Coughlin: TE Matthews important

INDIANAPOLIS -- New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, less than three weeks removed from winning Super Bowl XLII, met with the national media this morning at the scouting combine. Then, walking back to the Westin Hotel, Coughlin was asked by The Enquirer for his comments on back-up tight end Michael Matthews, a 2002 graduate of Sycamore High School.

"He caught our attention right away with his ability to grasp what we were doing," Coughlin said of Matthews, a rookie free agent from Georgia Tech who signed with the Giants last May. "He gave great effort, blocked very, very well. Had a real good training camp, secured a position on our team in training camp.

"He's another one of those young guys that just, it was never too big for him. He really performed in a role that we needed throughout the course of the season. We were very, very pleased to have him."

-- In other news early this afternoon, Atlanta won the coin flip and will draft No. 3 in the draft. Oakland will draft fourth, and Kansas City fifth.