Antonio Pierce no longer has a future with the Giants. The linebacker thinks head coach Tom Coughlin might not have much of one, either.
“He’s on the hot seat,” Pierce said of Coughlin during an interview with NFL Network. “I think everybody in New York is on the hot seat.
“When you talk about a team three years removed from the Super Bowl, to a team that the year after the Super Bowl was the No. 1 seed in the NFC East, then to a team that was 8-8 and out (of) the playoffs, there’s some fires lit underneath some people’s butts now in that locker room and in that organization.”
Pierce, released by the Giants and needing neck surgery to continue his career, said owner John Mara put the team on notice with comments made after the season.
“You’ve got an owner that spoke out very vocal and verbally to the rest of the team and to the media, showing that he was displeased by what was going on,” Pierce said.
Mara in early January said, “This is probably as disappointed as I’ve ever been in my life at this team … I’m disappointed in everything, I’m unhappy at everybody. It is just not acceptable to perform like that.”
Mara said Coughlin and GM Jerry Reese were not in danger of losing their jobs, but Pierce considered it a message sent.
“He (Mara) didn’t talk to the team, but what he voiced to the media, it got to the team, it got to those players and those coaches, and everybody was on attention, everybody is on high alert,” Pierce said.
“It is going to be a very interesting 2010 season.”