Ground control to Major Tom

In some not-so-shocking news, the Giants decided to extend Tom Coughlin's contract for one more year, making 2007 a make or break year for the head coach.

What a fantastic blunder.

I generally think Coughlin gets a bad rap in the press and his ghoulish persona is overstated. That being said, this is not the guy for this team. The team tried to quit on him this year and get him fired...if they couldn't even quit on him the right way, how is he ever going to breakthrough to the them?

There are many problems with the Giants right now. The defense, the once proud fearsome squad that struck fear in opposing quarterbacks is now nothing more than a glorified scrimmage unit for most offenses they play. Will Demps might be the biggest waste of money this side of Carl Pavano. Carlos Emmons (nice job on that reverse against the Eagles, btw, Carlos. Has perfect position and somehow still messes it up) The secondary is average on a good day and pitiful on an off one. And they somehow still can't catch an interception in their hands. Antonio Pierce is a tough son of a gun but he needs help on either side of him. The defensive line is the only thing currently on the defense to get excited about, with the likes of Osi, Kiwi and Cofield as a solid young nucleus, but more needs to be done. This space wasn't in existence when last year's draft happened, but what was Accorsi thinking taking Kiwi over Holmes or Winston Justice? Insane. In hindsight, it turned out to be a useful pick, but Holmes was a much more effective player than Sinorice Moss ever was.

The biggest problem facing Coughlin going into next year is the progression (or regression) of Eli Manning. Losing Tiki Barber isn't going to help matters and Eli is going to be looked to become the guy on that office. Jeremy Shockey is the fire of that offense, but he still is just a tight end. Coughlin said on a radio show today that Eli is 80% in his throws in practice. Well, that's awesome. Too bad it's practice with no guys rushing the quarterback. It'll never happened but a perfect guy to groom Eli right now is Jim Fassel. Fassel was an excellent quarterback coach who always stayed on the QB's he coached about their mechanics, footwork and throwing motion. That's what the Giants need right now, a quarterback guru of sorts to keep on Eli and make sure that he gets to level that people expect from him. The weapons are all there, it's up to Eli to get the job done.

In other news:
- We covered the Brooklyn College basketball games against John Jay at John Jay. The women got blown out, the men lost 70-68 in a heartbreaker. Can officials be consistent? I know it's a road gym for BC, but some of the fouls today were questionable, going both ways. Anyway the Bridges got pounded on the boards and couldn't get an offensive rebound. Poor Tommy Guerin missed a ton of free throws at the line, going 4-11. If only he sunk a few more...
- Speaking of the game, it was weird to go out there and do the game on our cellphones. Especially since we're doing the game right where the players can hear us. One moment was awkward when my partner Shawn was criticizing Richard Martin for a bad play and Martin turned back at us. It was also nice getting those lovely looks from the John Jay staff. What, you never see a game done by cellphone before?
-Barry Bonds was allegedly caught taking "greenies" last season and tested positive. At this point, who cares. We know Bonds is a cheat and he's still going to walk his way into Cooperstwon as a Hall of Famer.
-Speaking of baseball, the Mets have signed Scott Schowenweis to a three year deal. How Scott Boras robs team left and right paying mediocre talent like Schowenweis 10 million over three years is beyond me.

Be back later for more...