Several Giants not pleased with Antrel Rolle's criticism of Tom Coughlin

Antrel Rolle thinks Tom Coughlin is "too uptight" and wishes his coach were a little more like Jets coach Rex Ryan.

Rolle's teammates, though, wish the mouthy safety would keep his thoughts to himself.

Several Giants told the Daily News Tuesday that they were not pleased with Rolle's latest controversial radio interview, in which he praised Ryan and ripped Coughlin during an appearance on WQAM in Miami on Monday. At least one of his teammates even planned talk to him about it Tuesday.

"I haven't talked to him yet, but it is on my agenda to call Antrel," defensive captain Justin Tuck told the Daily News. "When I do, I will make a statement."

Rolle already made quite a statement when he criticized Coughlin's coaching style and heaped heavy praise on Ryan. He clearly envied the way Ryan relates to and inspires his players and said "that team is going to war for him. They would die for him."

Obviously Rolle doesn't feel as strongly about the Giants' coach.

"Honestly, I'm not having the fun I'm used to having," he said. "Do I feel like things are a little too uptight? Yeah, I do. I feel like if he just loosened up just a little bit - still run the ship the way you want to run it, but let us have a little fun. Because at the end of the day, that's what it's all about."
In fact, Rolle said, that lack of fun is a big reason why the Giants are home while the Jets - a team Rolle thinks isn't as talented as the Giants - are one win away from Super Bowl XLV.

"Do I think (the Jets) are a better team? No, I don't think so at all," Rolle said. "But I think their chemistry might be better than ours. I think that they have a lot more fun than we have. Yeah, we're professional athletes. Yeah we get paid a lot of money to do what we do. But at the end of the day, we're all human. No one is a robot at this level. So we do have feelings. We like to have fun. That's what it is.

"I like (Coughlin)," Rolle added. "I understand what he's trying to do. But he has to understand it's 2011. Things have changed."

This isn't the first time Rolle, who signed a five-year, $36 million contract to play for Coughlin last March, has been critical of the Giants' coach. In a radio interview back in September, he seemed to have the coach in his sights when he said the atmosphere around the Giants was "too controlled."

He got little support from his teammates then, and it appears that he won't be getting any now. Even Jessie Armstead, the former Giants linebacker and current consultant, warned Rolle via Twitter that his Ryan-envy was misguided.

"The grass is not always greener," Armstead tweeted. "Jets are making a good run, but if you open your eyes, we have three Super Bowls."
Armstead's tweet was actually directed at both Rolle and safety Kenny Phillips, who joined Rolle on the radio and said, "I would love to play for a guy like Rex (because) he allows you to be you. He's not asking you to hide. If you're a guy that likes to talk, go out and talk as long as you back it up."

Phillips, though, backed off those comments in an interview with the Daily News Tuesday. He said he didn't mean that as a criticism of Coughlin and was stunned at the outcry over his words.

"I was not trying to throw the Giants organization under the bus," Phillips said. "I was not trying to compare Coach Coughlin to Rex Ryan. The Giants have been great to me. That was just taken the wrong way."

It was hard to take Rolle's words any other way, though.

"(Coughlin) does a lot of things the way they're supposed to be done," Rolle said. "But he's got to understand that we have a great team. We don't have a problematic team. We don't have guys with discipline problems. So we're going to take care of our business on the field. Just let us have a little fun a little bit, man. That's it.”

Click here to order Antrel Rolle’s proCane Rookie Card.



(nydailynews.com)