If he thinks too much about holding onto the ball, David Wilson figures, he won’t get anywhere. And he’s in no hurry to stand pat.
It could not have been a worse start for Wilson to the 2013 season. He fumbled the ball away not once, but twice, and you can look no further than that for the main reason why the Giants were beaten 36-31 by a Cowboys team that ripped the ball out of Wilson’s hands with impunity.
Coach Tom Coughlin is not going to bury Wilson for the turnovers, but he’s also not going to allow the second-year running back to sabotage the season.
“As I’ve said many times, we need him,’’ Coughlin said on Wednesday. “He’s necessary. He’s going to have to overcome this issue. He’s a marked man so he’s really going to have to overcome.’’
Wilson knows this but insists he cannot allow his mistakes to paralyze his thoughts.
“You can’t let it affect your game and slow you down and tie your feet up and now you’re not thinking about making plays, you’re thinking about holding onto the ball and now you’re standing in the same spot,’’ Wilson said.
No one wants Wilson standing in the same spot, as he’s a supreme athlete and will be a bona fide big-play back, as long as he holds onto the ball. Coughlin went from analytical to impatient to plain ’ol irritated when a press conference leading into a game with the Broncos, featuring Eli vs. Peyton Manning, was hijacked by the David Wilson Fumbling Issue.
Coughlin said: “He was careless and it cost us dearly, but I’m confident he’s going to learn from it.’’
Asked if there is a larger issue with Wilson, Coughlin grew animated.
“He fumbles the football!’’ he exclaimed. “He’s fumbled the ball twice. He’s got to straighten that out. We’re not going to have guys on the field who are fumbling the ball. That is something he must overcome.’’
And then, when Wilson’s ball-security surfaced again, Coughlin erupted a bit as he issued a challenge in describing the way Wilson must protect the football.
“In practice he’s going to have to have the ball in that position all the time, not just when he thinks he’s running free and there’s nobody around him,’’ Coughlin said. “I want to see the ball in the right spot all the time. And quite frankly, there’s nowhere else to go with this. I don’t know what else to say to you. I realize it’s a major issue for everybody, but there’s a way to carry the ball and there’s a way to protect the ball. Ball security is number one and that’s what he’s going to have to demonstrate.’’
Coughlin again would not say whether Wilson will start against the Broncos, but it’s likely he will and it was made clear Wilson remains a big part of the offensive attack, even with the signing of Brandon Jacobs, who won’t be a big part of the ball-carrying plans, at least not for a while.
During practice, Wilson said he did not feel targeted by Coughlin’s piercing stare.
“He was just yelling, ‘High and tight and high and tight,’ ’’ Wilson said. “He was on everybody, he wants to eliminate it from the whole team.’’
And then, with a chuckle, Wilson said: “I made sure I had it every time.’’
Wilson on Tuesday took to Twitter to take a shot at his critics, writing “fantasy participants and pissed Giants fans’’ are “irrelevant to me’’ after he received negative tweets following his two fumbles.
“Yeah, frustrated would be a word to describe it,’’ Wilson explained. “I expect greatness out of myself and that’s what I want. I don’t want anybody to think that’s not what I want. I might have said something about the fans and offended the fans, which was not my intention. Bad choice of words, 140 characters you can make a lot of mistakes. Without the fans, that’s who we play for, for real.’’
There was much excitement surrounding Wilson entering his first season as a starter, but the overwhelming sentiment at the moment is doubt.
“It’s not about proving doubters wrong or anything,’’ Wilson said. “It’s about helping my teammates because these guys work hard to win a game and you want to be there with ’em.’’