The disgusted members of the Giants defense didn’t need A.J. Green talking on radio yesterday about holes in its secondary to vow redemption and vengeance Sunday against the Bengals in Cincinnati.
It was what their own respected two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach said about them that pierced their hearts and challenged their manhood and awakened their pride.
It also has them champing at the bit to remind the NFL, and Giants fans who expect Carsonian toughness and Tayloresque mayhem, and coach Tom Coughlin himself, that they are nobody’s Mr. Softee.
They have televisions inside the Timex Performance Center, and there was a clip of Coughlin calling them soft against the run, soft against Steelers running back Isaac Redman.
There was, of course, a method to Coughlin’s madness. If he thought his team was fragile, he never would have used the “S” word.
“Actually I saw it on ESPN,” one Giants defensive player said, “and then some of the players got wind of it and stuff. If anybody says that about you, being a competitive person, being a man, that’s not anything positive, or in your favor, so I don’t think it was taken as a compliment.”
It was digested and talked about among the Giants defensive players. It is the ultimate insult to any testosterone-fueled football player. Especially to those who hold themselves to a higher standard and strive to uphold a proud tradition.
“When Coach says something like that, it’s going to get guys’ attention,” Chris Canty said. “What that does, what that means, we don’t know. We’ll find out I guess.”
Giants are supposed to dominate the line of scrimmage. Giants are supposed to dictate to the opposing offense. Giants aren’t supposed to let backup backs rumble over them for 147 yards.
No Mr. Softee sold on Sundays.
“That’s what the head man saw. … That’s what we saw on film,” Antrel Rolle said. “I’m not calling our defense ‘soft,’ but we didn’t stop the run. I’m a very fair guy — if I see it that way, that’s the way I call it.
“We must get better. We must get tougher. We must be more physical. It definitely wasn’t a Giants performance.”
Virtually to a man, Big Blue defenders notice a heightened sense of urgency this week.
“You see everybody paying more attention to detail throughout the week,” Mathias Kiwanuka said. “You see people practicing harder than they normally do. You see captains getting on people for little things here and there. And you see the coaches stepping their end up too, making sure every I is dotted and every T is crossed.”
There is a “T” in S-O-F-T.
“If I had something to say to Coach Coughlin, I would go to him and say it, and I would expect him to do the same to us,” Kiwanuka said, “regardless of how you want to classify our performance. We, in this locker room, without anybody saying anything, know that we have to get better. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
No Mr. Softee against BenJarvus Green-Ellis on Sunday.
“We could have tackled a helluva lot better, and we could have shed a helluva lot better in that [Steelers] football game, to make some football plays,” defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said.
Green, one of the league’s elite receivers, should understand that except for the 1985 Bears, there are holes in every defense.
“If he sees me, he better duck,” Rolle said.
It sounds like Big Blue, who is seeing red even before Green, were determined to make duck soup of the Bengals.
“I think we need to lay the hammer, we need to get back to our foundation of being a hard-nosed, tough, dominant Giants defense,” Rolle said.
The real Giants defense is ready to show up Sunday.
“This is definitely going to be a different week than it was last week,” Michael Boley said.
Why do you make that statement?
“I know our team. I know the resolve we have,” he said. “I know what kind of leaders we have on our defense.”
The expected return of middle linebacker Chase Blackburn will be invaluable.
“We’re going to look to get back to re-establishing our identity of who we are and how we play team defense — that’s tough, physical, disciplined, high-effort. … We got to get back to what we do best and that’s playing New York Giants defense in that fashion,” Canty said.
No Mr. Softee sold on Sunday.
Fewell, asked for his definition of New York Giants defense, said: “Eleven to the ball, hard-hitting defense. Never say die. Obviously, we want to take the football away, turn the football over. We want to be relentless in our pursuit and swarm to the football.”
Never say die. And never say soft.