Accorsi, Architect of Team, Sees Bright Future Ahead

If the Giants should somehow pull off a miracle and beat the New England Patriots in this Sunday's Super Bowl, they should immediately form a circle, drop to one knee, and thank God and their former general manager, Ernie Accorsi — and not necessarily in that order.

Accorsi, who retired in January last year (to be replaced by Jerry Reese), is responsible for drafting Osi Umenyiora, Chris Snee, Brandon Jacobs, and, most notably, trading for Eli Manning on draft day. (He also drafted Jeremy Shockey, who, though injured and out of the game, helped get the team this far.) He picked up Antonio Pierce, Plaxico Burress, Kareem McKenzie, and Fred Robbins. He also hired head coach Tom Coughlin and stuck with him despite intense pressure from certain writers at The New York Sun for his dismissal.

He doesn't take all the credit for that last item. Give John Mara (son of late owner Wellington Mara and current CEO of the team) the credit for that. "The way the media was pounding on Tom, it took a lot of guts for him not to have fired him," Accorsi said in a recent interview.

Not that there weren't times when Accorsi had his doubts. After Coughlin blew a precious timeout in a 2006 loss to the Chicago Bears, Accorsi told his coach that Chicago coach Lovie Smith "didn't second-guess you, he first-guessed you. He first-guessed the hell out of you."

What happened to turn Accorsi's opinion around and the Giants into Cowboy and Packer slayers? Several things, Accorsi replied. "Beginning with Tom's realization, after turning 60, that he had it in himself to change and evolve. But I think what happened is that coach and players got mature together. Like Antonio Pierce said, 'He [Coughlin] hasn't changed that much. We have.'"

No Giant has changed as much as Eli Manning, who went in a matter of weeks from one of the most widely inconsistent quarterbacks in the league to a road killer, ripping through the Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Green Bay defenses without throwing an interception. "I guess I'm responsible for a lot of the scrutiny on Eli," Accorsi said. "Much of the pressure put on him was my fault because of the trade."

"The Trade" is the 2004 draftday swap of quarterbacks with San Diego. When the smoke cleared, the Chargers had Philip Rivers (who got San Diego to the AFC Championship against New England this year) and draft picks which San Diego used for Pro Bowl linebacker Shawne Merriman and kicker Nate Kaeding, as well as a number five pick which the Chargers cashed in to get tackle Roman Oben from Tampa Bay. "The trade" and all its ramifications has provided almost as much sports talk show fodder in New York as Alex Rodriguez and Isiah Thomas.

"You're asking me if I would do it again?" Accorsi said with a laugh. "Yes! Yes, again! I stand by what I said. Eli is the best of the three quarterbacks" — in addition to Rivers, the Giants could have used their pick to acquire the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger — "or he soon will be. I believe he's just now coming into his own. A lot of great quarterbacks took some time to develop — Terry Bradshaw wasn't great for his first two seasons. I think Eli has developed faster than Bradshaw, and Terry won four Super Bowls. Everybody's clock runs on different time."

Manning was far from the only controversial selection Accorsi made during his nine years as the Giants' GM. He first saw Jeremy Shockey in 2001 when the Miami Hurricanes beat Penn State, where he had once been a sports information officer under Joe Paterno. "My first thought when I saw the guy prancing in the end zone was 'I hate him, but what a player!' We had a psychologist working for the Giants who told us 'You can't draft him, there's something drastically wrong with him. I'm not going to let you draft him,'" Accorsi said. "I borrowed a plane from the Tisch family [coowners of the Giants] and flew down to check him out. When it came his turn to run the 40, I ran alongside him for a couple of seconds to get into the best position to watch him. He thought that was pretty funny. He drove me around his little hometown in Oklahoma, and we ate barbecue together. I liked him."

The Giants drafted Shockey and got rid of the psychologist.

Jerry Reese, Accorsi's successor as GM, has had a banner year, acquiring a runner, Ahmad Bradshaw (23 carries at 8.3 yards a carry) who helped plug the gap left by Tiki Barber's retirement, and a tight end, Kevin Boss (nine catches at 13.1 yards a grab), taking the sting out of losing Shockey to a broken leg. He also chose a gem of a cornerback, Aaron Ross (who wound up with 42 tackles and three interceptions). Did Accorsi give Reese any input before the draft? He refuses to take any credit.

Accorsi is an all-sports enthusiast with an encyclopedic memory. His first sports love was his hometown Hershey [Pa.] High School team, the Trojans, of 1952 and 1953. "They had two ties, 6–6 and 0–0," he recalled, "against the Milton Hershey Spartans."

"The best game," he says, "is baseball. But professional football is the best-run game." The bestrun sporting events are, he thinks, "The Masters golf tournament and the Atlantic Coast Conference basketball tournament."

Best running back of all time? "Jim Brown."

Toughest men he's ever known in football? "A tough question. Off the top of my head, I'd say Johnny Unitas and Joe Paterno."

Greatest sports memory? "Oh, there's too many to get into one question. Jim Brown scoring five TDs, Jack Nicklaus's record-tying 64 on a Saturday in the 1965 Masters, Secretariat coming down the home stretch at Pimlico."

Greatest football teams of all time? "The Steelers from 1975 through 1979. The '62 Packers are a close second."

What about the 2007 New England Patriots? "That one's on hold. Ask me in a couple of weeks."

After Accorsi's last game in New York, a 23–20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, he, according to Tom Callahan in the book "The GM," told the team: "You're good kids. Stay together. Trust each other and be good teammates to one another. I believe there is a championship in this room. I won't be here with you, but I will be cheering for you. Thank you for giving me a lot of great moments."

What if the championship Accorsi saw then isn't in this edition of the Giants? "It's in them. I saw it. And iftheylosethisyear, they're a young team. They'll get better next year, the Patriots won't. The Giants are the team of the future — heck, they might just be the team of the present, too."

Mr. Barra is the author of "The Last Coach: A Life of Paul 'Bear' Bryant."