Sheridan meets the press

Weird timing, I guess, since I just wrote about him this morning, but today turned out to be the first time since training camp that New York Giants' defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan spoke to the media.

You'll never guess what he was asked about? Osi Umenyiora, and this whole calling the game from the field vs. the press box thing. See, this sports writer stuff isn't brain surgery.

Here is what Sheridan had to say about the Umenyiora incident.

"Honestly, it was so completely overinflated, it’s laughable. Everything is great. I never even thought there was any issue. Obviously he had to work through something and in hindsight he regretted it. But there is no issue in any way, shape or form; we laugh about it."

The rookie coordinator was a little more expansive on the whole issue of working from field level.

" I know Antonio Pierce, in particular, he feels better having a guy he can talk to directly on the sideline because for him, I know this is going to sound trite, but he is our quarterback. Rather than getting on the phones and talking in between series, he preferred, I know he liked it when Steve (Spagnuolo) was down there. He could come right off and say hey, this is what I’m seeing, this is what I think is going on in relationship to our calls and that kind of stuff. I think even when it was talked about in the spring about me being up, he at least voiced his opinion that he had a preference for me being down there. It is not a big deal either way. Now having done it for the four preseason games, it’s no problem. ...

It is not as much of an issue as I had thought way before doing it. Tom, he has always preferred the coordinators down and when he got wind of it in the spring he brought it up to me. He said, ‘I would prefer to have the guys down’ and he had mentioned that even Antonio (Pierce) had said something to him. It’s not that big of a deal, and it hasn’t been so I said, ‘Yup, no problem.’

Pierce also spoke to the media on Thursday, and was asked about the Sheridan on the sidelines thing.

"It’s a better communication that way. Better not to hear it from a third party. You look right into somebody’s eyes and hear it directly from them."

AP was also asked if the defense, which dealt with a rash of pre-season injuries and is still not intact, has had enough time together.

"Maybe not in the preseason games because obviously we had some guys nicked up and hurt. For practice, yeah, we have. From mini-camps and OTAs, just getting used to guys and getting used to one another, I would say we had to. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter now because we have a game to suit up for in three days."

-- Tom Coughlin transcript
-- Kevin Gilbride transcript