Giants MLB Antonio Pierce is a prideful individual who’s never been shy with sharing his thoughts. But this week, Pierce said he’s done talking off the field and is instead focusing on revving up his game in hopes of being one of the contributing factors to help turn around a Giants defense that has been embarrassed beyond words the last three weeks.
“We don’t need to talk; we can talk on Sundays,” Pierce said. “Right now our talk is doing nothing for us so we have to go back to what Coach Coughlin preaches – ‘Talk is cheap, play the game.’ We have to go out there this Sunday as it’s one of our biggest games of the year.”
The Giants are hoping to steady a ship that has seen its defense repeatedly gashed and embarrassed by opponents. According to Pierce, the problems on defense have extended beyond the Xs and Os. There have been mental errors, miscommunications, and guys not knowing where they’re supposed to be. In short, the Giants defense has made numerous mistakes that have resulted in their being knocked hard off their pedestal where earlier in the season, they enjoyed their position amongst the league’s top ranked defenses.
“I think it’s about our star payers or who people considering to be our star players playing like stars. They guys who are solid and contribute need to contribute even more. Everyone needs to do a little more right now. Obviously what we’re doing right now isn’t working.
“It has nothing to do with Xs and Os. Sometimes you have to go above the Xs and Os, play a little harder and do the little things , have energy and show some kind of energy and passion about the game because it passes you by pretty quick and we don’t want to see the season pass us by.”
To his credit, Pierce acknowledged his partin the defense's problems. “I’ve probably been the biggest culprit of everything,” he said. “If I’m the guy they call the leader of the defense , then I need to do a better job, and I plan on doing that this week.”
In the meantime, head coach Tom Coughlin said he plans on challenging his leaders to look within and do some constructive self scouting in terms of identifying what they can do better. Pierce, however, said it’s unnecessary for the coach to do so because the circumstances that have come about thanks to their three-game losing streak are all the challenge they need.
“We’re on a three-game losing streak, and we’re turning into pretty much the laughing stock as far as how we play on defense, so he doesn’t need to call any of us out this week,” he said. “We had a very good practice today. Guys were focused and energetic, just what we needed – probably one of our best Wednesdays so far. This is a big game coming up. We’re going into our bye week and the second half of our season, and we need to change things and get back on the winning track.”
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LB Michael Boley, who is coming off knee surgery, estimated that he took about 50 percent of the snaps in today’s workout and he was optimistic about his recovery. However, Boley stopped short of saying that he would be ready to go this weekend when the Giants host the San Diego Chargers.
“It’s a young season. It’s not one of those cases where I say I’m rushing to get back. The season is still young and we still have another half of the season. There’s no hurry.”
Boley though, didn’t deny that he was encouraged by the progress he’s made. “It was great to be able to run around a little bit with my teammates instead of working on the side with the trainers. If it were up to me, I’d play every week. But I think this is a big step forward. I think it’s one of those things where in my mind that starting with today and seeing how things go throughout the week, I could play, it’s possible but then again, we’ll have to see how things go."
Certainly the Giants would love to have Boley’s athleticism back in the lineup and Boley admitted that he’d like to be back in there. But he knows that he has to continue to be smart with managing his injury lest he suffer a setback.
“I don’t think I suffered any setbacks today as far as the things I’ve done," he said. "The only thing I can do is take whatever my knee gives me. I can’t sit here and say I’m 100% right now, but we’ll see how the week goes.”
While Boley didn’t rule himself out for Sunday, he dismissed the notion that he would wait until after the bye week to return to action regardless. “I’m not going to look at the bye week as another chance to have a week off; that’s not what I want at all,” he said. “There’s no guy in here that will say he wants an extra week off from the game.”
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Normally the Giants look at the season as a sprint rather than a marathon, which means they don’t place any extra emphasis on any one game. However, this week is the exception given what’s at stake, at least according to QB Eli Manning.
“You don’t like to put too much pressure on one game, but I think in this scenario, that’s what you have to do,” Manning said of the need for his team to snap its three-game losing streak. “We need to get a win going into the bye week and get back to paying our style of football and performing better than we have been. Don’t think too much about it; just do our job.”
Manning, meanwhile, continues to insist that he’s physically fine and that his foot has not been a factor in his performance when it comes to his mechanics. “I think my mechanics are fine,” he said. “You can get off a little bit, but it’s all repetition and getting back to it in practice. You can see something from week to week you want to fix.
“I think for the most part, I’m throwing the ball pretty accurately. There are always a few throws you want to have back but for us, it’s about getting back to being consistent and getting into our rhythm and not getting so down that we get out of our style of offense.”
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DT Chris Canty said that as far as he was aware, he participated fully and he’s hoping that like in days past, he’ll come in tomorrow no worse for the wear.
When he does return to game action, Canty feels that one advantage he’ll have is his fresh legs. “I think that’s one of the biggest things I have going for me,” he said. “I haven’t through the grind of the last eight week like everyone else, so I have to use that to my advantage. There are some things I have to work on and there’s a lot of football I’ve missed. I have to use whatever I have going for me in those circumstances.”
Canty dismissed the idea that the defense has been missing a swagger during the losing streak. “I’m not going to say that. I think it’s just a matter of everyone getting on the same page and going out there and executing. We have some tremendous football players on this team in all three facets of the game. I really think it’s just a matter of going out there and playing together as a team.”
One challenge that still remains for Canty is getting into ‘football shape.’ “That definitely comes from the game,” he said. “Even though we try to simulate the game speed and temp in practice, there’s nothing like the game speed, game tempo.”
So does he think he'll be ready for Sunday? “Absolutely,” he said without hesitating.
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CB Aaron Ross said he is optimistic of being able to return to at least individual drills next week during the team’s bye. Ross has been running and stretching on the sidelines and reported that he’s had no pain or soreness of late, which has him optimistic about his chances for a return. “I won’t know completely until there’s a guy standing in front of me,” he said about his precise progress, “But I do feel good right now.”
