The Giants have plenty of question marks heading into camp. At least one mystery has been solved though.
Head coach Tom Coughlin will not enter the season as a lame duck, as he was rewarded with an extension through the 2012 campaign.
The usually staid Coughlin was gracious and humble when discussing the deal.
“I am grateful for the opportunity [because] to be the head coach of the New York Giants is the fulfillment of a dream,” Coughlin said. “As I have said roughly a thousand times, we’re all on one-year contracts in this business. I am thankful to work for people like [owners] the Maras and the Tisches and with people like [general manager] Jerry Reese, as well as my coaching staff and our players.”
Reese was praiseworthy of Coughlin by saying if anyone can get the most out of a team, despite the “weird” offseason, it’s Coughlin.
“Nobody works harder than Tom at trying to make the team be as good as it can be,” said Reese. “Nobody pushes himself and his staff harder than Tom to try to figure out the best way to win.”
Toughness is still the name of his game.
“You want to surround yourself with good people, smart people, and winners,” Coughlin effused. “We want people who know how to pay the price … I think our players will benefit greatly from this.”
One way to infuse a spark into camp was to hire Larry Izzo as the assistant special teams coach. Izzo, one of the all-time overachievers, was brought in to avoid any more DeSean Jackson-type meltdowns.
Saturday at 6 p.m., Big Blue will see how fast they can come together despite numerous new faces and open competitions.
