T-Rock's Take on the Giants

The rumored retirement of special teams coordinator Mike Sweatman is true -- he stepped down after 23 seasons in the NFL, 12 with the Giants. The team will announce it tomorrow.

Tom Quinn, Sweatman's assistant last season, will take over as special teams coach.

A couple of teams players said at the end of the season that Sweatman, a military man whose fire and intensity outshone TC's in 2004 and 2005, lost some of that fire last season, and the unit suffered, especially on kick returns and kick coverage.

That should be about all for Giants news... I'm here in Miami and we're trying to get a Super Bowl blog together. Celebrity sightings, unusual stuff; I wanted to blog at the NFC Championship game about my Ric Flair sighting (he's a lot shorter than I thought), but the moment passed.

A person close to the situation confirmed what's been around the internets for a few hours now -- that Chris Palmer, former Browns head coach and Jaguars offensive coordinator under TC, is Eli's new position coach.

Palmer, 57, spent last season as the Cowboys QBs coach, helping that Romo kid be pretty good for a few games (couldn't help him with the snap-holding, apparently). Palmer was the Texans' OC from 2001-05, and before that had two awful seasons as Browns head coach.

He was TC's OC from 1997-98, and Mark Brunell went to the Pro Bowl both those seasons. He was also Bill Parcells' WRs coach from 1993-95 with the Patriots, then became QBs coach in 1996.

In the interest of full disclosure, Palmer was head coach at Boston U., my alma mater, from 1988-89. So I think it's an excellent choice.

He's currently the Eagles LBs coach, and he's worked for eight seasons under Philly's well-known defensive coordinator, Jim Johnson. He's also helped turn Jeremiah Trotter into a Pro Bowler and he got good mileage out of no-names like Omar Gaither this season.

There may or may not be an official word from the Giants forthcoming today, but one defensive player confirmed that Spagnuolo is the man. A few returning members of the defense hoped the new DC would have an aggressive game-plan -- well, who's more aggressive than Johnson? I'm sure Spagnuolo, 46, has learned well.

We'll see what else the Giants have on deck today...

Here's a quick summary of Kevin Gilbride's conference call with us scribes:

-- He said he didn't really interview with TC for the offensive coordinator job, that Coughlin told him after the playoff loss that "if things work out, you'll be the coordinator." Assuming Gilbride meant that if TC was retained, Gilbride would stay in the role he had for the final two games of the season.

-- Said that Eli needs more consistency, and that TC's search for a QB coach won't be rushed. Gilbride was both the OC and QBs coach in several of his previous stops, but TC feels a separate QBs coach is needed here.

-- Gilbride was clearly jazzed by his stint as OC for the final regular-season game and the playoff game. "Overseeing (the offense) and just being a contributor are two different roles," he said. "I enjoy overseeing the whole operation because you're the guy who's responsible for the success or failure of the offense."

-- Biggest change for next season has to be in the downfield passing game -- not just in terms of when those plays are called, but for whom. Gilbride made a point of saying that Eli has to trust more than just Plaxico Burress, and that the receivers have to gain Eli's trust. Also said more than once that Jeremy Shockey has to be more involved in the downfield passing game.

-- He said the coaches have high hopes for Brandon Jacobs, but that "you want to have at least two backs who can run the ball. Almost all teams have that now."

-- He doesn't anticipate any coaching changes on offense, other than the QBs coach being added.

-- Need to have better focus and touch in the red zone, even though statistically, the Giants were better in the red zone than in 2005 -- 27-for-51 (52.9 percent) for TDs in 06, 27-for-59 (45.8 percent) in 05. Funny what a few extra wins will do for your perception.

So that's what Gilbride says... I wasn't on the job in 2004, but I always thought it was odd that Gilbride, a guy with vast head-coaching and OC experience, was hired to coach Eli and John Hufnagel, who had been a QB coach with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, was hired to be the OC... I get the sense that Hufnagel's personality jibed better with Coughlin than did Gilbride's fiery ways, but now we'll all get a chance to see if Gilbride can work with TC.

We'll have a conference call with Kevin Gilbride in a few minutes, but it's official that he will stay on as offensive coordinator.

No other announcements are expected today as far as a quarterbacks coach or defensive coordinator.

Everyone knew Reese was going to be named GM today, and it was a solid press conference -- John Mara and Jonathan Tisch saying the right things, Reese -- one of the very good guys around the Giants -- saying the right things, and Ernie Accorsi, flu-bitten, looking like he wanted to be in bed somewhere.

Oh, TC was there too, saying little -- still no word on a defensive coordinator, and no official word that Kevin Gilbride is the offensive coordinator. Then he left.

Reese spoke enthusiastically about his very humble beginnings in Tiptonville, Tenn., where he worked in his great-grandfather's slaughterhouse, and his wife of 19 years, Gwen, and their two kids were on hand, themselves getting peppered with questions. Here are some of the more interesting quotes, first from Mara, then one from Reese after the crowd had scattered:

Mara on Reese: "i think he can energize our whole organization, and we could use a little of that right now."

Mara on TC: "Any coach in this league can be considered a lame duck, to a certain extent. You have to prove yourself every year. Jerry is very supportive of Tom. GM is a position where we've had a lot of continuity here and we hope to continue that."

Mara on Pioli: "I was disappointed, but I can't say that it was a major disappointment because I felt really good about the people we had in-house. There were some interesting people out there, but at the end of the day, I like the people we have in-house a heck of a lot more than what was out there. Would I have liked to have spoken to Scott? Yeah, but that's because I don't know him that well. I would have liked to have heard what he was all about, but it was not to be."

Mara on scouting: "I think our system is sound, I don't think we need any major changes in that area. We need to bring in some better players. I think, on the second day of the draft, we've gotten some good players, we've missed on some... We can improve in that area. You look at the teams playing now, they've got guys from the second day of the draft that are contributing. They're not sitting on the bench, they're not inactive. That's something we can do a little bit better on."

Reese on scouting: "For the most part, we do a good job. But there are some new ideas I'm going to present to our personnel staff to see if we can get to a different level on the type of players we bring in -- what their history is with injuries, how productive they've been. We've got to be mindful of not just getting a name, we've got to get guys who can contribute right away, especially with free agency."

Now, it's clear that Reese, who will oversee the April draft while a new personnel director is brought in, was talking about free agency -- namely, a certain No. 55, in whom the Giants put a ton of faith and who was just starting to come around when he was lost for the season (and, funny enough, LaVar was in the stadium yesterday, rehabbing his torn Achilles).

Mara, obviously, was talking more about the draft, and the fact that guys like Gerris Wilkinson were inactive for the playoff loss and Corey Webster was hurt after a disappointing season. Mara also said his brother, Chris, would have an expanded role in personnel decisions, so perhaps that's where change will start.

Just confirmed by the Giants after everyone around the team said it was a matter of time until it was announced.

Jerry Reese will be introduced as the Giants new GM tomorrow at 10:30.

As of today, according to the Giants.

No word yet on a new defensive coordinator... Or on whether other assistants will stay or go.

More to come, as always.

Tim Lewis isn't gone, according to Coughlin -- the coach said he'll decide this week who stays and who goes, and he said that the decision is entirely his.

Not much exciting from his conference call, other than him saying that he has changed over his three seasons and continues to do. And -- shocker!! -- he wished that the players who went to the media with their gripes had kept things in-house.

One of those players, Jeremy Shockey, gave this quote today through the team:

"Coach Coughlin deserves to be the head coach of the New York Giants. I’m glad he’s coming back and I have told a lot of people over the past couple days that I hope he comes back. He and coach Pope, all they want is for me to be the best player I can be. I know they know how hard I work at it, and I know how hard they work to get the most out of me. We all need to do a better job together to get ready for another season. Everyone on this team, no matter what anyone from the outside says, understands that nothing is more important to Coach Coughlin than winning and that’s what you want from your coach.”

Michael Strahan had a similar statement:

"I’m excited to hear that Coach Coughlin will be returning this season. He has led us to back to back playoff appearances for the first time in my 14-year career. Unfortunately, because of my foot injury, I wasn’t able to be much of a help down the stretch this season. I know the perception is that he is unapproachable and distant from his players, but that’s not the case. I had some of my best conversations with him this season, and he showed me how much he cared about me as a person and as a player when I went to him and pleaded with him to let me play against Dallas and then against Philadelphia, and he knew the smart thing to do was to let me heal up some more because I wasn’t ready. I look forward to a healthy return for the ’07 season and helping the Giants organization make a third straight playoff appearance with a better outcome than the past two seasons. Tom is the man to lead us to do just that."

So there you go... Basically, everything is exactly the same as yesterday, but the coach has a 1-year extension.

That's on top of this last year of his original contract... So he got the Jim Fassel 1999 extension. John Mara pointed out on the just-concluded conference call with the owners that the current situation is more Fassel '99 than Dan Reeves '96 -- Mara said Reeves didn't really want to be here and had serious differences with late GM George Young.

There are no ideological differences now.

Some bullet points from the owners' call:

-- There is still no GM, which could fuel speculation that Pats' exec Scott Pioli is still in the running but waiting until the Pats are done. John Mara said the decision on a GM would be made before the playoffs ended, and that any incoming GM will have TC as the coach. "That's the final decision, and whoever is our GM will have to accept that," he said.

-- Mara and Jonathan Tisch say they did not insist TC fire any assistants, but Mara said TC understood that changes had to be made.

-- Mara has talked to numerous players and heard "more positive than negative" comments about TC over the season... He was specifically asked about Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey. "Do I wish sometimes they would hold their tongues? Yes," Mara said. "But they are guys that are very important for our team and they want to win."

-- As for the fans' ire, Mara said: "I'm aware there will be a number of fans who will not be pleased... I'm certainly sensitive to what the fans think, and I've received a lot of mail, particularly over the last 8-10 weeks, voicing some strong feelings. But you can't make decisions off of what the fans' desires are."

-- TC did not have to win his job back in discussions with Mara and Tisch the past two days. "He didn't have to save his job," Tisch said. "He didn't talk us into anything. There wasn't a lightning bolt, just a continuation of a plan he set out three years ago."

-- The owners still believe in Eli. "He needs to play more consistently," Mara said. "Nobody in this building doubts his ability, but he has to do it more consistently."

That's about all... I wrote in my story in the paper today that the wild speculation -- Belichick, Parcells, Cowher, Lombardi, you name it -- usually ends up having a rather vanilla truth behind it. TC is back, with a one-year extension. That's all.

I'll be back after what's sure to be a fun, happy conference call with TC in about 15 minutes... Oh, and Mara did say he wished TC had a better relationship with us scribes. There's something to hope for -- maybe a nice Easter dinner with the coach?

Anyone?

We'll hear the official word in about 20 minutes from team president John Mara and co-owner Jonathan Tisch, but Tom Coughlin will be back for the 2007 season. The rest of the details will be forthcoming.