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(Sports Network) - Some of the NFL's greatest coaches were unmistakable in
presence.
COMPLETE COVERAGE | Super Bowl XLVI on 11Alive
Hear a gruff voice while watching a 1960's era NFL Films marathon: It's Green
Bays Vince Lombardi. See the outline of a hat atop an angular and
expressionless face: It's Dallas' Tom Landry. Notice a jutting chin at the end
of a powerful jaw line: It's Pittsburghs Bill Cowher.
And come Feb. 5 in Indianapolis, another signature look joins the honor roll.
But no, it's not the somber-looking chap in the navy blue hooded sweatshirt.
Instead, welcome New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin to the fraternity for
his own go-to facial expression: Middle-aged man with Type A personality with
a look resembling someone smelling raw sewage.
Of course, if things go well for Big Blue over 60 on-field minutes at Lucas
Oil Stadium, Coughlin resume will have a new line that reads a lot sweeter
than his face might project:
Two-time Super Bowl champion.
Perhaps a fitting reward for a sturdy 16-year veteran of the league's short-
term sidelines, complete with 142 regular-season wins, nine playoff
appearances in two cities and as improbable as a championship run as there's
been -- the one that ended with the 10-6 Giants defeating the 16-0 New England
Patriots in Super Bowl XLII four years ago.
And surely a far cry from the epitaphs flung in Coughlin direction as recently
as two months ago, when a 6-2 start crumbled into a 6-6 crevasse and prompted
some to boldly forecast an imminent demise.
"Tom Coughlin has no choice but to reconnect with his team this week, and find
something, anything, to restore its credibility," ESPNNewYork columnist Ian
OConnor wrote in late November. "If he fails, Coughlin is not going to lose
only his cool or his mind. He is going to lose his job."
The piece ran under the hindsight-unfortunate headline of "Coughlin can't
weather another collapse."
"For winning that epic Super Bowl, and for standing among the best coaches in
franchise history, Coughlin will always have the memories," O'Connor
continued.
"Those will be his parting gifts."
But if anyone expected the 65-year-old native of upstate New York to channel
North Jersey stadium co-habitant Rex Ryan and mock the media for getting it so
far wrong on him yet again -- they don't know Coughlin.
Because it's simply not his style.
"Staying the course, never saying never," he instead said when asked for the
mental mantra that propelled him through the latest bout of tough times.
Trying to encourage at every point throughout the season, whether it was good
or bad, not denying the facts, but nevertheless seeing that we had a talented
team and believing in that team.
"Thinking that if we could only get all of these pieces together, maybe we
would have a chance to make ourselves recognized. I felt like we were always
in contention to win the division, even when things weren't going as well as
we'd have liked them."
As it turned out, while Ryan's self-promoting talk petered out as the
crosstown-rival Jets crumbled from 7-5 to 8-8, Coughlin steered the Giants to
three wins in their last four regular-season tests while capturing a chaotic
NFC East and parlaying it into a New England rematch in Super Bowl XLVI
following January defeats of seeds No. 5 (Atlanta), No. 1 (Green Bay) and No.
2 (San Francisco), respectively, in the conference.
The Giants' present run is at least vaguely reminiscent of 2007, when while
the Patriots were laying waste to foes in record-setting fashion, Coughlin's
team trudged along under the spotlight in losing their first two games, then
winning six straight and splitting the final eight en route to a 10-6 finish
and an NFC Wild Card berth.
That time around, they strung together road playoff defeats of fourth-seeded
Tampa Bay, top-seeded Dallas and No. 2 Green Bay -- an NFC Championship Game
noteworthy as Brett Favre's final one as a Packer -- before beating the
Patriots at Arizona's University of Phoenix Stadium on Eli Manning's fade-
route touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 second left.
It was a nice celebration to a surely epic comeback. But when the Giants
failed to replicate their postseason success a year later, then missed the
tournament altogether in successive seasons in 2009 and 2010, the keyboard-
wielding jackals returned.
While composing a 2011 preview for the Giants, ESPN columnist Dan Graziano
fired this verbal warning shot:
"Coughlin survived the collapse of 2009, and the fact that the team won 10
games [in 2010] certainly helped him survive last season's lack of a playoff
appearance. But if these Giants bottom out (as their lack of depth could lead
them to do), one must wonder if the team will go in another direction at
coach, or even if Coughlin might decide to go in a different direction
himself.
A bad year in New York could bring about change at a number of spots for the
Giants."
Again, well...let's just say reports of the demise were a bit premature.
And the whole debate is enough to make Giants defensive end Justin Tuck laugh.
"This might be the defining career season for him," Tuck said of Coughlin. "I
don't see why he wouldn't be the top candidate for Coach of the Year
considering the pressure that's on him in New York. It is definitely the type
of city that's about 'what have you done for me lately'? And it just seems
every year Coach Coughlin's job is up for grabs.
"I know it's a lot of pressure on him and he's always not really wavering
either way. You really couldn't tell if he's a coach that has won four Super
Bowls in a row or a coach that is on the hot seat all season. He stays even-
keeled and kind of stuck to his guns, and believed what this team was going to
be about. And I think that has trickled downstairs and trickled throughout
this entire franchise."
For his part, Coughlin insists the constant tumult has brought his team
closer. In fact, he claimed this week that the unit that captured the NFC
title with a 20-17 overtime win against the 49ers at Candlestick Park on Jan.
22 was as galvanized as any he's been a part of. That victory, incidentally,
came exactly 77 days after New York beat New England by a 24-20 verdict at
Gillette Stadium in Week 9 of the 2011 regular season.
"I understand young people and all that goes with that, but these guys have
been able to really create a very strong business-like approach to what
they're doing," Coughlin said. "Whether you use the word fellowship or
whatever word you want to use, there's a strong, strong feeling among this
group. It's been a great source of pride for all of us as coaches."
The Giants' aforementioned Super Bowl win over the Patriots, by the way, came
exactly four years ago on the Friday prior to this year's championship game.
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