Tom Coughlin and the Giants are the toast of New York after Sunday's Super Bowl win over the Patriots. (AP)

With the Giants completing their full transformation from 7-7 and on life support Dec. 17 to Super Bowl champions Sunday night, the New York media reflected on what the game meant for the teams and players involved in the win.

For several New York writers, individual legacies were forged last night, at least for the Giants.

Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post writes that, now with his second career Super Bowl notched, Giants coach Tom Coughlin should now be a lock for the Hall of Fame.

Wrote Vaccaro: He’s been up and down and over and out, time and again, yet now, after this, after these two improbable championships, there is little question that whenever Coughlin decides he is done — and that will be entirely his decision now, make no mistake — he will take the passing lane to Canton, to the Hall of Fame, to a bronze bust and immortality. In so many ways, this was the season he came as close as he ever has to channeling his hero, John Wooden, the old UCLA basketball coach. As late as Saturday night, gathering his team for one last meeting, Coughlin preached an old football psalm.

One last time, he told them, “Championships are won by teams who love one another. Just like this team does.”

Continuing with the praise for Coughlin, Hank Gola of the New York Daily News feels that Coughlin and the Giants coaching staff, for a second time in two Super Bowls, managed to outcoach Bill Belichick and the Patriots staff.

Wrote Gola: Bill Belichick played rope a dope Sunday, nearly sending another game plan to the Hall of Fame. But all it took was for Eli Manning and Mario Manningham to land one late punch, an example of that perseverance that carried the Giants to another Super Bowl championship.

“They were going to play it very conservatively defensively,” offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said after watching another game-winning drive. “They were going to see if we had the patience and discipline to throw the ball underneath and run quite frankly, we had some chances but we shot ourselves in the foot. We thought if we could stay close, we’ve been very good in the fourth quarter.”

After causing a stir in the postgame Sunday night by declaring that the Giants “decapitated” the Patriots, Brandon Jacobs made another bold proclamation when he said that Manning, now with his second career Super Bowl victory, is the best quarterback in the NFL in an article by Steve Serby of the Post.

Wrote Serby: Brandon Jacobs sang the ballad of Eli Manning.

“Eli Manning is the best quarterback in the National Football League, hands down,” Jacobs said last night after the Giants’ 21-17 Super Bowl XLVI victory lover the Patriots. Know why? Because everyone always says, ‘You’re not this and you’re not that until you win the Super Bowl.’ Even after he won a Super Bowl, people started giving him a little more credit. But now he’s got two. So does this make him the best quarterback in the National Football League?

“Drew Brees is a great quarterback, he’s at home. Aaron Rodgers is a great quarterback, he’s at home. Tom Brady’s a great quarterback, he’s at home. Eli beat him twice (in the Super Bowl). You guys ask Tom Brady that and I bet he’ll tell you the same thing. Eli’s a beast. Eli’s an animal.”

Shifting the focus to the other side of the ball for the Giants, Jim Rich of the Daily News writes that Brady was not able to figure out a strong and persistent Giants defense.

Wrote Rich: Brady wasn’t a deity, but he was close. The Patriots’ three-time title-winning quarterback completed a Super Bowl-record 16 passes across the second and third quarters, and threw for 276 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. In the end, though, he couldn’t close the deal against Giants for the second time on the biggest stage.

“We don’t put anybody on a pedestal,” said linebacker Michael Boley, who led the Giants with 11 tackles. “We are all equal in this league. If people want to put him on a pedestal, we are there to try and knock him off.”

The Giants executed the game plan they had boasted about for the past two weeks: hit Brady hard and often. They sacked him twice and knocked him down eight times.

In addition to Vaccaro declaring Coughlin a Hall of Famer, Serby feels that his second Super Bowl win puts Manning in prime position for a spot in Canton.

Fellow Post writer Mark Cannizzaro notes that not even the embrace of his supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen could ease the pain for Brady after his second consecutive Super Bowl loss.

Harvey Araton of The New York Times takes a look at how Manning’s quiet leadership helped the Giants prevail.

And moving away from what took place on the actual field of play, Jay Lustig of the Newark Star-Ledger examines and offers a take on the obscene gesture from rapper M.I.A. during the Super Bowl halftime show.