With training camps beginning this week, Giants co-owner John Mara huddled with Post columnist Steve Serby for some Q&A.
Q: What sense do you have for coach Tom Coughlin’s hunger right now?
A: I think he’s as hungry as ever … particularly after our team going 7-9. I think he’s as driven as ever and is as excited as ever to get back to work.
Q: Do you sense that from Eli Manning too?
A: Yes, without question. He probably wouldn’t admit this, but I think he was probably stung by all the criticism last year, and he’s got a lot of pride, has had too much success in the past, and I think you’re going to see him have a big year.
Q: Has Coughlin earned the right to leave on his own terms?
A: Does anybody ever earn that right? That’s just not the way this business is in this day and age. Let’s hope that it goes that way, but we haven’t even had that discussion yet. … We’re just looking forward to the next couple of seasons.
Q: Is there a hot seat for Coughlin?
A: There’s never a hot seat for anybody. Listen, everybody knows what the expectations are, and … we expect to win, and if we don’t, then you have to make changes. But the question is when do you make those changes? That’s the toughest decision that you ever have to make. Do you do it after one bad season, do you do it after two? … I think it’s a feeling that you have that can we win with this individual or this group of individuals, or do we have to make changes? And, I have never once felt that we can’t win with Tom Coughlin and his staff. I know he believes it, and he’s able to convince the rest of us that we’re going to win. That’s the furthest thing from my mind right now, is making any changes anywhere.
Q: That said, should you miss the playoffs, that would be three consecutive seasons.
A: Yeah, but I don’t want to get into speculation about that. Then that ends up being an ultimatum that “Make the playoffs or else.” Listen, we expect to make the playoffs, but I’m not going to sit here and tell you that if we don’t, I’m going to make sweeping changes, because I don’t know what the circumstances are going to be. You could be 11-5 and not make the playoffs — do you make changes then? You can make the playoffs at 8-8 like we did one year and then go out in the first round — do you feel better about yourself under those circumstances? So it’s very difficult to answer that question, put a specific number on it.
Q: Why are you so certain Manning is not beginning a decline?
A: I just think that he’s had too much success here, he’s still physically in great shape, mentally, I think he’s as excited as he ever has been. I think the new offense has re-energized him, and I’m very confident he’s going to have a good year for us. And we’ve added some pieces for him that I think will help him also.
Q: Can you sense he’s re-energized by talking to him?
A: Watching him this spring, watching him move around and throw and how quickly he came back from the ankle surgery … there’s just a certain look in his eye I think that has all of us feeling enthusiastic about him for the season. He’s a confident guy anyway — he doesn’t necessarily show that, but there was just something about the way he practiced this spring. … We’ll see what happens once the games start.
Q: Do you think this new offense fits him?
A: We haven’t played anybody yet, so it’s hard to say, but I think it will. I think he’s talented enough that he can play in any offense. But I think having offensive coordinator] Ben McAdoo here … sometimes change is good, and I think we had gotten a little stagnant. We obviously hadn’t performed that well. … It’s for a lot of different reasons. So I think this will re-energize him and I think you’ll see the Eli Manning that we’ve seen quite often in the past.
Q: Are there plans to offer him a new extension?
A: We haven’t even really discussed that yet. We’ll discuss that at the appropriate time. Obviously it’s our hope that he finish his career as a Giant.
Q: What do you remember about Coughlin as a receivers coach under Bill Parcells?
A: I remember him as being a real S.O.B. (smile) with those receivers. They feared him. But I also remember him being very, very energetic, very motivated, very hard-working, very intense. All the qualities that maybe you look for in somebody who might be a head coach someday.
Q: How torn was Coughlin in ’93 when you wanted him as head coach?
A: I don’t know. … I know that we were very disappointed. And I’m a Boston College guy, so on the one hand I was happy about him being at Boston College, but we were very disappointed that he didn’t take [our] job because we thought he was the perfect candidate back then. And [then-general manager] George Young particularly was disappointed, and then, if you remember, George’s Plan B was Dave Wannstedt. And then when Wannstedt turned him down to go to Chicago, George was devastated by that. I had never seen him like that before. He could not believe that he lost out on him, and then Dan Reeves ended up being the third choice. We had some success with him, but that didn’t work out for a lot of different reasons, some of which were some weaknesses that we had in our organization, and it just wasn’t a great fit.
Q: What do you mean by weaknesses?
A: I think we were in kind of a transitional period in our personnel area, scouting and pro personnel and whatnot, and Dan didn’t necessarily agree with some of the decisions that were made at that time. Things could have been handled a little bit better, because Dan Reeves was a good football coach. And George was kind of on his way out at that point anyway, so that was a tough period.
Q: Do you think Coughlin in ’93 could have had the same success he did over a decade later?
A: Who knows? But I think so. Given that he had George Young here, I think they would have worked together very well. I don’t have any reason to think that he wouldn’t have had the same success.
Q: What was it specifically about Coughlin that your father Wellington really admired?
A: I think his intensity, his belief in discipline, and his desire to win. You knew that he was not going to be happy, or rest, until he was able to win a championship, that you knew that was going to drive him. That’s one of the interesting things that you have to look for in a head coach: Is he going to be satisfied by being anointed the head coach? Is that going to be the crowning achievement of his career? Or is he not going to be satisfied until he’s holding up the Lombardi Trophy. Everybody says that that’s their ultimate goal, but they don’t all act that way. And with Tom, you know that that’s the case, he’s not going to be happy with anything less than a championship.
Q: How critical is Jason Pierre-Paul to this year’s success?
A: We need the old JPP back, to terrorize opposing offenses. Without that, it’s that much more difficult to have a strong defense. Now we did add a lot of depth, I think, in our secondary, and we’ve added a couple of linebackers, but we need the old JPP back. I think he’s lost some weight, he looked quicker than he’s ever been before, and I think he’s highly-motivated to have a big season, which is good news for us.
Q: Describe Ben McAdoo.
A: He hasn’t called a play in a game yet, but I like what I’ve seen in practice so far and the pace of practice is very quick and energetic, and I think the players are excited about the new offense. But until we start playing games, it’s too early to tell. But certainly we like what we’ve seen so far.
Q: Any leadership concern in the locker room with Justin Tuck gone to the Raiders?
A: You always have that concern, but I think people will step up. You’ve got guys in there like Antrel Rolle on the defensive side, and Jon Beason and people like that that we expect to fill that role.
Q: Giants fans want to know about tight end.
A: I think you’re going to see one of those guys [Adrien Robinson, Larry Donnell] emerge as a good tight end. They have the ability, you see it on the practice field. We just have to get it out of them on the playing field now.
Q: What do you expect from David Wilson?
A: We’re hoping that he’s going to be ready to go for the preseason. So far, everything looks good. I think it’ll be a big year for him — he could be a huge part of this offense if he’s healthy.
Q: Rashad Jennings?
A: Our coaching staff is excited about him. I think he’s going to be a big part of this offense. And we’re looking for big things from [rookie] Andre Williams, too.
Q: But Jennings is a nice safety valve out of the backfield.
A: Absolutely. He can catch the ball, he can do a lot of things for you. That should help Eli quite a bit.
Q: Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie?
A: We obviously think very highly of him because we gave him a lot of money. He’s been a very productive player in the past at a critical position. And I think we now have a very deep group of cornerbacks, which is something that we really haven’t had for a lot of years.
Q: How much better could Victor Cruz be if rookie Odell Beckham is everything you think he is?
A: Well certainly if you have another player out there that scares opposing defenses, it’s going to make your No. 1 receiver a better player.
Q: You’re expecting a big leap from Rueben Randle?
A: Absolutely. He has shown that he has the ability to make big plays, he just has to do it on a more consistent basis.
Q: What makes Rolle such a good leader?
A: Because it matters to him. Winning really matters to him. It matters to everybody to a certain extent, but he takes it personally, I’ve seen that. After we lost that game in Chicago last year, he went on a tirade in the locker room afterwards, and I remember saying to him later on, “You said what I was feeling at that time.” The losing really got to him. It hurt his pride, he took it personally. And I love that about him because that’s the way I feel about it, too.
Q: There was also an emphasis on the return game.
A: We really haven’t had a dynamic return game in quite some time.
Q: Second-year defensive end Damontre Moore?
A: We have high hopes for him, too. I’ll tell you a funny story about him. I’ve had I don’t know how many conversations with him since he’s been here, and I was standing out on the field this past spring watching one of the OTAs, and he walks up next to me (chuckle) and he looks at me and he says, “Hi Boss, how you doing?” I said, “I’m good Damontre, how you doing?” And he looks at me and he says, “What’s your name again?” I asked him (smile) to repeat the question because I couldn’t believe he was asking me that. I said, “It’s John Mara,” and he said, “Oooohhhhh.”
Q: Defensive tackle Linval Joseph is gone to the Vikings.
A: That’s a big loss for us, that really is. But we get Markus Kuhn back, who I think will really help us, and we drafted [Jay] Bromley from Syracuse, so hopefully we’ll be OK there, but it’s tough to replace a guy like that. I hated to see him go, I hated to see Justin Tuck go. Those guys were homegrown Giants, but that’s just the nature of this business.
Q: Offensive tackle Will Beatty?
A: Will Beatty is a huge factor for us. We need him back to where he was two years ago before he got hurt.
Q: Describe the NFC East.
A: Everybody always criticizes the NFC East, but I think it’s going to be as competitive as ever. Certainly the Eagles would have to be the favorite going in, but I think any one of the four teams can win this division.
Q: What did you think of DeSean Jackson joining Robert Griffin III in Washington?
A: I wanted him to go anywhere but the NFC East, because he’s been a nightmare for us for years. So I was happy when I heard that he was leaving, and then not so happy when I heard he was staying in the same division.
Q: How long did it take you to get the taste of last season out of your system?
A: I don’t know that it’s completely out at this point. I’m still horrified at the thought of starting out 0-6. I usually don’t get shocked by many things, because I’ve been around enough and seen enough, but that really shocked me. I did not expect that, I did not see that coming. It was a hole that we were never able to climb out of.
Q: What disappointed you most about the way your team played?
A: I think we kinda lost our identity there. We competed hard enough, but our guys were just not making plays, and people underachieved, and they just didn’t play together as a team. I thought we started to get a little bit of that back towards the middle and the end of the season, and that was comforting, but it was too little, too late.
Q: What do you want the identity of this 2014 team to be?
A: A team that is always going to be tough from start to finish, is always going to be competitive from start to finish … is going to make other teams nervous to play, and I don’t think teams were nervous to play us last year. I think they looked forward to playing us, certainly early in the year, and that was something that was distasteful to me, and it was something I experienced quite a bit in the 1970s. I always bring that period up because it still haunts me. But I felt like we were slipping backwards for a while. I think we regained some of our pride towards the end there as people started to get healthy. To be fair, that was a big part of it too, if you look back, and I hate making injuries an excuse for how poorly we played, but we did lose more starters to injury than any other team in the league last year, so that was part of it. That being said, we disappointed an awful lot of people last year. Me included.
Q: Your expectations for this year’s team?
A: We expect to make the playoffs every year, and certainly that would be something that would be very disappointing not to at least be in the postseason. And obviously you hope for better than that, but I think you have to take these things one step at a time, and so the first step is let’s get to the playoffs, because as we’ve seen in the past, anything can happen once you get there.
Q: Did you feel the need to shake things up? What was behind general manager Jerry Reese’s offseason purge?
A: There were a couple of things there, some things that people overlooked. No. 1, we were in the best cap situation that we’ve ever been, we had the most room, so we had the ability to make more moves. No. 2, I think we found at the end of the season that we had more holes on our roster than we believed at the beginning of the season, so there were improvements that needed to be made. And there were players out there that were attractive to us that we thought could come in and help us win, so we decided to be aggressive. I think if you’re aggressive too often in free agency, it’s a sign that things aren’t going very well within your organization — you’re not drafting well, you’re not making smart decisions. We haven’t been aggressive all that often, but we had the ability to be aggressive, and the need was there, and the players were there, so we decided to take advantage of it.
Q: Reese said last summer that everyone was on notice. And now?
A: I don’t know if I would take that literally. I mean, everybody knows what the expectations are here, and then if we fail to meet those expectations, then certain decisions have to be made. But I don’t operate that way, I don’t give ultimatums to people — win X number of games or else, make the playoffs or else. You have to evaluate where you see your organization at the end of the season: Can we win with this group if we just make some changes going forward? Are we on the right path, or have we gotten off that path? Are we not likely to improve going forward? That’s what causes you to make decisions. So I don’t start out any season saying, “You know, if we don’t win 10 games and get into the playoffs, then we’re blowing the whole organization up.” I just don’t think that’s a smart way to operate.
Q: Many of your draft choices were captains in college. Was that a change in philosophy?
A: It’s not something that we necessarily said going into the draft, but I think we’re all conscious of the fact that to win long term, you have to have high-character players.
Q: Were you surprised Jerry Jones and the Cowboys passed on Johnny Manziel?
A: (Laugh) I never know what to expect from Dallas, that’s what makes them so much fun.
Q: Did you fill all the holes you needed to fill? Are you happy with the talent? You were happy last summer with the talent.
A: Last year I was the idiot that said that this is as talented a team as we’ve ever had here, and look what happened, so I think I’ll keep my mouth shut on that one.
Q: But you feel you’ve filled a number of them.
A: The players that we added here have been very successful in the past, and now it’s up to us to put them in the right positions, and it’s up to them to play up to the best of their abilities and we should be OK. But saying it and doing it are two different things.
Q: Recall the drafting of Michael Strahan in Round 2 out of Texas Southern in 1993.
A: I did not know anything about him because he played at a small school. I do remember that we had first-round type grades on him. … I’d be lying if I said I thought we were getting a Hall of Fame player.
Q: What made him a Hall of Fame player?
A: He was relentless on the field. He practiced as hard as he played. He was just driven to be the best player that he could be, and he also had leadership skills that were rare, I thought. I thought they manifested themselves particularly during that ’07 season and in the postseason and in the Super Bowl itself. You could tell he was the real leader on the team.
Q: And now he is on “Live With Kelly and Michael.”
A: (Chuckle) I knew he’d be successful post-football career, I never dreamed he’d be this successful, though. He’s quite a star.
Q: Your thoughts on Derek Jeter?
A: He’s the epitome of what you want to have on your team as your captain. We use him as an analogy all the time: Can this guy be a Derek Jeter type for you, somebody that’s going to be there a long time, set the proper example on and off the field and be a great player? I could not come up with enough words adequate to describe how great a player and person he’s been for this [Yankees] organization and for this city.
Q: Do you know him at all?
A: I shook his hand once in a restaurant many years ago before he really became a star. I was there in New York City with a friend who had two small boys with him, and they really wanted to meet him, and I took them over to the table, introduced myself, and he got up, was very gracious and shook hands with them. That was the only time I ever met him.
Q: Do you think Eli might be a comparison to Jeter?
A: It’s unfair to compare anybody to him, but Eli’s certainly in that category. He’s the captain of our team, we’ve had great success with him, he sets a great example for everybody on and off the field — his work ethic, his values with how he conducts himself. So yeah, that’s the path he’s on, but it’s really unfair to compare anybody to Derek Jeter.
Q: Why are you against the 14-team playoff system?
A: I just think it waters it down a little bit too much, and I happen to like the system that we have right now. I thought the wild-card games this past year were as exciting as ever. I don’t think it’s the end of the world if we go to 14, I just would prefer to see it stay at 12 because I think it works very well.
Q: What is your stance on extra points?
A: We’re going to experiment this preseason with moving the ball back. We’ll see how that looks and how that feels. I think eventually you’re going to see some sort of change there, just because having a play that is such an automatic, boring play is not necessarily in our best interests. I just don’t know that I have a magic answer for that right now.
Q: A command center for replay?
A: We’re certainly not there yet, but I think we’re heading in that direction.
Q: Any message for Giants fans?
A: We really appreciate their support, and I can’t tell you how much it means to us to see them in the stadium every Sunday and supporting us the way that they have. To me, we have the most loyal fans in the league. Hopefully we’ll do something for them this season to repay them for that loyalty.