The New York Giants have had some real down years recently, but the era that preceded this one was their most successful, apart from the Bill Parcells years. Head coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning led them to two Super Bowls in 2007 and 2011.
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And while Manning was one of the quietest, most soft-spoken stars to make it in New York, Coughlin was a whole other proposition. He was a screamer. He was mean. He was hard on guys. He wanted toughness. But he knew the balance he needed to take as well, which allowed players like Manning to thrive in such a heated environment.
The players on the fringes had to take on Coughlin’s gruff nature. If they did, it would ingratiate them with their head coach and his staff. Practice squad player Isaiah Stanback recently talked about how they tried to identify the tough guys among the new players by trying to get under their skin.
“He wanted some goons out there… He wanted some cats that had a little edge to ’em, but wasn’t gonna cross the line. My first week there, again, I got there as a practice squad guy, put my time in. But at this time, I’m a vet. And literally one of the lower coaches comes in and they’re stressing with the cards and they’re grabbing guys. And this coach grabs me and says, ‘Isaiah, get the f over here!'”
This was in 2011, when Stanback would have been in his fifth year in the NFL. That definitely qualifies as veteran status, even if he never played much. Stanback was a wide receiver, but he was only targeted for a reception in five games in his career. In total, he had six receptions for 52 yards and one first down across his entire career. He got a little more work as a kick returner, taking 14 returns for 318 yards from 2007-2009.
Stanback had been a fourth-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 2007, but he never quite latched on. He moved to the Patriots in 2009, then the Seahawks in 2010, before landing with the Giants in November 2011. They didn’t know it yet, but they were in the midst of a Super Bowl season, and the type of fire Stanback exhibited was a big reason why they were going to go all the way.
“I’m like, ‘Woah, player!’ This is like my second day there. … ‘It don’t require all that.’ He’s like, ‘What!’ I’m like, ‘Lower your tone, I’m a grown man.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, real effing smart new guy.’ … And I’m face to face with the quality control coach, and we’re going head to head. Eli’s quiet. B-Jacobs quiet. Victor Cruz, everybody’s like, ‘Oh no, the new cat’s whyling.’ Even though I wasn’t in the wrong, there’s this tiff between me and this coach, and it’s like about to go down.”
Things were broken off, and cooler heads prevailed in that situation. However, Stanback then noticed something funny when he looked over the quality control coach’s shoulder.
“But I look over, over his shoulder, and coach Coughlin’s over there with his arms crossed, just smiling. He’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ And from that point forward, I had his respect, and I had the respect of the rest of the coaches because I wasn’t no punk. I wasn’t disrespectful, but I wasn’t no punk.”
Stanback never made the active roster for the Giants, but he remained on the practice squad through their Super Bowl victory, meaning he got himself a Super Bowl ring. Keeping things fiery at practice was surely a factor in winning that title. That vein of toughness ran from head coach Tom Coughlin at the top down to practice-squad players like WR Isaiah Stanback at the bottom.
