Tom Coughlin is an Idiot

Regardless of how hated you feel in general or how stressed out you feel about your job, you never go there. Yet, New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin went ahead and did the unthinkable yesterday in comparing last season's criticism from the media of his coaching performance to that of former Nazi madman Adolph Hitler.

When he was asked at a NFC coaches breakfast if he paid any attention to what was said in the press about him last season, Coughlin replied: "I hear some of it and I see it. You know (VP of communications Pat) Hanlon tells me about it, what's going on." Then, he paused, and said, "Hitler and then me, in that order. Unfortunate, but it is."

Comparing your plight to that of a man who is enormously hated around the world? Not only is that beyond stupid, but it shows just how much the pressure of coaching a professional sports team in New York has gotten to Coughlin. Then too, maybe Coughlin, who has long been known for his intensity and his adversarial nature, needs to calm down, sit back and learn to appreciate his situation.

After all, this is a guy who after being out of the league for several years (after 3 straight subpar seasons towards the end of his long tenure coaching the Jacksonville Jaguars) makes around 3 million dollars a year to coach a football team in the premiere sports town in the country. And despite the fact that he has a 25-25 record as Giants coach (not to mention the Super Bowl expectations the Giants had last year after a 6-2 start before they turned into a bunch of underachievers and tanked the whole second half), Coughlin had ownership stand by him in the face of huge media outcry to get rid of him, when they signed him to an extension to continue coaching the team this past February.

Coughlin needs to also remind himself of the fact that it wasn't just Giants fans and the media who criticized him last season, but his own players as well. Stars like Tiki Barber and Plaxico Burress aggressively took Coughlin to task for coaching decisions during the season. And even after the season was over, the now retired Barber, said he "might" possibly still be a Giant if Coughlin wasn't the coach. Barber went on to criticize Coughlin for having the team practice in full pads deep into the season, and said, "The grind took its toll on me and forced me to start thinking about what I wanted to do next." Afterwards Coughlin admitted that he was hurt by Barber's statements.

Bottom line, if Coughlin, who is almost certain to be on a short leash next season, thinks the media scrutiny is that bad than he should've never taken the Giants job in the first place. And now that he's compared himself to Hitler, maybe the higher-ups at the Giants need to seriously think about taking the job away from him. Because Coughlin has officially gone nuts.