Big Blue Huddle

I'm sorry to hear this, and for your loss, Jim V. I was part of the group that joined BBH with Jim and Chief many years back, so I have been reading his posts for a long time now. Thanks for letting everyone know.

I don't think I have any Giants memorabilia anymore -- I went through a period of time where I traveled a lot and I don't have much stuff in general.

But...I did have something in my childhood that was pretty cool. I was totally obsessed with the Parcells-era Giants in elementary school, and I used to write Mara, George Young or Parcells a letter every week suggesting plays or some other silly thing. Wellington Mara wrote back to me hand-written notes I think three times, and would send an autographed picture of a player each time -- Simms, LT, and Carson. Those were my prized possessions when I was a kid.

Quote from: TONKA56 on October 25, 2018, 05:20:43 PM
Darrell Green

I

I see a lot of Walsh-Parcells, which seems to be the consensus regarding that era. My question is about Gibbs. What sets him on a second tier in most people's minds?

Gibbs...
...won three Super Bowls (equal to Walsh, one more than Parcells), and went to four.
...never coached a great QB. In fact, he won with three different guys, two I don't think you could even call good, period.
...never had an all-time great defense, or a hall of fame defensive player, right?
...was arguably as innovative within Coryell's lineage as Walsh was in Brown's.
...had record-breaking offenses, but his famous receiving and OL units actually had several different players come through them

Thanks for sharing Jim.

I've been trying to figure out the best I've seen. I think Belichick has established himself as the best. But after that, it gets tough.

I can't decide between Walsh, Parcells, and Gibbs. Recently I've been seeing Gibbs as underrated. With all the talk these days about needing a franchise QB to win, he won 3 Super Bowls over 10 years with three different guys, none of whom were anything special. He also didn't have any hall of famers on defense. Pretty impressive.

I have watched and read a lot about Noll, Landry, and Lombardi. They each were very fascinating personalities in addition to being great coaches. Particularly Noll, who interests me because apparently he had diverse interests. He wasn't the all-football, sleep-in-your-office type of today.

What do you think of Shula? Was Halas better than Paul Brown? Who do you think was the Giants' best head coach?

Rank your top five...

If Nate Solder were to get hurt, whatever potential there is in this season could go downhill very quickly.

OK, well, my Sherrard scenario wasn't much of a hook. How about this one:

In 1990, Phil Simms was having his best season, leading the league in passer rating. If he hadn't gotten injured, would the Giants still have won the Super Bowl? If yes, would Simms be in the Hall of Fame?

I've seen A Football Life: Tom Coughlin a few times now, and it never fails to get me all worked up. It's been uploaded to YouTube now for our viewing enjoyment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US6ECdyK4zM

One of many things he mentions is John Wooden's Pyramid of Success. He told the Giants' players the night before Super Bowl 46 that in his later life, Wooden replaced "Competitive Toughness" with "love." I find the pyramid interesting; as a longtime teacher and youth coach, I am often thinking of what values are important to promote in young people. What do you guys think of it? What would you add or subtract?

I listened today. I was impressed with the clarity of the audio. Well done! I don't really follow the draft, so Ceri's opinions are always very informative. Thank you.

Apparently this is a scanned copy of Sean Payton's playbook from the 2000 season. Seems legit. I downloaded it last year and have scanned through it a couple times. Pretty interesting stuff.

http://www.footballxos.com/download/2000-ny-giants-offense-pdf/

Sometimes a random game or player from the past will pop into my head and I'll start playing the what if game.

Here's an example: If Mike Sherrard hadn't broken his leg in 1993, would the Giants have won the Super Bowl? It seems to me the one piece that team was missing late in the year was a legitimate deep threat. I can just imagine Simms hitting Sherrard in the back of the end zone against the Cowboys, locking up home field advantage. What do you guys think?

This was very cool, Zeph. You time and effort are appreciated.

Very informative. Thanks.

Listening now and enjoying it.

I especially liked Pat's insight into the CB situation and Michael Hunter being a guy to watch. I love hearing that Spags is finding new diamonds in the rough with high football IQs; remember how effectively he utilized Kevin Dockery in '07-'08?