Giants fail to warm up in 49-17 loss to Vikings

It didn’t matter what caused the player to act like he did, because it doesn’t take most people long to realize the player who reacts to a situation usually gets flagged, not the one who starts it. Unfortunately for the veteran coach, it is entirely too obvious that the story is all about him as the season – and perhaps his coaching career – winds to a close.

Until very recently, I wouldn’t have thought it was possible.

CHARGERS: Agent David Canter said safety Eric Weddle was fined $10,000 by the team for remaining on the sideline at halftime of a December 20 home game to watch his daughter dance in a program sponsored by the team’s cheerleaders. Coach Zimmer has been saying ‘this is the time of the year that teams become great teams, ‘ and Coach Zimmer, he’s been on some outstanding teams-Super Bowl teams-so he knows what he’s talking about, and we have all bought into what he has been saying. That’s the only factor that regards whatever all the discussion comes.

His overall numbers were abysmal, but the blame, shouldn’t be on number 10. I’m here for them. We are going to conduct ourselves as we always have.

The players respect Zimmer, have bought into his brand of football and are generally winning games because they play in the manner he expects.

Truthfully, though, what happens on the field Sunday is but a minor part of the narrative this week.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C. It was not a very good showing for Dwayne Harris. although he tried to guy out the evening with a sore shoulder that probably would have kept most guys inactive, his decision making, particularly on a couple of punts where he let the ball bounce and hence lose yardage was inexplicable. Will he retire on his own? Robert Ayers meanwhile played lights out, recording 1.5 of the Giants’ three sacks on the evening. It would be a chance to remind everyone of the joy Coughlin and his two title teams brought, and for fans to thank him as he leaves. Munnerlyn continued his standout play with a run stop on a backside blitz and also one of the three interceptions on an excellent zone drop.

Beckham as reinstated by the league this week. “It’s a shame that they have to be put in the position where they have to respond about something to do with me”, Coughlin said. I’m here for them. This is something that may also be said about the units he has coached in the past, as reflected by the extremely kind sentiments and high opinions of him that have been offered up by players he has previously worked with like Geno Atkins and former colleagues-or, potentially more appropriately, mentors-such as Bill Parcells. There is potentially 10,000 things that’s going on outside, so I think all we can think about is Sunday’s game and the Eagles. “Put it that way, leave it that way”. “We try like heck not to put these young men in a position where they feel badly about the circumstances that the head coach finds himself in”, Coughlin said in a rather short day-after news conference with the media.

Justin Pugh knows that what comes next is out of his hands, that Tom Coughlin’s fate will be decided by Giants president and co-owner John Mara in the coming days.

The Manning-Coughlin partnership has been mutually beneficial and it has borne fruit right from the moment Eli won his first game as a starter, against the Cowboys and Bill Parcells on the last night of the 2004 season.

Coughlin deserves that much. Had those games ended at the two-minute warning, they would have had ten wins. So are the Eagles, who visit MetLife Stadium for the season finale on Sunday.