Bleachers' Brew #94 The wisdom of Vince Lombardi

(This appears in the Monday, February 11, 2008 edition of the Business Mirror.)

In the week prior to Super Bowl Sunday, all New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick could talk about was the New York Giants. Belichick served as an assistant to former Giants maestro Bill Parcells along with current Big Blue manager Tom Coughlin. It was there were Belichick and Coughlin cut their eyeteeth in team strategy as the team’s defensive coordinator and wide receiver coach respectively for the 1986 and 1990 championships.

As much as the coaching protagonists’ ties to New York made for interesting stories, the Big Dance was draped by the long shadow of former Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi who was born in Brooklyn and went to school in Fordham University in the Bronx.

Check out some of Lombardi’s famous quotes that describe the unlikely championship season of New York. And as you sift through the coincidences you’ll no doubt be reminded of those Forest Hills, Queens natives Simon & Garfunkel who once sang, “And the words of the prophet are written on the subways walls. And tenement halls.”

Now if that isn’t coincidence then it’s destiny and perfect symmetry. And the word “destiny” ends in “NY.”

“If you can accept losing, you can't win.”
In Week 16, the Giants risked everything to try and beat the Patriots in the last game of the regular season. As a result, they lost three starters to injury in a game that never would have affected the play-off standings. Yet their strong showing in a 38-35 defeat energized them for the post-season. “The play-offs,” said New York linebacker Antonio Pierce, “are all about who is hot. We knew we could beat them.” And that brings to mind another Lombardi quote, “We didn’t lose. We just ran out of time.”

“Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.”
In the days leading to the game, Giants’ wide receiver Plaxico Burress announced to the media that New York would win the Super Bowl by a score of 23-17. Tom Coughlin chafed at Burress’ giving the Patriots ammo for their fire, but the former Michigan State Spartan merely verbalized what the team privately felt.

After New York controlled the football for 19 minutes and 27 seconds of the first half and held the prolific Patriots team to 7 points, the Giants gained a lot more confidence. Knowing that it wasn’t going to be a shootout was more to their liking.

“Some people try to find things in this game that don't exist but football is only two things - blocking and tackling.”
The Giants’ Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora called out Patriots’ left tackle Matt Light for being “a dirty player.” Brady echoed Lombardi when he said, “Anytime your left tackle has a Pro Bowl season, you as a quarterback should owe him a lot. Football is a very tough game. It’s about hitting, blocking and tackling.”

Good defense for your teammate, Tom. Unfortunately for your team, you couldn’t handle Big Blue’s pass rush and you were sacked five times and hit by more than half of all your pass attempts for the game.

The two-time Super Bowl MVP was harassed all game long and looked very uncomfortable inside the pocket as wave after wave of Giants tried to intercept his pass and knock him flat. Said one reporter, "He (Brady) spent more time on the grass than the fertilizer.”

“Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers were all about. They didn't do it for individual glory. They did it because they loved one another.”
During the halftime of the Giants’ September 16, 2007 home opener in the Meadowlands against get this – the Green Bay Packers that resulted in a 35-13 loss – the team and home crowd gave an emotional send off for George Martin, the captain of NY’s 1986 Super Bowl-winning team, who embarked on a 1,600 journey on foot across the continental United States to raise funds and call attention to the plight of rescue and emergency workers who were victims of 9-11.

He arrived the Thursday before Super Bowl Sunday and gave the team a massive inspirational lift.

“Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing -- the result.”
Bill Belichick -- unless Spygate and US Republican Senator Arlen Specter knocks him down several pegs – will be enshrined as a great football coach. He was clearly more than one up on Coughlin whose competence was severely questioned by players, fans, and the media alike in the past couple of seasons. But for some strange reason, Belichick made several crucial mistakes. One was when he didn’t allow Stephen Gostkowski to attempt a 49-yard field goal in the third quarter that would have given the Patriots a 10-3 lead. The game was decided by three-points. So the what-ifs abound. Second was when he opted to put the 5’9” cornerback Ellis Hobbs who bit on the 6’5” Burress’ slant fake.

And third, the Patriots used a lot of empty backfield formations that provided little help against the Giants’ defensive line.

“The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.”
With the game entering its final stages, Brady’s six yard pass to Randy Moss put New England ahead 14-10 with 2:42 left in the game.

Said Indianapolis Colts’ QB Peyton Manning, the older brother of New York’s Eli who was watching from one of the sky boxes of the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, “There wasn’t any panic in his (Eli’s) eyes. His mindset was, ‘Hey, we’ve 2:45 left and we have some timeouts. We have the ball last and we’ll make it happen.’”

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
The Giants started out the football campaign by losing three of four pre-season games and their first two regular season matches. But they won a record 11 straight road games including the play-offs en route to their third Super Bowl title. The Patriots as everyone knows by now were 18-0 and needed only one more win to cap of perhaps the greatest season in NFL history. Instead the 1972 Miami Dolphins who went 16-0 that year heaved a sigh of relief and popped the bubbly.

“If winning isn’t everything why do they keep score.”
New York after seeing the Boston Red Sox win two titles in the new millennium to end the Curse now have a new chant to replace the old “1918.” Who cares if it’s football? It’s all about the rivalry.

“18-1.”