INDIANAPOLIS -- New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin found himself rehashing a number of hackneyed topics in his first press conference with the media after arriving in Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI.
Among the topics discussed, his coaching tenure with Patriots coach Bill Belichick back when the two were assistants in New York, and how Giants quarterback Eli Manning has responded to being ridiculed after calling himself an elite quarterback.
On Manning: "I think the best thing is that I can say to answer that question was [Eli Manning's] response when asked probably the 100th time about that whole situation," Coughlin said. "He said look, 'I'm trying to be the best quarterback that I can possibly be and help our team to win.' I thought boom, that's the answer. I congratulated him on his response. I told the whole team about it.
"He's never been anything less than Top 1 for me and that's all I care about."
Added for some finality.
"He is an elite quarterback," Coughlin said. "Period."
On his time coaching with Belichick, as the receivers coach while Belichick was the defensive coordinator and secondary coach, Coughlin was more expansive.
"Early on, of course, there was a certain amount of competitiveness about the positions and the interactions of the positions," Coughlin said. "More than that there was a spirit of cooperation. We helped each other. We would act as each other's scout squad. We would take advantage during training camp of any opportunity we were given to work against each other. Whether it would be red zone work, whether it would be 1-one-1, whether it be whatever. We would show him the design that he wanted to see, and he would show us the coverage we would want to see.
"We worked well together," Coughlin continued. "I think it was very good for our staff to be honest with you because our cooperation was outstanding. And both sides, the receivers and secondary, benefited."
Coughlin and Belichick's mentor, Bill Parcells, was a topic of discussion as well.
"What I admire most from Bill Parcells was the continuity, the belief in continuity," Coughlin said. "There was very few peaks and valleys ... And ultimately, anyone who was around Parcells for any length of time, [learned] how to win."
The Giants come to Indy a day later than the Patriots, mimicking their schedule in 2008 when they played the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, a 17-14 win for the Giants. It's a schedule that Coughlin thinks works, allowing for his team to get enough time to acclimate to the surroundings before getting into practice Wednesday.
"You'll see [the players] walking around now, finding their way around," Coughlin said. "That'll all be taken care of by Wednesday."