Caught up with secondary coach Peter Giunta today and didnt once ask him or hear about any of the cornerbacks hes coaching this year. Instead, we spoke exclusively about him. When Steve Spagnuolo left the Giants to take over as head coach of the Rams, Tom Coughlin interviewed two staffers to fill the defensive coordinators job: Linebackers coach Bill Sheridan, who got the job, and Giunta, who didnt.

?Youre hurt, youre upset by the situation, but you deal with it and thats what it is, Giunta said.

Not only was Giunta not given the Giants coordinator job, he was denied opportunities to interview with other teams for their coordinator jobs. While he didnt say which teams knocked on the Giants door, he likely received interest from the Packers and the Rams.

?Coach told me afterwards who had called and who wanted me to go, Giunta said. ?He said that were so close to coming back and winning another championship here that he didnt want to break up his staff. As much as he could he wanted to keep us as long as he could. Thats where we are. You feel great that other people want you to go and be a coordinator for them. You feel great that people want you to stay here and continue to do your job.

But of course, theres a feeling of being handcuffed. Position coaches cannot accept coordinator jobs with other teams unless their contract has expired or the receive permission from their current team. The only job that permission is not required for is head coach. The rule was put in place several years ago to stop coaches from switching teams and accepting a bigger title ? say ?assistant head coach or something ? even though they were doing the same job. In other words, under the old rules, Spagnuolo could have had Giunta go with him to St. Louis as a secondary coach simply by giving him a fancy title.

Giunta has already been a defensive coordinator when he was with the Rams. He was there for three years, including when the Rams won their Super Bowl.

?Obviously when youve done it before you have an idea of what youd like to do and stuff like that, he said. ?Not getting it its tough, especially when youve had success, when you won World Championships. But Ill be there to support Bill and help him and hell be great. It is what it is. Coach made the decision, that was his choice.

Won;t it be hard for him not to occassionally second-guess his new boss? Especially when it's a first-time coordinator and someone with whom he was competing for the job?

"You cant do that," he said. "Once you know what youre going to do youre all 100 percent behind it. Theres no second-guessing."

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