Giant Football Blog

Strahan has advice for Osi

 Even Michael Strahan, the master of this sort of controversy, said what Osi Umenyiora has been blathering on about is "stupid stuff," and no one should pay any heed to Umenyiora's threat that he will retire if the Giants don't return him to what he believes is his rightful place in the starting lineup.

"What do I think he wants? He wants to play, he wants to start," Strahan told The Post yesterday after making appearances promoting Subway sandwiches on Radio Row at the Super Bowl Media Center. "He's frustrated. Sometimes you ask a guy a question, he says what's on his mind. But they got a better shot of me coming back and me having my best year ever than of Osi quitting football." Continue

Osi must start or else

Two years ago, it was Jeremy Shockey's situation that beared watching in the off-season. Last year, it was Plaxico Burress, his legal issues and his trade request.

This year, the precarious situation for the Giants is the one involving Osi Umenyiora.

The two-time Pro Bowl selection had a rough season in 2009 - from the time he left a team meeting after being criticized by then-defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan to his being relegated to a pass-rush specialist late in the season after concerns about his play against the run. Continue

Palmer bolts Giants for UFL coaching job

Just as the Giants were announcing that the man who was instrumental in the development of Eli Manning, quarterbacks coach Chris Palmer, was retiring, word came out yesterday that Palmer wasn't retiring at all. He's leaving the Giants, but is set to become the head coach of the New York Sentinels -- who are moving to Hartford, Conn. -- in the 1-year-old United Football League.

Palmer, 60, spent the past three years with the Giants and 20 years as an NFL assistant -- including two years as head coach of the expansion Cleveland Browns. Palmer has been a coach for 38 years and twice worked as an assistant under coach Tom Coughlin. Continue

Giants add 2 more to pro bowl

Two more Giants - guard Chris Snee and tackle David Diehl - were added to the NFC Pro Bowl squad Monday . Snee and Diehl, who were voted as first alternates, got the call when guard Jahari Evans and tackle Jonathan Stinchcomb of the Saints withdrew for obvious reasons. The Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday; Evans and Stinchcomb will be busy preparing for the Super Bowl.

Center Shaun o'Hara was the lone Giant voted in, and receiver Steve Smith was added as an injury replacement for Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald. (Daily News)

Cowher denies Bettis claim

Maybe Bill Cowher really is waiting for the Giants head coaching job to open up before he returns to the NFL. But if he is, you can be sure that Jerome Bettis doesn't know it.

That's what Cowher indicated in an interview with the Daily News Thursday, when he was asked about his former running back's claim that he's "holding out" until he can become the head coach of the Giants. Cowher didn't specifically deny that, but he certainly hinted as much when he said Bettis wouldn't have any idea if that was true because the two haven't spoken in ages. Continue

Should Coughlin be worried?

-Bill Cowher was on the Jets' coaching short list last year, but he removed himself from consideration when Woody Johnson declined to cut short his vacation abroad and meet face-to-face. They never even spoke on the phone.

But might Cowher, who has been spending his football weekends in New York the last three years in the CBS studio, be taking up permanent residence around here in 2011 as the Giants next coach?

Cowher wants the Giants job, former Steelers RB Jerome Bettis told Sirius XM this past week. Now Cowher is too sensitive to coaches to be publicly campaigning for jobs, especially Tom Coughlin's job. They spent a lot of time together last summer on the NFL-USO Coaches Tour of the Persian Gulf visiting troops.

But Bettis may be on to something. If the Giants have another bad season in 2010 and Coughlin gets fired, Cowher would give the Giants one Super Bowl winner replacing another. Continue

Cowher waiting in wings for Giants

Bill Cowher is going to be the next coach of the Giants.So says someone fairly close with Cowher -- former Steelers running back Jerome Bettis."I believe he's going to be with the Giants," Bettis said yesterday on Sirius XM's Mad Dog Radio. "I think that's the team that he really coveted. This is where he always wanted to be. The Mara family, he's been very close to them."He's known them very well and was on the inside track, before the Giants won the Super Bowl, for that job and I think he's holding out for that opportunity if it presents itself." Continue

Perry Fewell step right up, you are the next DC of the NY Giants

Perry Fewell has officially - and finally - agreed to become the Giants' new defensive coordinator.

After apparently pondering his options for most of the day, the 47-year-old Fewell informed the Giants Thursday evening that he's ready to take on the job that's been vacant for the last 10 days.

"I am ecstatic to come to work for the NY Giants," Fewell said in a statement released by his new team. "It's a good football team with good defensive players, and it is a franchise known for defense." Continue

Giants running out of options at DC

Romeo Crennel isn't interested in becoming the Giants' next defensive coordinator. Neither is Jim Haslett.

And the Giants are still waiting on a decision from Perry Fewell.

It appears, for the moment, that Fewell is in command for the job that nobody seems to want. Crennel, a Giants assistant for 12 years in the '80s and early '90s, turned down a chance to interview with the Giants to give the "first shot" to the Kansas City Chiefs, according to his agent. And Haslett passed up the Giants to accept a job as the defensive coordinator of the Washington Redskins. Continue

Giants to interview Romeo Crennel

Romeo Crennel, the former Giants assistant and director of New England's Super Bowl-winning defenses, is interested in becoming the Giants' next defensive coordinator. And the Giants are very interested in him.

Someone from the Giants has already spoken to the 62-year-old Crennel, and they have made plans to speak again on Monday when he returns from vacation, according to a source familiar with the team's plans. Crennel's agent, Joe Linta, confirmed that conversation and added that Crennel "is interested" in the job. Continue