Defending Super Bowl champion NY Giants quietly back to work, awaiting start ... - New York Daily News

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Tom Coughlin presides over a true blue-collar bunch - even after two Super Bowl victories.

As the Giants went through their three-day minicamp that ended Thursday, they might as well have posted a sign outside the locker-room door that read, “Quiet! Defending Super Bowl Champions at Work.”

When they gather again for training camp in Albany on July 26, it should be one of the dullest camps a defending Super Bowl champion has ever had. Even Osi Umenyiora won’t be able to complain.

If David Diehl hadn’t gotten behind the wheel of his BMW and been nabbed by police in Queens last Sunday with twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system, then the Giants would have floated under the media radar, unlike the other team in town, which has people charting how many times Tim Tebow lines up under center in practice.

You know it’s a slow news week at minicamp when the only indignation Tom Coughlin can muster is about losing tight end Jake Ballard to New England in a waiver move. Ballard probably isn’t even going to play this year because he’s recovering from a knee injury.

“We don’t mind when we aren’t the main focus. We weren’t the main focus last year. But we were the main focus in Week 24,” Giants safety Antrel Rolle said. “That’s the only thing that matters.”

There are no self-esteem issues with the Giants. Winning a Super Bowl can have that effect on a team. They don’t need the attention or want it. The way the Tebow-Mark Sanchez thing is playing out with the Jets, it could be Week 8 of the season before anybody notices what’s going on with the Giants.

“We’re focusing on what we can do to make ourselves better in the locker room, in the meeting rooms and on the field,’’ linebacker Michael Boley said. “The Jets seem more interested in what they can do off the field. We don’t thrive on the attention. When you go to work you’re focused on the task at hand.”

The last time the Giants were coming off a Super Bowl victory, they were just as talented and confident. They steam-rolled to a 10-1 record before Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub. That derailed the repeat plan.

The Diehl incident happened three months before the first snap of the season. It will be long forgotten by the time the team hits the field. It won’t have the type of impact that the Burress incident had.

With 20 of 22 starters returning, plus a significant number of backups from the Super Bowl team, the Giants are a good bet to defend their title. The most significant factor for the Giants is whether they can maintain the same mentality that they had when every game became a must-win after that Week 15 loss to Washington last season.

Coughlin was practically gushing when he talked about how well the Giants played during that run to the Super Bowl.

“We’re talking about giving up 14 points a game,’’ Coughlin said. “You’re going to win a lot of games if you can do that.
“We had one turnover and we were averaging 116 yards rushing.”

If the Giants can manage that again, surely they’ll be back on everybody’s radar.