Snap decisions

Giants' Fassel not backing down, cutting any slack

First Person	Jim Fassel
Photo Credits: Brian Bahr/Getty Images, AP, Elsa Hasch/Getty Images

Give Giants head coach Jim Fassel this: The man knows how to put together a season-saving -- make that job-saving -- late-season run. In two of the last three seasons, New York has made it to the playoffs long after folks started burying him and his team. Fassel has notched three postseason appearances in his first six seasons in New York, but the early consensus is that this year's Giants are far and away his most talented team, a perception he heartily echoes.

Though he can motivate a team in spades when it's in the underdog role, Fassel hasn't done as well with lofty expectations. He has yet to post back-to-back winning seasons in New York. That's a trend that better change this year, or some will once again have him doing his coaching from the proverbial hot seat. SI.com's Don Banks caught up with Fassel recently at the Giants' 2003 training camp in Albany, N.Y.

SI.com: Do you still see that bungled snap -- you know the one -- when you close your eyes at night?

JF: Yeah. (Smiling). I was on vacation and I was still tossing and turning at 2:45 in the morning. My wife said, 'What's the matter, you can't go to sleep?' And I had gone to bed at 11. She said, 'What are you thinking about?' I said I'm thinking about the 49er game, just seeing that thing come bouncing back there. I mean that's not hard to do. And we were playing so well. But I still think about the last Super Bowl (against Baltimore) and plays in that game.

I go back and think about things that went wrong and how I can correct them. That's what I think about a lot. And to see that snap. ... But I see so many things. So many things had to happen for us to lose that game. I see Jeremy Shockey dropping a touchdown. We missed two field goals. Jason Sehorn missed a tackle and a guy runs it in. There were so many things that happened in that game.

SI.com: But you've done everything you can do to re-vamp your special teams. Does that give you comfort knowing you've got proven professionals in each spot?

JF: It really does. The key thing is what you just said: professionals. I don't need some guy that's a good, young upstart guy. I need a guy who can come in here and do it. I don't want any faint of heart. We've been there.

SI.com: You seem to have assembled a team that is quietly confident of a big season. Is that your sense too?

JF: In this league, when everybody talks about you, that you're going to be good or you might have a good year, coaches generally get real nervous. Sometimes you can pound and pound and stay on them and you still don't always pierce those skulls.

But this group here, I'm going to stay on their ass about stuff. I'm going to keep reminding them and I'm not backing off, and I'm not cutting any slack. This group here has a competitiveness about them. And that's one thing when I first came here, that's all I said: I only want guys who have a passion for the game. And I think we're inching closer, closer, closer.

SI.com: How long has it been since a Giants offense could look the team's defense square in the eye, without taking a back seat to them in any way?

JF: A long time. This is probably the first time that's been the case since maybe the late 1980s. And even then, that was a great defense. But they had Phil Simms and William Roberts and Ottis Anderson on offense, and that group.

SI.com: Your offense averaged 31 points per game in its last six games, including the playoffs. Is that realistic for this offense over a 16-game season?

JF: It's hard because that's a lot of points. And we've got a ways to go. But with a little luck and guys staying healthy, and guys concentrating, those types of things, who knows? It could all go to hell in a hand basket if Kerry Collins gets hurt. But we have more weapons than we've ever had. Some guys have been developed, some guys have been acquired. But I'm excited about it. I really am.

SI.com: Is young Mr. Shockey better than you even dreamed?

JF: Well, I was real excited about him. I wanted him in the worst way, and that's why we traded up and all that stuff. I knew he could be outstanding. But until you get a guy here and you see him go, there's always a question mark. The thing that separates this guy is that he has talent, but a lot of guys have talent. What he has is a burning desire to be a great football player, and that's not going to change. He'll compete every practice, he'll compete every game.

SI.com: Do you worry about unrealistic second-year expectations for him, playing in this market?

JF: You know how they call it the sophomore jinx, where a guy comes back for his second year and struggles? After with what he did last year, making the Pro Bowl, and playing in New York City and everything that comes with that, I've seen no signs of a let-up.

He came in for a photo shoot this offseason, a few weeks ago, and the shoot was at noon. And he was down in the weight room lifting from nine in the morning right up until he took a shower and did the photo shoot. He wanted to get his workout in first before the other stuff. Then he wanted to know when the weights were being moved to Albany (for training camp)? And he said, 'Good, then I've got three days to work out before I leave for camp.'"

SI.com: So you don't have to stay on him about anything?

JF: No. I mean, I talk to him about some behavioral things, but I've also said I don't want to change who he is. I don't want to change who he is. Everybody says, 'Well, are you going to sit him down and talk to him?' Nah, I don't want to do that. I like the way he is. I mean I want him that way.

Now are there a few things I can school him on? I've talked to him about a few things. I'm like, 'Don't be doing this. OK? That doesn't do anything for you and that doesn't help us win.' And he listens. When you say this won't help us win, he says, 'OK, I won't do that.'"

SI.com: Have you offered him any advice about his reported penchant for the nightlife?

JF: Well, yeah. But when I talk to him, he listens. I don't have a problem with him. Some guys it goes in one ear and out the other. The thing about Jeremy, with him football will always be first. I don't worry about the other things getting out of whack with him.

SI.com: Can this team count on Keith Hamilton being here all season, given his legal troubles?

JF: I think so. I really do. I think that situation will work itself out at some point.

 

Related information

Stories

First Person: Kerry Collins SI.com Preview: New York Giants

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video