'Radio Rolle' Back At It Again

[Mr. P]

 

Antrel Rolle keeps getting closer and closer and closer and closer to letting everyone know exactly what it is about Tom Coughlin that drives him nuts.

 

Early in the season, he was talking about the coach’s “control” of the locker room – and not in a good way.

 

In Week 17, he said he wasn’t surprised the team collapsed because he saw things start to “fade,” things that involve the coaches and players. Things that involve a team’s attitude.

 

And yesterday, in an interview with WQAM in Miami, the Giants’ safety said exactly what his mother, Armelia, said in Week 3: he’s not having fun playing for Coughlin.

 

“On a personal level he's one of the best guys you could be around," Rolle said during the chat with former WFAN host Sid Rosenberg. "Very caring. Honest guy. Very straightforward."

 

But as a coach?

 

"Honestly, that's where the problem comes with me, as a coach,” Rolle continued. “Since I’ve been playing the game since the age of 6, to me it’s never been about the money, it’s never been about anything more than winning and having fun.”

 

Asked if he has fun playing for Coughlin, Rolle replied, “Honestly, I’m not having the fun I’m used to having.”

 

But this was about more than the level of fun for Rolle. Though we’re still waiting for specifics, he continued to speak in generalities about the coach’s control and how it has an adverse effect on the team.

 

“When you're talking about the coaching side of things, do I feel like things are a little too uptight? Yeah, I do,” Rolle said. “I feel like if he just loosened up just a little bit, still run the ship the way you want to run it, still run the program the way you want to run it but let us have a little fun, because at the end of the day that's what it's all about.”

 

Rolle continued, “And people like to talk about Rex Ryan and this that and the other, that team is going to war for him.”

 

We’ll take our first timeout here to remind everyone Rolle’s comments don’t necessarily indicate a team mutiny. He’s one of 53 players in that locker room, and many of the other 52 have defended Coughlin in recent weeks. And upon announcing Coughlin will return next season, John Mara said the coach hasn’t lost the locker room.

 

But Rolle had some company on the air Monday in fellow South Florida native Kenny Phillips, who toed the line of criticizing Coughlin while praising Ryan.

 

"I would love to play for a guy like Rex," Phillips said. "He goes to bat for his players. He'll take the blame, he allows you to be you. He's not asking you to hide. If you're a guy who likes to talk, go out and talk, long as you back it up. Like 'Trel said, His guys are playing for him and I'd love to be a part of that."

 

We’ll take our second timeout to note Coughlin repeatedly took the blame for losses. And I mean repeatedly. I remember the postgame press conference after the loss to the Titans when he said the turnovers and penalties were “my responsibility. The way in which we play in between the lines is my responsibility and I'm taking full responsibility for that.”

 

I followed up by asking him how in the heck such dumb, simple mistakes could be his fault and he replied with a long answer that ended with, “We gave a game away that we should have won and I'll take the responsibility for that.”

kenny-phillips-new-york-giants-118.jpg.JPGWilliam Perlman/The Star-LedgerGiants safety Kenny Phillips said he would love to play for a coach like Rex Ryan.

 

Apparently that and the other instances of Coughlin taking the blame weren’t good enough for Phillips and Rolle.

 

“At the end of the day, if I’m not doing what I need to do as a player, you come and tell me, and we sit down and talk about it and I’m going to try to do whatever I can to get better at it. That’s how I am,” Rolle said. “I take coaching, I can take the constructive criticism. That’s how I am. And I feel like everyone else in this league should also take it the same way.”

 

Now all that being said about Coughlin taking the blame, perhaps it’s time for him to once again re-evaluate his relationship with the players, as he did in 2007 when he was hanging by a thread and showed his team his human side on the way to the Super Bowl.

 

Coughlin would surely prefer not to make it seem like one or two players can shoot their mouth off a thousand miles away and exact change by doing so. But deep down, maybe Rolle and Phillips have a point.

 

“If you match us up against the Jets, do I think they're a better team? No, I don't think so at all,” Rolle said. “But when it comes to their chemistry, I think their chemistry might be better than ours. I think they have a lot more fun than we have.

 

“At the end of the day, yeah, we're professional athletes. Yeah, we get paid a lot of money to do what we do but we're all human. No one is a robot at this level. So we do have feelings, we do all have the same kind of familiarity as far as character, and we like to have fun."

 

Now, here’s where it got slightly ridiculous: Rolle said while he was with the Cardinals under Ken Whisenhunt “we had fun when we won and we had fun when we lost.” (On a somewhat related note, Phillips later said about the Giants’ fans, “I mean they’re great but at the same time, like you said, they can definitely be nasty. … But if you’re out there making plays they’re going to cheer for you they’re going to stand behind you. You just gotta give them something to cheer about and we didn’t do that this year.”)

 

And again, Rolle made it seem like Ryan’s playful personality would lead him to play harder.

 

"People want to talk about Rex Ryan and this, that and the other, that team is going to war for him," Rolle said. "They would die for him."

 

Rolle, who admitted he was to blame for his own mental mistakes this season, is hoping one day he’d be ready to die for Coughlin.

 

“As a coach he does lot of great things, he does a lot of things the right way, the way they need to be done,” Rolle said. “But he has to understand in his team we have a great team, we don't have a problematic team, we don’t have guys with discipline problems. We're going to pretty much handle our ourselves outside of football.”

 

We’ll take our third and final timeout here to suggest this very interview is a sign of discipline problems and guys who aren’t handling themselves well outside of football.

 

“When it comes to football we're going to take care of our business on the field,” Rolle concluded. “Just let us have a little fun a little bit, man. That’s it. That’s it.”

 

http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2011/01/giants_antrel_rolle_says_playi.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

so you didn't know what coughlin was all about before signing with the giants? shut the fuck up.

[Mr. P]

shit sorry already posted.

[Sephiroth]

Isn't this the guy who said something to the effect of "you never boo your team, ever?" Can someone be a little more out of touch?

 

If he wanted to play for Rex Ryan, he should have signed with the Jets. Rolle needs to shut his mouth

[JackStroud]

are you as a fan having fun watching this aged lunatic screaming and gesturing, throwing his clipboard while he does not sit RBs who have utter disregard for the football they are entrusted to carry?

 

Is this your idea of fun......watching an unispired talented team got to green Bay and get their asses handed to them in what was in reality a playoff game???

 

they dont think possessionn, they think yardage.......possession comes first, yardage second

 

until they learn that lesson nail their asses to the bench. The team is being mis-managed especially on game day

 

Coughlin always "takes the blame" but i do not think he is sincere.....I have a voice stress analyzer.....I should hook it up and let id decipher coughlin's "I take the blame" startements.

[BIGBLUE01]

IMO, this is something easily fixed. Alot of players, Strahan included, complained a similiar way the yr we won it all. Things came together after everyone talked it out. Hes not sayin..."fuck this coach and friggin team, its hell here....." Hes merely sayinhg he thought itd be more fun playin for a guy who he respects. He said it clearly in the interview, Tom is a great guy on a personal level. They will get him happy, or he will find it himself soon, Im sure.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

Isn't this the guy who said something to the effect of "you never boo your team, ever?" Can someone be a little more out of touch?

 

If he wanted to play for Rex Ryan, he should have signed with the Jets. Rolle needs to shut his mouth

 

 

Sure I'll continue to blithely cheer for you man....as you contribute toward giving away a game to our hated rival; hooray...always cheer for my Giants as they gift wrap a game that was won by simply playing the game out...yes I cheered as our hated rival walked off the field with a gift...and promptly lost in the first round of the playoffs as they usually do except when playing us....hear the cheers Rolle... Happy now.

[boohyah]

Think of how good a team we would have if these guys played up to their mouths potential.

 

Kenny Phillips right now would have to wait till some of the Jets got hurt to actually play for Ryan.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

Yes both of them were involved in big plays during the Philadelphia game where if one of them a) tackles Celek or b) follow his assignment and not freelance and attempt to blitz Vick when you are supposed to be in coverage...well they might still be competing with the NY Turbo Props for the Prize for Chirping.