Ereck Flowers speaks his mind on the sideline to rally the Giants

One of the highlights from the Giants' loss to the Eagles didn't take place on the field on Monday night. It happened on the sideline when, after Rashad Jennings' second-quarter fumble in the middle of the unraveling of the team, rookie offensive tackle Ereck Flowers was shown on the broadcast delivering a fiery address to his teammates.

He pulled them in. He looked them in the eyes. He spoke his mind.

It's uncommon for a rookie to do that, especially on a team with a lot of veteran talent. So why did Flowers step into that role?

"Because," he said simply, "I wanted to win."

Flowers doesn't show that persona much away from the games. He's very limited in sharing his thoughts with the media. But at that moment, he was revved up something fierce.

"You feel more comfortable the more games you play," Flowers said of his growing role on the team as a young leader.

The Giants have spoken about that dynamic for several weeks. Second-year center Weston Richburg said he believed this year's team was more "self-governing" than teams in the past that waited for coaches to spark them. There have been times when other, more established players have rallied the group the way Flowers did on Monday night, players such as Jennings and Eli Manning and Justin Pugh.

Flowers certainly felt the need to speak his mind then, if not now. Asked if he didn't like what he was seeing from his teammates, he shrugged: "Nah."

It didn't exactly work. The Giants offense never regained its footing and lost, 27-7.

"I wish we had a different result," Flowers said.

But that likely won't dissuade him from doing it again.

"Just when needed," he said. "Just when needed."

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.