Congratulations to Coach Tom Coughlin on His Contract Extension

     He deserves it and I'm glad the Giants didn't do what some seemed to want them to do and make him a lame duck this year.

     Everyone seems to want to hear that he has to win or he's gone but that's not how the Giants have done things and it works pretty well: since 1984 this is one of football's winningest franchises. Its not how the Steelers have done things, or the Patriots have done things. Of course, the Pats have never really had a chance to think about firing Belichick as he wins every year.

    The New York Giants have furnished Tom Coughlin with an added dose of job security.

The team on Wednesday announced a one-year contract extension for their longtime coach, locking down Coughlin through the 2016 season.

    Coughlin, 68, was helped in 2014 by a late-season surge that saw star rookie receiver Odell Beckham catch fire alongside quarterback Eli Manning, helping Big Blue win three of their final four games to finish 6-10. That result marked the worst finish for Coughlin since his first season with team -- another six-win affair -- in 2004.

The two Super Bowl wins in between have bought Coughlin plenty of security from a team that doesn't thrive off knee-jerk reactions. His celebrated run with the Giants marks the third-longest tenure with one team among active head coaches behind just Bill Belichick and Marvin Lewis.

     http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000478366/article/giants-extend-coach-tom-coughlin-through-2016

     For the most part, the teams that have a chance to do something most years aren't the ones changing the coach every year. You always hear that this is an impatient league but in a sense there's a real case to be made that patience is a valuable virtue. Often a team with a bad year one year is on the verge of breaking out the next. 

    Remember that St. Louis Rams team who under Dick Vermeil went 5-11 and 4-12 the first 2 years and then won the Super Bowl that third year in 1999. You can be 'too patient' but I'd say that the problem is usually too little 'patience.' It used to be that the unwritten rule is that you give your coach 5 years to get it done. Now it's 3 years. 

   The Bengals certainly have been patient with Marvin Lewis. He's done a good job overall when you assess his body of work, but back in 2008 there must have been a lot of pressure to fire him in Cincinnati-if not sooner. 

   Starting with 2011 the Bengals have had a winning record every year but have lost the wildcard all 4 years. Another of other coaches have been fired from teams for an apparent inability of their team to win in the playoffs. So the Bengals are remaining patient. We'll see how that works out for them.

   P.S. If nothing else maybe the Bengals have some perspective. Before Lewis cam to Cincy the franchise had gone through a terrible 12 year stretch where the team was 4-12 or 3-13 practically every year.  

   So while they haven't won the Super Bowl under Lewis yet-this is a franchise that has never won a SB-they have been respectable.