Strahan to Rolle: Coughlin a lot looser now
ARLINGTON, Texas - When Antrel Rolle said he wished Tom Coughlin would "loosen up," it had a familiar tone to it. It sounded like something Michael Strahan would have said a few years back, pre-Super Bowl ring. Now Strahan is at the Super Bowl again - as a commentator for Fox - and he said Rolle has no idea how bad things were before the Cuddly Coughlin came along in 2007.
"He doesn't know what tight is," Strahan said. "If he thinks that that is tight, he doesn't know what tight is. He just comes from a totally different system. I don't know if the coach is looser or the rules are looser or what, but the Coughlin I know is nowhere near what he used to be."
Strahan said he had already spoken with Rolle about the way comments by team leaders can reverberate in New York in a way they do not in Arizona, where Rolle played for his first five seasons before joining the Giants last offseason. That conversation took place early in the season, after Rolle ripped the team following a loss to the Colts.
"Rolle is a leader on that team and I encouraged him to be a leader when I saw him in New York this season," Strahan said. "I said, 'You're right and you're a leader and don't let them take that away from you, being a leader. But you have to realize in New York a lot of responsibility comes with that and when you say things they're going to go everywhere with it. You have to be prepared for it.'
"As a leader you need to learn that with those comments, radio is not the right place. I learned that the hard way because I did the same thing. I can't fault him."
The Giant who also delivered that message to Rolle last weekend at the Pro Bowl was defensive captain Justin Tuck. Strahan said Tuck is the right guy to be doing that.
"Somebody needs to take ownership of the team," Strahan said, "and if anybody is in line to do that, I would see it as Justin."
Strahan, a future Hall of Famer, said in the past that he hated playing for Coughlin early in his tenure with the Giants. But as the coach changed, so did Strahan's attitude toward him. He said current Giants who saw that transformation need to point it out to new guys such as Rolle.
"You have to have other guys who have been there through the good and bad Coughlin to say, 'Hey, trust me, buy into the system and do what we need to do because this is nowhere near what it used to be,' " Strahan said.
"This guy is a great coach and he wants to win. That's one thing I learned about Coach Coughlin, it was all about winning. It wasn't nothing personal. And then he learned the personal side of it, learned how to let you think he cared about you, and he let you know that. Before, that's what he never did. I'd be happy to play for him any day."
