NEW YORK GIANTS MEDIA SESSION - ASSISTANT SPECIAL TEAMS COACH LARRY IZZO - Ingles

Super Bowl XLVI – Wednesday, February 1, 2012

(on becoming a coach after being a player) “When I was playing I always thought that I wanted to get into coaching. Number one, there is a lot of people out there who want to be a coach in the NFL. You kind of have to pay your dues. I knew I was interested in it throughout my career. I wanted to look around and see if there was anything else to my interest. I found that when I was out that year in 2010 I really missed the game and I wanted to coach. So fortunately this opportunity came around and I couldn’t be happier as far as coming to a great organization which has a sense of history and a winning history, A family-oriented organization from the top down. From the owners to the head coach. We have a great staff and players that are really coachable. If you are a rookie coach, to work with the group that we have, I can’t think of a better situation. We have a really good group and they have done a great job all year doing what we’ve asked of them and doing it with an effort level that you would expect as a coach and you just can’t say that about every group. So I’ve been fortunate that I’ve come to a place that was as attractive from a coaching standpoint.”

(on coach player relationships and it’s challenges) “That’s something I think I need to continue to work on. There has to be a separation. Sometimes I will get better at that as time goes on because you see things form their perspective sometimes that maybe to get the job done it’s probably better not to see it from that perspective. Sometimes it has to be black or white, and as a coach that is what I’m learning to do. Communication is something that is also important. You have to teach and just because you played doesn’t mean you are a good teacher. So that’s something that I want to get better at. I know what I want to see but sometimes you have to be able to show them and you have to be able to communicate and articulate exactly what their job entails in a way that they are able to understand. That’s where sometimes being a player, it helps as well because you know that you know what needs to be said.”

(on his top super bowl memories with the Patriots) “They are all great memories and winning the Super Bowls. Watching the kick go through the goal posts in the SuperDome when AV (Adam Vinatieri) hit the game winner. Winning a Super Bowl in my hometown in 2003. That was something that I would have never thought was possible. When you’re a kid you dream about playing in the Super Bowl, and to do it in your hometown with your family there and that whole experience of the week. Nothing beats coming in and knowing as a team you guys got the job done and no one else is better for that year. That goes for all three that we won. That feeling of accomplishment and knowing that that team will always be connected by that victory.”

(on the loss in SB XLII to the Giants) “I would say that that was a low moment as a player as far as you are there and there was a lot on the line, big picture, and we didn’t get it done. We got outplayed. Anytime you have a game like that whether it’s the Super Bowl or whenever you lose it sucks. Multiply that times a million and that’s like losing the SB. That’s about all I can say about that.” It was a great game and all the credit goes to this team right here (New York Giants) because they beat us that day.”

(on if there is a “Giants way”, and similarities to a “Patriots way”) “There is definitely similarities because it is a tough physical hard-nosed smack ya in the mouth approach to football in this organization and that has been the case for a long time all the way back to when the team was first purchased by Mr. Mara’s grandfather. That tradition of physical style of play I’m sure influenced Bill (Belichick) when he was with the Giants. What he has taken into his organization so that similar and the winning tradition. This is a very deep rooted team with a long history whereas the Patriots have come upon success more recently, but the traditional winning here is old school. At the end of the day they are very similar.”

(on the Giants attitude toward football) “Do your job.” All the little tags and posters in the Patriots facility, those were common themes that were preaching as far as coaches and also from the head man so it is very similar. The physical style of play, that’s the way this organization has won.”