Giants look to Grant for sage advice

Antrel Rolle had an interception and a few key tackles and backed up his guarantee that the Giants would advance to the playoffs by beating the Cowboys last Sunday night. Afterward, he sought out fellow safety Deon Grant and had a message for him.

"I told him, 'I owe you,' " Rolle said. "And I do."

It turns out there are a lot of players on the Giants who might feel that way. Grant, a 12-year veteran who is in his second season with the team and has bounced around the league, may not be the Giants' best player, but when it comes to dispensing wisdom and advice -- whether it be about life, the business of football, or the X's and O's of the game -- he is the team's MVP.

That's Most Valuable Psychologist.

When Brandon Jacobs was struggling with his role on the team and his future with the franchise, he had a conversation with Grant that he credits with straightening him out. When rookie Prince Amukamara was benched against the Redskins, it was Grant who pulled him aside for a heart-to-heart.

And when Rolle was on the verge of forcing his will on the team too much last month, it was Grant who pulled him back.

He's like a cross between Dr. Phil and Yoda.

"Deon sat me down and we had a long conversation," Rolle said. "He was like, 'Bro, I understand what you're trying to do, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but be you. Let your play do the talking for you.' . . . Honestly, I think that's the best advice I could have ever gotten from any player."

Grant said it's nothing new for him to try to help.

"I think me growing up the way I grew up and seeing a lot, seeing a lot of the negative things that I saw, I think it got me in the position I'm in right now," said Grant, who grew up in Augusta, Ga., just a few hours away from Atlanta and the team the Giants will face in the wild-card round Sunday.

"Seeing a lot of death, a lot of disappointment. I was in the projects my whole life. Seeing that and seeing uncles [in trouble] and never having a father and all that other stuff. Mom working three jobs and not having much in the refrigerator. She's got $40 to raise four of us to her name. It made me stronger. It made me open my eyes. I guess it gave me the wisdom that I needed to be in a position I'm in right now to help others."

He said he's been that way since he came into the league as a second-round draft pick of the Panthers in 2000. Even on a team that had veterans such as Reggie White, Eric Swann and Chuck Smith, Grant said he was a vocal leader and, when he needed to be, listener.

"He definitely was like that," said Rocky Bernard, a Giants teammate who also played with him on the Seahawks. "In Seattle, he was a piece we needed, a guy in the locker room who holds people accountable."

That's one of the reasons the Giants brought him here last year. Yes, he came as an "insurance policy" in case Kenny Phillips could not return from his knee surgery in 2009. But he also was signed to add that veteran stability to the defense.

"He's a very solid man," Tom Coughlin said. "He speaks only to things that are important and the guys listen to him. That's what you want. He's got his ear to know exactly the tenor of the team, if you will, and what we're trying to accomplish, what we need to do. He's been very helpful."

"I always kid with him and tell him that he's been reincarnated, that he's been here before," Rolle said of Grant being an old soul. "He just reminds me of that kind of guy. He's a very wise guy on and off the field and he's a smart guy."

Which is why when teammates have something on their mind, they often find themselves chatting with him.

"I've always gone to Deon during whatever hard times I've gone through,'' Jacobs said, "and he's always made me realize the way things were and how things are going to be. Deon has come in handy for me as a teammate, and these two years playing with him, I really appreciate and thank whoever I need to thank, thank God, for the opportunity to be around him."

Grant thinks he inherited that ability to know when to talk and when to listen from his mother. And he said he's the same way with friends and family that he is with teammates.

"I don't mind," he said. "My whole thing on any level outside this game or in this game is to do as much as I can do for the next person to be successful. That's what it's all about."