Giants NFL Opener On Wednesday

An NFL game on Wednesday? Yup! that’s exactly what’s going to happen when the NFL opens it’s 2012 season.

Traditionally, the first game of the season is played on a Thursday and features the defending Super Bowl champions. But the NFL has moved the game back one day, to Wednesday, Sept 5, 2012 @ 8:30 p.m. in Metlife stadium, to accommodate President Obama’s speech to the Democratic National Convention that Thursday evening.

In the 2012 NFL Wednesday opener, the Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants willl take on a yet to be determined opponent. According to a statement on the Giants official website (giants.com), “The Giants’ opponent in the game is expected to be announced at the NFL meetings in March. The potential opponents include Green Bay (which would match the two most recent Super Bowl champions), New Orleans (which has played in the league’s opening game each of the last two years), Pittsburgh (a six-time Super Bowl champion) and NFC opponents Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington.”

An NFL Wednesday game is very rare; the last time one was played was Sept. 22. 1948, when the Rams beat the Lions 44-7.

Since 2004, the NFL has made it a tradition to honor the defending Super Bowl champs by featuring them in the first game of the NFL season. The defending Super Bowl champion has won every NFL season opener since.

Giants offensive assistant, Kevin Gilbride, Jr.

Super Bowl Champion coach Tom Coughlin has declared coaching poaching season officially closed. He’s already lost two assistant coaches since winning Super Bowl XLVI but he’s not going to let it happen a third time..

On Thursday, Coach Couglin denied the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the right to talk to offensive assistant Kevin Gilbride Jr. about a position on their coaching staff. Kevin Jr. is the son of the Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride Sr. According to one NFL source, the Bucs wanted to talk to Jr. about becoming their quarterbacks coach.

It isn’t known if the Bucs made an official request (and denied the same way) or were told through back channels.

Since their Super Bowl win, the Giants have lost two assistant coaches. Former assistant offensive coordinator Jack Bicknell, joined the Kansas City Chiefs to serve as offensive line coach under head coach Romeo Crennel. Less than a week earlier, the Tampa Bay Bucs hired former Giants QB coach Mike Sullivan to serve as their offensive coordinator under new head coach Greg Schiano (that’s right former Rutgers head coach).

This isn’t the first time Tom Coughlin has refused to allow NFL teams to talk to his coaches. One example is Tom’s refusal to allow permission for teams to talk to his cornerbacks coach Peter Giunta about NFL defensive coordinator jobs.

Perhaps Tom Coughlin is grooming Gilbride Jr. for a promotion on the Giants staff, especially after the departure of Bicknell and Sullivan.

Anyway, this should be the last we hear about coaching poaching until after the 2012 NFL season. Poaching season is now closed!

source: New York Daily News, New York Post

The NFL coaching shuffle usually occurs immediately after the regular season. That’s when teams that fail to make the playoffs try be better themselves and beat their competitors, try to quickly hire and fire coaches. Perhaps a better strategy is to wait to for the outcome of the Super Bowl and then poach the winning coaches.

That’s exactly what happened to the Super Bowl Giants. For the second time this week, Tom Couglin’s New York Giants has had an offensive coach poached from their ranks.

Jack Bicknell, assistant offensive coordinator of the Giants for the last three years, has left the Super Bowl champions and joined the Kansas City Chiefs. Bicknell will become the offensive line coach under Chiefs head coach Romeo Crennel.

“A lot of the jobs had been filled up by the time we were done”, said Jack Bicknell Jr. He thought he would return to the Giants for his third year before receiving the offer from Kansas City.

Now the Giants need to find a QB coach AND an assistant offensive coordinator. That’s what happens with success; everyone what’s to catch that “magic”.

Earlier in the week, Giants QB coach Mike Sullivan took a promotion as offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Will this be the end of the Giants coaching poaching? We’ll have to wait and see!