Actually wasn't a bad podcast. He seems like a decent guy. Describes the Giants as his high school girlfriend that he fell in love with and thought he'd be with forever, and then left him cold. Much wiser about the Cardinals and the business side of the NFL.
He's still salty over the fact the Giants never reached out to him to say they weren't bringing him back. Also admits he's probably being too sensitive about it. Just still stings.
He's also got a grudge with Tom Coughlin and Doug Marrone because he gave them everything and they weren't interested in him, and paid Norwell all that money.
Still believes he's one of the best left guards in the game, and would be much more established as such around the league (I'm paraphrasing) if the Giants had just left him in one spot and not moved him around.
Calls Aaron Donald the Lawrence Taylor of this generation.
Ben McAdoo is his guy. Says he gets a bad rap. Said the players picked on him all the time for his slicked back hair but he just rolled with it. McAdoo interviewed for a position with the Cardinals, and Pugh said the old McAdoo is back.
Called Mike Solari a genius. Solari told him he wasn't getting paid in free agency because he got hurt.
Said he was intimidated by Coughlin as a rookie. Never tried to speak to him or make eye contact. Likened Coughlin to a robot (this wasn't said as a dig) because he was just always aware of everything going on around him and his attention to every detail - when players weren't wearing the right socks, when they were one second late to a meeting, how much time they were spending in the weight room, etc.
Yeah, I know. Who cares about Justin Pugh... But he's a former player and its pretty boring around here right now.
He's got a bit of "locker room lawyer" in him, too, and I'm sure that also has something to do with Coughlin giving this Syracuse alum the cold shoulder in free agency last year.
Cry me a river.
Cry me a river.
Bingo. They actually didn't move him around all THAT much.
The main thing that sticks out to me is that he ALWAYS complains about being moved around, and blames most of his injuries and poor play woes on that. Guys, especially young players, are asked to do that all the time on teams. His situation is not unique.
It's because the Giants moved me around that Coughlin didn't even bring me in for a visit and didn't see what an excellent player I was....
He might have been the best of a really bad bunch of OL, but that's all it was.
Pugh was never fantastic anywhere, pretty good at times and versatile, that's about it.
That's his MO.
Coughlin thing isn't a big deal. The guys like Psi, Tuck, Diehl, and O'Hara didn't complain. Maybe because they were adults and not man-children. Too much? Truth hurts.
The 2015 Dallas game was inexcusable but to be fair, coughlin coached the shit out of those 14-15 nyg squads and fooled people into believing the roster was better than it truly was. How that 2015 even won 6 games and played nearly every team to the last minute is testimony to Coughlin’s ability as a HC. The 2016 team was fools gold but they would have been a threat if coughlin coaches that team. I firmly believe that. I also don’t think the bottom drops out as drastically in 20171–Not even close actually.
1 20 Chicago Bears Kyle Long † G
1 21 Cincinnati Bengals Tyler Eifert † TE
1 22 Atlanta Falcons Desmond Trufant CB
1 23 Minnesota Vikings Sharrif Floyd DT
1 24 Indianapolis Colts Björn Werner DE
1 25 Minnesota Vikings Xavier Rhodes CB
1 26 Green Bay Packers Datone Jones DE
1 27 Houston Texans DeAndre Hopkins WR
1 28 Denver Broncos Sylvester Williams DT
1 29 Minnesota Vikings Cordarrelle Patterson WR
1 30 St. Louis Rams Alec Ogletree LB
1 31 Dallas Cowboys Travis Frederick C
1 32 Baltimore Ravens Matt Elam S
Long, Hopkins and particularly Fredrick stand out.
Talk about a bad trade - the Vikings traded a second-, third-, fourth- and seventh-round pick to New England to move into the first round to get Cordarrelle Patterson - who is of course now on the Patriots and has never had more than 500 yards receiving in a season.
Thought he was owed something by the Giants, thought Coughlin and Marrone owed him something last offseason, etc.
Not a bad person or player, but not a guy you want in this franchise.
Sux that the Giants never said a word to him about their lack of interest in a re-sign.
He was paid handsomely for being injured several times in his career, was never benched, and was never bad mouthed by the staff.
They didn't resign him. That's being treated like garbage?
Quote:
1 19 New York Giants Justin Pugh OT
1 20 Chicago Bears Kyle Long † G
1 21 Cincinnati Bengals Tyler Eifert † TE
1 22 Atlanta Falcons Desmond Trufant CB
1 23 Minnesota Vikings Sharrif Floyd DT
1 24 Indianapolis Colts Björn Werner DE
1 25 Minnesota Vikings Xavier Rhodes CB
1 26 Green Bay Packers Datone Jones DE
1 27 Houston Texans DeAndre Hopkins WR
1 28 Denver Broncos Sylvester Williams DT
1 29 Minnesota Vikings Cordarrelle Patterson WR
1 30 St. Louis Rams Alec Ogletree LB
1 31 Dallas Cowboys Travis Frederick C
1 32 Baltimore Ravens Matt Elam S
Long, Hopkins and particularly Fredrick stand out.
I’ll admit it: I wanted Floyd badly as he was in free fall. Looks like I got it just as wrong as Jerry.
He might have been a bad locker room presence, or the Giants might have been less than satisfied that his injuries were all legit. Either way - when you have a guy that's been on the team and you decide it's time to move on, I think you owe it to him to at least reach out and let him know.
It seems to be a standard practice with multiple teams throughout the league (I've seen other teams players mention it before), but if it were me I'd do it differently. The Giants consider themselves a class organization, and that seems like the classy thing to do.
Pugh 70. Long 73
Long is hurt and missing games just as much as Pugh is
Pugh could play when healthy, just was not enough. Completely understand moving on from him due to health vs the contract