Palladino: In The End, Coughlin Made His Day About Manning, Too
By Ernie Palladino
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The usual relationship between coach and quarterback generally boils down to success. The quarterback wins, the coach loves him. And when that quarterback doesn't win, out he goes with the rest of the dirty laundry.
Those who have hung around the Giants' locker room long enough have always known the connection between Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning went way past that scenario long ago. Coach and quarterback don't remain together for 12 years and 183 consecutive starts without something deeper taking hold.
MORE: Complete Coverage Of Coughlin's Final Season With Big Blue
But it took until Coughlin wrapped up his farewell press conference Tuesday morning to understand just how lashed together those two were. For it was in those final comments, as Coughlin spoke directly to Manning, that the offensive leader of the marquee team of the manly sport of football nearly lost it.
It underlined the bond between them, a tie that went beyond even the pair of Super Bowl titles they won together. Things like that tend to push coaches to use the "L" word. But few recognize that as real human love. It's just a function of success, easily discarded once the record goes sour.
The Coughlin-Manning relationship went further than trophies. It went into life philosophy.
Work hard. Practice well. Leave the field with your shield -- or on it.
The words tears and Tom Coughlin should never be uttered in the same sentence. Yet, Manning had all to do to keep the moisture inside his eyes.
His lower lip trembled.
His face bore the same look as a youngster who just watched the moving van pull away from his best friend's house, taking the kid and his family into an unknown future.
He nearly wept as current teammates such as Rashad Jennings and Andre Williams, and past teammates like his old center, Shaun O'Hara, and guard Richie Seubert sat with him up front.
Manning had come close the day before as he and his teammates packed up their lockers after the close of a second straight 6-10 season. But Manning caught himself while explaining how Coughlin's influence turned him into the quarterback he is today, about how every day was a gift as he absorbed his coach's philosophies on offense, on practice, on preparation.
On how to conduct oneself as an adult.
His voice cracked as he talked about how the team let Coughlin down.
This time, he almost couldn't stem the emotions as Coughlin did the talking. This was the man who stuck with Manning through it all, from a 0.0 quarterback rating against Baltimore his rookie year, to the crazy interceptions, to Super Bowl MVP glory, and finally to one of his best statistical seasons in 2015.
"He's what you want a son to be made out of," Coughlin said. "He thinks he's the reason (for losing). He's not the reason. Eli, it's not you. It's not you. It's us. We win, we lose together. When we lose, I lose. When we win, you guys win. That's the way it is. That's the game. I know what it is. I got the game, I got it."
Coughlin knew, too, what Manning would be doing in the near future as the Giants mount their search for Coughlin's successor, a person the quarterback will surely have a different relationship with. At 35, switching from the only professional head coach he has ever known to someone new, even if that someone is offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, the formalness of the Xs and Os will override any fuzzy personal feelings.
It can't help but to be otherwise.
But the daily habits that epitomized the Manning-Coughlin union will remain. Coughlin knew that no matter who takes over, that much about his quarterback would stay constant.
"What I would tell him," Coughlin said, "he's going to be right in here in about two days, starting to work on next year, just like he always does. That's never going to change.
"God bless him for it."
Coughlin didn't have to say any of it. Tuesday was his day to celebrate a 12-year journey of a lifetime.
But in the end, after he made it about family and dreams and life and achievement, he made it about Manning, too.
It was fitting. They saw it all.
Together.
Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino
