There was a time not so long ago when New York Giants football was all about defense.

Lawrence Taylor, Harry Carson, George Martin and Carl Banks conjure up images of quarterback sacks, goal line stops and relentless pressure on the opposing offenses they faced.

Sadly, the 2007 New York Giants defense shows little resemblance to the glory squads of the past. No, this unit is more comparable to a Pop Warner team just learning how to play the game.

Through two games, the 0-2 Giants have given up 80 points, the most since 1966. Coach Tom Coughlin was playing wingback at Syracuse University with Larry Csonka back then.

This Giants defense forgets that the National Football League is not two-hand touch and you have to actually tackle the person with the ball before the referees blow the whistle.

This Giants defense also doesn’t understand the concept of pass coverage as the cornerbacks and safeties get burnt all the time. Yes, they’re lacking in overall talent, but learning the most basic of fundamentals for their positions and using a little intuition once in a while could go a long way.

Someone should also provide this Giants defense with copies of the rulebook because they’re constantly being called for dumb penalties over and over again. When the defense is through reading, they should make sure to give tight end Jeremy Shockey a copy.

First-year and first-time defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is getting a ton of heat for installing a new defense learned from his days as an assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles. He deserves some criticism, but only for not realizing how little talent he has in New York.

During last Sunday’s loss to the Packers, which was televised on Fox, sideline reporter Pam Oliver summed up this year’s defense with the following:

“I have not seen any kind of emotion, or any kind of leadership (from the Giants defense sitting on the bench),” Oliver said. “Usually guys like Antonio Pierce, Michael Strahan are up trying to fire the guys up, but these guys have just been dead all day.”

What can fans expect from a team that voted selfish holdout Strahan team captain upon his return to the team after missing all of training camp.

Which brings us back full circle to the man most responsible for this cathartic mess - coach Tom Coughlin.

While we miss running back Tiki Barber, who retired in the prime of his career because he hated this guy so much, Coughlin’s total loss of his  team’s respect is so perfectly clear.

Rumors that Coughlin was kept around another season because he was the choice of dead owners Wellington Mara and Bob Tisch are rampant, but it’s time for the Giants organization to move on.   

Any interest in returning to the sidelines Mr. Parcells? Harry Carson’s got a bucket of Gatorade with your name on it. 

Sports editor Eric DeGrechie can be reached at 581-2480, ext. 214, and This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it