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Strahan Looking To SuperBowl
Topic Started: Aug 10 2004, 05:33 PM (17 Views)
BlueHeart
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Strahan suddenly thinks camp is Super

After suggesting he wouldn't take Tom Coughlin's regimen lying down, Michael Strahan seems to be one optimistic camper.

ALBANY - The Giants are coming off their worst season in 20 years - one they finished with a humiliating eight-game losing streak - and have a new coach who quite logically is not interested in roster continuity.
But here was Michael Strahan, in many ways the voice of the Giants locker room, saying with conviction yesterday he has incredibly high expectations for this season.

"Super Bowl," he said. "I believe we are a Super Bowl team."

Oh, please.

"I always come in believing we can be a Super Bowl team," he said. "Every team in this league - the talent level is close. It takes one or two things to go right for you. The chances of things going right for us are just as good as the chances going right for anybody else. We are not very far removed in some ways from the team that had an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl a year or two ago. We have as good a chance to win as anybody. We just have to expect that of ourselves."

That's what the NFL is about these days. Instant turnarounds. It's going to take Coughlin one year to implement his program and figure out which players can win a Super Bowl. The primary goal in this transition season should be getting Eli Manning on the field by midseason so he doesn't go into 2005 as a second-year rookie.

But you can't blame Strahan for at least thinking big. Eight of the last 12 teams to make the Super Bowl were not in the playoffs the previous season and five of them had losing records. The Panthers got in this past year coming off a 7-9 season. The year before, they were 1-15.

So, Strahan says, "it's very realistic" for the Giants to turn it right around.

"Carolina was in the dumps and in the Super Bowl before you know it," Strahan said. "We're not that far. Last year, we had so many injuries that you couldn't even count them. Last year was almost a wash year. We had so many of our key players who couldn't even help us, couldn't participate because they were hurt."

Strahan, so far, has bought into Coughlin's training camp. He said enough in the offseason to make you wonder if he was going to use the security of his contract to cause a headache and rebel against the regimented and demanding ways of Coughlin.

"I don't think it's so much of bought into a change. It's your coach and this is what he believes it takes to win," Strahan said. "If you want to win, then you do it. And I'm doing it. I believe he's definitely a coach who is going to help us win games. So, I'm doing whatever he wants me to do to get better as a personal player and as a team. Whatever he says, I'm willing to do because we all want to win."

What about all the rules?

"His rules aren't obscene or anything like that," Strahan said.

Well, they might be just a little bit different. On Sunday night, Coughlin outlined his rules at a team meeting with a seven-page Power Point presentation. Jackets and ties on all road trips. No T-shirts in hotel lobbies on road trips. TVs off in the locker room 90 minutes before kickoff.

"It's an extensive list," Tiki Barber said.

The Giants needed more discipline. The players needed to hear a new voice. They stopped listening to Jim Fassel and quit on him during that horrendous losing streak. Fassel didn't necessarily run a country club, but camp this year is more like boarding school. The players really liked Fassel, which is not always a good thing.

"Do I miss Fassel? Yeah, I miss Fassel," Strahan said. "I miss Keith Hamilton. Hell, I miss Jessie Armstead and Dan Reeves, too. People that you have relationships with, when they are gone, of course you miss them. But you don't get to stay in the past. You move on to the future."

The Giants did a smart thing signing Kurt Warner after Kerry Collins turned down their offer to let him make his $7 million this season. Collins would have started this season, for sure. Bringing in Warner appeased the veterans not ready to dedicate their season to the development of a rookie quarterback.

"Eli has made great strides, Kurt looks great and Kerry is no longer here," Strahan said. "So you can't cry over spilled milk."

Does he want Warner to open the season as the starter?

"I don't make those decisions," he said. "What I care to think doesn't matter. Whoever is best, plays."

The Giants were not competitive the last two months under Fassel. They are not going to the Super Bowl this year, but they won't be 4-12, either.

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