For old Tom’s sake
Shurmur restoring Giants’ Coughlin culture
Pat Shurmur already has successfully laid the foundation of a positive culture shift within the Giants facility. So say people inside the building.
And if that’s true, then there is a greater chance that today’s first full day of training camp in East Rutherford will feel and function as a true page turn on the forgettable 2017 season and become a springboard to a special 2018.
“The culture’s gone back to when (Tom) Coughlin was here,” one Giants staffer told the Daily News last month, referring to the connection between the new coach’s expectations and player behavior in contrast to Ben McAdoo’s last two years. “Coughlin, he used to ask around if players were being polite. This staff does that, too.”
Shurmur, in other words, is walking the talk that he stressed publicly this spring: that he wants his players to live as “good citizens,” to have manners, to understand that the “New York Giants’ way” can serve them in “every facet of their life;” and that simple things like saying “please and thank you” and “push(ing) in your chair” matter.
Shurmur, of course, does not want his team so polite when competing on the football field. But his emphasis on building a strong character foundation off of it reflects how this coach has a strong understanding of his circumstances:
The Giants organization lost its way in 2017 prior to his arrival. So before Shurmur can rev the engines to full speed ahead on 2018, he needed to make sure the vessel was pointed in the right direction, on a promising new course, with every single member of his crew on board.
Some were more important to reach than others. One was young corner Eli Apple, 22, who caused a ton of internal issues and was suspended in a tumultuous second NFL season. And in June, Apple said he felt positively impacted by Shurmur’s new tone, too.
“I think there’s definitely a new energy. I think guys are embracing everything Coach Shurmur has to offer,” Apple said at minicamp. “We’re definitely excited. You can see it on and off the field. Everybody’s excited to be around each other. Especially with the DBs. We’ve been hanging out a lot.
“I think with us being the Giants, there’s always a lot of coverage of us,” Apple continued. “(So Shurmur) always reminds us to know what you’re representing. It’s more than just yourself. We’re all a team and everybody has to be one and understand that.”
Shurmur’s next step after setting and reinforcing expectations, then, is to give the players ownership of the team, as well. And that’s why Dave Gettleman went out and signed leaders who have set good examples on previous teams, the latest being Monday’s free-agent signing of veteran outside linebacker Connor Barwin, 31.
“I think if you bring in the right personalities, that sort of happens organically,” Shurmur said at March’s NFL owners meetings of how a healthy locker room functions. “Anybody that’s willing to do and has the courage to do the right thing all the time can lead… So what’s important is you add more really good guys to the locker room that we know how they’re gonna handle things — Alec Ogletree, Nate Solder, some other guys — and then you inspire some of the guys in there, we encourage them, the guys that were on the team a year ago, to do the right thing more times. And then it all comes together.”
It all comes together today, for physicals and conditioning. The first full practice is Thursday. But this isn’t the beginning. Shurmur’s plan is already underway.