Tom Coughlin Takes A Giant Step!

                                                      By Greg Dempson

In this report I’ll review the success and failures of former Jaguars’ head coach, Tom Coughlin.  After a one year hiatus, Tom returns to the sidelines as the new head coach of the New York Giants.  Coughlin was the Giants’ receivers coach under Bill Parcells when the Giants made their second Super Bowl run. 

As a head coach in the NFC Eastern division he’ll have his work cut out for him as Coughlin’s up against Andy Reid, Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs. 

This off season in New York City has been anything but dull as Eli Manning (or his father, Archie) took “charge;” Eli wasn’t coming to San Diego he was going to the “Big Apple.”  Last years starter, Kerry Collins wears silver and black and former Rams’ quarterback Kurt Warner is now a Giant.

Another interesting sidebar for the 2004 season is the arrival of former Jacksonville quarterback Mark Brunell to the NFC East; he was picked up by the Redskins for a third round draft choice; a smart move.  Mark was the starting quarterback for Jacksonville from 1995 until 2002 and during those seasons as Jacksonville’s starter Brunell was guided by head coach Tom Coughlin.  The new Giants’ head coach will know Mark’s strengths and weaknesses. 

Coughlin was fired after the conclusion of the 2002 season.  The Jaguars mortgaged the future in the late 1990’s and the team became victims of the salary cap and following a 14 – 2 record in the 1999 season it was downhill, as they went 7 – 9 in the 2000 season and followed that up with back-to-back 6 – 10 seasons; enter Jack Del Rio and exit Tom Coughlin. 

As Jacksonville’s head coach Tom went 68 – 60 and if you discount their expansion season 4 – 12 record in 1995, he guided the Jags to a record of 64 – 48 record for the remainder of his tenure at Jacksonville.  Coughlin coached the Jags for eight postseason games and went 4 – 4 in those contests.  They played in the Conference finals twice losing to the Patriots in 1996 and to the Titans in 1999.  Both New England and Tennessee went on to lose the Super Bowls to the Packers and Rams.

For Tom to improve the Giants’ position this season they must be more effective in the Red Zone as the “Jints” have now finished last in red-zone percentage the past two seasons; when inside the 20 yard line they reached the end zone only 37.7% going 40 out of 106.

You can’t coach vs. injuries and the Giants were hit hard by the injury bug last season.  Starting left guards Seubert and Lucier plus left tackle Petitgout all finished the season on injured reserve.  Last years center, Chris Bober, is now a Chief and the Giants released right tackle Jeff Hatch.  New additions on the offensive side of the ball include ex Browns Shaun O’Hara and Barry Stokes as well as Ed Ellis from the Chargers.  Regardless of who starts behind center; it will be a long season if the offensive line doesn’t protect Warner or Manning!  Another Giant problem that Coughlin will have to fix is the “fumble-itis” of Tiki Barber; he lost six of nine fumbles last year.

An improvement on defense and special teams is another area the new Giants head coach must address.  The Giants were 18^th vs. the rush and 25^th vs. the pass and their overall defense was ranked at # 22 plus they were 29^th in points allowed.

A look at their 2004 schedule has them traveling to their usual three division foes: Washington, Dallas and Philadelphia, as well as road games at the Packers, Vikings, Cardinals, Ravens and Bengals.  The Ravens and Packers made the post season last year while the Bengals went 8 – 8; the Vikings were 9 – 7 and the Cardinals were a dismal 4 – 12.  They have three division home contests as well as hosting games vs. the Bears, Lions, Falcons, Steelers and Browns.  None of the five non-division teams they host made the playoffs last season, so based on last year’s final results, the road schedule is more of a challenge than the home schedule. 

The NFL futures posted wins total on the Giants is over seven victories + 1.30 and under seven wins at – 1.60.  If the Giants win six games I will be surprised and a realistic number of victories is five in my estimation; I like the team total under but it’s to steep a price to pay; I’ll pass.

The Giants start the preseason at home vs. the Chiefs followed by a road game at Carolina.  Week three is the annual Giants/Jets neutral site game and week four the Giants entertain the Ravens.  Tom Coughlin is 23 – 10 to the over in preseason games and is 3 – 0 ATS off back-to-back straight up preseason loses.  The over in their week one preseason contest vs. the Chiefs might be tempting depending on the posted total.

My next report will focus on the return of Joe Gibbs as head coach of the Washington Redskins.