Thanks to the downfall of the Philadelphia Eagles, the NFC East has come down to the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. If that wasn’t the case, Eagles fans like myself would have a very strict eye on the big Cowboys-Giants showdown on Dec. 11. But since it won’t impact Philadelphia in any way, all it can do is watch Dallas and New York decide the NFC East and wonder what could have been.

Either way, this prime time showdown should determine the fate of the division in some way. If the Cowboys prevail, they will pretty much have the NFC East wrapped up while the Giants descend into further disarray. But if the Giants win, it will further illuminate the fact that this is the weakest NFC East race in a long time – which makes it more upsetting that the Eagles couldn’t take advantage.

Despite a four-game losing streak and Tom Coughlin being on the hot seat, New York can still move back into first place with a win in Dallas. It is astonishing that a 6-6 team on a four-game slide can still do that – although perhaps less so in an era where a 7-9 Seattle Seahawks team can reach the divisional playoffs. But that happened in an NFC West that everyone dismisses as the worst division in football, whereas the East is supposed to have higher standards.

Everyone in the NFC East has had a downfall or collapse in some way, as the Washington Redskins fell apart after a 3-1 start, the Eagles have spent all season shooting themselves and the Giants’ 6-2 start looks very far away. As for the Cowboys, they could have run away with the division by now if not for several blown leads in the first half of the year. But with a victory over the Giants, they will likely run away after all.

Improving to 8-5 normally isn’t enough to provide a cushion in this division. Yet if Dallas improves to that record and is two games up over a 6-7 New York team that’s lost five in a row, it would pretty much be the whole ball game. The NFC East still wouldn’t look pretty, but it would be clear cut who the best team is – or at least the one that stayed standing the longest.

However, a Giants victory would leave both teams at 7-6 and likely make a mere 9-7 record good enough to win it all – at best. It will cement the NFC East and its contenders as the dregs of the conference for the first time in recent memory, even though it might then be the only division decided on the final weekend.

Yet the Cowboys and Giants hardly look like threats to knock off the likes of the Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers in January. Although the Giants came close against the Packers and 49ers, they need to actually make the playoffs to get another shot. That will likely be impossible if they don’t beat the Cowboys – and if they do, then Dallas will look like a less viable contender and more like a club collapsing right on cue.

The NFC East should be under the Eagles control by now, if they had just held onto a few more leads. Instead, they are a non-factor as the fate of the division is decided on Dec. 11 – either as one where the Cowboys ultimately took control, or one where the winner is the division’s worst champion in many a year.

Robert Dougherty is a life-long Philadelphia resident who has followed the Eagles since he was eight years old.

Other stories by this contributor

Eagles fans are tough for the wrong reasons this year

Maclin to officially become Eagles top receiver?

Eagles hope to take lessons from 2007 finish

Roethlisberger continues to show up injured quarterbacks

Vick begins playing for his future in Philadelphia

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Walk through the ground floor of New York Giants headquarters and there are at least a half dozen life-size pictures of the organization’s remarkable Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots in February 2008.

There’s one of Eli Manning’s great escape on the play that led to “The Catch” by David Tyree. Even though he is with the Jets now, there is one of Plaxico Burress’ championship catch in the corner of the end zone. Another one shows Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora making a play and, of course, the obligatory shot of the Lombardi Trophy being lifted in celebration.

Look at them and it feels like yesterday.

The reality is that was almost four years ago, and much has changed as the Giants (5-2) and Patriots (5-2) prepare to meet for the first time in a regular-season game since Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Ariz.

The teams meet annually in the final preseason game, but this will be the first time that it means something again.

“It’s a new year,” said Pro Bowl guard Chris Snee, who was one of 14 players on the Giants’ 54-man roster who suited up for the title game. “There has been a lot of turnover on both teams. It doesn’t make any sense to think about a game four years ago.”

Guard David Diehl, who played tackle in the Super Bowl, says everybody is going to make comparisons to the game four years ago because it was such a great game under extraordinary circumstances.

No one gave the Giants a chance against the Tom Brady-led juggernaut that was looking to become the second NFL team to win the Super Bowl with an undefeated record.

New York found a way to orchestrate “The Great Escape,” ”The Catch” and Plax’s play in posting a 17-14 win.

“They’re a different team. We’re a different team,” Diehl said. “Obviously you’re going to hear all of that stuff throughout the week. We’re focusing on this season and what they’ve been doing this year.

“They’ve been playing defense differently. They’ve been doing different things up front. It’s the Giants versus the Patriots. This isn’t the Super Bowl.”

The Patriots only had seven players from that Super Bowl on their 53-man roster last week in losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

If there is a constant for both teams it’s at quarterback. It again will be Manning vs. Brady. And most people would think that’s a clear advantage for New England in the game at Foxboro, Mass.

However, Manning has more than held his own this season. He has completed 156 of 241 passes for 2,127 yards, 13 touchdowns and five interceptions. Brady is 184 of 272 for 2,361, 18 and eight. Both have quarterback ratings over 102 percent and are hitting on better than 64 percent of their passes.

“I think this is a whole new environment, whole new situation,” Manning said. “Obviously, an important game, we have to have a great week of preparation. We know we’re going against a great team, a Hall of Fame coach, a Hall of Fame quarterback down the road. We just have to go in there expecting to play sound football like we’ve been doing.

“Eliminate the mistakes, try to execute the game plan, try to get into the fourth quarter and win the game.”

That’s what the Giants did four years ago. But this year, their defense has struggled stopping the run, which might give Brady a second option this time around.

It’s a problem that Tuck says needs to be fixed now.

“If we were still living in the shadow of 2007, then that’s one of our greatest downfalls,” Tuck said. “We have to move on. Obviously they have and we do, too. Obviously, 2007 was a great year in all of our careers, but that’s not going to help us going there this year. A lot of guys are back from those two teams and a lot of guys are gone.

“The better team this year is going to win the football game, not the better team in ’07.”

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For the last three weeks, the games played by the New York Giants have provided fodder for endless conversation:
Tom Coughlin is doing one heck of a job with the short-handed Giants.
(Ross D. Franklin – AP)

Because in the win over St. Louis, they appeared to be feigning injuries to slow down a Rams drive.

Because after the win in Philadelphia, Michael Vick complained that officials weren’t throwing flags for late hits on him by Giants rushers.

Because during the game-winning drive Sunday in Arizona, wide receiver Victor Cruz flopped and the ball came loose but officials ruled it was a voluntary dive with no fumble. A play later, Eli Manning threw the game-winning TD pass to Hakeem Nicks.

All reasonable topics for discussion.

But so is Tom Coughlin, the often (always?) overlooked coach who is a lot more than the grumpy old man he’s portrayed to be by TV cameras.

So in a season when everything went wrong early, the Giants are 3-1, tied with the Redskins for first in the NFC East where the Eagles and Cowboys are the glamor. That’s after their two best possession receivers defected in the offseason; and they began the year without four injured defensive starters and their first two draft picks.

Why have they won?

Because of Manning, who has picked up the family escutcheon from his injured brother and whose play has, in fact, been Peytonesque — his passer rating, 81.1 for his eight-year career, is 105.6, third in the NFL behind Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady.

But mostly because of Coughlin.

Coughlin is 65. He’s in his 16th season as a head coach and his 136 wins are 21st all-time. He also has what every coach covets, a Super Bowl ring won four years ago by outcoaching Bill Belichick and keeping New England from the first 19-0 season. Like this year, that was one the Giants entered with relatively low expectations.

OK, we’ve been fixated on Detroit and Buffalo because they’ve been so far down and on the ups and downs of Tony Romo and Dallas and the downs of Vick and Philadelphia. The 3-1 Giants are just another team — this is a franchise that for the past 30 years has won three Super Bowls and contended almost every year so success is supposed to be a given. Last season, the team was said to have “collapsed” because it lost a 21-point fourth-quarter lead to the Eagles yet it still finished 10-6, a tiebreaker out of the playoffs.

But this year almost surely would have gone south without Coughlin.

First, in the frantic free agency scramble after the lockout ended, the Giants let tight end Kevin Boss go to the Raiders and receiver Steve Smith to the Eagles, then lost Terrell Thomas, their best cornerback, plus two more corners; middle linebacker Jonathan Goff; end Osi Umenyiora; and rookies Prince Amukamara and Marvin Austin.

Fans? “We’re looking at 4-12 if we’re lucky,” said an avid-fan friend. Another suggested they play for the No. 1 pick and Andrew Luck to replace the underappreciated Eli.

Coughlin? “Next man up.” He doesn’t cry, plays with what he has and is as hard on his best players as the rawest rookie — he was all over Manning after 30 turnovers last season. He has two sixth-round picks, Greg Jones and Jacquian Williams playing big minutes at linebacker, undrafted rookie Henry Hynoski at fullback and an unknown tight end, Jake Ballard, who played one game a year ago as an undrafted free agent.

So? Three straight wins after an opening loss in Washington. Good enough to put the Giants, with the equally-unheralded Redskins (Rex Grossman!) looking down and the two “teams” — America’s and Dream — in the division standings.

Yes, the Lions and Bills deserve to be network darlings.

Still, a little love for that grumpy old man the networks seem to think spends his time yelling at officials.

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Steve Spagnuolo made his mark as the defensive coordinator for the New York
Giants before leaving for his first head coaching job with the St. Louis Rams.

He’ll be returning to New York with an injury-ravaged team, much like the
Giants.

These banged-up clubs will be looking for their first victories Monday night
when the Giants welcome Spagnuolo’s Rams for their home opener.

Spagnuolo spent eight seasons as an assistant with Philadelphia before he
was hired by Giants coach Tom Coughlin prior to the 2007 season. New York led
the NFL with 53 sacks that year en route to winning its third Super Bowl.

Spagnuolo guided the unit to a top-five finish in 2008 when the Giants went
12-4 and earned the NFC’s top seed before he left to take over a Rams team that
went 2-14.

It’s unclear if Spagnuolo will see some of his former players on defense for
New York. Justin Tuck(notes) missed the opener with a neck injury and Osi Umenyiora(notes)
will probably remain out with a knee injury.

Five other key defensive players were already lost for the year before the
season started, with cornerback Terrell Thomas(notes) and linebacker Jonathan Goff(notes) the
most notable.

Tuck has indicated that he will likely return Monday.

A Giants’ defense that allowed Rex Grossman(notes) to throw for 305 yards in a
28-14 loss to Washington last Sunday will be up against a Rams offense with
major question marks.

Sam Bradford(notes) has been cleared to play despite a bruised right index finger
that knocked him out in the fourth quarter of last Sunday’s 31-13 loss to the
Eagles.

Last year’s NFL offensive rookie of the year was able to complete all his
throws Wednesday by using a special glove designed to increase blood flow to the
injury.

“Everyone says I look like Michael Jackson,” Bradford said. “I’m not really
sure what it does. They say it works and obviously my hand feels better, so I
trust them.”

It’s unclear if Stephen Jackson or Danny Amendola(notes) will play.

Jackson was injured without contact on a 47-yard touchdown run on the Rams’
first play last week and left with a strained right quadriceps after one more
carry. Amendola, who led the team with 85 catches last year, is out with a
dislocated left elbow.

In addition, cornerback Ron Bartell(notes) is out for the season with two breaks in
his neck. Another defensive back, Bradley Fletcher(notes), has a sprained toe that
might limit him, and offensive tackle Jason Smith(notes) has a sprained left ankle.

Spagnuolo said it’s the worst injury report in his three seasons with St.
Louis.

“There’s a lot there, no question,” Spagnuolo said. “Nobody’s going to bury
their head in the sand, and we’re not going to go away. We didn’t envision
beginning like that and we certainly didn’t envision losing all these guys.”

New York could also be without top receiver Hakeem Nicks(notes), who suffered a
knee injury in the season opener. Nicks had team highs of 79 catches and 1,052
receiving yards in 2010, and he caught seven balls for 122 yards last weekend.

His loss could hamper Eli Manning(notes), who failed to throw a touchdown pass for
the first time in nine road games last Sunday. Only thirteen of Manning’s
career-high 31 TD passes a year ago came at home.

“It’s not going to affect me,” Manning said. “We have guys that can step up
and play. Just figure out what’s going to happen.”

New York’s starting tight end, Travis Beckum(notes), also missed the opener with a
right hamstring injury.

Along with Spagnuolo, former Giants defensive tackle Fred Robbins(notes) is
returning to New York. Robbins was a mainstay up front for New York from
2004-09.

The plethora of injuries, however, are by far the major concerns of the
coaches as opposed to any sort of reunion.

“No question he has his hands on the defensive side, but I am sure offense
as well and special teams as well,” said Coughlin about Spagnuolo. “They are an
aggressive special teams outfit.”

St. Louis has lost four straight to New York since a 15-14 win in 2001.

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

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New York Giants play-by-play radio announcer Bob Papa comes on with Grant to give a preview of the 2011 New York Giants. Papa gives a breakdown of the Giants’ performance from their game against the Carolina Panthers, how they will handle their new acquisitions and injured players, as well as some personal stories with this year marking the tenth anniversary of the attacks in New York City on the World Trade Center.

Bob Papa

That’s all the news for today.

By Kristen Meriwether
Epoch Times Staff
Created: Aug 8, 2011
Last Updated: Aug 8, 2011

ONE AND DONE: Prince Amukamara poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the NFL Draft on April 28 in New York City. The former Husker was the Giants number one draft pick this year, but will miss considerable time after breaking his foot on Saturday. (Chris Trotman)

New York Giants rookie corner back Prince Amukamara’s dream to play in the NFL will have to be put on hold for a while. The Giants first-round pick fractured his fifth metatarsal in his left foot, an injury that will require surgery to repair.

The injury occurred during drills at Giants training camp. “I was in press coverage and the receiver just stopped and I stopped with him. I just came out of the cut and I don’t know if he stepped on my foot or anything like that,” Amukamara said when addressing the media on Sunday.

When asked if he was surprised or disappointed, Coach Tom Coughlin could not hide his emotion regarding the injury; “Shocked is a better word.”

After missing five practices, the former Husker signed his contract and finally reported to Giants camp. Coughlin said, “You wait and wait and wait and then you get a guy in here. We were very conscious of the fact that he hadn’t been around, hadn’t been here and so regardless of what we were dressed in we were going to make sure to take good care of him.

”Usually when players miss practices during contract hold-outs, coaches have to worry about them pulling muscles or other types of soft tissue injuries, especially when they come into workouts with full pads.

Coughlin added, “We are disappointed, very disappointed. The only thing we can say now is that hopefully he’s on track to have a chance and recover.”

This is the second injury to a cornerback this past week. Reserve Bruce Johnson ruptured his Achilles tendon on Thursday. Johnson was cut, and now with Amukamara out for a while, the team is running out of options at the position.

The rookie seemed optimistic that he could still contribute this season, “I have confidence and I’m sure the Giants have confidence in me, too. It’s up to me still. I still have to continue to grind in the playbook and be ready whenever I’m healthy.”

No timetable has been set for Amukamara’s return, and he did not have a surgery date as of press time. William Beatty had a similar injury last season, missing six games over two months.

All players and coaches quotes were gathered from transcripts provided by the New York Giants for this article.

Follow Kristen on Twitter @Call2theBullpen

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Not much else going on in the NFL world today.

The New York Giants and Jets, Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills made changes to their season-ticket plans this year to account for the lockout, with the Giants taking the biggest step by not requiring renewals until the labor stoppage ends.

According to a survey of all 32 teams by The Associated Press, 17 teams are not changing ticket prices, nine are raising them, four are decreasing them _ and two are both raising and decreasing, depending on seat location.

May 1 normally is the due date for full payment by Giants season ticket-holders. Not this year, barring a settlement beforehand of the dispute between owners and players.

“We felt comfortable with it, and we shouldn’t be singled out,” co-owner John Mara said. “Each team has its own cash situation and relationship with their ticket holders.

“I have not heard anything (from other teams). Each team has its own individual circumstances. We’ve asked an awful lot out of our fans in the last few years over the stadium.”

The Giants and Jets shared the $1.6 billion cost for the New Meadowlands Stadium that opened last season. They also required personal seat license fees for most fans.

For 2011, the Giants are not raising ticket prices, while the Jets are having a 2.3 percent average increase. The Jets added a payment alternative that defers 50 percent of the total amount due until a training camp date is announced.

The Panthers added a fourth payment option for fans: 10 percent of the renewal price due up front and 90 percent due upon the signing of a new collective bargaining agreement.

Buffalo extended its series of payments by one pay period and adjusted payment terms so that 50 percent of the account balance is not due until the league announces games will be played. Fans then have a two-month period to make the remaining payments.

Jacksonville is offering more flexibility in its payments, but a team spokesman said it had nothing to do with the lockout.

Story Continues →

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Published: Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 9:27 AM     Updated: Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 9:41 AM

With the exception of 2007, when they pulled off one of the NFL’s great upsets in Super Bowl XLII, Tom Coughlin’s New York Giants have shown a puzzling history of collapsing after strong starts.

In 2009, they came to New Orleans undefeated for a matchup with the similarly blemish-free Saints and the understanding the winner might be the best team in football. The Saints annihilated the Giants, New York was never the same the rest of the year and New Orleans went on to claim the championship in Super Bowl XLIV.

Why the repetitive regular season declines? Coughlin addressed the issue Tuesday in New Orleans.

“That’s what we’re trying like heck to investigate and figure out,” he said. “You know, there’s been factors involved. Everybody has injuries, we have them, too.”

In particular, Coughlin was asked how much responsibility quarterback Eli Manning bears for the team unraveling. Manning is a microcosm of the Giants problems, capable of immortal plays and genuine leadership one week and inexplicable boneheaded-ness the next.

In 2010, Manning threw a career-high 25 interceptions alongside 31 touchdowns and finished the season with just an 85.3 quarterback rating. It marked the sixth consecutive year in his 7-year NFL career he has amassed a double-digit interception total.

Coughlin conceded problems with Manning, but for the most part defended his quarterback.

“Yes, there’s some bad decisions,” he said. “At the beginning of the year last year we probably had, conservatively, four, five six tipped ball interceptions. I mean, guys who got their hands on balls and guys who are exceptional receivers. We all know you throw the ball over the middle and it gets tipped it’s going the other way.

“There’s areas where we’ve all got go get better,” Coughlin said. “There were times we didn’t run the ball the way we say we can run the ball or want to run the ball. So I’m just saying there’s a lot of areas that need to be improved. And we had 17 fumbles, too! The first guy in this league he doesn’t even go for the tackle anymore, he goes for the fumble and guys are doing a great job at that. We’ve got to take care of the ball better.”

Still, is Manning where he needs to be on the arc to being an elite quarterback? Coughlin argued he is, while saying perhaps Manning should go down more often.

“He’s a great student of the game, he wants the ball,” the coach began. “He wants to be that type of hero. The guy works so hard. We don’t have many sacks, he’s a big part of that. He doesn’t let it happen, but sometimes in doing that you put the ball in a precarious circumstance. Sometimes take the ball and go down. And I think that’s something we’ve got to do a better job of coaching and understanding that.

“You don’t ever want to take a guy’s, whatever you want to call that, the ‘will to make plays,’ the ‘competitive spirit,’ you don’t want to do anything to that but you have to, in that split second, you’ve got to try to enforce on that occasion sometimes a better judgment. Like for example, maybe it’s 12 interceptions and a few more sacks, which wouldn’t hurt our football team at all. That’s where it has to start for us.”

Overall, Coughlin seemed at a loss to explain the Giants in-and-out performances. It certainly wasn’t injuries or turnovers last December that caused a startling home field meltdown against the division rival Eagles. That loss, coupled with a flat performance a week later at Green Bay, doomed the Giants to another year without a playoff appearance.

“Number one thing from our season is we told our players all along we cannot leave this in someone else’s hands, that never works out for you,” Coughlin said. “You take care of your own business. We had opportunities and we didn’t get it done. We won 10 games and we didn’t get in the playoffs. We felt like we should have but we left it up to someone else. Green Bay won and then went on and wins the whole thing. So that’s the number one thing, but we have to finish better.

“I challenge people on the way the season ended because without the last 8 minutes of the Philadelphia game it might have been a whole different story,” he continued. “For the majority of that ballgame, 52 minutes of it, we weren’t a bad football team.

It was clear there was some underlyine frustration for Coughlin, who has seen his teams, led by New Orleanian Eli Manning at quarterback, turn in some scintillating performances right alongside some absolute turkeys.

“The irony of our season is the fact we did so many good things and yet we kind of were our own worst enemy,” Coughlin said. “We lead the lead in takeaways, we lead the league in giveaways. In ’08 we set the all-time record in the National Football League for fewest, ok, so now I’m this great coach at controlling the ball, taking care of the ball. And we throw for 4,000 yards, we’ve got all kinds of numbers – all that crap nobody wants to hear about, all they want to know is, ‘how’d you do?’ which is fair.”

Coughlin’s frustration with his team’s in-and-out performance seemed to mount as he recapped it.

“Our defense is the best in the league on third down, we lead the in takeaways. We give up a lot of big plays, we have a lot of big plays; we lead the league in giveaways, so I mean, that’s the irony of it,” he said. “Our fourth quarters weren’t very good at all, so that’s where the finish comes from: the ability to finish the game, finish the thing strong, we all know – it’s been proven over and over and we were examples ourselves – the hot team at the end of the year has a great chance to win it. We all know that. But it didn’t happen for us.

“We’ve got to shore up,” he said. “If we don’t turn the ball over, we’re a pretty good football team.”

That’s all the news for today.

There are years in which it’s tough to determine which rookies on each side of the ball are the best and most valuable players.

This was not one of those years.

For the first time since 1981, when New Orleans Saints running back George Rogers and New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor (you may have heard of him) did it, St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford(notes) and Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh(notes) won the Associated Press Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year awards having been picked first and second overall in the draft. There were other outstanding rookies on offense and defense in 2010, but Bradford and Suh earned these awards as much as any rookies have in the past.

For Bradford, it was his ability to take a team that had won just six games in the previous three years and help the Rams to seven wins, a near-division title, and a near-playoff berth. Bradford was the first quarterback ever taken first overall to win the award, and he did it by throwing (590) and completing (354) the most passes by any rookie quarterback in NFL history, as well as throwing for the second-most passing yards among all NFL rookies (3,512) and the fifth-most touchdowns (18) to just 15 interceptions.

With offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur at the helm for the Rams in 2010, Bradford threw an inordinate number of short passes, averaging just 5.95 yards per attempt. But with former New England Patriots offensive coordinator and Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels in charge of St. Louis’ passing game going forward, look for Bradford to display more of his freakish downfield accuracy.

“It means a lot to me when you look at this award and see who has won it in the past. It reflects what we were able to do as a team this year,” Bradford said of the award.

Suh was even more dominant, establishing himself as one of the truly great interior linemen in the game as he developed through his rookie season. He ended his year with 10 sacks, the second-most by any first-year interior lineman, and was the only rookie elected to the All-Pro team,

Incredibly, for all their recent futility as a franchise, the Lions have the most AP Rookies of the Year of any NFL team – a grand total of seven. Suh joins RB Mel Farr (1976), CB Lem Barney (1967), WR Earl McCullough (1968), DE Al “Bubba” Baker (1978), RB Billy Sims (1980) and RB Barry Sanders (1989) as prior winners.

“It is a great honor and one of the highest honors I can receive on the defensive side of the ball,” Sun said after the award was announced. “I really, truly can’t thank my family, friends, teammates and coaches enough. They have been a huge part of it and the main reason I was able to be honored with this.”

Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham, who has been in the league for decades, has said that Suh is the best defensive tackle he’s ever seen, and the only draft prospect ever to receive a perfect grade in his rating system.

Related: Ndamukong Suh, Sam Bradford, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints, New England Patriots, New York Giants, St. Louis Rams

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—The Tennessee Titans have interviewed their first candidates outside of their own building in the search for a new head coach, talking to Atlanta offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey and New York Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell.

The Titans confirmed Friday they completed formal interviews with Mularkey and Fewell. The team is not commenting any further until they conclude the search to replace Jeff Fisher.

Mularkey is the first candidate interviewed by Tennessee who has been a head coach. By interviewing Fewell, the Titans satisfied the Rooney rule by talking with a minority candidate.

This is the second head coaching job Mularkey has interviewed for this year. He interviewed with the Browns before they hired Pat Shurmur, though he also canceled an interview with Denver.

Mularkey went 14-18 with Buffalo from 2004-05 before resigning in 2006 due to philosophical differences with the head office. He started coaching in the NFL in Tampa Bay before moving to Pittsburgh for eight seasons, the last three as offensive coordinator, where he mentored Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox.

He has been in Atlanta the past three seasons grooming quarterback Matt Ryan(notes) to the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award in 2008. Ryan led the Falcons to a 13-3 record and the NFC’s No. 1 seed this season.

This is Fewell’s fourth interview this offseason for a head coaching job, after he talked with Carolina, Cleveland and Denver.

The 48-year-old coach spent 2010 as defensive coordinator with the Giants. He had been defensive coordinator in Buffalo under Dick Jauron until he was fired, and Fewell was interim head coach of the Bills for the final seven games, going 3-4.

The North Carolina native started coaching in college and is familiar with Nashville from his stint at Vanderbilt, where he coached the secondary from 1995-97.

Tom Coughlin hired Fewell in Jacksonville in 1998 as his defensive backs coach, and he stayed in that job through 2002. Fewell coached St. Louis’ secondary in 2003-04 and was with Chicago in 2005, when the Bears had an NFC-best 24 interceptions with Pro Bowl selections in Nathan Vasher(notes) and Mike Brown(notes).

Fewell went to Buffalo as Jauron’s defensive coordinator in 2006, running the Bills’ 3-4 defense. It allowed only 14 touchdown passes in his last two seasons, and the Bills tied for fifth in the NFL with 33 takeaways. That’s a category the Titans struggled in this season.

Coughlin hired Fewell again in January 2010 as his defensive coordinator.

The Titans started the search by interviewing offensive line coach Mike Munchak, considered the top candidate for the job, and offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger earlier this week.

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LANDOVER, Maryland (Reuters) – The New York Giants squeezed past the Washington Redskins 17-14 on Sunday but saw the back-door route to the NFL playoffs slammed shut with Green Bay’s win over Chicago.

New York and Green Bay finished the season 10-6 but the Packers won the NFC wildcard tie-breaker by defeating the Giants 45-17 on December 26 at Lambeau Field.

“We won 10 games,” said Giants head coach Tom Coughlin. “We did our part and that’s what we came here to do.

“Unfortunately, Green Bay won so there’s no playoff opportunity for our players and I feel badly for them for that.”

New York quarterback Eli Manning completed 17 of 29 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown and Brandon Jacobs added a two-yard rushing score to lead the Giants’ attack.

“What you try to do is make the best of situations that you’re in,” said Manning. “All we could worry about tonight was going out here and trying to win this game.

“We knew we needed some help from Chicago. It didn’t happen. I’m pleased with the win tonight in doing what we could but I guess it’s a little late.”

The Giants appeared a lock for a postseason berth before losing to Philadelphia on December 19, blowing a 31-10 lead in the final eight minutes.

LOST OPPORTUNITIES

A blowout loss to Green Bay the following week had the Giants needing some help to extend their year.

“We had better opportunities early in the season, the two weeks prior to this, but we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities,” Manning told reporters.

“We came out, we played to the very end. Got a win tonight but it was just not enough. I’m disappointed. I thought we were a playoff-caliber team.”

New York seized control early in the third quarter when Manning found Mario Manningham for a 92-yard touchdown pass to give the Giants a 17-7 lead before a crowd of 76,189 in suburban Washington.

Manning tossed the ball over the outstretched arm of cornerback DeAngelo Hall and Manningham raced untouched into the end zone for his ninth touchdown reception of the year.

Washington’s Rex Grossman hit Anthony Armstrong on a 64-yard scoring pass with under six minutes left to pull the Redskins to within 17-14.

But the Giants’ defense stiffened and the Redskins were unable to mount a game-winning drive.

With two minutes left, Green Bay’s victory was revealed on the FedEx Field scoreboard, allowing Redskins fans to taunt their NFC East rivals by shouting, “Packers won, Packers won.”

Washington (6-10) committed four turnovers against the NFC’s second-ranked defense and have now lost to the Giants six successive times.

With Redskins coach Mike Shanahan choosing to keep Donovan McNabb on the bench, Grossman hit 26 of 44 passes for 336 yards and two scores but he fumbled twice and threw an interception.

“We sure had our opportunities during the game but any time you have four turnovers and you are still in the game at the end, you did some good things throughout the game,” Shanahan said after concluding his first season in Washington.

“I was disappointed we couldn’t finish.”

(Editing by Frank Pingue and Peter Rutherford)

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