XLIV is in the book, XLV is ON the books

Monday February 8, 2010 1:32 PM By Tom Rock

We're about 16 hours removed from crowning the Saints as champions of the 2009 season, so what better time to share the odds on which team will win that title next year?

And even though they lost last night, it's the Colts who are the best bet to win it all a year from now according to the odds at Bodog.com. They're at 13-to-2 right now, just slightly ahead of the Chargers at 8-to-1. The Saints are 10-to-1 to repeat.

Seven teams are at the bottom, each at 100-to-1 odds of winning it: The Bills, Browns, Lions, Chiefs, Raiders, Rams and Bucs.

As for the locals, those upstart Jets who made it to the AFC Championship Game are 25-to-1 shots to win the Super Bowl. The Giants, who did not even make the playoffs in 2009, are actually given a better chance than that. They are at 20-to-1.

The Cowboys, who are hosting the Super Bowl, are 12-to-1 to win it in front of their home fans.

Here's a list of all 32 teams and their odds:

Indianapolis Colts 13/2
San Diego Chargers 8/1
New England Patriots 10/1
New Orleans Saints 10/1
Pittsburgh Steelers 11/1
Dallas Cowboys 12/1
Green Bay Packers 12/1
Minnesota Vikings 12/1
Philadelphia Eagles 16/1
Baltimore Ravens 20/1
New York Giants 20/1
New York Jets 25/1
Tennessee Titans 25/1
Atlanta Falcons 30/1
Cincinnati Bengals 30/1
Arizona Cardinals 35/1
Chicago Bears 35/1
Houston Texans 35/1
Carolina Panthers 40/1
Miami Dolphins 45/1
San Francisco 49ers 45/1
Seattle Seahawks 45/1
Denver Broncos 50/1
Jacksonville Jaguars 50/1
Washington Redskins 50/1
Buffalo Bills 100/1
Cleveland Browns 100/1
Detroit Lions 100/1
Kansas City Chiefs 100/1
Oakland Raiders 100/1
St. Louis Rams 100/1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 100/1
 

Osi wants to know where he stands before offseason program

Thursday February 4, 2010 4:20 PM By Tom Rock

I got a real kick out of the opening chit-chat between Mike Francesa and Osi Umenyiora during their interview together on WFAN a little earlier today. After introducing Osi, Francesa asked a simple enough, casual question.

Mike: “How are you doing?”

Osi: “I can’t complain.”

Really? If that were true, of course, there would have been nothing to talk about. Instead, Osi had plenty to say – as he has all day to just about everyone from WFAN to ESPN to NFL Network – about his current situation with the Giants.

After hitting Radio Row, he might actually be going door-to-door in South Florida to take his case to the people!

What was different about this interview with Francesa was that it came after Umenyiora told Mike Garafolo of the Star-Legder who is down in the Miami area that he wants the Giants to tell him where he stands before the offseason conditioning program begins next month.

“Whichever way they go, I completely understand,” Umenyiora said. “They’ve given me a great opportunity and I will love them for it no matter what.”

Whichever way they go, of course, means that they will either tell him he’s their starting defensive end or they will cut him or trade him. Umenyiora has made it clear he will not “completely understand” if the Giants cannot guarantee him his starting job back. Yesterday he threatened to walk away from football if that happened.

He doesn’t know which decision the Giants will make. “I just know what I have to do for my career because they’ve shown that they’re obviously going to do what’s in their best interest, so I have to do whatever I feel is in my best interest getting up there in age, you know?” he said.

So what is Umenyiora looking for?

“Just basically what their intentions are,” he said. “No disrespect towards the team. I love that team and I love the organization. I’ve spent the last quarter of my life there. But I need to know what the future holds.”

Umenyiora did say he felt “singled out” with his demotion.

“There’s no question,” he said. “The team did what they felt was in their best interest and I completely understand. They are my employer and I am their employee and they felt like they needed to make that move. But did I agree with it? Absolutely not. Who on defense played well for the entire season? Nobody. For that to happen to me was a little disheartening, a little disconcerting.”

And later in the interview …

“Who led the team in sacks for the 5th time in a row?” he asked. “Obviously I feel I might have been singled out, but maybe they feel differently and I completely understand that. But are you going to point at the guy who led the team in sacks again and say this was the one problem on the defense? Really, come on. I understand completely what their perspective is, they’re in the business of winning games and they’re trying to do whatever they can to win, and they felt like that was an avenue they had to take. But did I agree with that? Absolutely not.”

Umenyiora told Garafolo that if the Giants aren’t prepared to have him as a starter, there are other teams that are. He clarified those remarks to Francesa.

“The film is out there,” he said. “No matter what people say, no matter whatever is going on, there’s a film that everybody gets to watch and everybody gets to see. I know what was going on out there on the field, I see the amount of respect I garner on the football field. I see teams sliding the line, I see them sending double teams, doing all those things that they’ve always done to negate my abilities. If they’re still doing that when I’m on the football field, then obviously there are teams out there that respect me enough to feel like I can still make an impact on the game.”

Umenyiora didn’t rule out asking the Giants for a trade if he doesn’t get the answer he wants. And he said he’s not going to speak with new defensive coordinator Perry Fewell until his status is resolved.

“I think we have to have a conversation in general before I can get to speak to Mr. Perry Fewell,” he said. “Me and my agent have to sit down and discuss what my future is going to be, what they feel like my role is going to be, because decisions like that aren’t going to be made by the defensive coordinator. The head coach, he runs that team and he makes the final decision, so he’s going to have to make decisions like that.”

“I feel like being that I’ve been there for seven years and all the things that I’ve gone through, all of the playoff appearances and the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowls, the All-Pros, I feel like I’ve built up enough good will that they can let me know or we can at least have a discussion as to what exactly my future will be before it even gets to that point in time,” he said.

If the Giants tell him that yes, he is going to be a starter, would he be happy?

“I would hope so,” he said. “I would think so. New York is my heart. I love New York, I love that team, I love the fans. I’d much rather be there than anywhere on planet earth. I have to do what’s best for me right now. I’m getting up there, this is going to be my eighth year, so I don’t have that much time left. I have a very short window of opportunity here to do the things that I know I’m capable of doing, and I need to be on the field to do that.”

And if they don’t?

“If it comes to that then it’s been a great run and I appreciate the team and the organization for everything.”

Osi making the rounds in Miami

Thursday February 4, 2010 11:32 AM By Tom Rock

He spoke with Mike & Mike this morning on ESPN Radio and just a little while ago he was on First Take on ESPN2 talking about his future place with the Giants (in between pitches for 5-hour Energy Drink).

"Obviously I'm a competitor and I'm a competitive person by nature," Umenyiora said. "I didn’t totally agree with that situation last yearand that’s why I said what I said because I didn’t feel like I could sit through something like that last year (again). It was extremely painful and extremely difficult for me and my family."

I don't know how being demoted to a third-down pass rusher was difficult for his family, but OK. Then Osi got philosophical about what went wrong in 2009.

"It’s life," he said. "The NFL is a microcosm of life itself. You’re going to have good years, youre going to have great years, you're going to have average years and you're going to have bad years. Last year was an average year for me personally and for the team it just didn’t go the way that we wanted it to. Things kind of snowballed from there."

"Obviously there’s going to be a rebound," he said. "The team’s going to be back. I'm going to be back. Everything is going to be back right."

It's unclear if when he said "I'm going to be back" if he meant back with the Giants or back to his Pro Bowl form. Considering the comments of the last 24 hours, I'd say the latter.

Umenyiora also said he hasn't spoken with new defensive coach Perry Fewell, which we already knew, but that he hasn't spoken with Tom Coughlin since the season eneded either.

"Eventually, obviously, we’re going to have to have a discussion and we’ll see where things go from there," he said.

"I feel I'm a very productive player and I can still be a very productive player in this league and you have to play and you have to be out there on the field to accomplish those things that I feel like I need to accomplish," he said. "So that’s something we’re going to have to discuss when I do sit down and meet with them."

Osi says if he's not starting, he and Giants "should part ways"

Thursday February 4, 2010 10:17 AM By Tom Rock

The Giants' defensive end was on ESPN Radio just a few moments ago with Mike and Mike, and while most of the conversation was dedicated to the upcoming Super Bowl (his head likes the Colts, his heart likes the Saints), it eventually, inevitably turned to Umenyiora's situation with the Giants.

More specifically, to his comments yesterday when he said that if he doesn't start in 2010 he'll retire from football.

And he wasn't backing down from them. Although he did tweak them a bit.

"I love that team and I love that organization, but that being said I don't think it's a situation that can continue the way it did last year," Umenyiora said of being a third-down player for the Giants in the final five games of the season.

"I'm not sitting over here making those statements, saying if I don't start I'm going to retire," he said, taking a step away from the ledge, "but I feel like I'm too good of a player to be in that kind of a situation. If they don't feel like I should be out there, then we should part ways."

Mike Golic, himself a former defensive lineman, tried to paraphrase Osi's thoughts by saying: If you're one of the best 11 you should be out there, if not some other team will take you.

"There's no question about that, sir," Umenyiora said.

Eli rooting for the other Big Blue

Thursday February 4, 2010 9:04 AM By Tom Rock

That would be the Colts and his big bro, Peyton Manning.

Eli was on Fox 5's "Good Day New York" just a few moments ago and said that even though he grew up in New Orleans rooting for the Saints, he'll be pulling for Peyton and the Colts on Sunday.

Bob Glauber spoke with Eli a few minutes before he went on the air in South Florida, so he'll have more info a little later, including an update on Eli's foot problems that troubled him throughout the 09 season.

Eli, by the way, was hawking Gatorade at his appearance. I guess his sponsors at Toyota had other things on their minds this week.

Coughlin: We needed to make a change

Thursday January 28, 2010 3:21 PM By Tom Rock

The last time Tom Coughlin spoke publicly was the afternoon following the season finale in Minnesota. That was a few hours before Bill Sheridan was fired as defensive coordinator. As such, we've never heard from Coughlin on the decision.

Until today, when he was asked about it by Mike Francesa during an interview on WFAN.

"There’s never one reason and I never put the blame and will point the finger at one individual," Coughlin said of the defensive disappointment of 2009. "Bill Sheridan is a very good football coach. It just didn’t get done and I think that’s the best way to leave it. No one person is responsible ... It just didn’t get done. When that occurs, there’s a lot of time and energy spent in the evaluation process and simply stated, we needed to make a change."

Coughlin touched on a few other topics such as:

The misleading 5-0 start. "There were concerns all along," he said, pointing especially to the rushing yardage allowed in the win at Dallas. "That was an indication to me. Even though we’re 5-0, I didn’t think we’ve been tested. I don’t mean that disrespectfully about anybody. I just mean there were areas of our team that I was concerned with and I didn’t feel we had been tested in those areas. Then as we began to be tested we were having difficulty defending the big play for example."

The collapse in the final two games, particularly against the Panthers in the final game at Giants Stadium. "The thing that befuddles me is to go down to Wasington on Monday night and in the division to win 45-12 down there and then to come home  … to come out against Carolina, have Carolina do exactly what we knew they would do … for us not to rise up and battle away when one year ago literally in the same spot at the end of the season we rushed for 300 yards … that was very bothersome to me without a doubt."

The decision to hire Perry Fewell as defensive coordinator. "Perry brings the kind of energy, the enthusiasm, the expertise, the toughness, the format, the ability to make corrections on the field on game day and I'm excited about that," he said. "Perry's the right man for the job at this particular time. He's young, he has great enthusiasm ...  When he was a young coach he was like a sponge, he was trying to gain as much information as he could from as many people as he could. He’s very personable and I think his leadership style is what we need."

And the silver lining of the disappointing season. "It’s going to sound goofy, but it’s a good thing because I'm telling you we’re going to look at everything now," he said. "We’re going to take it all apart, we’re going to put it all back together. But it's going to be a total, total analysis."

(Newsday Photo: Conrad Williams Jr.)

Reading between the line(backer)s

Thursday January 28, 2010 2:55 PM By Tom Rock

Perry Fewell was very excited about the defensive linemen he'll be able to work with. And he said he's hoping that the secondary can stay healthy (Kenny Phillips and Aaron Ross are at the top of that list, I assume).

But when asked about the linebackers, Fewell was not as glowing. And it sounds, if you want to read between the lines, like he'll be pushing for some upgrades at the position.

"As I've watched them, I'm watching each individual, the talent level of each individual, not so much the scheme but how I see them, how they would fit into what I may do," he said of his analysis of the linebackers. "Right now I know that I see some talented linebackers there, but you can always get better with the draft, with free agency. You can always better your football team when you add additional players."

That goes with his interview on Sirius NFL Radio earlier this week when he was asked what his ideal Giants linebacker would be and he answered in two words: "Lawrence Taylor."

Perry Fewell not sure if he'll be up or down

Thursday January 28, 2010 2:50 PM By Tom Rock

Just got through with the Perry Fewell conference call, and one of the topics of discussion was just where he plans on calling the games from.

As you may remember, that was the first sign that Bill Sheridan and the players were not exactly comfortable with each other last year. Sheridan wanted to call games from the press box, but the players wanted him on the field. Eventually he wound up on the field. But the reason the players wanted him there -- to be an emotional motvator and look them in the eyes -- never really panned out.

Now comes Fewell, who was a booth coordinator with the Bills until he became interim head coach in the second half of last year. Then he moved to the field, where he continued to call the defenses. Where will he be with the Giants? He isn't sure yet.

"I'm comfortable either or," he said.

But he did note that he's a different coach on the field.

"I found this out: I get pretty excited on the sideline and I'm probably a little more controlled when I called it from the press box," he said. "When I called it from the sidline sometimes you can get caught up in the ballgame and you … chest bump a player or you slap somebody on the hind end or something like that and then you have to go back and get by yourself and gather your thoughts again. Up in the press box, your emotions are a little more controlled. It depends on how those emotions are running, but I can go either way. It’s a matter of just being in that moment."

Considering whom he is replacing and the personality of that person and that Fewell was brought in to provide energy and excitement and enthusiasm for the players, it's a good bet that he'll be on the sideline.

(Photo: AP)

New d-line coach is big on fundamentals, structure

Wednesday January 27, 2010 4:38 PM By Tom Rock

One of the easiest things to observe while covering the Giants --and, some people will tell you, one of the reasons he's no longer there -- was the close relationship the defensive linemen had with Mike Waufle. Was he an apologist for them? Did he contribute to their troubles this past season? I don't know that. But he was very popular. And he was fired.

Now there's a new guy in town. The Giants today announced that Robert Nunn, who has coached edefsnive linemen in Washington, Green Bay and most recently Tampa Bay, has been hired as defensive line coach, filling what appears to be the final vacancy on the coaching staff.

And in reading the quotes from Tom Coughlin and Perry Fewell, it's interesting to get a sense of a theme that they consider may have been missing under Waufle, who has already been hired by the Raiders.

"(He) will bring the best out of the players that he coaches," Coughlin said. "He will provide structure. He will gain their trust. He will prove to the players the techniques that are important. When that happens and they buy into it, I think the results will come back for us."

"I look for him to bring to our defensive line fundamentals, technique, toughness, energy and to bring us together as a group to help make us a good defensive line unit," Fewell said.

Coughlin praised his X and O abilities, but he was also drawn to his resume. And not for the impressive positions on NFL staffs but for the lesser known jobs he's held.

“I am usually impressed by people who came through the ranks, that didn’t have great jobs,” Coughlin said. “He was the defensive coordinator, head coach and athletic director at Georgia Military. Because of that and some of the recruiting associations he made, he got an opportunity to go into professional football and he’s done an outstanding job.”

Here's Nunn's work history:

1988 Northeastern Oklahoma Defensive Line
1989-90 Tennessee Defensive Ends
1991 Georgia Military College Defensive Coordinator
1992-99 Georgia Military College Head Coach
2000 Miami Dolphins Defensive Assistant
2001-2002 Miami Dolphins Asst. Def. Line/Quality Control
2003 Washington Redskins Defensive Line
2004 Miami Dolphins Special Assistant
2005-08 Green Bay Packers Defensive Tackles
2009 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defensive Line