Manning, Coughlin bask in afterglow

Feb 4, 2008 - 6:06 PM By Tom Torrisi PA SportsTicker Pro Football Editor

PHOENIX (Ticker) - What a season - and a night - of change for Eli Manning and the New York Giants.

Often the subject of speculation about whether he represented the future of the Giants, Manning awoke Monday morning having to address just how bright that future appears less than 12 hours after leading New York to a stunning 17-14 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

"I guess you're a Super Bowl champion and that's the difference," Manning said Monday morning at a news conference honoring the Most Valuable Player and coach of the Super Bowl-winning team. "It doesn't change my attitude or my personality or my goals for next season.

"I'm happy today, I'm fired up, and I'm going to enjoy this moment, but you still want to do it again. You want to have this feeling again."

Tom Coughlin knows that sentiment all too well. The 61-year-old coach of the Giants had been on the hot seat for most of last season due to his hard-line ways.

So when the Giants opened 0-2 in 2007, Coughlin seemed the unlikeliest candidate to be presiding over a Super Bowl champion.

It was sweet redemption for Coughlin, who was an assistant coach with the Giants on the last Super Bowl-winning squad 17 years ago.

"What I'm most proud of is the opportunity to see the smiles on the faces (of the players)," Coughlin said. "I told the players on Saturday night, my personal experience having been an assistant coach on a Super Bowl champion, and I wanted that for each one of them because describing it is very difficult.

"When you win and you realize all of a sudden you are the world champion, it's a tremendous, tremendous feeling, and it's one that can permeate everything that you do."

Manning pried the Pete Rozelle Trophy - which goes to the game's MVP - away from the Patriots by directing a brilliant last-minute drive, moving the Giants 83 yards in 12 plays to deliver a 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds to play.

While that touchdown was the game-winner, Manning's 32-yard pass to David Tyree with about a minute to play will go down as one of the most spectacular plays in Super Bowl lore.

After escaping a heavy pass rush and breaking away from the clutches of two defenders, Manning heaved a prayer downfield that Tyree latched onto with safety Rodney Harrison draped over him.

"When I got home I wanted to see David Tyree's catch," Manning said. "I kinda of saw a little of it on the field but didn't get to really appreciate what a great catch it was. People were asking my how did I get out of that jam I was in and I really don't know. They never pulled me down.

"I stayed alive and I saw David in the middle of the field and gave him a shot to make a catch. An unbelievable catch. For him to hold on to that ball and kind of hold it against his helmet and get pulled back, and guys swiping at the ball, a great individual effort by him."

It was a play typical of this season for the Giants, who became just the third team to win a Super Bowl after starting the season 0-2 and the second team to capture the championship by winning three consecutive road games in the playoffs, matching the Pittsburgh Steelers of 2005.

"It's a great tribute to this team and to this organization," Manning said. "We never lost our confidence, we never lost our belief that we could make a great run and at the end of the season we were playing our best football.

"We got hot at the right time going into the playoffs and we played really five great games at the end of the season, the first being against the Patriots at the end of the season."

Indeed, it was Coughlin's decision not to take his foot off the throttle in the regular-season finale against New England, even though the Giants were locked in at the NFC's No. 5 seed and had nothing to play for - at least on paper.

Coughlin knew otherwise - and although New York lost, 38-35, it may have been the best coaching move of season for the Giants.

"The players wanted to play against the Patriots and we believed we had a great chance to win in that game," Coughlin said. "The way we approached it was that we would play as hard as we could, do all that we possible could to win the game.

"As I told the players, there would be nothing but positives out of the game, and as it turned out it was a great bridge for us from the regular season into the playoffs because the caliber of our play continued to escalate."

As did the play of Manning, which is why he was in position Monday to select, appropriately enough, a Cadillac Escalade for winning the MVP - making it two straight seasons the award went to a member of the Manning family.

"It's a rare opportunity that you end on a high note in this league," Manning said. "Only one team gets to end with that good taste in that mouth and after a win in the Super Bowl. Enjoy it and you've got to come back even more hungry next year."