The Giants set down in the home of Super Bowl XLVI just before 3 p.m. yesterday. The team is healthy. Most of the game plan is in place.
Now they just have to wait five more days to play the game.
The team immediately boarded buses to the hotel and spoke to the media soon after.
“Once you get to Indianapolis your schedule is thrown off,” said quarterback Eli Manning yesterday afternoon. “I told the guys when we get [here], focus on getting into the game plan. The mindset is this is a business trip and get ready to play our best football.”
The team won’t begin practicing until tomorrow, however. Super Bowl Media Day will take up all of today, and likely have very little to do with the actual game.
Media Day has earned the reputation of being a circus thanks to the amount of media taking part that aren’t from sports outlets. Entertainment shows and publicity stunt reporters hog much of the questioning.
The team is trying to focus on nothing but the game, something aided by their Super Bowl experience. However, while 19 players on the team have played in the big game, key contributors like Jason Pierre-Paul and Victor Cruz have not.
“The buildup to the football game, no matter how you want to present it, is something that these young guys have never gone through,” head coach Tom Coughlin said.
On Bill Parcells
Both Tom Coughlin and Patriots coach Bill Belichick coached under former Giants head coach Bill Parcells.
“He’s always been an exceptional defensive coach, trained by the best, by [Bill] Parcells,” Coughlin said about Belichick. “What anyone who was around Parcells for any length of time learned was how to win.”
