The Draw Play

I’ll miss that angry old man.

Coughlin was a strange coach to have for so long. On the whole it seems like most Giants seasons ended with terrible disappointment, interspersed with two incredible moments of absolute glory. The Giants, under Coughlin, were really bipolar. The Giants never won a playoff game, except the two times they won them all. The Giants have only made the playoffs once in the past 6 seasons, and they won the Super Bowl. Each game was a completely unexpected experience. I had no idea what to expect from the Giants at any given point. They could go into games against teams they should have beaten and crap themselves. They could go into games they had no business winning and win. It was almost easier to be a pessimist about the Giants every year, and god knows many of us Giants fans became them.

That was the thing with Coughlin. You could never tell if he was truly the great coach. The Giants would make terrible mistakes and mess up routine things like clock management. Then they’d play a perfect game. Coughlin would get touted as a man who can fix anyone’s fumble problems because he fixed Tiki Barber. Then Ahmad Bradshaw couldn’t hold onto a ball. Nor did David Wilson, who spent most of his short tenure in Coughlin’s doghouse. His 5 minutes early rule is still obnoxiously silly (to me and at least still to Strahan). The Giants remained a flawed team under Coughlin, and as a consequence we called for his head more often and more readily than we probably should have. I think only in recent seasons, when the Giants finally put up losing records and faced impossible injuries and subpar general management that we really started to appreciate what an incredible coach he was. And he really was an incredible coach, flaws and all. You could even argue his past few seasons, his worst record-wise, were some of his greatest coaching jobs.

In 2013 the Giants started 0-6. They finished 7-9. I still think that is incredible and is probably the moment I began to fully believe in him. Most teams would have given up, but he got the Giants very briefly into playoff contention that season after starting 0-6. The problems the team has faced these past few seasons and the Giants have kept pushing and fighting anyway. The Giants were flawed under Coughlin, not everyone can be Bill Belichick, but they were a good team, and Coughlin was a good coach. Hell, he was great. It’s hard not to feel like the Giants might have made a mistake finally pushing him out. At least pushing only him out. Jerry Reese does not deserve to stay if Coughlin goes. Maybe it was time to move on. The Giants mental collapses this year were frightening and it kind of reminds me of the end to Andy Reid in Philly. Andy is a great coach, but it was time for him to go. Maybe this is indeed Coughlin’s time to go. Maybe he deserved another year. It’s too late now.

Thanks to Tom the Giants are the only team to win a Super Bowl in 4 straight decades. Thanks to Tom Giants fans can troll Pats fans forever with 18-1 jokes. Thanks to Tom Eli developed into a worthwhile QB who was just like him, an up and down confusing thing to watch that when ultimately looked back on should be admired. I feel terrible for Eli. Watching him struggle back tears during Coughlin’s final presser was heartbreaking and it really shows just how much Tom meant to him, and how much he likely means to so many of the players he’s coached. Eli has to go through his remaining good years with someone new.

After so many years of thinking he’d finally be gone, knowing that he is makes everything strange. I’ll miss his angry yelling. I’ll miss that pose he makes when something he doesn’t like happens, that classic arms wide, mouth agape in angry confusion pose. You know the one.

Yeah, that one. I’ll never forget him yelling at Greg Schiano. Or the fact that his first head coaching job was at RIT, my Alma Mater, a school nobody knows about because all the alumni are shut in nerds. Or that one time his face froze in Lambeau. Or his impossible to turn off Coach Speak way of talking. Seriously, any interview with the guy, even about not-football, he sounds like a football coach dad trying to get you to understand to play your hardest.

You were a class act Tom. Thank you for everything you did for the Giants, for Football, and for anyone you’ve touched personally. Take the time off. Spend time with your enormous family. They deserve you.

Thanks, Tom.

Also don’t go to Miami

Also Giants if you hire Spags as his replacement I swear I will punch a voodoo doll labeled Jerry Reese on camera for the internet.