THE fans have spoken, via emails, conversations, shrieks and pleas.
Renounce Tom Coughlin and his pseudo-discipline and sideline gyrations, rid the Giants of him after three seasons. Stuff Eli Manning into a time machine, set the dial to 2004, and never make the trade that kept him out of San Diego, saving the Giants three years of suffering through his leadership-challenged littlebrother act.
Scathing only scratches the surface of the frustration-driven venom caused by the Giants absurdly blowing a 21-0 fourthquarter lead in an inexplicable 24-21 loss Sunday in Tennessee.
Never mind the reality of the situation: The Giants, at 6-5, burdened with a three-game losing streak, can reclaim first place in the NFC East if they can beat the Cowboys on Sunday at Giants Stadium.
Never mind that. This team has sickened the loyalists, and there isn’t a truck large enough to fit all who should be sent packing, just as long as Coughlin and Manning are seated on board, or, better yet, shoved under the wheels when the creaky Big Blue Express rides out of town.
This is the way of the Giants’ world to those who never venture inside. Players must be grumbling or quitting on mean ‘ol Coughlin.
Owners John Mara and Steve Tisch must have taken out Coughlin’s rap sheet and put an indelible check in the column marked “Nay” after the colossal collapse to the Titans. Manning no doubt is ostracized in his own locker room by glowering teammates who no longer trust his ability.
“I don’t get into all that drama,” GM Ernie Accorsi said yesterday.
“Fans can afford to do that. They can’t afford to do that in their jobs, though.” It is at junctures such as this where that fact is often forgotten.
If players, coaches or management reacted to the debacle in Nashville with a mob mentality, there would be no practice today.
The Giants will beat the Cowboys if some of the walking wounded return to the lineup, if Manning gets his head out of wherever it’s been the past month, and if there is great attention to detail, low turnovers and high intensity. The Giants will not lose because of any player mutiny or coaching meltdown.
There are times when the writing on the wall corresponds to the writing on the back page, when the red drop in the water is indeed blood and someone is about to get whacked. This is not that time – not yet, anyway.
Take this to the bank: Coughlin’s future is not an issue and won’t be unless the Giants go from contender to pretender to embarrassment down the stretch.
Too much is always made of debates that obsess about passing vs. running when it comes to the Giants, and too little is made about the way these players play.
If they execute (a fancy way to say, if they whip the man across the line of scrimmage) winning is the obvious byproduct.
The Giants got together Monday for a players-only meeting; accountability was a hot topic, and that has nothing to do with loafing the way Plaxico Burress did in Tennessee, ripping the play-calling the way Tiki Barber did after Jacksonville, or acting like a buffoon on the sideline, the way Coughlin did last Sunday chasing down Mathias Kiwanuka.
The normal course of operation did not cease once the 21-point lead evaporated, which is not to discount the impact of that incredible setback.
“It happened and it [stinks],” center Shaun O’Hara said succinctly.
By today, if Osi Umenyiora or Michael Strahan can venture to the field and offer hope of a return, spirits will start to rejuvenate.
“All that matters to us is Sunday,” O’Hara said. “It doesn’t matter what people think of us or if we feel like a first-place team.
It’s all about winning one game right now.” It is, as usual, about football, and not the drama so many on the outside seek to create around the Giants.
“We’re tied for a playoff berth, that’s what reality is,” Accorsi said. “What’s not reality is all this hysteria.”
The blame game
Results of the Sports Front Page poll on nypost.com, asking whom do you blame for the Giants’ mess:
27 % Tom Coughlin
3.9 % Tiki Barber
26.1 % Eli Manning
4.2 % Plaxico Burress
38.7 % All of the above
