The Giants will induct three seminal figures from their recent past into their prestigious Ring of Honor at halftime of next Monday’s game vs the Cincinnati Bengals.
Former head coach Tom Coughlin, longtime GM Ernie Accorsi and DE Justin Tuck will have their names enshrined among the legendary franchise’s ring of names of prominent players, coaches, owners and other figures which encircles the inside of MetLife Stadium.
Coughlin was one of the club’s greatest head coaches, winning two Super Bowls and his 102 victories are second in franchise history to Steve Owen’s 151. Coughlin led the Giants to three NFC East titles and five playoff berths. His eight postseason triumphs tie him with Bill Parcells for the most ever by a Giants coach. Coughlin was the team’s wide receivers coach from 1988-90, a tenure that ended with the team’s victory in Super Bowl XXV.
“It is a great honor,” Coughlin said. “I am very appreciative of the fact that the New York Giants have chosen to add my family name to the Ring of Honor which is, as I mentioned historically and I do really appreciate history and understand where I came from and so on and so forth. But to have the family name along with the 42 great names of what is being recognized as the finest Giants of all-time is of real significance to me.”
Accorsi was the Giants’ GM from 1998-2006, after serving as an assistant under George Young for four seasons. In Accorsi’s nine years as GM, the Giants won two NFC East titles, earned four postseason berths, and advanced to Super Bowl XXXV. He was instrumental in hiring two-time Super Bowl-winning coach Tom Coughlin. Accorsi also made perhaps the most important trade in Giants history when he acquired Eli Manning in a draft day deal in 2004.
He is responsible for drafting some of the greatest players in Giants history in Manning, Osi Umenyiora, Brandon Jacobs, Chris Snee, Jason Sehorn, Justin Tuck, Jesse Armstead, Jeremy Shockey and David Diehl.
Tuck was a third round draft pick out of Notre Dame in 2005 who exemplified what is was to be a Giant. played in 127 regular-season games with 90 starts in nine Giants seasons. He was a defensive catalyst on the teams that won Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI, a two-time Pro Bowler, and four-time team captain. Tuck was credited with more than 500 tackle and his 60.5 sacks are officially the sixth-highest total in franchise history. He also had 5.5 sacks in ten postseason games including two sacks in both Super Bowls vs the Patriots.
Tuck, always humble, is overwhelmed by the honor. He feels he does not belong up on the pantheon with the other great names in Giants history.
“I always say it in this regard – to think that I don’t think I deserve to be up there, I’m just recognizing that there was a lot of people that helped me get up there,” Tuck said Tuesday on a conference call. “I do say that I don’t think I deserve to be up there but I also say it in the way of saying, look, as of Monday night my name will be up there. Every time I look up there I’ll never really think of myself in that same category as Michael Strahan or LT (Lawrence Taylor), so on and so forth.”
“What I’ll always think of when I look up in those rafters is guys like Dave Tollefson, Corey Webster, Rich Seubert, all the names of guys that helped me along the way. I don’t make plays; you don’t make plays in football by yourself. You could be the best athlete in the world. You have ten guys that create opportunities for you to do what you do. You’re just another guy. I’ll always look at Justin Tuck in those rafters and think of all the other names of guys that helped me along the way. That’s what I mean by I don’t necessarily deserve to be up there.”
Yes, he does. And no Giant fan will dispute that.