Getting healthy for playoffs is most important thing for Giants
December 23
New York Daily News columnist Gary Myers
"Tom Coughlin has been a magician pushing all the right buttons for the last 12 months. It took a few years, but he has developed a tremendous feel for his team, which helped produce the Super Bowl championship last season and this year's No.1 seed in the NFC.
Now, he is also tremendously competitive, so the medicine that must be prescribed is going to be tough for him to swallow: The Giants have clinched everything you can in the regular season, so think big picture: Don't worry about Sunday's game in Minnesota. Sit down Brandon Jacobs, Justin Tuck, Fred Robbins and anybody else whose bones are creaking from the long season, giving them three weeks between games to heal up.
Play Eli Manning no more than into the second quarter to keep him sharp, then get him out of there. Tony Dungy always plays it that way with Peyton Manning. Rotate the starting offensive linemen, who as a group have started every game. The defensive line depth eroded without Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora, so give Mathias Kiwanuka a few series and then sit him down, too, to make sure he's healthy going into the Jan.10-11 divisional round of the playoffs.
Don't listen to Tuck, who says he wants to play. He has only 3-1/2 of his 12 sacks in the last seven games. Coughlin needs to keep him fresh.
Coughlin didn't reveal his plan Monday, other than to say he will rely on the medical staff to guide him on the injured players.
"Our basic philosophy is that we want to win every game and that is the way our mentality should be," he said. "We will be smart about any advice we get from the medical people."
The Giants had their bye the fourth week of the season, so this will be their 13th consecutive game without a break. The last nine games were against teams that have winning records - a brutal stretch. Coughlin has only one obligation right now: Get the Giants to January as healthy as possible. He can't worry about any implications Sunday's game has on other teams trying to get to the playoffs.
He says, "You have to be playing your best football at this time of the year," but the Giants took care of that by beating Carolina in overtime in the battle for the No.1 seed. They have established momentum going into the playoffs.
"I think the Giants got their positive vibes back against the Panthers," one general manager said Monday. "We've held players out the last game and got it back on track for the playoffs. A veteran team can get it back. The Giants can't play Jacobs. They have to have him ready. They have to get Tuck right. You have to do what is best for you. It's just the way it is. It's hard for the Giants being in the spotlight in New York. Harder than it was for us.""
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