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If it is up to Tom Coughlin you can forget the idea that 2014 will be the final season on the New York Giants' sidelines for the 67-year-old head coach. Coughlin has no intention of stepping away.
In a taped interview to air Sunday morning on ESPN Radio's "The Ian O'Connor Show," Coughlin, who said in 2012 he could coach past his 70th birthday, was asked if he still felt he could work "well beyond" next season.
"I certainly do, and I'm blessed with good health and good energy and a routine that I think puts me in the maximum opportunity to stay healthy," Coughlin said before mentioning his wife. "The other issue, of course, is Judy. If Judy's healthy, and so on and so forth, and we both feel good about continuing ... then no doubt will we feel that way."
Coughlin is currently entering the final season of his contract. Co-owner John Mara said earlier this week that he and Coughlin will discuss a contract extension "at some point."
"In terms of Tom’s future, we haven’t even had that discussion yet," Mara said. "He’s obviously going to be our coach here next year and hopefully for longer than that, but we haven’t sat down to even talk about that yet. I think he’s just focused on getting the team ready for next year. At some point in the future we will sit down and talk about that."
Eli Manning: Learning new offense 'exciting'
Giants' quarterback Eli Manning said Thursday that he is looking forward to learning a new system under offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, the first time in his NFL career he has had to do so.
"In a way, it will be exciting," Manning said on a conference call Thursday. "You gotta come in and you gotta learn some new things."
But Manning doesn’t want too much change. The Giants had the NFL’s 28th-ranked offense this season, but Manning still hopes his new coordinator will embrace some of Gilbride’s old ideas.
"We’ll just have to see what he (McAdoo) and Coach (Tom) Coughlin have decided on," Manning said. "I really don’t know one way or the other, and, you know, obviously I’d like to get with him and somehow combine the two (systems) so it’s a smooth transition for both of us.
"Obviously, what the changes will be - if it will be completely changed with the terminology and formations or if we’ll keep some of those things and bring in all of his concepts - I don’t know if the coaches have all figured that out yet as well."
Super Bowl Notes
Could the NFL actually postpone the Super Bowl if the weather is bad enough? The Wall Street Journal looked for precedent and found that in 1932 the Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans played the championship game indoors at a hockey arena due to a major snowstorm. The field was only 60 yards long.
Ann Mara, widow of the late Giants' owner Wellington Mara, said Thursday that she thinks the Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium is "going to be great. I think people worry too much about the weather. Mrs. Mara also said she is "very fond of the Mannings, so I've got to root for Peyton."
Speaking of the Mannings, Eli has been turned into a ticket-broker by his big brother.
Peyton has put Eli to work. Eli's job? To gobble up enough tickets for family and friends to get into the stadium to watch Peyton try to match his brother with a second Super Bowl championship.
To reach the quota he was given by his older brother, Eli has been working the phones like crazy. One of his go-to moves has been to ask teammates to sell their tickets. Players, coaches and Giants staff members were offered face-value tickets to this year's game.
"I tried to help him out, and try and get answers on how many tickets I could get from my teammates and players and people and try and get that done as early as possible. So once they start preparation this week, he has everything solved before you get to the city you're playing the Super Bowl," Eli said Thursday.
Odds 'n Ends
The Giants were disappointing in 2014, but USA Today does not list them among the NFL's 5 most disappointing teams of 2013.
ESPN looks at the Giants' offensive line and the salary-cap issues relating to Chris Snee and David Baas.
There is reportedly some evidence that the post-NFC Championship Game tirade Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks directed at Michael Crabtree of the San Francisco 49ers was pre-meditated.
