Tom Coughlin has mellowed a great deal since he became head coach of the New York Giants. Listen to one of his press conferences and you realize TC can, in his own way, even be funny sometimes.
Make no mistake, though. Today, Coughlin is ticked off at Steve Smith and his agent, Ben Dogra.
Smith was on his Facebook page today saying "t i truly wanted to stay here but that the giants DIDN'T want me here unfortunately."
Coughlin, meanwhile, was fuming when he met with reporters today at the Timex Performance Center. He is mostly angry that the Giants apparently were not given an opportunity to match the offer the Eagles put on the table.
"From what I understand there wasn't any involvement on our part at all. We were never brought into the discussion and we were told we were going to," Coughlin said. "I'm disappointed obviously. We thought he'd be a Giant all the way. ... There were some disappointing factors involved which I'm not going to get into because I'm not the one to speak on that but we're disappointed that he's not here.
"Our people had pursued an offer and tried to get this done a long time ago, to be honest with you, but nothing ever came forth from their people. We were constantly told that if and when the market did develop that we would be included in what was going on."
Yep. TC is undeniably ticked off.
Coughlin also talked about his statements the other day that Smith was in for a "long haul" before being ready to play. Smith, of course, responded by saying he thinks he might be ready Week 1.
"With the circumstances and the fact that Dr. Warren did the surgery, I think we know quite a bit about what it takes to get him back on the field but having said all that, we certainly know that that's the nature of our business," Coughlin said. "I am upset and so is everybody but we're disappointed in the fact the we... it's like lining up for the race and you're in he locker room and nobody tells you that the race is going to be run. That's the disappointing thing here. I don't believe that we were given the opportunity to do what we could do."
So, this is really a he said-he said case. It sound like Smith didn't want to wait any longer for the Giants, had an offer in hand and took it.
In the end, he is an Eagle. Time to move on.