GIANT NOTES
Redskins QB Mark Brunell knows exactly what Eli Manning is going through.
Brunell knows how demanding Tom Coughlin can be on a young quarterback. For eight full seasons, Brunell was entrusted with running Coughlin’s offense in Jacksonville, and together the two achieved great success until things deteriorated with the Jaguars.
“He just knows how to coach the position,” Brunell said of Coughlin. “He knows how to teach a young player, not just the quarterback, how to play at this level. I just thought he was real good for me.”
Brunell today gets a chance to show how much he learned, now at the helm of a surprisingly good Redskins offense that arrives at Giants Stadium. With a career-best rating of 98.3, Brunell, 35, will attempt to do what so many quarterbacks have accomplished this season: Inflict damage on a suspect Giants defensive backfield.
“Mark Brunell is definitely resurrected,” Michael Strahan said.
Coughlin traded away two draft picks prior to the 1995 season to obtain Brunell, who was a bench-warmer in Green Bay, and Brunell went on to start 114 regular-season games and eight postseason games for the Jaguars. Can Coughlin’s familiarity with Brunell be an advantage to the Giants?
“I know Mark very well,” Coughlin said. “I’m sure there’s some things I’ve been able to contribute, but as far as the X and O part of it, when and where, how they utilize their offense, it will be handled on the field.”
*
There will be a moment of silence tomorrow for co-owner Wellington Mara, who died Tuesday at age 89, prior to the National Anthem, which will be sung by Kate Mara, one of Wellington Mara’s 40 grandchildren. There also will be a video tribute at halftime … LB Antonio Pierce, who spent the past four years with the Redskins, has spoken this week to many of his former teammates and he said they’re wary of the high-scoring Giants offense. “They’re feeling it,” Pierce said. “They see this as a game they got to have. I talked to almost the whole defense. Last year was different; being over there our main focus was to stop [Jeremy] Shockey and Tiki [Barber]. Now they’re talking about Plaxico [Burress], Shockey, Amani [Toomer] came out of nowhere, they said Eli [Manning] is playing great. They know they got their hands full” … Burress, slowed this week by a sore shoulder, is expected to play. LB Carlos Emmons, who has a slightly torn right pectoral muscle, is not.