Tiki Barber has built something of a cottage industry critiquing his former Giants teammates and coaches. At various points since his retirement in 2006, Barber has shared generously about the faults of quarterback Eli Manning and coach Tom Coughlin, and he never seems far from the mic when the team is in turmoil.
Barber claims past nitpicks have been taken out of context, but his latest analysis of the team's three-game skid suggests Coughlin is to be held accountable for a variety of ills.
"After the Giants put on a particularly poor performance against the Philadelphia Eagles two weekends ago, coach Coughlin came up to the press lectern and said, 'We had 29 yards rushing, which is about as pathetic as you can get,' clearly placing the arrow directly at Brandon Jacobs and the Giants' starting offensive line, as if they either aren't good enough or weren't trying hard enough," Barber wrote in a piece for RotoExperts.com.
"Now, he may have been right, but for someone who is prone to saying, 'we have to keep our (expletive) in-house,' it sounded a little outside the corps talking point. ... In the midst of a three-game losing streak, after consecutive ugly losses, and potentially on the verge of making it four with the undefeated Green Bay Packers next on the docket, how do we 'fairly' evaluate Tom Coughlin?"
Barber went on: "Hopes of dynastic Super Bowl runs have morphed into 'let's hope we win more than we lose.' ... Maybe I'm not qualified to answer that because I'm not in that locker room anymore; however, watching from afar, I get the feeling that things aren't necessarily 'all good' over at MetLife Stadium. Now don't read that as me saying that coach Coughlin is not a 'good' coach, which I've always said that he is; however, I've just felt that his messages sometimes fit 'his' agenda, not 'our' agenda."
We imagine Coughlin and the boys have grown accustomed to Tiki's white noise by now. When it's not Barber, it's Michael Strahan or Antonio Pierce emerging from the shadows to ruffle the feathers of this team that just can't seem to shake some rather annoying alumni.