The Consequences of Super Bowl XLII

Living with the Consequences

Amidst the euphoria building through us as we watched the 2008 NFC Divisional playoff game conclude in Dallas as Tony Romo threw three consecutive incompletions and ultimately an interception to seal the game, my friends and I slowly came to a sad realization. The upset of the Cowboys essentially gave Tom Coughlin, a truly inept in-game coach, immunity and tenure with the Giants. Admittedly, I started to come around when I saw Coughlin get frostbite during the NFC Championship game; I genuinely think that he helped the team more than he hurt them in Lambeau. Unfortunately, Coughlin got credit for Steve Spagnuolo’s brilliant gameplan to stop New England’s offense in the Super Bowl and the Giants were doomed to two more years (at least) of underachieving with late game coaching that could best be described as comical. Despite all his mistakes and questionable decisions, such as Week 17 when we played with no sense of urgency down by two scores late in the game, Coughlin’s job was safe for at least another year.

Don’t get me wrong, Tom Coughlin has done wonders for the Giants’ franchise. He deserves credit for fixing Tiki Barber’s fumbling problem. He deserves perhaps even more credit for understanding that his disciplinarian style was causing more problems than it was solving and adapting to the players’ needs. He contributed to a decision that ultimately led to a Super Bowl when he hired Steve Spagnuolo to replace Tim Lewis as the teams’ defensive coordinator. Lastly, Coughlin deserves a lot of credit for sticking with Eli Manning, even when he was at his most unpopular (even though with the price the Giants made to get Manning, Coughlin didn’t have much of a choice).

I’ve made no secret about my disdain for many of the decisions made by New York’s coaching staff. In my preview of what I expected from the offense I wrote, “I remain in the small minority of fans by maintaining that Eli did not fold down the stretch last season. I place the blame on a harder schedule than the Giants had been facing during their 11-1 start and the abysmal play calling of Kevin Gilbride.” And I was right. I think play calling is measured best by third down and red zone efficiency, because obviously there are no statistics to measure play calling separately from execution, but clearly a team with as many weapons as the Giants should not be ranked in the bottom 5 in red zone offense. As last year’s season came to a close and Gilbride and Spags were contacted about head coaching vacancies around the league, I held the unrealistic hope that Jerry Reese would realize who was the only championship caliber coach on his staff and promote him. Instead, the Rams landed Spagnuolo- the single biggest offseason loss the Giants have experienced this decade.

This year’s Giants coaching staff has looked lost week in and week out and has routinely made head-scratching decisions. After the Week 1 victory against Washington, I questioned almost everything the Giants ran. The game was over after the first half, but I wrote “Kevin Gilbride called pretty much the only plays that guaranteed a 4th down situation: slow-developing rushes by Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw” about the first possession and “Facing 2nd and 3 on Washington's 5, the Giants faced a situation where they'd really love to have 3rd round draft choice Ramses Barden. Instead, the Giants gave the ball to Jacobs three times in a row. Everyone and their brother knew what was coming; the Giants turned the ball over on downs.” In my list of heroes and goats from the game, I listed as the biggest goat: “Kevin Gilbride- Gilbride showed some creativity in the beginning of the game but called a truly terrible game, especially in short yardage situations. The Giants were a paltry 2/10 on situations with three or fewer yards to go for a first down. That's pathetic. The Giants need to do a lot better in Dallas.” Unfortunately, two months later there hasn’t been improvement.

In Week 2, the Giants barely scraped by with a win despite catching break after break and dominating the turnover battle. Kenny Phillips played his last game of the season and I wrote, “Corey Webster will now be overwhelmed once the Giants play against New Orleans, Arizona, Philadelphia, and San Diego on consecutive Sundays.” A convincing Week 3 win over Tampa Bay didn’t have me convinced that the Giants were playing up to their potential either. The ninth point I listed illustrated my concerns with the Giants' coaching staff. Most recently, I blamed the Giants’ first two of their now four consecutive losses squarely, on the shoulders of the coaching staff. Nothing has changed.

The most frustrating part of the loss against San Diego was undoubtedly that the Giants showed flashes of how good they can really be. I remarked multiple times throughout the game that this had been the best play-calling I’d seen by the Giants since the Kansas City game. Unfortunately, Bill Sheridan took over right where Gilbride left off with possibly the worst defensive scheme the Giants have run since losing to Dallas and Green Bay to kickoff the 2007 season. Justin Tuck on Antonio Gates? Six or seven guys blitzing on every third down? A quarterback with Vince Young’s intelligence could’ve figured out who’d be open the moment he stepped to the line against this gameplan. Spagnuolo knew how to mix it up and keep the linemen guessing. That’s why the Giants would rack up sacks. As linemen wouldn’t figure out their assignments, our defense would be able to reach the quarterback untouched in some situations.

The offensive gameplan wasn’t perfect, but it was definitely a step in the right direction. Ok, on the 2^nd and 2 near the end of the first drive, anybody with a football IQ over 85 would’ve realized that a screen pass to Kevin Boss would’ve been almost a guaranteed first down… same thing on the 3^rd and 1 play right afterwards. But in fairness to Kevin Gilbride, the 10 minute drive in the 2^nd quarter was brilliantly drawn up and well executed- exactly what I’d expect from this Giants team. In the second half, the Giants once again demonstrated their ineptitude on short yardage situations by failing to convert a 2^nd and 3 after Michael Johnson’s interception. Why they’ve yet to try a dumpout screen to Boss is beyond me. Finally, Tom Coughlin’s clock management at the end of the game was the worst football I’ve seen since witnessing JaMarcus Russell in the flesh and illustrated his same incapacity to understand clock-management as the 2007 Week 17 game against New England.

The players are really not at fault for the current slump. Eli hasn’t been perfect, but he’s done more right than wrong for the team. I feel that the best way to fix Brandon Jacobs’s “tiptoeing” issue is to bench him for a game, consequences be damned. Hopefully the bye week can have the same effect. Obviously, C.C. Brown’s play in the secondary had been unacceptable, but these players demonstrate the exceptions to otherwise solid play all-around. Had the Giants played Arizona and Philadelphia like they played San Diego, the team would be at least 6-3, possibly even better. Kevin Boss has impressed me every time Manning’s looked his way; only Gilbride and Manning stand in his way from a well-deserved spot in the Pro Bowl. Steve Smith and Hakeem Nicks have done their jobs very consistently. Antonio Pierce hasn’t been able to be the force to which Giants fans have grown accustomed because with the kindergarten level sophistication of the defensive gameplan, linemen are able to pick him up on virtually every running play.

In the three losses leading up to the San Diego game, the Giants lost their swagger on both sides of the ball. Instead of trying to stick it to the other team and win the game early on, the Giants have switched to an ultra-conservative keep the game close and win it at the end philosophy. They demonstrated this on fourth down after Michael Johnson’s interception when instead of going for a chance to take the lead, Coughlin elected to punt. Jim Nantz and Phil Simms praised the call; I hated it. First of all, it should never have come to that 4^th down, but give the line a chance to make a push and keep the drive alive. Coughlin said after the game, “many, many times the game should’ve been over.” Well guess what Tom, that’s your fault. You could’ve made the call to stick the nail in the coffin… more than once. Guess who scored the next points after that punt? San Diego.

Finally, Tom Coughlin’s strategic blunder after Terrell Thomas’s interception absolutely has to be addressed. Coughlin demonstrated less of a killer instinct on that drive than Rocky Balboa during his first fight with Clubber Lang. By choosing to try to run out the clock with the fourteen yards (post-holding call), the Giants guaranteed that San Diego would have enough time to efficiently march down the field, score, and give the Giants the ball back with practically no time. In fact, the 3^rd and 4^th down playcall especially did two things for San Diego; it ensured the defense wouldn’t have to worry about surrendering another touchdown and put the offense 16 yards closer to paydirt. Let’s put all the cards on the table.

Coughlin lamented after the game, “[A Giants win] wasn’t to be, you can second-guess it all you want. A field goal at that point in time forced them to have a touchdown and score a touch down.” EXCUSE ME? How the hell would Coughlin respond if after Eli Manning gave him this response after he floated up a pass that was picked off by triple coverage. As a fan, I can’t defend a man who responds like that to blowing a game he’d described as a playoff game. As for forcing San Diego to try for a touchdown? Whether San Diego was down by three points going into their last drive or six points going into their last drive, the Chargers were going to play for the touchdown. Even Norv Turner understands the benefits of winning in regulation vs. relying on a coin toss to gain an edge in overtime. The Giants had all the momentum on their side. Moreover, factoring in the Giants’ average kickoff coverage compared to a failed fourth down play from the 4, Coughlin actually expected to give San Diego 20-25 yards of better field position than they may have had otherwise. Assuming San Diego had taken over on their own four, down by 3, they still would have played for the win. Even if San Diego decided to play for the field goal, the Chargers would have had to drive fifty-six yards for Nate Kaeding to attempt to match his career long in the swirling winds of the Meadowlands. The 24 yard difference between that field and the eighty yard field that the Giants ultimately were left to defend matches right up with the 20-25 what Coughlin had to expect the kickoff gave the Chargers. Had the Giants made the stop and forced the field goal, they probably would’ve had time to take over on offense. Coughlin was right the game should’ve been over, but he didn’t even give the team a chance to end it on our terms.

So how good are the Giants? Clearly their coaching staff has been horrendous. Still, I feel that a healthy Giants team can compete with absolutely anybody in this league. If they can execute their game plan, the Giants are as good as anybody, if not the best in the league. Right now, it’s up to the coaching staff to make that happen instead of taking a lesson from Plaxico Burress and shooting the team in the foot. There has been progress. My grade of Gilbride’s playcalling this season has increased from a solid F up to about a C-. When the Giants are not outcoached every week, they will be neck and neck with New Orleans as the Super Bowl favorite. Until then, the immunity Tom Coughlin and Kevin Gilbride earned from the Super Bowl run in 2007 may be waning by the minute.