After spending a maddening season listening to Jeremy Shockey, Tiki Barber, Plaxico Burress and others complain, New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin isn’t going to take it anymore.
Coughlin met with some players and spoke to the team on Wednesday about the need for the Giants to play more and talk less, especially when it comes to criticizing teammates and the coaching staff.
“Let’s just play the game – talk is cheap – let’s play the game,” Coughlin said as the Giants opened a mandatory three-day minicamp. “I would like it to stay that way.”
It certainly wasn’t that way last season, as the Giants displayed a selfish nature in making the playoffs with an 8-8 record.
When things went right, they were fine. When things went wrong, they were willing to rip their coaches and teammates at the asking.
Five-time Pro Bowl linebacker Jessie Armstead signed a one-day contract so he could retire as a member of the team.
To make room for Armstead on the roster, the Giants placed starting fullback Jim Finn on season-ending injured reserve. Finn had shoulder surgery Monday.
Taken in the eighth round of the 1993 draft, Armstead played nine seasons for the Giants.
Jaguars: The team recently informed starting quarterback Byron Leftwich and backup David Garrard that reports of its interest in disgruntled Miami quarterback Daunte Culpepper were true.
What remains to be determined is whether Culpepper, who spoke with the Jaguars after the Dolphins granted him permission to do so, would agree to be traded to Jacksonville.
Defensive end Bobby McCray re-signed with the team.
McCray, a 2004 seventh-round draft pick from Florida, had 97 tackles in his career and had a career-high 10 sacks last season.
Vikings: Minnesota signed former University of Minnesota receiver Paris Hamilton.
Hamilton was on the Detroit Lions practice squad in 2005 and was in Lions camp during the preseason last year.
