"Not that we want to stress too much about that game at this point because we have moved on, but I think offensively it takes all of us," said McDaniels. "It takes the coaches. It takes the players on every play to be successful. Every game is the same way. If you want to put together 10-12-play drives to go down and score touchdowns, then you need consistency, people to work together, and you can't have breakdowns, whether that be from a coaching standpoint or a playing standpoint. That game was one example of that."
Judging by McDaniels's mannerisms answering that question, he is motivated by the way the offense sputtered in the Super Bowl. He is eager and excited to correct his mistakes, starting tomorrow at Gillette Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Not satisfied with an offense that was nearly perfect last season, the 32-year-old McDaniels spent the offseason tinkering and tweaking and rethinking the playbook to counter any so-called "blueprint" the Giants may have laid down and to find new ways to get the ball into the hands of his playmakers.
"We are trying to do different things with all of our players. You will probably see some things this year that you didn't see last year for Randy [Moss], Wes [Welker], Jabar [Gaffney], the tight end position, and the running backs. That is just part of our growing process."
With his success at such a young age, sometimes it's easy to forget McDaniels is still growing, too. Yes, McDaniels, who officially became the team's offensive coordinator in 2006, has been the primary play-caller since 2005, but he is only a year older than Moss and quarterback Tom Brady.
Still, he is the unquestioned boss of the offense.
"Everybody knows that on our side of the ball he runs the show," said Gaffney. "That's him. He's the man. No questions, no doubts with his age or anything. We know when we come in here and open up our game plan to see what we have going in for that week that he's put in the time to put in the right plays for us whoever we're playing."
