Michael Strahan yesterday casually chatted with teammates, undressed by his own locker, took a shower and as he returned to his locker looked over and saw the media crowd around Eli Manning had not dissipated. “Damn, still grilling him, huh?” Strahan said to no one in particular.
Such was the state of affairs around the Giants, with inquiring minds wanting to hear from Manning after his four-interception nightmare performance in a 41-17 loss that allowed the Vikings to return three of the interceptions for touchdowns and gain 28 points with their thievery off Manning.
Teammates watched as Manning fielded questions for a full 30 minutes and it wasn’t as if anyone sensed the quarterback needed a shoulder to cry on.
“I think there’s unsaid support, but if anybody felt that was needed I’m sure there would be people crawling over each other to get that done,” center Shaun O’Hara said. “We’re not talking about a four-year old kid, we’re talking about a man.”
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The two players who went down in the game are both “very sore” according to Tom Coughlin. LB Antonio Pierce has a sprained ankle and RT Kareem McKenzie has multiple leg contusions. Coughlin said he expects both will be able to practice tomorrow.
He offered no update on injured RBs Brandon Jacobs (hamstring) and Derrick Ward (groin, ankle) other than the trainers are indicating Ward might be cleared to return to practice.
“Jacobs is not there yet,” Coughlin said.
Rookie CB Aaron Ross (hamstring) will be limited this week.
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Manning was not helped at all by his receivers, and not only because of the numerous dropped passes.
“Our routes weren’t real sharp or crisp,” Coughlin said.
DE Dave Tollefson was activated for the first time and it sounds as if it won’t be the last time.
“His presence was felt on special teams,” Coughlin said.
Rookie RB Ahmad Bradshaw gained 29 yards on only four rushing attempts and Coughlin said, “He gave us a real jolt when he did play.” Figure Bradshaw has warranted an increased workload, although the Giants aren’t yet sold on his ability to pick up blitzes in the protection scheme.
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Could history be repeating itself? This past week, the Giants felt they caught a break because they did not have to face Vikings RB Adrian Peterson, who sat out with a knee injury. This week, they won’t play against RB Cedric Benson, the Bears’ leading rusher (196-674) by a wide margin. Benson is out for the season following an injury to his lower left leg suffered in Sunday’s wild 37-34 overtime victory over the Broncos.
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Coughlin’s message to the team after Sunday’s loss?
“Yes, we are 7-4, but what I really want from an individual and a team standpoint is for us to play as well as we can play,” he said.
“That is not taking place right now and that has to be corrected.”