Tom Coughlin is on the hot seat? Because Antonio Pierce said so? Nice fodder for some off-season discussion, but that hardly means there is any truth to it.
Coughlin's seat is warm. So is the seat of every other head coach of an NFL team, and Coughlin knows that. In my mind it's going to take a 4-12 season and a whole bunch of games like the final two of 2009 -- where the Giants played like they had already packed it in -- for Coughlin's job security to become an issue.
I don't think that is going to happen.
Here is TC discussing Pierce's remarks.
"I don’t know what he said or how (or) why he said it or what his intent was there by any means," Coughlin said on Tuesday while at the Giants foundation golf outing at the Westchester Country Club. "It is a one-year circumstance for everybody. I don’t care if you just won the Super Bowl. You are expected to come right back and perform at the highest level. Of course in this market, you are always going to be subject to that scrutiny. My goals, my expectations, what I demand of myself and what I demand of this team really is internally driven. It has nothing to do with outside."
I have to dip into the Coughlin-Bill Cowher thing again. I made my feelings clear on this way back at the end of last season, but I will do so again. I ask those of you who are calling for Cowher to go back and re-read that post in its entirety.
Cowher is not a better coach than Coughlin. They are, basically, the same guy with nearly identical careers. Cowher has a slightly better winning percentage, mostly because he began his coaching career with a good Pittsburgh team while Coughlin began trying to build a team from scratch in Jacksonville. If the two coaches switched positions, today you would be begging for TC to ride in and save the Giants.
Fact is, the best thing Cowher has going for him is the fact that he has not coached for four years now. The longer he stays away, the more his mythical powers seem to grow in the eyes of some fans. That, of course, is silliness.
Here is part of what I wrote last December in defense of Coughlin.
Calling for Coughlin's dismissal is an emotional over-reaction to a bitterly disappointing season. A season of high expectations that has been lost in a sea of horrific defense, putrid special teams play and missed opportunities. ...
Sometimes, no matter what the coach does the players he is working with just are not good enough. That is the case with this Giants team -- especially on the defensive side of the ball. To flip-flop Dennis Green's famous remark, these defensive players are not who we thought they were. ...
The Giants undoubtedly need to make some changes to get back to the top. The head coach is not one of them, however.
He is part of the solution.
I believed that when I wrote it a few months ago. I still believe it now.