INDIANAPOLIS — Antrel Rolle didn’t say anything outlandish yesterday during the Giants’ first official press conference of Super Bowl week. Asked if he were going to guarantee a victory over the Patriots on Sunday, Rolle scoffed and said, “That’s not going to happen.”
Then he just about predicted one anyway, saying, “We wouldn’t have boarded the plane if we didn’t expect to win.”
The truth is, there is nothing left for Rolle to say. Leaders know when to speak and when to remain quiet, which is something the Giants safety has tried to follow throughout his career even during his early days with the team, when many wondered if he would ever shut up.
After signing as a free agent before the 2010 season, Rolle didn’t quite get the whole New York thing, something that was evident when he criticized Giants fans for booing the home team. And he didn’t quite get why coach Tom Coughlin had to be so strict about “every little rule.”
But just when he was about to get branded as a complainer and finger-pointer, we learned Rolle was just the right voice the Giants needed in their locker room.
He called out his teammates before the Jets game to ignore their aches and pains and get on the practice field. They did and the Giants haven’t lost since then, making it all the way to Super Bowl XLVI.
Rolle has been labeled a leader for what he had to say, but he also remembers being called a “big mouth” and a “cancer.”
“I take a lot of heat for a lot of things,” he said. “I understand that. But at the same time I don’t care what outsiders say. I only care about what’s going to come forth in the locker room with our guys. My teammates understand me and they’re the only people that need to understand me. They know I’ve never been a problem. I will never be a problem, and everything I say is for the betterment of the team.”
The emergence of leaders in the locker room has been a Giants strength this season, just as it was in 2007-08 when they last won a Super Bowl. Rolle, Justin Tuck, Eli Manning, Brandon Jacobs, and Chris Snee have made everyone accountable this time around.
Blame or credit Rolle’s parents for raising an outspoken son. His mother, Armelia, is a high school counselor, while his father, Al, is a police chief in Homestead, Fla.
“I’ve seen them climb up the mountain and I’ve seen the hard work it took for them to get there,” Antrel Rolle said. “They never stopped and they always stood strong for what they believed. That trickled down to me because that’s how I see things.”
There was a time when it looked as if Rolle was not a good fit for Coughlin’s disciplined structure. But Rolle is a Coughlin convert, at least publicly.
“Our relationship has always been good,” Rolle said. “I wasn’t in tune with the way he would handle things and be so strict with the little things. That had a lot to do with more me then him. And there’s nothing to say that I don’t feel the same way. I just know how to handle it a whole lot better and I don’t let it take me out of my game.”
If Coughlin isn’t Rolle’s biggest fan, he’s at least his most important. The coach never tried to silence him. Their relationship has grown through their mutual concern for what’s best for the team.
“I just felt like certain things needed to be said,” Rolle said of his call for full attendance at practice. “I don’t come in with any premeditated thoughts because that’s not who I am. I never speak out of anger. I only speak out of passion and concern for my team.”
Coughlin appreciates that.
“Players have personalities,” the coach said yesterday. “You want a certain amount of that on your team.”
The old-school coach and the outspoken safety might seem an odd fit. But it helped the Giants make the trip yesterday they dreamed about all season, the trip to Super Bowl XLVI.