Shockey: "We Got Outplayed and Outcoached"

As I've said before, a significant part of the problem with the New York Giants is they have too many strong personalities on the team and not enough leaders. They have more than their fair share of outspoken, high-profile players who aren't afraid to express their thoughts to a national audience. But they lack the guy or two who can take control in the huddle or the locker room. And because of that, we have situations like the Giants found themselves in Sunday... and I'm not talking about simply getting your ass beat on the football field. I'm talking about turning on each other at the first hint of trouble.

Okay, okay... so the Giants loss on Sunday was about as much a hint of trouble in the clubhouse as World War II was a hint of unrest in Europe. Regardless, the aftermath wasn't pretty.

If you didn't catch it, the Giants put together perhaps the worst first-half performance in the history of their storied franchise, falling behind the Seattle Seahawks 35-0 before the intermission. Predictably, the performance invoked the ire of head coach Tom Coughlin, who ripped into his squad for not taking care of the ball. Informed of his coach's comments, tight end Jeremy Shockey fired back with some criticism of his own.

"We got outplayed, and outcoached. Write that down," the perturbed tight end told reporters after the game.

When asked what he meant by "outcoached" Shockey said, "You saw the game." (Hey, at least he didn't call Coughlin a homo.)

This isn't the first time one of the Giants' players has openly criticized Coughlin. Running back Tiki Barber did the same thing following last season's playoff loss to the Carolina Panthers.

And this is exactly what I'm talking about. There are too many players on this team willing to throw someone else under the bus instead of taking a step back and looking at things in perspective.

Was it an embarrassing loss? Absolutely!

But the team is sitting at 1-2, just three games into a long season. They're also just one game out of first place in a very balanced NFC East. It's a horrible loss and it's frustrating, but it's not the end of the world.

This team should be pulling together at a time like this instead of turning on each other. And that's where a lack of leadership hurts this team.