Blogs – Page 158 – Keefe To The City

Jan 15, 2016

Meeting the Mysterious Ben McAdoo

Here are four things I took away from Ben McAdoo’s first words as Giants head coach. For not seeing anyone else in this role for 12 years, it felt weird, so here’s to not having to do this again for another 12 years.

Prior to Ben McAdoo being introduced as the next head coach of the New York Football Giants, I had never heard him talk. Never. From watching him talk to Tom Coughlin or Eli Manning on the sidelines or talking into his headset during games, I tried to imagine what his voice sounds like, but until Friday, I never really thought about it. So when McAdoo said, “Thank you all for coming today,” it was the first time I had ever heard him talk.

McAdoo did a decent job in his first press conference and his first public setting as a head coach in the NFL. He could have had better opening remarks and could have answered some questions more honestly, and he certainly could have used a suit that fit, but overall it was your average introductory press conference for a head coach.

No one knows what to expect from McAdoo. He’s a mystery. If the Giants had made Steve Spagnuolo the head coach or gone outside the organization with Doug Marrone or Mike Smith or Lovie Smith, we would have some idea as to what to expect from the new Giants head coach. But with McAdoo, any guess or prediction is reasonable. The Giants could finish off the games in 2016 that they shouldn’t have lost in 2015. Or they could be the same postseason-less Giants of the last four years. Or they could be a complete disaster and we’re looking at a new head coach again for 2017. It’s all possible.

Here are four things I took away from McAdoo’s first words as Giants head coach. For not seeing anyone else in this role for the last 12 years, it certainly felt weird, so here’s to not having to do this again for another 12 years.

1. Thank You to You and You and You and You
After McAdoo thanked “you all” for coming today, he then went on to thank every person he has ever come in contact with in his life. His family, the people from his hometown, his former coaches, his former players, the guy who sold him his first bike as a kid, the barber who gave him his first haircut, the owners of the liquor store where he bought his first case of beer and every person who has ever held a door open for him entering a building.

Oddly enough, McAdoo didn’t thank Odell Beckham Jr. Without Beckham (well we saw what the Giants’ offense looks like without Beckham in Week 16 against Minnesota), McAdoo isn’t having this press conference. He’s probably no longer an offensive coordinator in the NFL. He’s probably back to being a quarterbacks coach or having some made up title at some college. Beckham is single-handedly responsible for the success of the Giants’ offense over the last two seasons. He should have thanked him first and maybe only thanked him.

2. The Four Keys
McAdoo talked about the keys to winning and the structure he will instill in the Giants, which were broken down into four categories. They are …

Strong leadership
Talented men and women
A positive working environment
Comprehensive structure and function

McAdoo does realize he’s coaching a football team and not serving as the Director of HR for a Fortune 500 company, right? I mean I understand No. 1 and to some extent No. 3, but what is with No. 2 and No. 4? It’s one thing to have “talented men and women” in the organization, but McAdoo won’t be coaching any women because there aren’t any women on the Giants. And “comprehensive structure and function” just sounds like some BS phrase a company uses in their company handbook or on some unnecessary paper you have to sign on your first day. Someone might want to remind McAdoo he is the head coach of the team and not the CEO or president.

3. The Coaching Staff
McAdoo dodged every question about who would be on his staff and frequently said the staff is “fluid” as if a group of football coaches were in liquid form. Sure, nothing is set in stone, but at the time of his press conference, there were obviously already decisions made. There was no need to hide any information if deals had already been made with staff members or returning staff members.

When asked if he will continue to call the plays, McAdoo wouldn’t say and cited “a competitive advantage for the opponent” if he were to say. Either McAdoo has no idea if he will call the plays or he thinks the Giants have a game this week because I’m not sure how saying who will call the plays would give any team a competitive advantage for the Giants’ next game which is in eight months. I mean this is about WHO is calling the plays and now WHAT the plays are. I hate to break it you McAdoo, but between now and training camp, he’s going to have make it known, who is calling the plays for the Giants. I just hope that simple fact doesn’t give the rest of the NFC East too much of an advantage.

4. Reloading Not Rebuilding
A main reason I wanted the Giants to make McAdoo the head coach and also why I thought they would is because even though the Giants were a 6-10 team, they could have easily been a 12-4 team if they handled the final minutes of six games differently. Ownership didn’t need to clean house when it came to the roster or staff, and they could have easily kept Tom Coughlin. But the most important thing with this team that could still be playing moving forward is continuity. The Giants are close. McAdoo clearly believes the same thing as he said, “We’re not looking to rebuild, we’re looking to reload and we’re going to start in a couple minutes.”

It must be weird to start a job on a Friday, especially on a Friday before a holiday/three-day weekend, but I respect McAdoo for getting to work right away. The Giants shouldn’t have missed the playoffs this season, their fourth straight season without reaching the postseason and if they miss them again in 2016, we’ll be having this same press conference for a new general manager next January.

Blogs

Jan 8, 2016

NFL Wild-Card Weekend Picks

For the fourth straight season, the New York Football Giants aren’t part of the playoffs. It’s sad and depressing and just plain sucks. When I was downtown on Broadway watching the Giants’ parade roll by

For the fourth straight season, the New York Football Giants aren’t part of the playoffs. It’s sad and depressing and just plain sucks. When I was downtown on Broadway watching the Giants’ parade roll by through the Canyon of Heroes, I didn’t think nearly four years later I would be waiting for them to return to the playoffs. But here we are in January 2016 and Super Bowl XLVI feels like it happened forever ago.

The Redskins will represent the NFC East in the playoffs this year and for the second time since the Giants’ last playoff game with the Eagles and Cowboys also having won the division during the Giants’ four-year drought. The playoffs will once again go on without Eli Manning, but with Kirk Cousins and Teddy Bridgewater and Brian Hoyer and Alex Smith and A.J. McCarron. The playoffs will once again go on with the New York Football Giants.

The regular season was a success with a record of 134-117-5. Last season, the picks season came down to the Super Bowl, which I entered with a .500 record and finished one game under .500 after Pete Carroll’s costly decision that cost me my picks season, actual money, the Seahawks their second straight Super Bowl and ended the Patriots’ decade-long championship drought. No matter what happens over the final 11 games, this will have been a successful picks season. The only thing left to do is try and correctly pick every single postseason game.

HOUSTON +3 over Kansas City
The whole world is on the Chiefs and that’s part of the reason I’m picking the Texans. But the other reason I’m picking the Texans is that they have the best two players in the game on their team in DeAndre Hopkins and J.J. Watt. Even if Hopkins having a big day relies on Brian Hoyer being able to be at least an average quarterback, I’m confident in the Texans at home against an Andy Reid playoff team that has been on too good of a run for Reid or the Chiefs or any team that was once upon a time 1-5.

I’m the least confident of all the games in this pick because I don’t trust the 9-7 Texans, who won a weak division, and because I wouldn’t trust Hoyer to tell me what time it is let alone to bank on having a good day. Wait a second? Why am I picking the Texans again?

CINCINNATI +3 over Pittsburgh
Two weeks ago, the Steelers played a must-win game against the Ravens, whose season ended in September, and they lost. They lost to Ryan Mallett in a game that would have cost them a chance to go to the postseason if not for the Jets putting together the most Jets performance of all time in Buffalo. So thanks to the Jets losing to the Bills and the Steelers barely getting past the Austin Davis Browns in Week 17, the Steelers are back in the postseason.

The Bengals might be the most complete team in the entire league, and that’s even with A.J. McCarron at quarterback over Andy Dalton because really how much of a drop off is there between the two? McCarron has eluded to the idea that he thinks he can have a Tom Brady-like career as a low-round draft pick that takes over for an injured quarterback and goes on an extended run and it’s not that far-fetched of an idea. He has the offensive pieces around him to beat the Steelers’ weak defense and he has the defense backing him to contain the Steelers’ high-powered passing game. McCarron won’t need to do anything spectacular to beat the Steelers, he just can’t ruin the game by thinking he needs to.

MINNESOTA +5.5 over Seattle
It was just a few weeks ago that the Seahawks went to Minnesota and embarrassed the Vikings. But in that game, the Vikings’ defense was missing four starters that will all play on Sunday.

Last season, I was an honorary 12 for the Super Bowl after being in attendance for the NFC Championship Game in Seattle, mainly because I wanted the Patriots to lose. And the Patriots should have lost, if not for Pete Carroll. But since that decision on the goal line in the Super Bowl, I have made a vow to against the Seahawks and root heavily against them and for the implosion of their team personnel, including Carroll and Russell Wilson. (That is unless they play the Patriots again in the Super Bowl.)

As I have said many times, my girlfriend is a Vikings fan (from Los Angeles), so it’s hard for me to not root for them. They have also covered for me more than any other team this season. With the Giants out of the playoffs, I’m now an honorary Viking. Let’s Go Vikings!

WASHINGTON -1 over Green Bay
Aaron Rodgers single-handedly cost me my first chance at a fantasy football championship and thousands (yes, thousands) of dollars. I didn’t like him before for his cockiness and his stubborn backing of fellow scummer Ryan Braun and I certainly don’t like him after he failed to improve my bank account. It pains me to root for an NFC East rival in the playoffs, but I have no choice.

Last week: 6-10-0
Season: 134-117-5

Blogs • Giants

Jan 7, 2016

Ben McAdoo Has My Vote for Giants Head Coach

I talked myself into Ben McAdoo being the next head coach of the Giants. There are three reasons ownership is going to pick him and the rest of their interviews are all for show.

I desperately wanted the Giants to get rid of Kevin Gilbride for a long time because I couldn’t stand to watch another third-and-7 draw to the third-string running back for a two-yard gain. I couldn’t take an unnecessary amount of drives created by passing stall in the red zone thanks to an awful running game. So I welcomed the hiring of Ben McAdoo as the Giants’ new offensive coordinator before the 2014 season because I thought change was needed even if Gilbride has been the offensive coordinator for Super Bowl XLII and XLVI.

Eli Manning quickly became a more accurate passer with McAdoo as the offensive coordinator, though the addition of Odell Beckham Jr. could be the reason for that and McAdoo’s entire tenure with the Giants might be one big smoke-and-mirrors act built solely on having the best wide receiver in football on his team. (Let’s hope this isn’t the case.) McAdoo wasn’t exactly the coordinator I thought he would be after being the quarterbacks coach for the Packers and Aaron Rodgers, and, if anything, he was more Gilbride than not.

I have spent the last two seasons wondering why third downs were going through Preston Parker and why Andre Williams was asked to get a critical yard or why a four-man running back rotation became a thing. I made jokes about McAdoo’s facial hair and questioned whether or not he used a four-restaurant chain rotation to eat at every night between T.G.I Friday’s, Applebee’s, Chili’s and Ruby Tuesdays similar to the running back rotation he created with Rashad Jennings, Andre Williams, Shane Vereen and Orleans Darkwa.

The minute Tom Coughlin was fired and it became more and more apparent that McAdoo would be the next Giants head coach, which seemed like the exact plan ownership had instilled when they hired him two years ago, I got sick. The Giants are going to hand over the franchise to a 38-year-old with zero head coaching experience and a goatee that instantly takes away some of his credibility? How did we get here? (Well, I actually I know how we got here and it started in the final minute in Dallas in Week 1.)

The more I thought about it, I actually talked myself into Ben McAdoo being the next head coach of the New York Football Giants. It’s half because I know the Giants are going to make him the next head coach and half because there isn’t a better option out there. There are three reasons ownership is going to pick McAdoo and the rest of these interviews are all for show.

1. Eli Manning
In the two seasons with Ben McAdoo as his offensive coordinator, Eli Manning has thrown for 65 touchdowns and 28 interceptions, completing 62.8 percent of his passes for the best two seasons of his career. Unfortunately, the two seasons were all for nothing thanks to the Giants’ defense.

Eli spent the first 10 seasons of his career under the same offense before Kevin Gilbride “resigned” (the same way Tom Coughlin resigned) and the Giants brought in the Packers’ quarterback coach, McAdoo. Eli struggled through the beginning of the 2014 season under the new offense before the debut of Odell Beckham Jr. mainly because he was the only player on the offense who seemed to fully grasp the complexities of the new system and the intricate hand signals. Last week, Eli told Mike Francesa on WFAN that he could see McAdoo being the next head coach and has enjoyed playing in his system. Now I don’t expect Eli to say on the biggest sports radio program in the country that he doesn’t like McAdoo if he really doesn’t, but I also don’t think he would go out of his way to say the things he did say if he didn’t actually like him. And if Eli didn’t actually like McAdoo, he would have already been fired because the franchise quarterback gets to pick who his coordinator is.

After spending a decade in basically the same offense followed by two years learning a new one, which produced the best two years of his career, there’s no way the front office wants Eli to learn yet another offense at 35 years old having the success he had with McAdoo. If McAdoo is the head coach then he’s like also the offensive coordinator calling the playoffs. If he’s not the coach or Steve Spagnuolo isn’t the coach, then the new coach is going to have the opportunity to pick his own staff and it’s more than likely that McAdoo won’t be part of it. No new head coach is going to want ownership’s Golden Boy on his staff always lurking in the background as a replacement at any time.

2. The Giants’ Family Tree
The Giants aren’t going to hire a head coach that doesn’t have some sort of connection to the Giants. Once upon a time, Tom Coughlin was the Giants’ wide receivers coach (1988-90) and also happened to be the head coach of John Mara’s alma mater (Boston College). Jim Fassel had been the Giants’ quarterbacks’ coach and offensive coordinator (1991-92). Ray Handley had been part of the Giants’ staff, including as offensive coordinator (1984-90). Bill Parcells had been the Giants’ defensive coordinator (1979 and 1981-82). The only exception since the Parcells era, which began in 1983, was Dan Reeves, who was the Giants’ third choice and only hired after the coach they wanted decided to stay with his college team. That coach was Tom Coughlin.

McAdoo has now been part of the Giants’ family for two seasons and that gives him a leg up on any outsiders like Adam Gase (no, thank you), Lovie Smith (please, no) or Mike Smith (NOOOOOOOOOO!). The only person who matches him here is Steve Spagnuolo, but McAdoo is younger (38) than Spagnuolo (56) and Spagnuolo’s stint as Rams head coach and the Giants’ defensive performance this season has to hurt him head-to-head against McAdoo even with McAdoo having no head coaching experience.

3. Continuity
The Giants were 6-10 this season, but could have been 12-4 if they had finished off the Cowboys, Falcons, Saints, Patriots, Jets and Eagles, and even 9-7 if they finish off half of those teams, and that would have given them a postseason berth and Tom Coughlin would still be the head coach. The Giants aren’t as bad as their record suggests (sorry, Bill Parcells) and aren’t in need of a complete overhaul.

The Giants got their out to get rid of Coughlin, but it makes no sense to retain Jerry Reese if they’re then going to risk losing McAdoo and Spagnuolo by going outside the organization for a new head coach. The Giants were in playoff contention until Week 16 and should have been a playoff team. They will return the core of their offense in 2016, will get back injured players on defense and have a lot of salary cap space to fix some holes through free agency. The Giants are going to be a contender again in 2016 and there’s no way the front office wants to push the team in a completely new direction.

Tom Coughlin should still be the Giants’ head coach. Unfortunately, he’s not. But just because ownership wanted him out doesn’t mean they want what to destroy what they built.

Blogs • Giants

Jan 5, 2016

My Super Bowl 50 Dilemma

Someone will win Super Bowl 50, but it won’t be the Giants. Unfortunately, this column is becoming an annual thing because of the Giants’ inability to reach the postseason.

1. Vikings
My girlfriend is a Vikings fan, so with the Giants out of the playoffs, I’m an honorary Vikings fan. (Hopefully, this goes better than when I became an honorary “12” for the Super Bowl after going to the NFC Championship Game in Seattle.)

2. Broncos
If the Broncos hadn’t been able to win home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs, then writing all of this wouldn’t have mattered because the Patriots would be going to the Super Bowl and the only that would matter is backing whichever NFC team reached Santa Clara. But at home in a potential AFC Championship Game where the Broncos beat the Patriots two seasons ago, well I can get on board with that happening.

The return of Peyton Manning in Week 17 to clinch home-field advantage and now healthy and ready for the postseason could be the start of the best end to a career since John Elway. Peyton is going to need a second Super Bowl win to be considered the greatest quarterback ever and not just the greatest regular-season quarterback ever. He had his chance in Super Bowl XLIV and again in XVIII and I hope he gets the chance again in 50 because that will mean the Patriots won’t be there.

3. Texans
The Texans have no chance of winning the Super Bowl. Zero chance. They actually shouldn’t even have a postseason spot because of their zero chance they have of winning. (This also goes for the Redskins.) But one can imagine how fun it would be for Brian Hoyer to be a Super Bowl-winning quarterback.

4. Cardinals
In 2013, Bruce Arians’ Cardinals finished 10-6 and missed the playoffs because of the deep NFC West, while the 8-7-1- Packers won their division and hosted a first-round game. Last season, Arians lost Carson Palmer for Weeks 2, 3 and 5 (they had a bye in Week 4), and then to a season-ending injury in Week 10. The Cardinals went 6-0 when Palmer was their quarterback and 5-5 when he wasn’t. The Cardinals then lost Drew Stanton and had to start Ryan Lindley in the playoffs and there they lost to the Panthers. The Cardinals are finally in the postseason with a real starting quarterback, but fr as much as I would like to see Arians win it all, I can’t say the same about Carson Palmer.

5. Bengals
A.J. McCarron believes he can go on a Tom Brady-like run and mirror what Brady started and did 13 years ago. He has the offensive weapons to do so and the defense to back him, so it’s not that outrageous to think McCarron could lead the Bengals to the Super Bowl as long as he doesn’t ruin a postseason game for them. Being a Bengal and having Marvin Lewis as his head coach in the playoffs is working against him and that might be too much to overcome.

6. Chiefs
Andy Reid as a Super Bowl-winning head coach? Alex Smith as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback? Kansas City as Super Bowl champions just three months after winning the World Series? Hey, it could happen.

7. Panthers
The Cam Newton MVP and hype train is insufferable, but at least he’s deserving of the attention he gets and it’s not like he’s the one giving himself the attention. I’m not rooting against the Panthers though I’m not rooting against them, I just can’t see them beating the Patriots if it came to that next month and that’s really what this is all about. And let’s not forget …

I’m still mad at the Panthers for their Super Bowl XXXVIII loss to the Patriots that gave the Patriots their second Super Bowl in three years. And I’m still mad at the Panthers, well mainly just Jake Delhomme, for destroying that divisional round game against the Cardinals in 2008 with five interceptions, costing me the Panthers -10 pick.

8. Steelers
If Ben Roethlisberger wins a third Super Bowl then we’ll have to hear the hot takes like “Is Ben Roethlisberger the best quarterback of all time?” and he’ll certainly be given the nod as the best quarterback of the 2004 draft class over Eli Manning and I can’t stand for that.

9. Redskins
I already don’t like that I have to root for the Giants’ division rival in the first round this Saturday and I certainly wouldn’t want to see them win the Super Bowl or even get there for that matter. We saw what the Redskins did against the Patriots this season, and after Pete Carroll handed them a championship last season, we don’t need the Patriots being given anymore championships.

10. Seahawks
After Pete Carroll’s goal-line decision in the Super Bowl, I promised myself I would never root for the Seahawks again unless they were playing the Patriots in the Super Bowl again. The last thing I want to see is Carroll and Russell Wilson hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, a year after they gave it to the Patriots, pretending like last year never happened. If the duo wins again, it would overshadow what happened last year and I need that to be their lasting Super Bowl memory after ending the Patriots’ nine-year championship drought.

11. Packers
Let me remind you of how the Packers’ seasons have ended in the Aaron Rodgers era:

2008: Missed playoffs
2009: Lost in wild-card round
2010: Won Super Bowl
2011: Lost in divisional round (first game)
2012: Lost in divisional round after beating Joe Webb and the Vikings in the Wild-Card round
2013: Lost in wild-card round
2014: Lost in the NFC Championship after blowing a 12-point lead with just over two minutes left

In the seven years with Rodgers as the starter, the Packers have won six playoff games with four of them coming in the same year. And if the “Miracle at the Meadowlands” doesn’t happen, the Packers don’t even make the playoffs in 2010 let alone win the Super Bowl. If the Packers win the Super Bowl, the never-ending praise for Rodgers is only going to get worse.

I’m so sick of Aaron Rodgers. The idea that he’s the best quarterback in the world is ridiculous and the excuses made for him because his receivers are Randall Cobb, James Jones and Davante Adams are disgusting. That trio would go down as one of the best trios Tom Brady would have ever had in his career, yet when Rodgers isn’t successful with them, it’s not his fault, it’s theirs.

12. Patriots
From the 2010 playoffs:

There is no way I want the Patriots to win the Super Bowl. None at all. I would rather walk across the George Washington Bridge naked, during rush hour, while it’s freezing rain than see the Patriots win.

From last year’s playoffs:

I’m scared that this is the year the Patriots finish the job after losing two Super Bowls, three AFC Championship Games, two divisional round losses, a wild-card round loss and a missed postseason over the last nine years. But the one thing keeping me from penciling the Patriots in as the Super Bowl XLXI champion is Mike Hurley telling me that he has seen better Patriots team he thought would win the Super Bowl and they didn’t.

The Patriots have to lose.

Well, they didn’t. Thanks, Pete Carroll. The only way to put even the slightest dent in what happened last year is if the Broncos beat the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game and then Peyton Manning wins the Super Bowl and rides off into the sunset as a champion. This has to happen.

Blogs

Jan 4, 2016

Goodbye, Tom Coughlin

I won’t think about the bad times when I think of Tom Coughlin and his Giants teams from 2004-2015. Without the bad times, the good times aren’t as good, and he gave me two of the best days of my life.

Tom Coughlin is partially responsible for two of the best sports days of my life. And since I’m not married yet (Hi, Brittni) and since I haven’t had a child yet, it’s hard not to say Coughlin is partially responsible for two of the best days of my life, not just my sports life: Feb. 3, 2008 and Feb. 5, 2012.

When the Giants hired Tom Coughlin on Jan. 6, 2004 with a four-year, $11 million deal, the team was coming off a 4-12 season, was two years removed from blowing a 38-14 third-quarter lead in the playoffs against the 49ers and three years removed from getting blown out in Super Bowl XXXV. At the time of the hiring, John Mara said the Giants were a franchise “in trouble.” For as bad as this season went, with a 6-10 record, and six losses to the Cowboys, Falcons, Saints, Patriots, Jets and Eagles that should have been wins and two more losses to the Redskins and Panthers that could have been wins, the Giants aren’t in the same kind of “trouble” they were in nearly 12 years ago. This 6-10 season could have been as good as 12-4 and could have easily been 9-7, which would have landed the Giants a home game for Wild-Card Weekend this weekend. But it wasn’t. Bad decisions, choices and clock management resulted in the Giants’ third straight losing season and it resulted in Tom Coughlin being fired on Monday.

It’s nice to think that Tom Coughlin really did decide that at the age of 69 and after four straight playoff-less seasons it’s time to go into John Mara’s office and tell him he’s resigning as head coach of the Giants. But it’s also nice to think that growing up a fat man from the North Pole left all of the presents under the tree and a giant bunny put plastic eggs full of candy around the house and a tiny fairy was in the business of trading teeth for money. If you believe John Mara that this was Tom Coughlin’s decision then you probably also believe the national game broadcasters who think Craig Dahl has been a valuable part of the Giants’ secondary all season because of a tackle he makes on Monday Night Football. Coughlin didn’t want to leave the Giants and the only job he’s had for the last 12 seasons, but he also didn’t want to have the word “fired” officially attached to the end of his Giants coaching career and the front office certainly didn’t want a stain on the resume and reputation of the head coach that brought them two championships and their only two since the 1990 season.

I have had a love/hate relationship with Coughlin over the last 12 years, which began when I was 17 years old, but there was only one time I truly thought he should be fired. That was in the last few weeks of the 2011 regular season when it looked like the Giants would miss out on the playoffs for the third straight season after losing their first playoff game in 2008 despite being the best team in the league. I thought that even though the Giants had won Super Bowl XLII, if they missed the playoffs in 2011, it would have meant one championship in eight seasons with three straight playoff-less seasons and even though some fan bases would do unimaginable things for that kind of success, it felt like the Giants could have and should have accomplished more. Maybe a new head coach and coaching staff would get the Giants to realize their full potential consistently and not just once every few years and make them a true annual contender.

After their Week 9 win in New England in 2011, the Giants were 6-2 and the idea of a second-half collapse, which would be their third in as many years, seemed impossible. But then they lost to 49ers, Eagles, Saints and Packers and suddenly were 6-6 and it was happening once again. At 6-6, they trailed the Cowboys by 12 in Dallas in Week 14 with five minutes and 41 seconds left and the Cowboys looking at running out the clock and clinching the division, and that’s when it all changed. Tony Romo overthew Miles Austin to win the game and then with a chance to force overtime, Dan Bailey’s field-goal attempt was blocked by Jason Pierre-Paul after Tom Coughlin’s timeout caused Bailey’s first successful attempt to not count.

The Giants still lost the following week to the Redskins with an embarrassing effort similar to the one they produced against the Redskins near the end of this season, but it didn’t matter. Beat the Jets in Week 16 and the Cowboys in Week 17 and they were in. Victor Cruz’s 99-yard touchdown saved them against the Jets and they routed the Cowboys in the season finale on Sunday Night Football to return to the postseason. The second-half collapse streak had been broken and a month later they were Super Bowl champions again. Super Bowl XLVI was the last time the Giants played a playoff game and it was the last time Tom Coughlin would coach a playoff game for the Giants unless there’s some Joe Gibbs-like return planned for the future.

The Giants should have been back in the playoffs when they were 6-2 before yet another second-half collapse in 2012. They should have found a way to beat the Cowboys in 2013 after overcoming an 0-6 start to the year and they should have found a way to keep their three-game winning streak going that got them to 3-2 at the beginning of 2014. They should have found a way to win the NFC East this season given the state of the division. But each time, the Giants failed, the same way they did in 2009 after starting that season 5-0 and the same way they did in 2010 after starting that season 6-1.

The playoff losses to the Panthers in 2005 and Eagles in 2006 will always hurt. The second-half collapses will always be devastating. The Miracles at the New Meadowlands will cause me to lose sleep forever. The opening nights in Dallas in 2013 and 2015 will forever have me asking, “Why?” The divisional round playoff loss in 2008 as the No. 1 overall seed in the league following Plaxico Burress’ nightclub catastrophe will always leave me wondering, “What if?” But I won’t think any of the bad times when I think of Tom Coughlin and his Giants teams from 2004-2015. Without the bad times, the good times aren’t as good.

Instead, I will think of the Giants going to Tampa Bay and dominating the Buccaneers during Wild-Card Weekend in January 2008 as I watched from Mohegan Sun. I will think of watching R.W. McQuarters intercept Tony Romo to clinch the Giants’ win over the 1-seed Cowboys a week later with my friend Red in Jillian’s in Boston, as the only two people in the whole bar. I will think of Coughlin’s frozen face in Green Bay watching and Lawrence Tynes’ third attempt at beating the Packers in the NFC Championship Game finally go through the uprights the following week. I will think about sitting in St. Leonard’s Church in the North End of Boston on the morning of Super Bowl XLII asking God to please let the Giants upset the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII and avenge the Yankees’ collapse from October 2004. I will think about not being able to breathe watching Eli Manning escape to find David Tyree in XLII. I will think of feeling like my house burned down when Randy Moss scored to give the Patriots the lead and then feeling like I had just won the Powerball when Eli Manning found Plaxico Burress wide open in the corner of the end zone and all the beer showers that followed. I will think of walking down Hanover Street in Boston the following morning and feeling like Will Smith in the opening scene of I Am Legend.

I will think of Tony Romo missing Miles Austin and Coughlin’s timeout forcing Dan Bailey to kick that field goal once again and Jason Pierre-Paul blocking it. I will think of Victor Cruz scoring a 99-yard touchdown with the Giants backed up to their own 1 with the season on the line. I will think of worrying about which Giants team would show up on Sunday Night Football against the Cowboys and then relaxing when the Giants took a 21-0 halftime lead. I will think of watchingJulio Jones and Roddy White being shut out and the favored Falcons being run out of MetLife out on wild-card weekend. I will think about the Giants going to Lambeau and embarrassing the 15-1 Packers and Aaron Rodgers at home, including Eli Manning’s end-of-the-first-half Hail Mary to Hakeem Nicks. I will think about watching Eli Manning take a beating from the 49ers during the NFC Championship Game, nearly throwing up from anxiety 17 times during overtime, watching Lawrence Tynes kick the Giants to the Super Bowl again and celebrating like Theo Fleury in the 1990-91 Stanley Cup Playoffs. I will think about watching Tom Brady commit that intentional grounding penalty for a safety to start Super Bowl XLVI, Eli Manning finding Mario Manningham with a perfect throw and unbelievable catch down the sideline and Ahmad Bradshaw mistakingly falling in the end zone. I will think about jumping around and yelling when Tom Brady’s Hail Mary fell out of reach from Rob Gronkowski’s fingers as if I had miraculously held the winning Powerball ticket for the second time in four years.

That’s what I will think of when I think of Tom Coughlin. Because without Tom Coughlin, I don’t have Feb. 3, 2008 and Feb. 5, 2012. So while this is goodbye to the man who led the Giants to two championships and kept Tom Brady and Bill Belichick from two more, it’s also thank you. Thank you and goodbye.