Here are a few New York Giants notes for a Friday morning.
Tuck tackles leadership questions
Giants defensive captain Justin Tuck was, of course, asked Thursday about leadership in the wake of Antrel Rolle's critical comments earlier in the week.
"What goes on in this locker room should stay in this locker room, and we'll get everything straightened out. It's easy to be a leader when you're winning football games, but you go out on a Sunday night and get embarrassed on TV-that's when your real character starts to show. So it's all about what we do from here on out," Tuck said. "The only thing I was upset about was he didn't come to me first, and we're a team. So we'll talk. We haven't talked. We will talk, and I'll figure out what exactly he meant by what he did."
From Mike Garafolo comes word this morning that that meeting has taken place.
Tuck said that there is such a thing as the 'Giant way' that new players need to become accustomed to.
"That's not a fault to Antrel or whoever else. It's because like he said, he won a lot of games in Arizona. They did well out there, and they did it a certain way. And you can't fault him for believing in a certain way, but the simple fact is this: we've won a lot of games here, too, and it's a Giant way," Tuck said. "I think coach Coughlin did a great job of trying to get everybody on the same page. We went down this road before and this locker room had been divided. And we know it happened. We went down the road together, and we came together and you stop talking about "91" and you start talking about the entire team. So that's what it is. It's a team effort."
My take: The best thing about Tuck's remarks, for me, is the support of Coughlin. If those perceived to be the leaders don't support the coach, you have nothing.
Gilbride: Koets will start if O'Hara can't
Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride Thursday confirmed that Adam Koets, who has never started an NFL game in his four seasons, will be the center Sunday if Shaun O'Hara (ankle/achilles) can't play.
"I think we felt that Adam has been playing well enough that he deserved the chance to start because by doing that, we've made less overall changes. It's one person, so rather than changing three, you're changing one. If we didn't think he could do the job or he hadn't been playing well when we've asked him to do it, you couldn't make that decision, but he's earned it," said Gilbride. "There's no question he's earned the chance to get an opportunity and we're optimistic that he's going to play well and confident that he will. We'll see."
Fewell defends Colts game plan
Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell was questioned about last week's game plan against indianapolis which emphasized pass defense and had the Giants using fewer linebackers for much of the game.
"I still think that we can stop the run with six in the box. We weren't as sharp as we should have been," Fewell said. "hindsight is 20/20, but you took a team that for 13 years, they've thrown the football every down. Every year I've played them they've thrown the football every down. And they had a good plan of attack, so, again, just using our personnel and doing what we like to do, we should have and we could have done a better job."
Giants lose out to Dolphins in attempt to claim rookie tight end Mickey Shuler | NJ.com
According to a report by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Giants were one of three teams to put in a claim for rookie tight end Mickey Shuler Jr., the son of the former Jets and Eagles tight end Mickey Sr. The Sun-Sentinel reports the Colts and Dolphins also put in claims for Shuler, with Miami being awarded the seventh-round pick of the Vikings, who was cut on Wednesday to make room for wide receiver Hank Baskett.
The Dolphins were higher on the waiver order because they had a worse record than the Giants in 2009. The waiver order won't be reset to reflect current records until later this month.
Injury Report
Phillip Dillard (hamstring), Michael Johnson (back) and O"Hara did not practice. Chase Blackburn was limited. Aaron Ross (foot), Kevin Boss (concussion) and Mario Manningham (illness) participated fully.
'New York Giants Talk'