This is hardly the first time the New York Giants have been down this road with head coach Tom Coughlin. They are coming off an awful loss, there are calls from the fanbase for Bill Cowher and there are questions in the media if Coughlin can keep his job if the Giants miss the playoffs for the second straight season.
Seems like this is how it always is with Coughlin. Every time there is a bad loss, or a bad stretch, there are calls for his ouster or at least questions about his future. Yet, he is about to finish his seventh season.
Coughlin, though, for a change has admitted that he hears the calls for his head and that he is affected by them.
“I try not to let that be bothersome to me, but it’s really difficult to ignore it,” Coughlin told ESPNNewYork.com. "Every time we lose a game, that stuff comes up.
“It’s part of the business and there’s nothing I’m going to say to change it,” Coughlin said. "Win games, and it goes away. We won three in a row and nobody was saying anything about [my job]. So we’ve got to go win games, and I understand it. I’ve been in it long enough to understand.
“You’ve got to go win, and that’s what this is all about. And we didn’t win last week, so here comes the speculation again.”
Coughlin has led the Giants to a Super Bowl. A playoff berth this season would be five in six years for New York. Yet, Coughlin’s status always seems to be an issue — at least with the fanbase.
“That’s just part of being the head coach,” said quarterback Eli Manning. “Sometimes you get too much blame when you lose and maybe not enough credit when you win. All I know is he is getting us prepared to play. And he always does that. He always has us in position to go out there and win.”
Unless the Giants collapse completely and finish the season with a three-game losing streak my feeling is that removing Coughlin would be hard to justify, and something a franchise that loves stability would be loathe to do.