Last modified: Saturday, February 2, 2008 12:13 AM EST Bill Belichick wraps up his final press conference before game time. (Staff photo by Keith Nordstrom) Belichick gives his final thoughts BY MARK FARINELLA / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF PHOENIX - In years past, the NFL would expect participating coaches to pose with the Vince Lombardi Trophy in their hands at the end of their final press conferences of the week. Bill Belichick didn't go anywhere near the thing Friday. Nor did he even look at it, even though it sat on a small table, flanked by helmets of the Patriots and Giants, just a few feet to the right of the podium behind which he stood. Perhaps it was superstition, or perhaps the novelty has worn off now that three of them reside within Gillette Stadium. In any event, Belichick conducted his last press conference of the week leading to Super Bowl XLII much as he conducted his first, claiming that the game Sunday at University of Phoenix Stadium is a big game "because it's the next game." "It's the next game, it's the Super Bowl, it's for the championship, so I can't think of a bigger game than that," he said during the press conference, conducted in the main ballroom of the Phoenix Convention Center and telecast live on the NFL Network. "We're here and that's what we're here for. We worked all year for this game and we're happy to be a participant in it. We're privileged to be in it, and of course it's a big game - it's a huge game. It's a year's worth of work to get here." Belichick covered very little new ground in his last media session, except perhaps to reveal that his relationship with former boss Bill Parcells had lost some of its rancor - until the latter was named the head of football operations for the AFC East-rival Miami Dolphins, that is. The relationship between the two had been characterized as "complicated" in the late David Halberstam's book about Belichick. "That was the way it was characterized then, and I've spent time with Bill more recently since then," Belichick said. "Bill and I shared a lot of success together and I think we'll always treasure those victories and those good times. He's a tremendous coach, he's done a great job, he's had a tremendous career, a Hall of Fame career and I'm sure he'll be there at some point. "Unfortunately, he added, "he's back in our division as a competitor and I totally respect him and his football ability both as a coach and an administrator and a talent evaluator. Now we'll be competing against each other again, and I'm sure it will be very challenging." Regarding another former co-worker, Giants' coach Tom Coughlin, Belichick said there was one basic similarity between him and his opposing coach on Sunday. "We both try to do what's best for our football team," Belichick said, "and coach the players in ways to make them better, whether that be little things, technique things, or whether it be in strategies that will attack the opponent and try to create opportunities for our players. "In the end, as a coach you want to try and put your players in a position were they can succeed and be successful and execute what you're asking them to do," he said. "That either comes with you helping them do it better, or, if you're kind of going up against a wall, finding a way to come up with a system or a scheme that gives them a little more opportunity to do what you want them to do, to do their job and be successful. I'd say those are similarities. As it gets into specifics, that would be game-to-game, a very technical conversation." Belichick offered one last wrap-up of why he believes the Giants will be a formidable foe on Sunday (6:18 p.m.; Ch. 25, 64) "The Giants do everything well," he said. "It's hard to pinpoint one thing. They're a very physical team in all three phases of the game. They're physical in the kicking game, they can run the ball, they can stop the run, they can rush the passer, they're a good tackling team. "The physical element of their play, their toughness, their consistency and their ability to play mistake-free football, not turning the ball over, taking advantage of those turnovers on the defensive side of the ball, not giving up easy plays I think their consistency, their toughness and their ability to make and not give up big plays, those things make them tough to beat," he said. Over the course of an 18-0 season, Belichick said, there have naturally been high and low points for his team. But he gave the players high marks for maintaining their focus and playing at a consistently high level. "Some days are better than others, as you would expect when you have this long of a season," he said. "The players have done a great job this year all season long of coming in, trying to work hard each day, get better that day, prepare for the opponent that we're playing that week and go out there and do their best. "It's not perfect," he said. "It doesn't always work out quite the way we want it to, but they've been very consistent and tried to do their job, put the team first, work hard and pay attention to all the little things that help make them better, so give the players all the credit for that - they deserve it." There were two hot-button topics that elicited dismissive answers by Belichick, as expected. One was in regard to whether the NFL is serious about its efforts to rid the sport of performance enhancing substances. "I'm not involved in that at all," he said. "It's totally run by the league, that's their field of expertise, their doctors and their people, whoever they talk to, however they administer it. That's totally a league-related issue. We don't have anything to do with it. We don't administer the testing. We don't have any control over the discipline or anything else. It's totally a league issue." The "league issue" answer was also applied to a question about the demand by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain why the league destroyed all tapes and notes confiscated during the "Spygate" controversy. It was the last question of the press conference, and the NFL Network cut away from it's coverage as it was asked. "That's a league matter. I don't know anything about it," Belichick said. And with that, the only "league matter" left for Belichick this week was Super Bowl XLII. MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com