RAY THE SAGE: Giants safety Antrel Rolle (above with ball, celebrating with Prince Amukamara) credits a phone call to Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis for providing the advice that got him onto the same page with coach Tom Coughlin after a rough start. (Getty Images; AP (inset))
Ray Lewis is clearly a driving force — perhaps the driving force — for the Ravens, who stormed to back-to-back road playoff victories to advance to Super Bowl XLVII. Lewis also played a role in helping Antrel Rolle acclimate to the Giants and grow into a leader of last season’s Super Bowl run.
Rolle arrived in 2010 and bristled at the way the Giants do business — especially how Tom Coughlin runs his team. There were frustrated comments from Rolle, and it appeared as if the safety and coach were headed toward a real confrontation. Rolle cooled off, though, and he says he might have overheated if not for Lewis’ advice.
Like Lewis, Rolle is a product of the University of Miami, though Lewis was gone before Rolle ever played for the Hurricanes. Rolle did not know how to deal with Coughlin, so one day he dialed up Lewis.
“I asked him how should I handle the situation,’’ Rolle said yesterday on WFAN. “I was like, ‘It’s extremely difficult for me, I’m not used to this,’ and so forth and so on. We had an hourlong conversation just about life, he was telling me how I should approach the situation, how I should be able to deal with Coach Coughlin but still get some things across. He helped me out a lot. I listened to what he said and it helped me out a lot.
“If you have never been around Ray Lewis, he’s probably the most humble individual and real individual you’re ever going to be around. That’s just the reality of it.’’
Rolle spent the first five years of his career with the Cardinals, and it took him time to accept Coughlin’s coaching methods. In Week 2 in 2010, the Giants lost 38-14 in Indianapolis as Peyton Manning bested younger brother Eli.
It was Rolle’s first regular-season road trip with the Giants, and afterward he blasted Coughlin’s schedule, insisting getting to the stadium more than three hours before kickoff made the Giants “sluggish.’’ Rolle later complained about Coughlin’s “controlled’’ environment and said he felt the atmosphere around the team was “too uptight.’’
“I had an issue with me dealing with some things, more so my own personal issues,’’ Rolle recalled. “Coach Coughlin and myself have never had an exchange of words or anything close to it, never even had a bad eye towards one another. I’m sure he probably wanted to curse me out at times, but it never crossed that line.’’
Rolle credits Lewis for helping him replace his frustration with a greater understanding of Coughlin’s methods.
“More than the [Miami] thing, I think it’s someone who has been through it all,’’ Rolle said of why he reached out to Lewis. “No matter what adversity or what Ray had to overcome, I think he’s overcome it, and I think that’s what it boiled down to. It boiled down to me going to someone I can consider a mentor, someone I know is going to give it to me straight. Someone who is going to tell me something I need to hear as opposed to something I wanted to hear.
“And he told me exactly what I needed to hear, and from that day on, I never, ever had an issue, never had any concerns. I can honestly say it is great. This is the best I’ve ever felt, and I am going to continue to stay on this path.’’