FanHouse TomCoughlin

It's not that the Giants' three-game losing streak has gone unnoticed. It's just that, with all the excitement over everything the Yankees have been up to, New York sports fans have had other things on their minds. Yes, they're aware, vaguely, that the Giants' defense hasn't been able to stop the Saints, Cardinals or Eagles the past three weeks. And they have seen a headline or two about Eli Manning suddenly looking much more mortal than his contract and his championship pedigree say he should. But the panic meter hasn't moved too much over all of this, because New York is still one of the few American towns in which football can take a backseat to baseball. And for the past few weeks, for very good reason, New York has been a baseball town.

That all changes this weekend. The San Diego Chargers hit town -- another dynamic offense surely licking its chops over a chance to take its turn at the Giants' battered ego and secondary. If the Giants lose again, they're looking at a 5-4 record heading into their bye week, which would mean two solid weeks of tabloid and talk show debate on the issue of "What's Wrong With the Giants?"

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

---

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- This was to have been the Giants' get-right game. Sure, New Orleans beat them up last week, but the Saints are an undefeated team that was coming off a bye week and playing at home. The Giants spent the week shrugging off that loss and promising to be better this week at home against the Cardinals. The defense promised more blitzing and less trepidation. The offense promised to be sharper. To a man, the Giants were certain they'd come up with a big win Sunday night over the reigning NFC champs...and then they lost.

"For whatever reason, we've had two weeks in a row now where one area has not performed very well," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "So, back to the drawing board."

And back, whether they like it or not, into a three-team NFC East tussle where there's no clear favorite -- not even them.

---

---

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

As Round 1 of our single-elimination fight tournament involving NFL coaches nears its end, let us recap the action we've seen so far. To view the entire bracket or learn what we're talking about, kindly click on the links below.

---

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

---

---

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

Consider this hypothetical: what if two coaches met in a dark alley and threw down in a no-holds-barred brawl? Who would emerge victorious?

First, some background: back when I was in high school, when my friends and I were pretty creative in finding ways to avoid actually paying attention in class, we'd create brackets (think NCAA Tournament) where we'd pit our teachers against each other**. Whoever we thought would win in a fight advanced to the next round. It always ended with our offensive line coach against our wrestling coach in the finals and a huge argument as to who would come out on top.

Anyway, last week, the Back Porch staff somehow ended up discussing whether Rex Ryan or Tom Cable would win in a old school playground scrap. I passed along the above information, and shortly after that, an idea was born -- NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament.

(Update, Oct. 10: The Giants did not activate backup QB Rhett Bomar off the practice squad by the Saturday afternoon deadline, meaning just Eli Manning and David Carr are active at quarterback for Sunday -- a good indication that Manning will play).

After suffering a plantar fasciitis injury last weekend against the Chiefs, it was really up in the air whether or not Eli Manning would be able to play this Sunday at home against the Oakland Raiders. After Friday's practice, though, Eli's chances of playing look pretty solid.

After practice, Giants head coach Tom Coughlin told media members that Manning did about "half" of the team activities and he was "absolutely" encouraged by what he saw from his veteran signal-caller. Whether or not Manning will play is still considered a game-time decision, but Coughlin said he was "hopeful" that No. 10 is going to be suiting up to play the Raiders.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Giants didn't like quarterback Andre Woodson enough to keep him on their team when final roster cuts were made Saturday. It's unlikely that the Redskins like him much better. Yet the Redskins signed Woodson on Sunday. Why? Giants coach Tom Coughlin thinks he knows exactly why -- so the Redskins can ask Woodson everything he learned in Giants training camp in advance of Sunday's regular-season opener between...yup, the Giants and the Redskins.

"Why is he in Washington right now? That's pretty obvious, why he's there," Coughlin said with a wide grin after Giants practice Monday. "We'll see. There's no question that's what's going on, but we'll see what transpires. It works both ways a little bit."

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The most exciting thing that happened at New York Giants minicamp Wednesday was a press conference to announce Timex as the naming-rights sponsor for the team's new training facility here -- the "Timex Performance Center." It's a beautiful complex, but unless you're the ones pocketing $35 million from the deal over the next 15 years, this wasn't exactly the stuff of big headlines.

That's fine with the Giants, who got their fill of headlines at last year's minicamp.

Coming off a Super Bowl championship, the Giants convened last year amid loud, obnoxious Jeremy Shockey and Plaxico Burress contract controversies. Neither of those players was on the team by year's end, but they were here a year ago, and they were making it noisy. This year ... not so much. And Tom Coughlin couldn't be happier about it.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- He looked good on the field, and he did fine in the press conference, which were the two parts of Hakeem Nicks' first day at New York Giants rookie minicamp that we got to see. To the scriblling, twittering, inquiring group of media that gathered at Giants Stadium this morning to check out the new guys, Nicks looked just like a first-round pick is supposed to look. He was quick, skillful, athletic and surprisingly polished.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin liked what he saw on the field, too. But that wasn't the only place Nicks was impressive on his first day as a pro. Coughlin also liked what he saw of the rookie out of North Carolina in the morning meeting.