Giants practice what Rolle preached

The Giants were at a low point in their season, having just lost to the nothing-to-play-for Redskins at home in Week 15 and having squandered all of the good vibes and momentum they had captured the previous week against the Cowboys. And there stood Antrel Rolle, the team's lightning rod of a safety, talking to reporters for close to 20 minutes about his disappointment -- not in the game but in the way they had been practicing.

More accurately, he was griping about who was practicing and who wasn't.

"We need to have everyone on the field," Rolle said.

That could have been the comment that fractured the defense, the blow that crumbled them into factions. Speculation swirled about whether he was talking about Justin Tuck, who had not practiced that week, or Ahmad Bradshaw, who also missed practices. Was he talking about Osi Umenyiora, who has been sidelined by an ankle injury for more than a month?

Oddly enough, those comments didn't ruin the rest of the Giants' season. In fact, they may have saved it.

Several players, including Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka, noted that Rolle's words hit home with the team, particularly the defense. Yes, they were sharp and pointed and (even Rolle admitted) probably shouldn't have been delivered to the media. But the players realized they also were true.

The team practiced at such a frenzied pace last week that Tom Coughlin joked that he didn't even recognize his players. That enthusiasm carried over to Saturday, when the defense played its most complete game of the season to beat the Jets.

"Credit Rolle for [the attitude] because he had all hands on deck all week," Kiwanuka said after the game. "Anybody who was even close to being able to physically practiced, and you saw the result."

Tuck played 88 snaps in the game, the most in his career. He also took every snap in practice the week leading up to the game. He flatly said he was not motivated to do so because of Rolle's words, but he also said that they "struck a chord" with the team.

Rolle has been criticized for talking too much, and often that is fair. But in this case, he apparently said exactly what the Giants needed to hear. It left the Giants with a one-game season against the Cowboys on Sunday night in which they'll have to muster just as much desire and energy as they showed against the Jets.

Rolle said yesterday that there was no danger of his remarks busting an already fragile unit into pieces. "No, it couldn't have," he said three times for emphasis. "They know me. They know exactly what I'm saying and they knew exactly where I was coming from. I don't speak out of anger . . . I said what I felt and I said what came from the heart. If that cracks the defense in half, then that means we're a weak defense, and we're in no way, shape or form a weak defense."

Rolle refused to take credit for his comments affecting anyone. He also wouldn't say whether teammates thanked him for saying what others felt or told him that they were in agreement. But they did. And if they didn't verbalize it at the time, they showed it in last week's practices and on the field Saturday.

"You can lead by example, but guys have to have that in themselves," he said. "I don't think there's anything that I can do or coach Coughlin can do or anyone can do that can bring intensity to one man's game."

No, but a leader can find a way to bring it out when it is dormant. Rolle has tried to do that at several points this season, attempted to spread his fire and passion when the rest of the team appeared to be flat. Sometimes his words missed their mark, just the way some of his tackles and coverages have. But when he stood at his locker Dec. 18 with the team's season on the brink, he said the words they needed to hear.

That may go down as Rolle's best play of the year.