Giants

Offense

It’s not quite Opening Day, but the 2004 seasons starts here. The players said Coughlin’s tyrant image was overblown. They will have to lift weights twice as much than they did during the Fassell era.

7-10 players have already filed similar complaints to ones Coughlin experienced in Jacksonville. Tiki Barber and Michael Strahan are the Giants’ union reps, so this could be a precursor of conflict to come with the new coach.

Giants veterans Michael Strahan and Tiki Barber publicly spoke out against the whining players. A decision likely won’t come in the issue for a few weeks.

Davis reportedly likes how Gilbride mixes a power running game with vertical passes and wanted to see if Gilbride could give him a way to turn around Oakland’s offense. Gilbride will return as the Giants’ offensive boss in 2009.

The 65-year-old Coughlin won’t be riding off into the sunset following his second Super Bowl win in five seasons. Now 82-57 (including the playoffs) in eight seasons as the Giants’ head coach, Coughlin boasts a 154-121 (.560) record since taking over the expansion Jaguars in 1995.

“We’re working on it,” promised Mara. “It will be done sooner rather than later.” Coughlin has won two Super Bowls over the past four years and is hoping to coach into his 70s. Coughlin will turn 66 just before this season starts.

Coughlin turns 66 in August, so he’s now locked in through his age-68 campaign. It will be interesting to see whether GM Jerry Reese grooms DC Perry Fewell to be Coughlin’s replacement. Coughlin has coached the G-Men to Super Bowl victories in two of the past four years, joining Bill Parcells and Steve Owen as the three coaches to lead the Giants to multiple world championships. Coughlin will pass Parcells for second in franchise history in coaching victories this year. (Owen is first.)

They’d apparently be picking Gettleman over more ballyhooed Giants exec Marc Ross. Gettleman has spent the past 15 seasons with the G-Men, working under Panthers GM-search-consultant Ernie Accorsi early in his career. Per PFT, other likely GM hirings according to buzz in league circles are Steve Keim (Cardinals), Tom Gamble (Jets), Dave Caldwell (Jaguars), and John Dorsey (Chiefs).

Ross is a hot general manager candidate, unsurprisingly, after overseeing several highly impressive drafts with the G-Men, working directly under Jerry Reese. The Jets have both Ross and 49ers director of player personnel Tom Gamble squarely in their sights after being turned down by ESPN’s Bill Polian.

“We can’t go into next season with the same personnel,” Mara said. Perhaps taking a shot at OC Kevin Gilbride, Mara also said he "(wasn’t) sure why it took us three years to figure out Jerrel Jernigan can play.” It sounds like Gilbride is shaping up as the fall guy for New York’s second straight mediocre season.