New York Giants Notes: Coughlin Finds Lots To Complain About

Back in the day, former Giants coach Bill Parcells was a master at finding things to complain about even when his team was riding high.

Current Giants coach Tom Coughlin seemed to do a pretty good imitation Monday, though he was hardly making up phantom complaints. The things he found fault with are legitimate.

Like the fact that there was no penalty called on the play where Kevin Boss sustained a concussion. A play where you can easily argue that Boss was a defenseless receiver when a Carolina defender delivered a blow to his head.

"If people are following the rules, the kid doesn't get touched," Coughlin said. "That was as blatant and obvious as anything you see. No call, no nothing. We lose a player a few plays into the game."

Like the fact that Matt Dodge needs to punt better -- soon -- if he wants to keep his job.

"Patience is not a good word right now, so Matt...we need to see the consistency. You know, there was a 28-yard return in there," Coughlin said. "I mean, the line drive punt that doesn't go very far, it looks like we're all clumped in there together where no one really even has a chance to disperse the coverage and that ball got outside it like nobody's business so that's what you try to make the young punter and everyone else understand, that it's a team operation here. You've got to give our people a chance to get out there and cover."

Like the fact that getting a punt blocked when Carolina did not even have a rush on was "embarrassing."

We had no business getting a punt blocked. There was a six-man rush. There was a breakdown up front, it wasn't complicated, we turned a guy loose," Coughlin said. "You never turn a guy loose. We did. That's really difficult to understand. It's embarrassing, to be honest with you. It should never have happened so I do not expect that sound to ever occur again."

Like the fact that the running game needs to improve, specifically the blocking.

"We're not where we need to be. We need to play together longer, we need to practice longer together as an offensive line group, as a fullback, as the wide receivers," Coughlin said. "Probably one of the things that you should be aware of is the block that Manningham made on the touchdown on the draw when he went in there and blocked the safety so that Bradshaw got in the end zone ... that was quite a play. What I'm trying to say is that we need them all to block the people that they're supposed to block in order to have the running game go as well."

Eli Manning is looking forward to Sunday's game in Indianapolis, the second time he goes head-on with his brother in an NFL game.

"It's a little different than last time. It was my first full season being a starter, and the first game of that season. There were a lot of things going on. With this one, I've been playing a little bit longer. Still, it's going to be fun. It's going to be a great environment, it's my first time to play in the Indianapolis stadium. I've been there for a few games but never played in the stadium and I'm looking forward to that," Manninf said. "They are always a tough team and it's going to be a challenge for us, so we have to go out there and play great football."

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