New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin impressed by performance of defensive units in the Super Bowl XLVI
New York Giants’ head coach, Tom Coughlin, has said that he was really impressed with the way the defence of New York Giants and New England Patriots performed in the Super Bowl XLVI matchup at the Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis.
He shared these views after his team had beaten the Pats.
The Super Bowl XLVI game was played between two sides, which were renowned for their offensive strength and infamous for playing on the defence.
But the audience witnessed a sturdy performance from the defensive units, which created all sorts of troubles for the respective quarterbacks and their receivers.
Early in the first quarter of the game, Giants’ defensive unit came all over Patriots’ quarterback, Tom Brady, who threw the ball from his end zone just to get away with the defenders.
As a result, intentional grounding was called and the Giants were awarded two points.
Later as the game progressed, Patriots’ defence also started finding its rhythm.
The second quarter saw Giants struggling to make plays and the team could not score any point.
The same performance was repeated in the second half when Giants only gave away a touchdown while the Pats thwarted the entire Giants’ attempts to score touchdown. Giants were restricted to scoring only two field goals.
The final quarter went goalless until the final minute where Giants managed a go-ahead touchdown.
Coughlin commented about the game that:
“Great defence, to be honest with you.”
He added:
“The numbers that you look at throughout the course of the year, the New York Giant and New England Patriot defensive teams that didn’t have the numbers, weren’t ranked in the upper echelon of the defensive teams in the league, but how both (defences) have
played in the playoffs – just exceptional defensive play.”
Coughlin was of the view that both the teams were equally competitive and that the defence(s) dominated the game.
When asked about what he thought was the reason for Giants’ success, the coach said that the team kept its fighting spirit alive until the last second to win the game.
He said:
“Mental toughness, resiliency, resolve. We do have great trust in each other, great belief that we can finish.”
There is no denying the fact that both the teams improved its defensive game-play, but on the big day the Giants were just a step ahead and hence the glory was theirs to enjoy.
However, completely underrating the Patriots will also be unjust.
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