Simms, Strahan disagree on Giants' leadership issue

The Giants are looking for leaders? Great. There'll be a couple of dozen of them available for the game Sunday night. That's when the team will unveil its Ring of Honor with 30 names of past players, coaches and front-office men. All of them leaders. Surely they can teach these current-day Giants a thing or two about leadership.

Trouble is, even they can't agree about it.

"I think that the leadership stuff is talked about maybe too much everywhere around the league," said former Giants quarterback Phil Simms, one of the 30 who will be honored Sunday. "It doesn't have to be words. I always loved that one. It's not about words. I've known some great leaders in my football career and watched them and they barely spoke. It was just the way they went about their business, the way they carried themselves, their relationships with their teammates."

Michael Strahan, care to counter that thought?

"I feel like they're coming unraveled at times that they used to handle it," the former defensive end and captain said of this year's squad, to which he remains close. "They have a lot of new guys out there and somebody has to stand up at some point and take control of the team as a player . . . Somebody needs to step up and take that role on and not be afraid of it."

Two of the Giants' all-time great players, two men who led their teams to a Super Bowl championship, and two very different opinions. No wonder these current Giants seem so confused about the matter.

Simms and Strahan led in very different ways. Their conflicting styles are both present in the Giants' locker room these days. Playing the part of Simms is Justin Tuck, a quiet but authoritative presence.

"In all of my career - high school, college, and the pros - I never stood up one time and said a word in front of the team," Simms said. "That wasn't my style. I just tried to work hard. But I was on the field and I wasn't afraid to give my opinions to teammate, to receivers, to offensive linemen, and as I look back, I just can't believe that one of them didn't punch me after some of the things I said."

At some point, though, "leading by example" isn't really leading. It's just doing. So the other side of the leadership dichotomy is the Strahan-Antrel Rolle approach. Strahan said he was thrilled that Rolle spoke up last week in his interview on WFAN and questioned the team's leadership. He hopes he continues to hear that.

"I look at Antrel and I just hope that he stays the guy he is, the player that he is, the competitor that he is," Strahan said. "Because at some point, you can't let everybody's opinion beat you down on being a leader. He's saying what a lot of us were thinking . . . I just hope he doesn't let that hit him and make him shut up."

Rolle, who was back on the airwaves Tuesday, said he was taken aback by the reaction to his comments last week. "I knew it would mix up a couple of things but definitely not to that magnitude," he said. "Whoa! That's all I can say."

But he did say that he is trying to adjust to a new team, a new coaching philosophy and new leadership styles.

"I think the leadership is going to take its role," the safety said. "I think we have great leaders in the locker room and what I'm understanding is that everyone leads in their own way, everyone has their own way of leading. Which is fine. You don't always need the rah-rah guy who is going to holler all around the locker room. You just need someone that their presence is going to be felt and their presence is going to be shown."

The Giants on Sunday night will honor 30 men who had that quality during their time with the franchise. They just need to find one or two of them inside the locker room to straighten out this year's team.

Safety Johnson on IR. The Giants placed safety Michael Johnson on injured reserve with a herniated disc in his back and elevated defensive back Brian Jackson from the practice squad.