Giants vs. Patriots: Why Tom Coughlin Is One of NFL's Most Underrated Coaches

Year after year, a common theme threaded itself through the NFL season—New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin is on the hot seat.

As recently as November, the discussion raged on, after the Giants started the year at 6-2 and then lost their next four games in a row.

However, since Coughlin took over the head coaching job in 2004, they've missed the playoffs just three times and had a single losing season, ending up 6-10 in Coughlin's first year.

But there's been more discussion about Coughlin's supposed shortcomings as a head coach than how successful he's been, and it's certainly not fair.

He might not have the most electrifying personality in a city that demands a certain degree of charisma out of their sports celebrities, and his red-faced grimacing on the sidelines might be off-putting to fans, but Coughlin has had a great deal of success with the Giants and he deserves to be recognized for it.

Coughlin was with the Giants as an assistant and wide receivers coach during Bill Parcell's tenure. He eventually landed a head coaching job with the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars, the team averaging nearly 10 wins a season in their first five years in existence.

Though the Jaguars slipped and Coughlin eventually lost his job, the Giants, under his control, have yet to significantly disappoint, though all of the criticism by the press might make it seem otherwise.

An offensive guru, Coughlin was able to work with quarterback Eli Manning and help develop him into one of the best passers in the NFL. He's always been able to field a high-quality crew of wide receivers and knows how to build depth at the position.

But, most significantly, he has a Super Bowl win under his belt and may find himself with another championship on February 5th, if the Giants best the New England Patriots yet again.

The talk of Coughlin potentially being on his way to losing his job started in earnest in 2007, when the team started the year with a 1-2 record for the second season in a row.

Though the Giants ultimately went 6-2 in the first half of that season, they seemed to falter in the second half and the cries for Coughlin's head again grew loud, before he ultimately led the team to a Super Bowl victory and managed to silence his critics for a time.

In his eight seasons as Giants head coach, Coughlin has a record for 74 wins to 54 losses, and the team has played 10 postseason games, with seven wins.

He's clearly proven to be one of the best and most consistent coaches in the NFL, but yet he doesn't garner the respect given to many of his peers, like the Patriots' Bill Belichick or even the New York Jets' Rex Ryan.

Granted, Coughlin is no Belichick, but he's better than most other coaches in the league. Two Super Bowl appearances make a strong case in favor of Coughlin's ability and proves that his teams aren't just winning in spite of him.

If the Giants win the Super Bowl, then Coughlin can no longer be an afterthought in the league. He's already one of the best coaches in the NFL, even though no one has seemed to notice; should the Giants win, hopefully everyone will.