Anyone who knows TOM COUGHLIN knows that he is a martinet when it comes to coaching the New York Giants, but that style has yielded two Super Bowl championships and league wide respect for the past five years. What most people don’t understand about Coughlin is that he has NEVER been interested in complacency or resting on success. Improvement is always a recurring theme with him. As he looks forward to the 2012 season, here are some of the major concerns facing Coughlin, in his own words.
The offseason is the perfect time to go over what a team did right or wrong, and to see how they can improve or pick up where they left off in the upcoming season. Coughlin is well aware of that process: “When you pull out, as we do, the worst to best each year, and you look at the top, the real list of what we didn’t do well, that’s what we have to impress on our team in terms of what has to be improved upon.”
Just because a team wins a Super Bowl never means that they are done – last season is in the past. Coughlin is the perfect coach for perhaps the most watched and scrutinized team in the NFL. There is tremendous pressure coaching any team in the NFL, but particularly the Giants, but Coughlin has tunnel vision when it comes to the media and fans’ expectations for his team. He knows what his team needs and that is why he and erstwhile Giants head coach BILL PARCELLS, were so successful in the Big Apple. They both had great tunnel vision and they were never satisfied.
Ever since Super Bowl XLVI ended, the Giants have been making closed-door and public improvements or polishes to their team. Some of the moves they made included parting ways with long-time bruising running back BRANDON JACOBS, and going with a youth movement at running back with the drafting of Virginia Tech star DAVID WILSON and signing Rutgers stud big-back JOE MARTINEK, who wasn’t selected in the 2012 draft.
On Martinek, Coughlin was characteristically circumspect: “He just got here. We’re anxious to see him once we get started.” Martinek played a lot at Rutgers for the last four seasons, but he was underused in the running game last year. It will be interesting though to see how the Giants use him in 2012.
Coughlin mentioned that wide receiver HAKEEM NICKS, defensive lineman CHRIS CANTY, and tight end TRAVIS BECKUM will start the season on the Physically Unable to Perform List. Offensive lineman WILLIAM BEATTY is also dealing with some injury issues. Those players are important as the Giants look ahead to this season, particularly Nicks.
Beatty is one of the many youthful and inexperienced players on the Giants’ offensive line for 2012. The Giants are trying to find a capable and ready right tackle opposite DAVID DIEHL, and Beatty’s injuries, putting him behind schedule on his development, aren’t helping matters.
The Giants can live without Canty at times, but his long arms, huge frame, and his considerable run defense and pass rushing skills can help the defense. Nicks could have been the MVP of this past Super Bowl, which says a lot about his talents. Luckily, the Giants have Cruz and their pool of talented receivers and tight ends is deep enough to pick up the slack while Nicks is out.
Coughlin gave one of his best comments when he was asked what type of team the [2012] Giants were: “I’m hoping that we are a good team that finished.” Those are the words of a coach who is never complacent and it shows die-hard Giants fans (and the New York media) that the Giants are in good hands with Coughlin.
The Giants won last year’s Super Bowl and are a good bet to make a serious run at returning this year, but Super Bowl XLVI is one of the furthest things from Coughlin’s mind.
By Matthew Robinson
