Ya Gotta Believe!

Give Bill Sheridan this. The defensive coordinator is an optimist.

He believes that his unit will come out full bore Sunday against the Vikings in an effort to redeem itself after last week's heart-less catastrophe against Carolina. And, yeah, he believes he'll be back in the same defensive coordinator's spot next year.

Now, you'd be hard-pressed to find any coach around the league who would say publicly he's a goner. Former Giants DC Tim Lewis went that route in Pittsburgh before he showed up here and, surprise, Bill Cowher fired him. But outside of that, I haven't heard too many assistants predict their own demise.

So it's understandable that Sheridan would take a bright attitude despite his unit's precipitous fall from grace this year.

"Absolutely," he said when asked if he expects to survive his rookie season.

And what would his pitch to Tom Coughlin be?

"The same reason why he gave me the job, because he thinks I’m competent and do a conscientious, diligent job," Sheridan said. "That’s what I told him when I interviewed for it before. I said, ‘To me the most important thing is competence, that you can give (the players) a plan on a weekly basis that will put them in the best position to defend and beat your opponent. That’s why he gave me the job. And if he’s evaluated I’m still competent in that area, that’s what I would tell him."

There's no doubt Sheridan tried his hardest to be a good coordinator. But injuries hurt, and the miscommunication problems with the secondary must be laid at his doorstep. In his favor is Coughlin's tendancy toward loyalty to his assistants.

Sheridan said he hadn't given his job security a great lot of thought.

"I’m not concerned about it,” Sheridan told the media. "I know you guys are very concerned about it, but I am not concerned about it. You guys are doing a great job of being concerned about it, but I am not."

EP