Syracuse Football: Tom Coughlin almost bested Bill Belichick once again
Tom Coughlin, Jacksonville Jaguars head of football operations, almost took down Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots in the playoffs for the third time.
Entering Sunday’s AFC Championship game between the New England Patriots and Jacksonville Jaguars, Tom Coughlin was 5-2 against Bill Belichick when both coaches are on the sidelines.
Sure, Coughlin wasn’t physically on the field this time around, but there is no doubt that he was in Belichick’s head all afternoon.
For those who don’t know, the New York Giants, led by their head coach in Coughlin, beat Belichick’s Patriots in the 2008 and 2012 Super Bowls.
Many forget, but these two storied coaches battled against each other in the 1996-97 AFC Championship. At the time, Coughlin was the Jaguars’ bench boss, while Belichick served as an assistant and DB coach under Patriots head coach Bill Parcells. The Patriots manhandled the Jaguars 20-6.
22 years later, Coughlin almost avenged Jacksonville’s 1997 loss, but thanks to another Tom Brady miracle, New England once again took care of things, in remarkable fashion.
Three weeks ago, I eluded to Syracuse Football alumni Doug Marrone and Coughlin flipping the script in Jacksonville, and why I believed they were primed for a serious playoff run. The men in black, teal, and gold were very close to being on their way to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history. Despite the loss, a ton of credit should go to Coughlin, and what he has done with Jacksonville in just one year.
Beating the undisputed Super Bowl favorites twice, and competing with them for the third time is not a coincidence, it is simply remarkable. When the Jaguars hired Doug Marrone and Coughlin a year ago, the two instantly transformed a defense with mountains of potential into a defense that is considered by most as the best football has to offer.
On January 24th, 2016, the Denver Broncos’ defense stunned the New England Patriots by a score of 20-18 in the AFC Championship game. Two years later, Jacksonville’s defense replicated Denver’s, monstrous defensive performance on Sunday, sacking Tom Brady three times.
In Denver’s win, Peyton Manning threw completed just 17-of-32 passes, but threw two touchdowns, and made no mistakes. Today, Bortles completed 23-of-36 for 293 yards and a touchdown. Bortles hasn’t made a mistake all postseason, and that almost proved to be Jacksonville’s oppositions’ kryptonite for the third straight week.
After losing key defensive contributors Myles Jack and Marcell Dareus with 3:35 remaining, and allowing the Patriots to capture the lead with 2:48 remaining, Bortles was unable to do what Eli Manning had done to New England twice, make improbable late-game drives to capture supremacy over the Patriots.
Down four with 2:48, and still having three timeouts, Bortles tried to replicate Manning. Following a quick slant to Marqise Lee for eight yards, he found Dede Westbrook down the sideline for a 29-yard reception. After an incompletion intended for Leonard Fournette, Bortles was sacked for a nine-yard loss and was suddenly on the New England 47 yard line.
After a short play to the right, Bortles’ fourth-down throw was tipped away from Marrone’s former player in Buffalo, Stephon Gilmore, and New England was back on offense again. After two well-defended runs by Jacksonville, the Patriots found themselves nine yards short of a first down. On the next play, a Dion Lewis run to the left resulted in an 18-yard game, and the Patriots found themselves winners.
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Despite the loss, Coughlin and Marrone have built a dominant defensive foundation in Jacksonville that should dominate the NFL for years to come.