At a time when Patriots coach Bill Belichick seems to have pitched a tent in the craniums of most other NFL coaches, Giants coach Tom Coughlin apparently keeps a sleeping bag in Bill’s frontal lobe.
Coughlin has beaten his former colleague on Bill Parcells’ Giants staff three straight times, with two of those wins keeping Belichick from having two more Super Bowl championships. The third win, during the 2011 regular season, came in similar fashion -- a late, come-from-behind win by the Giants over the Patriots.
With four NFL titles, many see Belichick as approaching Vince Lombardi territory. Coughlin perhaps is the one man keeping Belichick from being viewed as better than Lombardi.
So as the Patriots prepare to play the Giants yet again, Belichick surely is looking to settle the score. Even if he acts like it’s no different than any other game.
“The Giants weren’t really brought up when I was there, but he’s a prideful guy and he’s been with the Patriots to the Super Bowl six times, and he has two losses,” former Patriots (and current Giants) linebacker Jonathan Casillas said Friday, via Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post. “And we all know who those two losses are to, and as men, we all know that sticks in your mind. He’ll probably downplay it as much as he can. Y’all know Bill. Y’all see what he does — he downplays everything.
“But definitely, in the back of his mind, he wants to kick the Giants’ butt.”
Winning on Sunday won’t vacuum a pair of extra silver trophies to Gillette Stadium, but it’s important for Belichick to reverse the perception that he and Tom Brady can’t beat Coughlin and Eli Manning. Given the gradual erosion of the New York roster, a loss to the Giants on Sunday would make it even more clear that Coughlin can do to Belichick what Belichick seems to do to pretty much everyone else.
The key to preventing a Giants win could be delivering a knockout blow early. Since Coughlin and Eli have shown a propensity to win close games late against New England, Belichick should unleash the Tebow strategy -- build a huge lead early and make the game as a practical matter over by the time the opponent is ready to work some late-game magic.
The key to building a lead will be having Brady get rid of the ball quickly, to prevent a diminished Giants pass rush from getting through a makeshift Patriots offensive line. Those past struggles against the Giants helped Brady evolve into a guy who makes nanosecond decisions, and he’ll need that today as he faces a defense who is coordinated once again by Steve Spagnuolo, the guy who put the Xs in place to shock the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.