NEW YORK GIANTS HEAD COACH - TOM COUGHLIN - Ingles

Super Bowl XLVI News Conference
Indianapolis, Indiana – February 3, 2012

(Opening statement) “Good morning. We have had an outstanding week here in Indianapolis. The hospitality has been very, very good. Our practice facility has been outstanding. Our players have been excited about getting from the meeting rooms to the practice field. We’re looking forward to today – going through our normal Friday practice and going through our Saturday routine on into game day. The excitement has built up through the course of the week. We certainly are looking forward to Super Bowl XLVI. It was great to see Coach (Don) Shula here this morning. I made reference, yesterday, when I talked with Peter King. I was like, ‘How in the world did Coach Shula win 328 games?’ It’s incredible to even think about that. It was great to see him here. I talked to Mary Ann (Shula) and had the opportunity to say hello to (Don Shula), as we prepare for the Super Bowl.”

(on whether RB Ahmad Bradshaw will be available on Sunday) “Ahmad has practiced two days in a row, which is very unusual. Everyone wants to be a part of it at this point and time. No one wants to be someone who is not able to participate or to be a part of this wonderful experience. We’ve had everyone practice two days in a row, and hopefully, thank God, it will be that way on Sunday.”

(on coaching five consecutive must-win games this season) “As you know, the Washington game, back in the regular season, we did not play well. Washington came in and played very well. Following that game, I simply walked into our team and said, ‘Look, we have two games to go. We have to win two games. If we do that we get into the playoffs and we can be the champions of the NFC East.’ From there, it has been one elimination game after another. The players have been responding very, very well. They come together as a group. There’s been no question that our confidence building is boosted by the players on defense. We all of a sudden were able to get our entire defensive team together. We’ve made some progress along those lines that’s given us the boost. We’ve played in harmony with all three units in those five games. Of course, special teams came through for us out in San Francisco against a very, very good San Francisco team. We were able to turn the ball over at the end of the game and win it. It’s been that way. We’ve had our backs to the wall. The players have performed very well under that circumstance. Our leader, our quarterback, has been a very cool customer and has done very well late in the fourth quarter, (in) many games this year, and put us in a position where we’re going to win.”

(on what it takes to be a winner) “Surround yourself with great people, people who have an outstanding work ethic, people who are business-like, who are focused and concentrated. Get everybody on the same page and have the same inspiration, same kind of drive, same kind of desire. Do the very, very best you can. Work to the best of your ability. Be efficient. Don’t waste time. You have to be organized and you need to be in a position where you are mentally prepared for all circumstances that might happen in the course of a season. Football is a cumulative game. You must continue to work on the situational things and the things that might happen to you in various situations, but you have to be prepared. You try to put your players in that situation. You boil it down to blue-collar work ethic. You go to work every day and work as hard as you possibly can and surround yourself with great people. Keep your eye on the prize, which is very, very important to us and was a big factor in our ability to eventually win the division this year, knowing full well we were in contention all the way through. It was good to end it there.”

(on whether he worries about his team being too cocky) “I’m not sure what you’re referencing. I know that there are one or two quotes out there, but, to be honest with you, I don’t know that either one of them is any different than Tom Brady’s quotes. I think it’s just a matter of our team has played good football against a great football team. We always focus our team on confidence enough to get there and confident enough to get back. That’s the way we look at it.”

(on how he will coach his team for the Super Bowl) “I coach them right up through the kickoff. I’ve never been a believer in, I don’t like the phrase, ‘The hay in the barn’ business. That’s not the case at all. I’ve always felt you have to – you coach them, you talk to them, you look with them. There is always something that can be discussed or talked about. You’re literally doing it, right up until the kickoff. You’re talking during the course of the warm-up. You’re making little comments that they can grab a hold of. I think you continuously, decide what it is, the two or three key things that you’re really interested in as you go forward as you spend your Saturday and Saturday night with your team. You try to bring the entire week or two weeks into context with them, so that they understand exactly where they are and what they have to do in order to win. I don’t think it ever stops.”


(on how he will handle his emotions the next few days) “Get a goodnight’s sleep. Get up in the morning early and get a workout in, get to the office real quick, hopefully before anyone else, and have a few minutes to reflect, think about the day – what you’d like to accomplish that day. That’s pretty much the way it is every day here in Indianapolis and really at home as well.”

(on how much he has changed) “You’re asking the wrong guy. I don’t know how to answer that. I think the one thing that has happened, and I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again, is that once the season is over, you have to take a hard look at yourself and do a valid self-analysis. That’s very important if you’re going to improve. Decide what it is you can change. Look at your team and decide what it is you can change and what is needed in terms of inspiration and motivation or how you get those messages across to those people. Do your research on the outside, whatever it is you believe in. I’m a great reader of autobiographies and historical autobiographies, whatever you get your hands on, and reference things that I think are important in order to win or be the very best that we can be. Probably the one thing over the years that may have happened over the years is I may have gotten a little more patient.”

(on whether there is a fine line between winning and losing) “It’s an incredible experience to grasp it once again. We were in the Super Bowl four years ago and we thought we had a heck of a team in ’08, and got knocked out of the playoffs right away. We spent a couple years out of the playoffs, and our hunger for being back was great. There were times this year when it looked like it wasn’t going to happen for us this year and it did again. You have to have a great appreciation for this. Anyone who goes through this experience and doesn’t grab a hold of it or grasp the significance of it doesn’t understand that there are great, outstanding coaches and players who haven’t been to a Super Bowl game, and get to this point. You thank God for the opportunity and you never, ever tire or even possibly think this happens on a normal basis. It doesn’t. It’s tough to be in this position and get to this point. You have to constantly be aware of that. The way I look at it, there are many outstanding players and coaches who never get to this point.”

(on whether QB Eli Manning is dealing with unfair outside pressure) “I don’t think so. He handles things very, very well, and always has. He keeps things in perspective and he’s an example of what I tell my team all the time. Five weeks ago, there wasn’t even a bus, and now there’s no seats on anything. It’s just one of those deals you have to understand. He’s dealt with this thing, really, throughout his career. I really do listen to what he says, and he’s very respectful. He gives great credit to Peyton for his development, particularly as a young player because of the age difference that they have, but he quickly moves and gets to the point that this is really our Super Bowl.”

(on whether Coughlin is concerned with staying in a downtown hotel with a lot of activity close by) “It is, but nevertheless, I don’t know why there’s a lot of concern about us being where we are. We’re isolated and the second floor is completely secured for our players and our personnel. Our floors are off limits to everybody and they’re well-secured. Our players have enjoyed great rest and no one has complained of a bad night’s sleep, and if they have, it hasn’t been because of noise and other issues. There is a great build up to this game and there are more people in the street than I can ever remember, which reminds you of what an exciting time this is for this great city and people who are coming to the game. I think it’s just a part of it, I don’t have any problems or fears with that.”

(on why finishing has become his mantra) “Again, I’ve researched the things that have transpired a year before or two weeks before. I didn’t think we finished very well. I took a grasp of that and wanted that to be the number one thing. It was the first thing we hit them with, and it’ll be the last thing they hear from us before they take the field.”