T-Rock's Take on the Giants

So, the nasty, awful Media is at it again... Can't we just let those poor Giants alone?

I was not there at the OK Corral today, but it sounded like fun once again. No Strahan, but Plaxico spoke up and, as always, spoke his mind. "My high school coach once told me I dance like everybody walks," he said, also adding that he loves the media and understands we have a job to do.

Antonio Pierce did some Media-bashing, but when he does it -- with that sly smile on his face -- somehow, it sounds OK.

I said it yesterday and I'll say it again: If the Giants feel like they have to circle the wagons and blame us for their woes, so be it. If they win on Sunday, we'll hear all the "You guys didn't respect us" cliches.

If they lose, though... Watch out.

The bigger reason for a win or a loss will not be the evil Media -- of which the biggest mouths in the locker room, Strahan, Barber and Shockey, are members by virtue of their outside media arrangements -- but getting injured guys back.

Osi, Brandon Short and Sam Madison all practiced again and it sounds as if they'll play on Sunday. Strahan didn't practice yesterday, but I'm leaning towards him playing even more now. Corey Webster (toe) is a no-go, but Madison and McQuarters sounds a lot better than Webster and anybody at CB.

So, dear readers, I will take my evil self out to the stadium again tomorrow and stir up my bubbling cauldron of evilness. Just remember who it was that made Strahan call out his teammate on the radio, or made Tiki call out his coaches, or made Shockey... well, Shockey. It's us. We're evil. If there were no Media to portray these guys in such a negative light, they would be free to deliver their positive messages of goodness and sunshine.

Sorry for the extended sarcasm... I love my job, and so do most athletes. It gets tiring, being the scapegoat all the time.

And Keith, if we were banned from the locker room, who would be left to get the Giants all riled up?

By now, if you care about such things, you know that Michael Strahan turned his own divisive words from Monday morning, when he said he planned to speak to Plaxico Burress about being labeled a quitter, into an attack on the media -- specifically, Kelly Naqi of ESPN. Blauber blogged the stuff earlier for me, so I appreciate that.

Now, I get to do the analysis.

Basically, Strahan made a thinly veiled attempt to make this situation "Us vs. Them" -- the Giants players against the dreaded media. Just as Tiki Barber went public with his criticism of the game plan in Jacksonville last week to a) get some complaints off his chest and b) distract us all from ripping Eli Manning, Strahan is trying to keep the team together.

The difference here is that it was Strahan who started this whole thing with what he said on WFAN Monday morning. No one tricked him into calling out Burress, who said today that Strahan never personally spoke to him nor did Plax hear what Strahan said; strange that Burress, who did kind of quit on the first interception, ends up looking like more of a stand-up guy than Strahan, who has every right to privately shred a teammate not giving full effort.

Once you do it in public though... We get what happened today. Not Strahan's finest moment, but if the Giants win on Sunday, surely someone will trot out the "You guys counted us out" chestnut. So you fans won't care who started it, as long as it fires up the Giants.

In actual, you know, news... Osi Umenyiora, Sam Madison and Brandon Short practiced today, and Umenyiora sounded like he's ready to play. Wait until tomorrow, I say, when he feels the effects of his first practice in six weeks.

Strahan did a bit of 9-on-7 run defense work, so don't count him out either... It wouldn't be Willis Reed, but if he's going to get all fired up on Wednesday, he might as well play in the next game and back up his words.

Antonio Pierce (knee), Corey Webster (toe), Carlos Emmons (groin) and Gibril Wilson (shoulder) didn't practice. Webster already looks like a no-go for Sunday, so Madison's return would be huge. Can't see R.W. McQuarters and either Frank Walker or Kevin Dockery going toe to toe with Terry Glenn and T.O.

Eli stinks. He's finished. Coughlin should be fired. Burress is a dog.

OK... Deep breaths, people. Now, let's assess the comments, shall we? I've just looked them over and I'll toss out some random responses:

-- Burress dogged it on the INT, no question. But I am a little surprised at the wave of sentiment to get rid of the guy. He's the No. 1 receiver and those are hard to come by -- and it's also hard to find No. 1s who aren't prickly, who don't pout (Marvin Harrison this week?), who don't want the ball on every play. As in sync as Eli and Burress have been at times, that's how out of sync they both are now. It's not irreparable.

-- Frank Walker's play was far more egregious than Kiwanuka's. Kiwanuka made a dumb play, the dumbest of all the dumb plays. He knows it, you know it. And I don't accept any of the excuses about the NFL rules protecting QBs. Wrap him up, drive him to the sideline, drive him back to the first row behind the end zone if you have to. Play to the whistle is what these guys are taught. So he messed up and I doubt he'll ever do it again.

But Frankie W... There's no words. Watch the replay again: He's pulled off his man in coverage, sprinting up from the end zone, head down, to hit a guy who's on the sideline and being pulled down by two guys. On fourth down. There's no football sense at all in that play, and he might have gotten flagged for hitting any player, not just a QB.

-- Eli's not done. Even if you wanted him to be, he's the guy. He had three smart quarters, posting David Carr numbers; in the fourth, once the Titans stacked nine guys in the box to keep Tiki Barber in check, Eli had no answer because his down-field vision is off. If he doesn't see Burress, he doesn't see much of anything. That will be hard to unlearn, but he has to do it.

-- Coughlin's not done... yet. My colleague, Capt. Blauber, asked TC if the coach thought about taking over play-calling duties. TC didn't give a resounding "you're way off base there" response, but I'm not sure there's much he'd do differently. My two cents? Use more two-back sets with Barber and Brandon Jacobs, because Manning trusts Jacobs as a checkdown receiver. More three-step drops, more quick in routes. Short and steady down the field only gave the Giants a 21-0 lead, so why continue with that?

Coughlin may save his gig for next season and beyond because of the injuries. Not an excuse, just an obviously huge reason why the Giants cannot sustain anything on defense. Even without Luke Petitgout and Amani Toomer, the offense can score. But the defense is held together with bubble gum and hope right now.

And yes, Bob, I messed up too -- Eli did have 230 yards against the Jags, the Giants play the Cowboys this weekend... But Joe Theismann? That's low, dude. Loved it tonight when Kimmel asked him how his leg was doing.

OK, it didn't just happen, but it did happen just yesterday. And today, the Giants went about the business of trying to fix it, repair it and forget it, because the Cowboys are coming to town, and first place is still on the line, for those who think the season's finished.

That was the purpose of a players-only meeting today, called following the players' film review. Some of the players who called the meeting spoke, according to a couple guys who were present: Antonio Pierce, Michael Strahan, Shaun O'Hara and Tiki Barber. Eli Manning didn't speak; neither did Plaxico Burress.

Pierce told some reporters about the meeting. "You guys write what you want to, and that's fine," he said. "But guys in here read that. And we can't have anyone thinking the season's over, because it's not. We've got five games left and everything we want to accomplish is still right there for us."

The biggest boost to the Giants' cause is not a few words of motivation, but a few healthy bodies returning to the defense. Tom Coughlin said Osi Umenyiora and Brandon Short are scheduled to practice on Wednesday and Strahan will "advance" in his recovery, meaning perhaps some individual work. Strahan's already basically a no-go for Sunday, but if Umenyiora and Short are back, that would remove William Joseph and Reggie Torbor (or Carlos Emmons, who looks worn down) from the starting lineup, and that's a step in the right direction.

Sam Madison made a locker-room appearance, saying he doesn't want to rush back like he did three weeks ago and kill his whole season. Corey Webster is nursing a mysterious toe injury and Coughlin said he won't know about Webster until tomorrow.

As for Coughlin's dwindling tenure, Pierce had some perspective, having gone through three head coaches in four seasons with the Redskins. "I don't think it's to the point where he doesn't have control of the team," Pierce said. "That's not the case. I've been around that. When the coach is about to get fired, everybody can feel it. He's not the one with the pads on. It's on us."

Jeremy Shockey suffered a compound dislocation of his right ring finger in warmups... He's playing, but keep an eye on it.

Frankie W. is starting in Webster's place, not Dockery. Should make all the difference.

DE Travis LaBoy is the only notable Titans scratch. Tony Brown starts in his place.

CB Corey Webster (toe) isn't active today. WR Sinorice Moss is the other gameday inactive, joining the fivesome who did not travel.

So the Giants' starting corners? R.W. McQuarters and Kevin Dockery. Yikes.

And Brandon Short is not. Ah well. Thought he was coming back, but not tomorrow. So Reggie Torbor gets another start at SLB and he has to be better than he was on Monday.

The other four Giants who didn't make the trip are DE Michael Strahan, DE Osi Umenyiora, CB Sam Madison and T Luke Petitgout. Sinorice Moss came along and I guess he may play, though Coughlin did not indicate that yesterday.

What will happen tomorrow? I'm usually right about these things, as you all know, so here's my detailed prediction...

Tiki Barber rushes 30 times for 186 yards. He even scores a touchdown, as does Brandon Jacobs. Eli Manning struggles again, but it's not as noticeable. Vince Young does some damage, mostly with his feet, but Travis Henry is not a factor and the Giants come up with a key fumble recovery late to seal a 24-17 win.

There you go. Inactives tomorrow afternoon.

I don't know if he fined Tiki or not, but the coach's comments today from his media session (which I did not attend) show me what kind of talk it was that he and Barber had.

"There is no question about my commitment to that: the balance, the running the ball. I have said it since day one. Look at Tiki’s numbers over the three years. Were they the same as they were before I got here? Just check that part out, too, while you are doing it."

Coughlin is not the smoothest guy around. He can be a little awkward when he gets to talking. But it sounds as if, in addition to reading Barber his version of the riot act, he not-so-gently reminded his star running back that Tiki could very well still have been a fumbling nobody had Coughlin and RBs coach Jerald Ingram not come along. Which, for a guy like Tiki, should serve to end any dispute with his coach. Coughlin helped make Barber who he is today, a guy who is at least part of the Hall of Fame conversation, a guy who will be able to reap huge post-career rewards very soon.

It's exactly the right way to go with Barber, and Coughlin may have won himself some points in the locker room for doing so.

You know, it's funny to think that the two guys who have sounded off to us reporters about bad coaching have their own forums for communicating directly with the public. Tiki has his radio show and Shockey has his column in that New York tabloid.

What does it all mean? I don't know, really. Maybe that some guys can't help themselves, that they have to have the spotlight on them or else it's all too boring. Whatever. Just interesting to me.

Here's one more idle thought from my holiday, for all those who really think Eli Manning can't lead the Giants anymore: If he were to go down with any kind of injury on Sunday in Nashville, what would be your first thought? Would it be, 'Finally, we get to see what Jared Lorenzen can do with this offense?' Or would it be more like, 'Oh, %$@#%$&&&!!!!'

Let's all think about that one.

My man Anthony Rieber was on hand today, telling me that Coughlin essentially ruled out WR Sinorice Moss for Sunday's game because Moss hasn't aired it out yet in practice to really test his quad. LB Brandon Short practiced and appears to be a go for Sunday, as does DT Barry Cofield. Any positive news about the defense's health should help that unit.

CB Corey Webster (toe) did not practice and is questionable for Sunday. He's been bad, I know, but the alternatives -- Kevin Dockery or Frank Walker -- might be a little scarier.

Prediction tomorrow.

It was first reported on the CBS pregame show today and person close to the situation confirmed to me that Tom Coughlin sat Tiki down last night and told his star RB to shut it. Barber spoke out about the team's (read: Coughlin's) too-quick decision to not run the ball on the Jaguars on Monday night, the fourth time since the start of the 2005 season that Barber has popped off to reporters, not his head coach, about too much passing.

It's the right move by Coughlin, as would a fine. The Giants went through this with Shockey after the Seahawks game, and the coach dealt with his mouthy tight end in private. He gave Barber the same treatment, showing everyone else that no one is above the team's law.

Speaking of the coach, one player told me that Coughlin's postgame tirade on his team -- which all of us reporters could hear through a closed door separating the interview room from the locker room in Jacksonville -- was "tame by comparison." He meant to the halftime screamfest, in which Coughlin accused his team of playing without passion.

The player told me that Coughlin always leads the team in a prayer after the game down on one knee. Coughlin stayed on the knee and spoke in an almost plaintive tone to his players, telling them that the coaches would make the proper adjustments to the game plan and be ready for Tennessee.

"He's never stayed on one knee before," the player said. "It felt like he needed to be a little more humble because he might lose us if he didn't."

Which sounds to me like Coughlin knew he'd messed up by forcing a shaky Eli Manning to throw 41 times. But that doesn't mean he's going to go soft when Barber steps to the mic and goes on a run, run, run rant.

My only personal feeling about this latest Tiki diatribe is that he doesn't have the clubhouse cache he once did because, in six or seven or eight games, he's out. And it's on his terms. So who is he to say what the team should do, since he's putting himself first when retirement day comes?

Just my opinion. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Let's recap: Eli can't throw the ball, the Giants can't run, William Joseph and Jonas Sea