So with a 5-9 record and after the beat down by Seattle yesterday, the Giants locker room has begun to splinter a bit. It's been a minor miracle that it didn't happen sooner considering the losing the streak early on but winning 5 out of 6 even against garbage competition does wonders. After this loss however....
(lengthy post)
http://www.bigblueview.com/2013/12/...giants-antrel-rolle-brandon-myers-eli-manning
According to a variety of media reports, Coughlin also tried to issue his standard "put the blame on me for this" speech. Antrel Rolle, however, took the blame off his coach and put it on the players -- again showing that things have finally boiled over in the Giants' locker room.
As mentioned, Coughlin generally takes the blame after a loss in his post-game speeches for not preparing the team well enough but the report above doesn't go all the way. Rolle apparently cut the coach off mid-speech and went in hard at the team for lack of passion and playing with no heart. Here's his words:
"Coach Coughlin can't take any of this blame," Rolle said. "Coach Coughlin, he's a coach, but he can't coach heart, he can't make a play or have heart, he can't make a player have passion about this game, and that's what we were lacking out there today. Like I said, coach can say what he wants, but personally, I won't allow him to take that because coaches coach and the players play the game.
As mentioned, Coughlin wasn't blind to it either. He called the offensive effort "pathetic" and specifically called out players who showed no effort on the field:
"I told the players who prepared and gave great effort that I appreciated what they did, and I told those that were obvious they had not, that I felt sorry for them because they're missing the whole point," Coughlin said.
Brandon Myers was one of the players who looks to have been called out for effort as he took to twitter to defend himself:
Brandon Myers
@myersb83
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Getting cussed out for encouraging ppl am telling them they did a good job is mind blowing.
Brandon Myers
@myersb83
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If ppl on this team wanna take shots at me an say I have no passion they are mistaken. I give everything I have each an every week
Art Stapleton also posted:
Art Stapleton
@art_stapleton
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One pre-SB 46 Giants player told me after the game this was as tension-filled a post-game locker room as #NYG have had since he's been here.
'Trel wasn't shy about pointing the finger at the offense either. More specifically certain players on the offense that "had no pulse" as he said several times though he was diplomatic in not mentioning names (*cough* Hakeem Nicks *cough*)
“If you don’t have passion about this game you don’t need to be out there on the field,” Rolle said, adding, “Sometimes out there it looked like we didn’t have a pulse.’’
And yes, Rolle made it clear he wasn’t talking about his defensive unit.
“You all saw the game,’’ Rolle said. “I don’t have to say anything. This is not about pointing fingers, it’s not about that, but it is what it is. If you saw the game you know exactly what you saw.’’
Watching the game yesterday, it was obvious who was interested and being there and who wasn't. The defense played its heart out and give it everything they had and the half of the offense looked it preferred to be at home watching the game instead of playing it.
3 of the 5 starters on the offense line need to be let go at the end of the season. Hakeem Nicks has played himself out of a contract this season and frankly he can fuck off after the complete lack of heart he showed yesterday. Not fighting for contested passes, lazy fucking routes and then acting indignant about the coach labeling the offensive effort pathetic when he was one of the main culprits. He won't be in a Giants uniform in 2014.