Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Tom Coughlin and the Giant-men from New York.

You remember the scene: Tom Coughlin, head coach of the Giant men from New York, standing
bare faced aganist the wind and sub-zero climes on the frozen tundra of Lambo field. His team
was battling the Green Bay Packers in the NFL championship
game and as you looked at the
coach's beet-red kisser you had to wonder about his mental health. A hard ass through and
through. Begainning with his first head coaching job at Jacksonville, Coughlin has demanded
nothing less than a tough as nails attitude mentaly as well as physically. So he had some pretty
good teams while leading the Jags to nearly 10 wins per season each of his first five years.
He is a strict disciplinarian,very finicky about the littlest of detail, and, Coughlin ran a gruelling
military style traning camp, 105 degrees in the shade not withstanding. That will only work
for just so long with todays professional athlete. He refused to lift the foot up, the players quit
on him, and Coughlin was fired. It didn't take very long for things to go south in New York.
After shaky starts than fading two years in a row Coughlin was on the hot seat again. Several
high profile players criticized him openly; those all out practices during the season was a bit
much, man.' Getting out of the gate slow including giving up forty-five points and lossing to
the hated Cowboys. The countdown was on, how long will Coughlin last? But then led by
Micheal Strahan some of the players met with their head coach and talked things out. The
results, Tom Coughlin took the foot off and backed up --a little, and therest as they say is
history. The point to all this is that a good coach became a better coach by --umm, adjusting
his philosophy, 'bending' the stone if you will. Is there a possibility that he will become a Wade
Phillips type of coach? No way! Could Coughlin be less of a disciplinarin and stickler for
the little things? I doubt it. Maybe Eli Manning and the rest of the Giants just got hot at the
right time for the championship run. Maybe it was the fact that they played and won key
games on the road bring them closer as a team. Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey, two cancers
were not a factor; Barber retired at the ended of '06-'07 season, and , injuries finished
Shockey. Maybe the lack of that negitivity help the confidents and development of Manning.
I don't think it was any one thing, but a combination of all of all of those falling into place
making them a team of destiny.

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