Tom Coughlin delivers motivational message to Giants after bye week
Head Coach Tom Coughlin of the New York Giants speak to the media after conditioning drills at Quest Diagnostics Training Center on July 21, 2014. Credit: Mike Stobe
The Giants came back to work with a light practice and a loud message.
After a short workout on the field Monday following their bye, Tom Coughlin delivered an impassioned speech to the team. "I had some things that I wanted to tell them," he said.
And what was that?
"The message was, you look around the league and you see teams that are playing superbly that maybe hadn't been playing superbly," Coughlin said. "To me, we've got to play above the X's and O's. We've got nine games to play as well as we can possibly play. I think anybody in that locker room can do that. They just have to realize the amount of the season and the schedule that has gone by and yet we have nine opportunities. Let's go. One at a time."
The players got the message, as well as the intensity of it.
"This is exciting," Eli Manning said. "We have a good opportunity ahead of us."
Jennings not ready
Rashad Jennings did not practice with the team and seems unlikely to be able to play against the Colts on Monday night. "He's not ready to go," Coughlin said of the starting running back, who already has missed two games with a sprained MCL.
Giant steps
Guard Geoff Schwartz practiced for the first time since dislocating a toe on his right foot in the preseason. He is on short-term IR and eligible to play vs. the Colts . . . Coughlin said Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (hamstring, back) was helped by the bye. "I thought there was [improvement]," he said. "I think it's a little better than it was."
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.
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