The NFL is not investigating Tom Coughlin and the Giants for bullying.
Andre Brown isn’t meeting Friday with independent investigator Ted Wells for running the ball down the Raiders’ collective throat 30 times for 115 yards and a touchdown.
John Mara and Steve Tisch haven’t appointed a Big Blue-ribbon panel headed by Lawrence Taylor, Harry Carson and Mark Bavaro to solicit their advice on etiquette in the 100-yard workplace.
What has unfolded in Miami is no joking matter, but what unfolded when Brown returned Sunday from his broken leg will undoubtedly be no joking matter to the Packers this Sunday and the Cowboys the following Sunday.
The Giants enjoy being Bully Boys again, and Roger Goodell doesn’t have enough Gameday rules to stop them. It isn’t about keeping time of possession and keeping Scott Tolzien on the sidelines. It isn’t about any Super Bowl XXV blueprint.
It’s about keeping the offense from being one-dimensional and opening up the play-action game for Eli Manning.
“You’ll find a lot of big plays come off play action,” Coughlin said. “This year, it hasn’t happened to the degree that we would like it to, and it is something that is noticeably missing and you’d certainly like to improve on that as well.”
It’s about easing the stress on the straining, struggling offensive line to keep Manning upright. It’s about defying the treacherous, swirling winds at MetLife and becoming a weather-proof offense. It’s about establishing an identity that this offense hasn’t had all season.
It’s about figuring out a way to survive and advance in a quarterback-driven league at a time when your franchise quarterback is not driving the Maramobile on the elite highway. It’s about giving Manning third-and-manageable at a time when the playoffs remain fourth-and-long.
It’s about keeping a defense that has regained its swagger fresh and frothing at the mouth.
It’s about reawakening the rumbling, thunderclap echoes of Alex Webster and Ottis Anderson and Rodney Hampton and Brandon Jacobs and imposing your will on frostbitten defenders who begun flinching when a 230-pound truck running angry is barreling towards them.
“He’ll practice today,” Coughlin said Thursday of Brown. “As the week goes on, he’ll feel better.”
It’s about reminding everyone that the only place bullying is allowed in the NFL is on the 100-yard playground where only the strong survive.