Living in an age when dialing someone up on their cell phone is not the only way to stay in touch, Michael Strahan and his former teammate, Tiki Barber, don’t speak very often but they stay in touch with fairly frequent text messages. Strahan received one from Barber following the NFC Championship game victory in Green Bay, expressing how happy he was and congratulating him for making it to another Super Bowl.
“That meant a lot,” Strahan said yesterday.
The year after Barber, the franchise’s all-time rushing leader, retired, the Giants have come further than most anyone anticipated. Monday, they will fly to Phoenix for Super Bowl XLII. Strahan and Barber were teammates for Barber’s entire 10-year career, making this trip a bit different. Barber has said numerous times he has no regrets about leaving when he did.
“I respect the fact Tiki decided he was done, he didn’t want to play any more,” Strahan said. “You don’t know how many times I said if I quit and we went to the Super Bowl and won, I’m coming back here and hold somebody hostage until I get a ring. I understand Tiki made his decision and I know he has no regrets. . . . If he says it doesn’t bother him I’ll take his word for it that it doesn’t. But if I were at home it would bother the heck out of me. I’m telling you.”
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There’s more than pride at stake in the Super Bowl. The winner’s share is $78,000, the loser’s share is $40,000. Already, each Giant has cashed in, earning $18,000 for the wild card victory, $20,000 for the victory in the divisional round and $37,000 for winning the NFC crown.
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WR Amani Toomer, who has been critical of the way the Giants handled their business in Super Bowl XXXV following the 2000 season, recalled another reason why the Giants were swamped by the Ravens, 34-7. Toomer did not like the way the Giants altered their offensive approach to deal with the ravenous Baltimore defense.
“We went in and we changed a lot of the things we did all year on offense,” Toomer said. “Hindsight is always easier to look at, if it had worked everyone would have talked how great our changeup was. We changed up a lot of stuff and I think that hurt us.”
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G Rich Seubert (knee) and CB Kevin Dockery (hip) again did not practice. Three players, FB Madison Hedgecock, S Michael Johnson and DT Manny Wright, missed practice because of illness.
“They have whatever is going around,” Tom Coughlin said. “The high temperature and that kind of thing.”
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Coughlin on the Giants offensive line: “If you happen to walk into their meeting room you would think you were in a sewing circle or something the way they operate.”