Tom Coughlin has had Bill Belichick's number
Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin talks to media before practice at East Rutherford, New Jersey on October 28, 2015. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
Four head-to-head matchups hardly qualify for a classic coaching rivalry, certainly nothing along the lines of Lombardi-Halas, Landry-Allen, Shula-Noll or Parcells-Gibbs.
No, there isn't a large enough body of work to define Tom Coughlin versus Bill Belichick as one of the NFL's great rivalries. But the small sample size is compelling, nevertheless. Especially given the domination the Patriots have shown over the entire NFL for most of the last 15 years . . . except the Giants.
All four Coughlin-Belichick Giants-Pats matchups have occurred during the Giants' two Super Bowl seasons of 2007 and 2011, and Coughlin has gone a long way toward defining his coaching legacy with three wins, twice in the Super Bowl and another in a pivotal regular-season game in 2011.
Even the loss was a significant moment for the Giants' coach. Heading into the final regular-season game in 2007, Coughlin faced a choice: Rest his key players because the Giants already had clinched a playoff berth and couldn't improve their seeding, or play to win and go into the playoffs with some momentum.
I fully expected Coughlin to make the move that seemed to be the most sensible: give some of his important veterans, including Eli Manning, running back Brandon Jacobs and defensive stars Michael Strahan and Antonio Pierce, a breather.
His decision would have a profound effect in at least one respect: If he decided to rest key players, it meant the Patriots were virtually assured of becoming the first team in NFL history to go 16-0 in the regular season.
Coughlin kept his plans quiet throughout the week, and speculation persisted that he would treat the game much like a preseason game, going with his starters for a couple of series and taking them out later. But Coughlin decided to play to win the game, and the Giants nearly pulled it off. In one of the best regular-season games you'll ever see, the Patriots held off the Giants, 38-35.
"We didn't win the game, but if you saw everybody in the locker room, everybody was excited," said Manning, who threw four TD passes, equaling the number he had in his previous five games. "I never saw a locker room so upbeat after a loss because we played so well, did some good things and hung in there where we didn't have to play. We wanted to. We wanted to come out and play well, and we did that."
The game proved invaluable, not only sending the Giants into the playoffs with some confidence but giving them an important preview of what they'd face when they met the Patriots in the Super Bowl five weeks later.
New England, looking to become the first unbeaten Super Bowl winner since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, was heavily favored. But the Giants limited Tom Brady to two touchdown drives and won it after Manning's desperation pass to David Tyree -- who secured the ball by pinning it to the side of his helmet -- set up the deciding touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in a 17-14 win.
The Giants beat the Patriots twice in 2011, an important early November game in Foxborough, 24-20, and 21-17 in the Super Bowl.
Thus, the Giants are the only team to beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl in their most recent six appearances.
Neither coach believes any of their four previous meetings has much of anything to do with Sunday's game, but I would argue that the institutional knowledge that Coughlin and Manning have in dealing with Belichick's teams does create an advantage.
Even though Manning now runs a different offense than the one in 2007 and 2011, he knows how Belichick thinks. As does Coughlin, who worked with Belichick on Bill Parcells' staff in 1988-90. In their last season together, the Giants won Super Bowl XXV.
"Then is then, now is now," Coughlin said. "We're looking at the people that play, and the people that are manning the positions. When you're doing that and keeping track of personnel first and foremost, and then, scheme, I just don't see any benefit from going back."
Belichick also is renowned for living in the moment and thus adjusting his tendencies and strategy, so previous matchups aren't a factor to him. "Those games were a long time ago," he said. "I don't think it really has any bearing or influence on what happens this week. I think this week is about the matchups with these two teams, and so that's what we're really focused on."
But Belichick has immense respect for Coughlin and will take nothing for granted as his 8-0 team prepares for this game.
"Tom is very intense, smart, obviously offensive-oriented," Belichick said. "He always has a good plan of attack and he does a good job of making the defenses work and attacking the weak points of whatever the defensive scheme or personnel is. They're sound."
The battle of wits between the two coaches no doubt will have a major impact on their latest matchup. And though Coughlin simply doesn't have the same talent as he did in 2007 or 2011, particularly on defense, the Giants should not be taken lightly. In fact, with the exception of the Broncos, who host the Patriots on Nov. 29, the Giants might present the biggest obstacle to Belichick in his pursuit of another unbeaten season.
"We know the quality of the team. Excitement is a good word for us, energy in the room kind of thing, is a very positive thing for us," Coughlin said. "Certainly I have great, great respect for Bill. But their team, and they are very well coached, and as I study the tape and I see the various aspects of the way in which they play, it does get your motor running, no question about it."
Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”
