be gone, too. He barely made it back for the 2007 season. Reese didn't really have a choice with Coughlin this year. He will next year.

Reese proved yesterday he has guts and is not afraid to take chances, key ingredients in the volatile personnel business. Cutting LaVar Arrington and Carlos Emmons was no surprise.

Petitgout was never a great player for the Giants, he never made a Pro Bowl and he battled back problems. But before he broke his leg in the ninth game of last season against Chicago, Petitgout was having his best season and was the Giants' best offensive lineman, and cutting him is a risky move.

The Giants really missed Petitgout when he went down. Eli Manning missed him. He was a 6-6, 310-pound security blanket on Manning's blind side. Tiki Barber, who picked up so many of his yards the last few years of his career going left behind Petitgout, really missed him.

But Petitgout will be 31 in June and was due to make $5 million this season. It was Accorsi, not Reese, who drafted him in the first round in 1999 and then gave him a six-year, $30 million extension in 2003 that included $9.75 million to sign. If anybody in the organization had loyalty to Petitgout, it was Accorsi, who is now retired and getting ready to attend spring training.

"Luke has been a valuable performer for our team," Reese said. "Throughout his career he showed his versatility and toughness. Because of that, this was a difficult decision, but it was one we felt we had to make to take the first steps in improving our team for 2007."

The Giants are well-positioned to compete in what will be a wild free agent market, with nearly half the teams at least $15 million under the $109 million salary cap. The Giants are in that neighborhood.

Getting rid of Petitgout means the Giants must feel good about their chances of re-signing free agent center Shaun O'Hara. Because if O'Hara leaves, Reese will have to do some major scrambling to make sure Manning is properly protected.

Assuming O'Hara is back, the Giants likely will move David Diehl from left guard to left tackle, where he started the last two games of the season after Coughlin got fed up with Bob Whitfield, who is retiring. Rich Seubert will take over at left guard, but if O'Hara leaves, Seubert would have to play center. The right side is set with Chris Snee at guard and Kareem McKenzie at tackle.

Reese must construct a team that can stay healthy. That means getting younger. The Giants already got younger at general manger. Jerry Reese is 43 years old. He is young, aggressive and not afraid to shake things up. Dumping the left tackle sends a pretty strong message to the rest of the team: This is now his team and what happened last year is not acceptable. It was enough to make him sick.

Originally published on February 13, 2007

jerseygiantfan · February 14, 2007

Giants fans may have been able to see Tiki Barber in Big Blue's huddle for another season, if not for the physical beating he received playing under head coach Tom Coughlin. Barber, speaking after yesterday's press conference that formally announced his three-year broadcasting contract with NBC, implied that Coughlin has problems relating to players on the team, and that it was an "act of God" that the physical demands the coach placed on him did not result in a serious injury. "Coach Coughlin is very hard-nosed, and I didn't get a lot of time off, couldn't sit down and rest myself, and so it was a constant grind - a physical grind on me that started to take its toll," said Barber. "The grind took its toll on me and really forced me to start thinking about what I wanted to do next. And that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing, for me at least. Maybe not for the Giants, because they lose one of their great players, but for me, it is."

Posted February 14, by Ben Maller

jerseygiantfan · February 14, 2007

If the Giants want to go in a different direction and think about moving Pierce to the weak side, they could be interested in the Rams' London Fletcher-Baker, a middle linebacker who will be 32 next season but - and this is very important to Reese - has never missed a game in his career.

Posted February 14, by Ben Maller

jerseygiantfan · February 18, 2007

Never too early to look ahead to 2007 season

By John Clayton

ESPN.com

Archive

The rich may not be able to get richer in 2007, but they sure have a great chance of staying rich.

The NFL is entering a different period of free agency. Plan B in the late 1980s was a preview. It gave teams the taste of being able to bid for players even though teams controlled the fate of more than 30 they wanted to keep. The early and mid-1990s offered the chance to experiment. Some experiments succeeded. Others failed. By 2000, it was pretty evident championship teams could be purchased through free agency.

The new era of free agency will turn more toward maintenance than acquisition. The cap increases to $109 million this year and there won't be enough top players in free agency to merit that much money.

The good news is that teams can keep most of their top free agents. The bad news is the price will go up.

This new world will create new strategies. Now, teams have the luxury of placing a franchise tag on their top free agents. The price of the top players to hit the market will skyrocket, making for a fast market at the start of March. It will be hard for any team to get more than two or three high-priced free agents.

Teams on the rise are the Titans, 49ers, Cardinals and possibly the Packers. The NFC West is rapidly improving. The NFC North is the league's worst division.

The league is also heading into a period of coaching instability. As many as 11 franchises have coaches on the hot seat.

Here's a look ahead at the 2007 season.

New York Giants

Cap room: $9.4 million

As long as Eli Manning doesn't get worse, the Giants should at least be a contender for a wild-card spot or the NFC East title. The offense simply can't afford for him to regress, especially considering Tiki Barber has retired. The defense could take a hit, though. The Giants could cut linebacker Carlos Emmons, but they have two defenders -- Michael Strahan and LaVar Arrington -- coming off major foot or leg injuries and it is possible both players might not be the same. If that's the case, the defense could suffer a drop in production. Tom Coughlin is clearly fighting for his head-coaching life. He signed a one-year extension for 2008, but he has to win now. Two playoff appearances are not enough to satisfy ownership. Coughlin needs to get deep into the playoffs and he needs to make Manning a better quarterback. He brought in Chris Palmer as the quarterback coach and moved Kevin Gilbride over to offensive coordinator. The Giants have only nine free agents, but center Shaun O'Hara sticks out as the best of the crop. It would be hard to lose him because New York needs to get better along the offensive line, not worse. The Giants also need more speed at the wide receiver position. New York didn't really improve much in 2006. An easier schedule, though, could provide one or two wins next season.

Sorry this is a little old.

jerseygiantfan · February 24, 2007

Coughlin regrets Tiki situation, sort of

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Associated Press

Posted: 12 hours ago

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Tom Coughlin has one regret about Tiki Barber: He couldn't persuade the New York Giants running back to keep his opinions out of the public spotlight.

On Friday, the New York Giants coach told reporters during the NFL's annual scouting combine he wished Barber hadn't used the media to voice his strong ideas and wasn't sure why Barber blamed the coaching staff for pushing him into retirement.

Barber's latest comments came during a news conference when he was hired by NBC.

"I do not know what this is all about," Coughlin said. "I was under the impression he was having a press conference to announce his new role with NBC, and then to find out that he turned around and talked about something like this. ... I think to give the illusion that I had something to do with his retirement, I don't quite follow that."

Barber, who retired after last season and will now work on the "Today" show and Sunday Night Football broadcasts, criticized Coughlin recently for not giving him enough rest during the practice week. He said there were days he couldn't move and that Coughlin was upset he could only go half-speed, which forced him into what some considered an early retirement.

It wasn't the first time Barber caused a stir.

Barber announced his pending retirement at midseason, a distraction that hovered over the Giants the rest of the year.

After a playoff loss in 2005, Barber also criticized the Giants playcalling, and tight end Jeremy Shockey joined the chorus last season when he said he didn't think coaches were calling his number enough.

Coughlin managed to keep his job after barely making the playoffs in 2006 and wants to create a new environment this year.

"Something that I've tried to do in our locker room is convince people that these types of matters don't have to go outside of the team," Coughlin said. "They stay within, they can be handled within. They don't have to be addressed through the media."

Coughlin may have unintentionally fallen into the same trap.

Asked about Eli Manning's struggles late last season, Coughlin said he couldn't explain it and that he expects his franchise quarterback to perform better this year.

"In our postseason discussions with Eli, consistency became an issue," he said. "He did improve his passing percentage a little bit higher but not to where we think he can be. One of the issues that I had was the inconsistency issue, and the fact the our offensive team, quite frankly, didn't score enough points."

Coughlin followed that by praising Manning's work ethic and said he was confident Manning would improve in his fourth season with the Giants.

"We definitely feel like he is still the quarterback of the future for the New York Giants," he said. "He can win the Super Bowl."

It was clear that Coughlin was more upset with how Barber voiced his opinions, by talking to the media rather than the coaches themselves.

"My position is that a team is like a family and if someone has something they would like to discuss, they're more than welcome to come to my office, sit down, across from me and discuss it," Coughlin said. "My one regret, I would say, is not being able to convince Tiki."

jerseygiantfan · February 24, 2007