Ware says Coughlin is old but tough
Running back D.J. Ware of the New York Giants is hit by safety Barry Church of the Dallas Cowboys in the first quarter. (Dec. 11, 2011) Credit: Getty Images
Tom Coughlin joked on Monday that D.J. Ware had been cut from the team. It was Ware who barreled into Coughlin (or was actually pushed by Aaron Maybin after he was out of bounds) on the sideline Saturday, causing the coach to injure his leg.
Ware said today that he didn’t mind the joke.
“That’s him,” Ware said. “He has his own little sense of humor that he comes around with sometimes. At least he’s talking about me. I guess that’s a good thing.”
Ware said he was impressed that Coughlin took the hit.
“I think he’s tough,” Ware said. “I thought I hurt his knee and found out I hurt his hamstring. I guess that’s good because the way I hit him, I hit him from the side right there on top of the knee. I figured he blew the knee out. But he went back and stood his ground, didn’t fall, which surprised me, and hurt his hamstring. I guess he’s pretty tough.
“He’s old,” Ware said. “You hit an old guy like that and he stands up, that’s pretty good.”
Coughlin is still limping around at practice. Today he looked worse than he had on Wednesday and Thursday. Maybin, incidentally, was not fined by the NFL for the late hit (although he was flagged for it in the game).
“It was one of those things where the only thing I could do was try to fall down and brace my fall a little bit,” Ware said. “Coach kind of braced it for me.”
What did Ware say to Coughlin after the collision?
“I tried to tell him I was sorry,” Ware said. “He told me ‘Get out of here! It’s not your fault. Keep playing like you’re doing!” I was like ‘Alright, cool.’”
