Capital New York

The Sunday before, NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth had mentioned on air that the Giants organization was disappointed in their second-round draft pick’s work ethic. Network analysts like Collinsworth usually don’t make stuff up out of thin air; it seemed likely that this tidbit was leaked to him deliberately in a pregame production meeting by a high-ranking coach or player.

This was all pointedly confirmed in Wednesday’s New York Post by Victor Cruz, who channeled his inner Bull Durham manager and said Randle couldn’t continue to “lollygag.”

Eli Manning was a little gentler but hit the same notes, saying, “He’s young and he’s trying to figure out what it takes to compete and get mentally and physically ready for upcoming games.”

So I asked Randle about the whole thing, and his response was pretty generic: “It takes a lot to bother me. I just stay focused, and control what I can control.”

For the entirety of our three-minute interview, Randle stood with his arms folded across his chest, looking down and making solid eye contact with me with minimal gesticulation or voice modulation. It actually did seem like it would take a lot bother him; his affect in the interview was languid, much like his manner on the field.

‘Just stay focused’: Maybe Rueben Randle doesn’t need to get worked up by Greg Hanlon for Capital New York

Forget the Hall of Fame. It’s the myth-making treatment of NFL Films that turns the men of pro football into legends. And tonight is Tom Coughlin’s official bronzing.

Coughlin is the subject of tonight’s installment of “A Football Life,” the NFL Network’s Emmy-winning, hour-long documentary series.

This will be enjoyable to Giants fans because it can’t not be: Seeing your team celebrated on an NFL Films production and seeing your team celebrate on the field are one and the same. Plus, the show puts forth Coughlin as a paragon of an old-school athletic morality, for which virtue isn’t so much found in winning, as in the commitment and self-sacrifice that goes into it. 

This notion of Coughlin as a man of integrity dovetails with the Giants’ brand, which is awash with nostalgia for a bygone era when men were men, and doing the right thing was simple, but not easy. That idea was reinforced two Sundays ago, when Coughlin reacted angrily to Tampa Bay’s attempts to hit Eli Manning, even after the game had been decided. Coughlin, offended on principle, stormed onto the field to find Tampa’s upstart coach, Greg Schiano, and lecture him about football’s unwritten rules. Schiano didn’t do things the right way, and Coughlin couldn’t abide.

Greg Hanlon in his review of NFL Films’ gauzy, legend treatment of Giants coach Tom Coughlin

Good morning! Here’s your morning wood in New York.

David Carr’s dog, preparing for the Super Bowl. (via)

You can prepare by reading Greg Hanlon on Bill Parcells, the coach who deserves credit from both teams, and the entire football league, for what he has done for the sport. (Quotes from Tuna on his football philosophy beyond the click).

boston:

Four years later, many changes for Patriots, Giants

- Of the 106 players who were on the active rosters for the Giants and Patriots in the Super Bowl on Feb. 3, 2008, only 23 are still employed with the same team today.

Some fascinating stats within.

(via sportsnetny)

About twenty-five years ago, minutes before kickoff of Super Bowl XXI between the Denver Broncos and New York Giants, five members of the Broncos walked out to midfield for the pregame coin toss. Only one Giant did the same.

Harry Carson was 33 years old at that point, a team captain and 11-year veteran. The idea to send him out alone belonged to the Giants’ coach, Bill Parcells. It was one of his little psychological games: One of our guys equals five of your guys.

Carson was used to standing alone, anyway.

Greg Hanlon back in the Giants’ locker room.