— Embedded firmly and permanently in New York Giants lore, coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning will likely rise straight to the top by winning the Super Bowl again.
As coach-QB combinations go, they've already accomplished quite a bit. But a second Super Bowl would elevate them to a whole new level.
And because they will be going against a more accomplished duo next Sunday, the matchup becomes that much more intriguing.
The New England Patriots' Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have reached their record fifth Super Bowl together and will be looking to tie the Pittsburgh Steelers' Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw with their fourth victory.
Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis will be a legacy game, no matter how it unfolds.
Manning already has grown tired of being questioned about it.
"I don't think that's anything that I worry about," he said last week. "My job is to try to play at a high level, try to play football for the Giants. I think the important thing when you play in big games like a Super Bowl is don't let the fact that it is a big game make you think about other things. You have to keep it simple in a sense of this is a great opportunity for this team, for this organization to win a championship. That's the important thing.
"... When you start thinking about other things or what this might mean, that's when you're really distracted from what your job has to be."
Extreme mental, emotional and physical stability also have helped carry the Coughlin-Manning combo this far. Coughlin has never coached a Giants game without Manning either at his side or directing his offense personally.
Manning's current streak of 129 consecutive starts, which began in November of his rookie season, is the longest in the NFL among active quarterbacks and third longest of all-time.
Kidded most recently by defensive end Justin Tuck as having the "look of a player who has never been in a weight room," Manning nevertheless has earned the respect of every player in the locker room for his toughness as well as his work ethic.
Manning obviously is not the kind of player who can inflict punishment, but he's the kind who can take it and keep bouncing back.. By taking beatings whenever necessary (such as during last Sunday's 20-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game) and not getting rattled, Manning has proved he has the body and mind to endure.
"I don't know if it's a skill," Manning said. "Really, it's just a mind-set. Yeah, I think you can work on it. I think it's something you have to think about, something you have to tell yourself: `Hey, last play they got good pressure. This time I'm going to be well protected. I'm going to be smart and go through my reads.'
"If you feel something, if you sense something, then you have to be smart and move up or get the ball out quickly. But don't try to imagine there's someone behind you."
Coughlin has coached the same way in a figurative sense. Yes, he's relaxed some of his strict rules over the years. No, he hasn't changed who he his and how he approaches the game. Never has he worried about losing his job, which was thought to be on the line a number of times throughout his eight seasons in New York.
He has always stuck to his principles, never losing faith that his way was best.
Coughlin is like the high school coach you hate all the way through — until realizing years later how much better he drove you to become.
"I think, honestly, regardless of if he's hard or not, looser or whatever, we just take it in stride," Tuck said. "I don't think it was an adjustment period for us. I think he did a great job as far as realizing how he was going to be effective as a football coach. For us, we just took it in stride. It didn't take us long to adjust.
"What I've learned from him for being around him for seven years is when he's all about football, he's all about football. But there's more than that side to him. I think you have to pay attention to or realize that and maybe go through some things in life to realize that. Me going through the stuff that I went through this year, I realized that again. But he's more than a football coach, he's a mentor. He's more of a father figure at times. My hat's off to him for that."
In times of crises, players often respond to their coach's cue.
In Coughlin's case, the message was not always encouraging. His sideline rants were the stuff of legend.
Not anymore. Coughlin has evolved as a less excitable and therefore more inspirational coach.
"I have never had that said about me before," Coughlin said, "and if that is a compliment, I am excited. You have to work on that because it has not always been like that for me. I have had a lot years where whatever happens comes a spontaneous response. Over the years, you learn to control that just to the point where you pick a spot where you need to interject what you want the player to understand. It is just experience probably."
Added Manning: "He's gotten better over the years. When there was a time to relax and smile you do see him smile a little bit more now than eight years ago when he first came in. ... We've gotten along well. I think he knows that I work hard at preparing each week, I'm going to compete to the last snap, and I think that's his mentality with a lot of things also — prepare, work hard and a lot of times that's all you can ask for."
So there you have it: a coach and quarterback who have endured.
The defense and matchups and karma and everything else factor into where the Giants are as well, but the foundation of this team for nearly a decade has been Coughlin and Manning.
Looks like it will remain that way for a good bit longer too.
nick.fierro@mcall.com
610-778-2243
Coughlin-Manning combo will be doubly Super with victory
Coughlin-Manning combination will be doubly super with a victory next Sunday.
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