Is Tom Coughlin’s behavior a major reason why the Giants have so many injuries?
When Tom Coughlin became the Giants head coach in January 2004, he proclaimed, “I am also aware of the injury factor; the number of IR’s and those kinds of things, which is a cancer let’s face it. It is something that has to be corrected. It is a mental thing I believe as much as it is anything else.”
Did Coughlin cure the “cancer” which became pervasive throughout the entire team?
NO.
In 2003, the last year of Fassel’s tenure as head coach, the Giants had 12 players who ended the season on IR. On the other hand, in Coughlin’s first year, 18 players finished the season on IR.
Although Coughlin believes injuries are more mental than physical, his words condemning Fassel are indeed ironic. In his first four seasons as Giants’ head coach, 47 players were placed on IR. As a head coach in the NFL, is he pushing the envelope on player safety?
Let us first take a look at Brandon Jacobs. Giants running back Brandon Jacobs struggled in 2009. After taking a handoff, he did not look decisive. Because he was hesitant, Fox analyst Tony Siragusa surmised Jacobs was “tiptoeing”. Jacobs scoffed at Siragusa’s stinging criticism. At the time, little did Siragusa and the rest of us know that Jacobs had a serious knee injury.
Jacobs hurt his knee in week one. Incredulously, Coughlin allowed Jacobs to play. When the news broke about Jacobs’ injury in February, some of us were scratching our heads including a befuddled Andy. Andy wrote the following about Jacobs’ knee injury:
The poorness of this decision to try to play through the injury is stark. If it happens in Week 10, you can understand that it probably ends the season to undergo surgery. But Week 1? I will have to second guess it because
(1) there is too much football still to be played.. Jacobs implies the surgery would have cost him ~ 5 weeks recovery time.
(2) as a coach/physician, you have to see almost immediately (as WE ALL saw) that his productivity dropped off like a rock in subsequent weeks
I give Jacobs high marks for wanting to play through. And considering what he still accomplished despite being injured, on a personal level it is impressive. BUT WHERE WERE THE COACHES?
Is Coughlin influencing team doctors’ decisions?
This could be the case. Going back to his stint as chief decision maker of the Jaguar franchise, Coughlin came under fire because of the Jeff Novak case. Novak, an offensive lineman, suffered a leg wound which did not heal properly. Instead of having Novak sit out and let his injury heal, he was cleared to play. As a result, Novak’s infected leg began to rot. This preventable injury cost Novak his career. Former Jaguar WR Keenan McCardell was a teammate of Novak’s. When interviewed about this incident, McCardell’s belief was team doctor at the time Dr. Stephen Lucie was bulldozed by Coughlin.
McCardell, in an interview with ESPN.com, said Lucie was no match for the passion and military-style machismo of Coughlin.
“He’s the doctor,” said McCardell, whose Pro Bowl career with the Jaguars ended this year when he signed as a free agent with Tampa Bay. “He’s supposed to say, ‘Hey, he can’t practice.’ But I think Tom would kind of push him a bit to get that player out there.”
In various interviews, Coughlin has defended his stance on player injuries. According to Coughlin, the medical people always have the last word.
But this begs the question. Did Coughlin push team doctor’s about Jacobs knee injury? At this point, we do not know. However, Peter, a former NFL scout and colleague here at UltimateNYG, has commented on the suspect behavior of Coughlin and the Giants organization on their handling of injuries. Pete:
So, Osi goes from star to part timer. He plays on a defense that wins Super Bowl, seriously injures his knee, is forced to miss a season, works his a** off to play the next season and gets a new coach, a demotion, no respect and is no longer a feature player. His knee (by the way) is about the most serious injury one can get.
So as Rocky Bernard says he was seriously injured last year.. he “plays” like he is seriously injured. No one, not the N.Y. press.. the coaches, teammates, trainers, no one says a word.
If this is true and they continued to play him anyway, what does that say about Coughlin, Sheridan, Reese and the organization?
If true, the handling of Jacobs, Bernard, Osi and others is suspect.
The bigger picture here is player safety. Peter Prisco, CBS Sports senior writer, raises a question- Is NFL medical care good enough? Two areas which have concerned players are being forced onto the field when injured and the right to seek second opinions outside of team doctors. Perhaps, when owners and the players union hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement, this issue will be be negotiated. Therefore, the unfortunate Jeff Novak type injuries can be a thing of the past.
Extras: Speaking about injuries, the Eagles suffered a big loss yesterday. Marlin Jackson was signed as a free agent away from the Colts and was slotted as their starting Safety.
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