Coughlin Delivers on Promised Changes as Giants Win Super Bowl
Tom Coughlin met with New York Giants
owners before the season and promised dramatic changes. Tonight,
he delivered.
Coughlin led the underdog National Football League team to
its first Super Bowl title in 18 years, beating the previously
undefeated New England Patriots, the highest-scoring team in
National Football League history, 17-14.
“The best part of it for me is that this group of young
men, who came together and believed in themselves, bought the
team concept completely, took the names off the back of their
jerseys and checked their egos at the door, he said after the
game. “The reinforcement for the team is the greatest source of
satisfaction for me.
The championship comes after Coughlin, 61, sat down with
Giants owners and promised changes in his approach to coaching.
In 2006, New York became the eighth NFL team to reach the
postseason after winning just half their regular-season games,
and lost in the first round of the playoffs for the third
straight year.
After the season, Giants owners John Mara and Jonathan
Tisch met with their coach, whose contract was almost expired.
Coughlin received a one-year extension and went to work, forming
a players leadership council to get more input from the team.
Both players and owners said Coughlin became more open and
accessible to the team, improved communication and never went
backward, even when the Giants started the season 0-2.
`It Worked
“We met with him and we asked him to step it up and he did
that, Tisch said in an interview after the game. “Im not in
the locker room so I really have no clue what he did. Whatever
it was, it worked.
Giants players embraced the new Coughlin.
“He is smiling, Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan
said in a news conference last week. “He is using words like
`fun and `enjoyment and it blows my mind every time he does.
The Giants hired Coughlin in January 2004, shortly after
the teams worst season in 20 years. The former New York
assistant and Jacksonville coach had led the Jaguars to two
American Football Conference Championship games and compiled a
72-64 record in eight years before getting fired for missing the
playoffs three straight years.
Coughlin embraced discipline as the key to winning. In
Jacksonville, he imposed a ban on beards and jewelry. In his
first season with New York, he fined several players for not
being at team meetings early enough.
His approach didnt always have the desired effect. New
York recorded a team-record 143 penalties in 2005 and 101 in
2006.
Criticism of Coughlin
After a playoff loss to the Carolina Panthers in 2005, Pro
Bowl running back Tiki Barber said the team had been outcoached.
Pro Bowl tight end Jeremy Shockey said the same thing after a
loss the next season. Barber wrote in a book that Coughlins
coaching methods helped drive him into retirement.
This season was different. The Giants lost their first two
games before reeling off a league-record 10 straight road wins,
including playoff wins at Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay. The
Super Bowl gave them 11 wins away from home.
Coughlins defense held the highest-scoring offense in NFL
history to a single touchdown until 2:42 left in the game. New
Englands Tom Brady, who threw a record 50 touchdown passes
during the season, threw one in the Super Bowl. Giants defenders
sacked Brady five times. Brady finished the game completing 29
of 48 passes, for 266 yards.
Credit to Defense
Coughlin credited the defense with the victory, calling the
Patriots inability to score more points “an incredible
accomplishment for the team. Our defense played so well.
After Brady threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to receiver
Randy Moss, Coughlin orchestrated a 12-play, 83-yard drive. The
Giants stalled on third down at their own 44-yard line before
quarterback Eli Manning shrugged off a host of would-be tacklers
and hit receiver David Tyree for a 32-yard pass. The drive ended
in 13-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Plaxico Burress that
won the game.
“These guys played with great heart, Coughlin said.
“Theyre tough-minded. They never say die. They just keep
coming. We had to battle hard to get this thing. But I told them
last night, `Other than family, the greatest feeling in the
world is when all of a sudden you realize youre world
champions.
