Long before Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin matched wits in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI, they were both coaches under Bill Parcells with the New York Giants.
The two were on the same team come Sunday as far back as 1988, but that was only after Belichick’s defense and Coughlin’s receivers battled it out in practice all week.
“Just throwing goal-line, inside-the-ten, inside-the-15 passes,” Parcells told ESPN senior writer Ian O’Connor. “That’s where Tom and Bill got to know each other.”
The two assistants also earned similar nicknames from the players. Belichick was called “Captain Sominex” for his approach in the film room, and Coughlin got the name “Colonel Coughlin” for how he never missed a detail.
However, some New England Patriots fans would probably argue they got to know each other a little too well. The Patriots have enjoyed success against virtually every NFL team except for Coughlin’s Giants under Belichick. He has lost five of the six games he’s coached against Coughlin, including those two Super Bowls.
So, does the Giants coach have the magic formula for beating the Patriots?
“I don’t know how to answer that,” Parcells told O’Connor. “I would tell you that they talked a lot of football when they were assistants together, so maybe the experience of having been with one another gives each of them a little insight they otherwise wouldn’t have.
“But I don’t think that is having somebody’s number. I don’t believe that. They have that familiarity with one another personally, but a couple of those games the Giants were very fortunate to win and New England was very unfortunate to lose.”
Those “fortunate” plays, of course, include David Tyree’s miraculous catch in Super Bowl XLII, and Eli Manning’s remarkable pass to Mario Manningham in Super Bowl XLVI. And perhaps the Giants were just as fortunate to get the production they got out of Plaxico Burress, who had an ankle injury the team was hiding before Super Bowl XLII.
Fortunate or not, though, Coughlin has the what matters most — wins. And that puts him in a category all his own.
Thumbnail photo via Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports Images
