Giants coach Ben McAdoo has a ball but remains businesslike after first win
New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo watches play against the Dallas Cowboys in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday Sept. 11, 2016, in Arlington, Texas. Credit: AP / Michael Ainsworth
Ben McAdoo appeared to crack a smile in the locker room after the Giants’ win over the Cowboys on Sunday. He even appeared touched when Eli Manning presented him the game ball for his first win as an NFL head coach. All of it was captured for a video on the team’s website.
It didn’t last long, though. McAdoo quickly went back to business.
“I gave it to our equipment guys,” he said of the memento. “They’re going to take care of it for me. Not sure what they’re going to do with it.”
What they’ll likely do is paint it, put his name on it and label it with the details of the game: date, score, stadium, etc. That McAdoo wasn’t quite sure what would happen with it shows how little such traditions and emotions matter to him. He dismissed the idea several times in the past week when asked about his “feelings” going into his debut, refusing to even entertain that anything other than simple excitement about getting the season going flowed through him.
The players sense that all-business mentality, too. Asked about the scene after the win, center Weston Richburg scoffed at the idea of anyone making a big scene.
“Yeah, we were in here for 30 minutes crying and hugging each other,” he said. “It was very exciting.”
It wasn’t. But while McAdoo seems to want to be very clinical and distance himself from any emotions as a head coach, he did allow that the game ball — whatever becomes of it — will be a special keepsake for him.
“It’ll be a prized possession,” he said. “That’s for sure.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
