The New York Giants are stuck in the midst of a three-game losing streak which despite all good intentions, has sapped some of the energy from the locker room. However, head coach Tom Coughlin is hoping that his leadership council will come through as beacons of light in what’s otherwise been a dark three-week period.
The leadership council, first established by Coughlin a few years ago, is a group of 14 veteran players who are the go-between the head coach and the rest of the team.
“I usually have a lot of information to share with them, and then there’s a point in which they can ask me questions about it. For as long as we’ve been doing this, it’s an information sharing thing from me to them and then they try to understand what I’m saying and they ask questions about it.”
Coughlin said that the players on his leadership council, which consists of consists of QB Eli Manning; OL Shaun O’Hara, Rich Seubert, David Diehl, and Chris Snee; DL Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Mathias Kiwanuka, and Fred Robbins; RB Brandon Jacobs; P Jeff Feagles; LB Antonio Pierce; CB Corey Webster; and WR Domenik Hixon, have done a good job of getting the desired messages across.
“They’re good,” he said. “Whatever the discussion is about, that’s their role to communicate it to the other players so that when I begin to talk about it, they’ve heard about it, they have interpreted it and they know exactly what I mean by it. We’ve always done a pretty good job of that.”
However when times are tough, such as when a team is in the idle of a three-game losing streak that has included two embarrassing blow-out losses, even the toughest of leaders won’t have it easy. One of their biggest challenges is keeping the morale up so that the practices and team meetings can be productive. Another is nipping any finger pointing or excuse making in the bud before it develops into a full-blown locker room cancer.
“The number one thing I think is anytime you lose, you’re down,” Coughlin said when asked what message he’s asked his leadership council to emphasize in the locker room. “We talked about that it’s realizing that it’s normal but having to be above that. Having to look at what are the problems and go about our business of rectifying them. We’re not an excuse outfit. I think you have to understand that things have to improve.”
The Giants coach, however, is confident that his leaders can keep the spirits up and help the rest of the team remain focuses in the weeks ahead as they attempt to right the ship.
“Leaders are lifters,” Coughlin said. “Normally what has to happen when a team does fight its way out of a problem is your best players have to show the way. The guys that are in the role of foot soldiers will play and work their tails off, but what ultimately shows is that the guys who are recognized as your quality players, they have to play themselves into a position where they’re showing the way.”
“We’re also halfway through the season,” he continued. “The message really is it’s a one game season for us. We have a bye coming up – fortunately it was where you’d like to have a bye. So use it properly and utilize everything we possibly can to put ourselves in a position to win. If and do we do win, then the bye can be something that helps us, reinforces us and gives us a lift when we need it.”
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Coughlin was asked if there were any roster moves on the immediate horizon. “They’re our 53; they are our team,” he said of the current roster. “We have to get it done.”
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Here’s a statistical oddity for those of you in the “Fire Bill Sheridan club” to chew on. Despite their problems on defense, the Giants are still the top-ranked defensive unit in the NFC going into this weekend’s game. Overall, they’re the NFL’s third best, though in terms of the league ranking, they’re 19th against the run and third against the pass.
Want more statistical oddities? The Giants have the league’s fifth best offense. New York is ranked seventh in the rush and 11th in the passing game.
