NY hopes experience is key to the big win

INDIANAPOLIS - Reuters

The Giants players and staff step off the charter flight as they arrive in Indianapolis, which will be home for the Super Bowl XLVI, the biggest day on the NHL calendar. REUTERS Photo

The New York Giants arrived in town on Jan. 30, one day after the New England Patriots, as coach Tom Coughlin said he was letting experience be his guide even if his opponents got an extra day of practice for the Super Bowl on the weekend.

“This is the path that we followed four years ago and I thought it was a very good one,” Coughlin told reporters about the schedule he mapped out ahead of the Giants’ 17-14 upset win over the Patriots in the Super Bowl in 2008.

“It came from research I had done,” the coach added. “We’ll go to work on Wednesday. I thought it was very good for us the last time we did it.”

Although the Patriots’ run of success dates back a decade with three Super Bowls wins in a span of four years from 2002 with quarterback Tom Brady running the attack, there are only seven players from the title game in 2008 still on their roster.

New York has more than double the number, with 15 players on the squad who played in their last Super Bowl showdown.

Coughlin said experience could be a factor. “What we have is a nucleus of guys who can talk to the younger players,” said Coughlin. “The buildup to this game is something the younger guys have never gone through. The day of the Super Bowl, there’s a lot of nervous energy that can be spent without really accomplishing anything.”

Coughlin said Giants quarterback Eli Manning had already weighed in with a speech to the team when they hit the practice field last week.

“I know that everybody is excited, I just wanted to make sure the guys knew the importance of the practices last week,” the quarterback explained.

“There’s not a better feeling from a professional standpoint than knowing that you’ve done your job as a team better than anyone else,” Manning added.
“That’s what we’re fighting for.”