A youngster asked for a picture with Steve Spagnuolo, and when the Giants’ defensive coordinator obliged, the kid not only was appreciative for the photo op, but also something else.
“Thanks for making our defense better,’’ the young boy said.
Spagnuolo smiled.
“I do think it’s important, no matter what level you’re coaching at, especially as you climb the ladder, you make sure you go back at some point and give back,’’ Spagnuolo said Wednesday afternoon at the Big Daddy Youth Football Camp at New Hyde Park (L.I.) Memorial High School.
Spagnuolo in his second go-round running the Giants defense gave back plenty in 2016: His unit allowed just 284 points (an average of 17.8 per game) — only the Patriots gave up fewer points. Nine of the 11 starters return, and even the ever-cautious Spagnuolo admitted this excites him.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say yes,’’ he said.
Spagnuolo also would be lying if he denied feeling a measure of vindication. After his ultra-successful two-year stint (2007-08) running the Giants defense — winning a Super Bowl in his first season — he was brought back in 2015 to fix a broken defense. The results were ghastly — Spagnuolo’s severely undermanned unit gave up more than 26 points a game. Money was spent on an infusion of talent, and last season the Giants gave up 138 fewer points than the year before.
Spagnuolo once again proved his system worked.
“It’s funny, I didn’t feel it in the middle of the season, because all you’re doing is grinding and as soon as one game’s over, if it happened to be a good one, it’s just onto the next one. It’s just how this league is, and you got to put it to bed,’’ Spagnuolo said.
“It wasn’t until the season was over — well, it took a couple of weeks after the season was over, because of the way it ended, nobody was happy with [the playoff loss in Green Bay], we certainly weren’t defensively. But then we had a chance to take a deep breath, yeah, it did feel good. I just believed in what we were doing, I believed in the guys, I believed that was gonna happen. We’ve had a lot of success in this system in Year 2. It’s always been like that, every time I’ve done it.’’
Now it is Year 3 and expectations are high, so high that the Giants can set as a goal attaining top-defense-in-the-league status.
“Listen, the first year I was here in 2015, I didn’t really know what we had, JPP had the accident,’’ Spagnuolo said, alluding to Jason Pierre-Paul’s fireworks mishap. “Last year, we really didn’t know, because we brought in a lot of new people. This is the first year in the three years I’ve been here you feel comfortable, where there’s a comfort level in knowing what we are, who we are, guys working with each other, players with players, coaches with coaches, coaches with players. So there’s a comfort level there. It doesn’t guarantee success, but I think if we stay healthy, we’ll be OK.’’
Spagnuolo battled traffic to attend the camp on Long Island because of his friendship with Rich “Big Daddy’’ Salgado, president of Coastal Advisors LLC Insurance Consultants. The two became friendly through Michael Strahan and Justin Tuck during Spagnuolo’s first tenure as Giants defensive coordinator.
“To bring people like that here, it’s priceless,’’ Salgado said.
“Otherwise I’d be in Avalon, New Jersey, right now on the shore with my in-laws,’’ Spagnuolo cracked.
Soon enough, Spagnuolo will be back at it, in training camp, orchestrating what could be a dominating defense.