It’s been over 30 years since Carl Banks last played an NFL game for the New York Giants, but his voice can still be heard echoing through the halls and locker room at MetLife Stadium. Banks played and worked for other organizations, but his legacy will always be linked to Big Blue. After all, he helped change the culture in the Big Apple and brought home the first Super Bowl in franchise history before adding another Vince Lombardi Trophy for good measure.
In an exclusive interview with Bolavip, Banks reflected on his NFL career and shared his thoughts on the current state of the Giants. Selected third overall in the 1984 NFL Draft, Banks was well aware his draft position would matter little if he couldn’t prove he belonged in the league. Fortunately, he landed in the lap of a great head coach, Bill Parcells, and a young yet meticulous linebackers coach named Bill Belichick, who would go on to become defensive coordinator before ultimately making a name for himself as a head coach.
Banks knows what it takes to win. More importantly, he knows what it takes to win in a market like New York. Four decades have passed since Banks, Parcells, Belichick, Lawrence Taylor, Phil Simms, and company hoisted the franchise’s first Super Bowl, but the lessons taught then remain relevant today.
Although it still feels like yesterday to Banks, he understands that it has been far too long since New York enjoyed success. Banks loves the fact that he is still honored by the organization and will continue to be for years to come. Yet he comprehends better than anyone that fans deserve better than to cling to nostalgia. Perhaps, on the 40th anniversary of the Super Bowl XXI, the Giants will party like it’s 1987 now that John Harbaugh took charge of the team.
Carl Banks sat down for an exclusive interview with Bolavip US.
Banks on Bill Parcells changing Giants’ culture
Bolavip: You were recently at the New York Giants’ Town Hall event. How was that? And what’s it like to still be a part of the Giants organization so much time later?
Carl Banks: It’s always an honor to be a part of the Giants organization. To be able to continue to carry the torch for the legacy that I helped build. So, being a part of that and being an ambassador to what Giants football is and to be someone who was a part of bringing the first ever Super Bowl championship to the organization is quite an honor for me and I am very humbled that they asked me to participate in events like that.
Bolavip: You joined the organization in 1984. They had never won a Super Bowl and had too many losing seasons in a row. You really were a part of the change. What did it take to make it happen?
Carl Banks: Well, it took a culture change. We had to focus on the things that were important, the little things. Coach [Bill] Parcels was in his second year and he was not sure if he would make it through the season if he didn’t win. So, we were all in for him and we wanted to do whatever it took, not only for the coach, but for each other. We wanted to make sure that we held each other accountable and we played a brand of football that was tough, very physical, and very disciplined.
Bolavip: Being coached by Bill Parcels, what did he teach you? What did you take from him, one of the greats in Giants history?
Banks:You used two words, coach and teach. I think the one thing that if you ask any of my teammates, they will tell you [Parcells] was a great teacher as a coach. Our entire coaching staff were great teachers. They taught great fundamentals. They taught us what the important things were in order to create a winner and to be a consistent winner.
And he was very insistent upon that as a coach to make sure that we constantly did the little things right. He was a nag sometimes. He was very persistent in making sure that we did all the little things. We didn’t take any shortcuts. And I’m, again, grateful for that experience because the things that he taught us as a coach were things that I took into life after football, into my businesses, and allowed me to be a great leader in business.
Bill Belichick’s impact
Bolavip: You were also coached by Bill Belichick as defensive coordinator. Did you expect Belichick to have as much success as he did as a head coach too?
Banks: So, I first had Coach Belichick as a linebacker coach and then he became defensive coordinator. He was another person who was really detail-oriented, but he was also a coach who could take feedback and create solutions in real time. So I knew that the way he processed information and was able to transfer that or communicate that in a simplified way that players could go out and be productive, [it all] told me he had the ingredients to be a great head coach.
When he left the Giants and became the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, it was not an easy situation for him. Two years after I left the Giants, I joined Coach Belichick—myself and Thomas “Pepper” Johnson, but Pepper went a year before me—to help convey his message and how winning football was supposed to be played.
Bill Belichick was Banks’ LBs coach before becoming his defensive coordinator in NY.
Cleveland had an abundance of talent and they just didn’t want to adapt to the principles of winning. Having someone like myself and Pepper Johnson, who had been a part of what Coach Belichick was doing and having that success, made it easier for us to communicate with our teammates in Cleveland.
We went on to have two very exciting years and had a historical defense one year. So that kind of laid the groundwork. Those successes laid the groundwork for him to then transition to the Patriots and become the greatest coach of all time.
Belichick’s first-ballot Hall of Fame snub
Bolavip: How shocked were you to learn [Belichick] wasn’t named a first-ballot Hall of Famer?
Banks: I would say I was shocked if I didn’t think all of this was premeditated. I’m more disappointed than I am shocked. I think you have journalists who are on the selection committee that decided to settle grievances in an out-of-context way. There was no way anyone could justly state that the greatest coach of all time should not be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
[Belichick] did not have a lot of favor in the press. He treated everyone equally, but he was just not the used-car salesman that always had a story to tell. He was always about football. So I guess those in the media decided that they wanted to pay him back for that and it just wasn’t the right environment to do so.
The disdain that some in the media and some of his contemporaries had for him. They just thought this was a way to, I don’t know, knock him down a peg or whatever. But it does not diminish his accomplishments. He’s still the greatest coach of all time. Whether you put him in on the first ballot or the last ballot, his record and his résumé speak for itself.
Bolavip: What do you think, does it really matter? First-ballot? At the end of the day, he’s going to go to the Hall of Fame.
Banks: He’s going to go to the Hall of Fame. It is established that he is the greatest coach in the history of the NFL. It doesn’t matter where he goes in. Whenever he does go into the Hall of Fame, he will go in as the greatest coach in the history of the NFL.
John Harbaugh’s arrival in New York
Bolavip: With John Harbaugh just coming in. He gets such a good draft class for the Giants. What do you expect from this head coach who won a Super Bowl, can he be the one who takes New York back to the promised land?
Banks: I am very confident that he can do that. His résumé speaks for itself. He has been a consistent winner. His teams have a profile and they don’t deviate from the style of football that they play. That style of football is similar to the style that I played or that my teams played. They were big, they were fast, they were physical, they were smart. When you look at all of Coach Harbaugh’s teams, no matter who the personnel was, they all fit that profile. That’s why he won so many games.
Bolavip: This team with Harbaugh can really try to imitate or be quite similar to the ones that took the Giants organization to the next level. It has a lot of similarities that the fans, I guess, must be really excited about.
Banks: Yes, [fans should be] really excited.
Bolavip: Do you think the sky is the limit right now for New York?
Banks: Yes. I think they have to stay healthy. But I do believe that there’s a great opportunity ahead for this team if and when they really get the little things that are required to be an elite football team. When they get those things ingrained in them, then you’ll see an immediate shift to a different type of football than you have been seeing the last five, six, seven years from the Giants.
Bolavip: And do you see any player on today’s roster that has a similar skill set or mentality to you?
Banks: Well, I think it’s more about the mentality than the skill set. The requirements of today’s NFL player are a little different than when I played. However, I see a tremendous amount of talent at the linebacker position for the Giants. Each and every one of those players can be elite.
Brian Burns is already an elite player. Abdul Carter is going to develop into something that’s unblockable. I think maybe one player that’s kind of similar to me, because of his ability to play the run, and that’s Kayvon Thibodeaux, but he has a very unique skill set too. Those players [in New York] have an opportunity to really take it to the next level.
Carl Banks praises Arvell Reese
Banks: And then they drafted Arvell Reese, who is a linebacker by description, but he’s going to be such a utility defender. They can do a lot with him. He’s a big, fast kid, but he’s going to develop into kind of an ultimate weapon.
Tremaine Edmunds, who is 6-foot-5 and really good as an inside linebacker. They’ve got players that will have an opportunity to really put their skill sets on display with Dennard Wilson’s scheme because it’s similar to Don “Wink” Martindale’s scheme where guys are playing aggressive and not thinking a lot. That’s going to be to the benefit of guys with their skill sets.
Bolavip: Coming off as a rookie, third overall pick, what’s it like with the expectations set on you? How did you manage them? And what’s your message to this year’s Giants rookie class with Arvell Reese, playing the linebacker position like you did?
Banks: The expectations for me were a little different than a normal number-three pick. I came to the team and they had four All-Pro linebackers already there. So the expectation was high because I had to prove that I was worthy of being part of one of the most elite groups of linebackers in the NFL.
Myself and Gary Reasons were drafted that year and then they traded Brad Van Pelt and Brian Kelley and we replaced them. Once we replaced those players, especially me in particular because Brad Van Pelt was such an incredible football player and he was very close, they were a very close-knit group, people really wanted to know if I could live up to expectations. I didn’t feel pressure in the sense of, ‘I’ve got to prove myself’. The thing that I wanted to do was show that I had what it takes to be an elite player.
Playing alongside Lawrence Taylor
Banks: When you step on the field with Lawrence Taylor, you see instantly that whatever you were doing is not as good as what he is. So you have a barometer, you have a level that you have to strive for in order to get on the same plain as Lawrence Taylor. His effort, his speed, his tenacity. So in order to be an elite player, you’ve got to come close to what he is.
Nobody’s ever matched what he is, but you can come close and you can perfect the things that you do well at an elite level. That was kind of my goal. Once I took the field and practiced with Lawrence Taylor, it was like, ‘I’ve got to be elite at something and perfect my responsibilities.’
Carl Banks during a game with the NY Giants.
Bolavip: What would you say was your eliteness coming from? What did you perfect?
Banks: Hard work. You know, I had the good fortune of being tutored in my last college season by the great Hall of Famer Jack Ham. He taught me some of the ins and outs of playing the position and then from there I incorporated that into my skill set. It was just a matter of implementing it at the professional football level.
I did that and continued to work at it. I continued to study myself and how I could get better at every technique, every little thing, and it made me the most dominant strong-side linebacker during my career.
Working for the Jets and the rivalry in NY
Bolavip: Heading to the other team in New York, the Jets, you worked for them as a director of player development. How was that change from one organization to the other in the same city? Did the fans let you know about the decision?
Banks: I don’t think I got too much negativity from the fans and I think that’s because Bill Parcels was there as the head coach and president. Because he has credibility, I have credibility. We were there to do a job. People probably weren’t happy with it, but they understood why I was there and the respect that I had in New York as a champion and as a person certainly helped with fans not being so angry.
Carl Banks making a tackle.
Bolavip: Is the Giants-Jets rivalry really a rivalry with the NFL’s scheduling of them so in between? Is there a lost opportunity to have a real battle for New York?
Banks: I think the inner-city or inner-state rivalries are not as strong as they used to be. The Jets have to deal with Buffalo [Bills]. That’s their rival. They’re in the division. The Giants have to deal with Philadelphia [Eagles] and Washington [Commanders]. That’s their rival.
Bragging rights for who is the best team in the city is just not determined if you win that game, a preseason game against the Jets. Back when I played, it was more important to the fans, but I think in the last 20 years the Giants have had better teams and obviously have won two Super Bowls since. The rivalry aspect of it just really doesn’t make much sense.
The NFC East rivalries
Bolavip: You mentioned Philadelphia and Washington. Is Dallas really a strong rival? But it feels far away geographically speaking, right?
Banks: The [Cowboys] are a rival, but traditionally for the Giants, the teams that really gave them and give them problems are: Philadelphia. Because Philadelphia is the gold standard of the NFC East. Dallas is striving to be better than Philly, but most in the division believe that as talented as the Dallas Cowboys are, they’re still beatable. They’re a team that you feel you can go in and play and beat.
With Philadelphia, a true rival, you’re striving to be as good as them. You’re striving to knock them off the throne. Obviously you have to respect the Dallas Cowboys because they have so much talent and their quarterback is elite. They have really elite wide receivers, but when you play the Dallas Cowboys, you always find yourself with an opportunity. That’s not always the case when you play Philadelphia. Philadelphia is just so dominant. And so that is where, in my opinion, you kind of define what a rivalry is.
And then Washington has always been that team, ever since I played, that you love to beat. And it’s great competition. You love the competition against Washington. I don’t know for whatever reason. Our fan bases are super respectful of each other while really cheering vigorously against us, right? Washington fans have always been respectful of our teams, but they cheered so hard against us. I think the same thing applies to Giants fans when it comes to Washington. There’s this lovable hatred.
Whereas the Philadelphia fans are just so ruthless, so you want to get to a point where you can knock them out and then have ultimate bragging rights. Eagles fans have vitriol toward everybody. They don’t like anybody.
Banks sees Dak Prescott as the best QB in the NFC’
Bolavip: Being in a division with so many good quarterbacks, like nowadays in the NFC East every team has their franchise quarterback figured out, from a defensive standpoint what’s it like? Do you want to prove it wrong? What’s the message?
Banks: Washington has a very elite quarterback in Jayden Daniels. Dak Prescott is the best quarterback in the conference, not just in the NFC East. He’s the best quarterback in the conference. Jalen Hurts is a very good quarterback and I think doesn’t get enough credit for the things that he can do. And then, now the Giants have Jaxson Dart.
When you have that type of talent at the quarterback position on every team in the division, you have to look at how you can take advantage of other areas. Take advantage of offensive lines. If the offensive line is weak. I think Washington’s offensive line is not the best in the division. Philadelphia had the best offensive line, but with Lane Johnson not there, they took a step back.
Dallas had a really good offensive line, they took a step back a little bit. So, if you can have a defense that can really control the line of scrimmage, you have a chance to neutralize some of the talents of the quarterback.
Bolavip: Do you think the division is truly up for grabs for New York this season?
Banks: Well, it’s up for grabs if you can compete. The Giants have to be able to compete. They can win any game within the division. They have to compete, and that’s something they’re trying to get to. They’re building the right type of personnel that will allow them to physically compete. And then now it comes down to execution.
40th anniversary of Super Bowl XXI
Bolavip: It will surely be a special season for the Giants. For you as well, the 40th anniversary of the first Super Bowl win in the organization’s history. Does it feel that long ago when you hear it’s been 40 years now?
Banks: No, you really don’t think it was that long ago because the memories are always so fresh. I guess when it’s been so long in between really strong seasons, fans tend to reflect back on the great times of the Giants.
Both of our Super Bowls and then the two after that, is where fans really want to see the team get back to. When you don’t have a lot to look forward to, you kind of look back and cling to the good times. So hopefully, obviously those Super Bowls will never be forgotten, but hopefully the fans have things to look forward to as well.
Carl Banks playing for the Giants.
Bolavip: You were named the 17th greatest Giant of all time. What does it mean to you?
Banks: It’s an honor. It’s an honor to be a part of basically the ultimate Giants team. If I’m in that top 20, that’s a beautiful thing. My satisfaction and the happiness that I get is from being part of winning. Being part of bringing the first championship to New York and the fans really approving of the job that you did, the performance that you gave them, the satisfaction that you gave the fans.
That’s the thing that really matters to me more so than where I rank amongst top Giants. As long as I know I gave my best and I was able to help bring a championship to a city that never had one.
Bolavip: You were at the Giants Town Hall with Phil Simms. What’s your relationship with Phil? Do you still talk with one another 40 years later?
Banks: Yeah, Phil and I are really good friends. We still talk to each other. We text, message a lot about things we see in football and we talk a lot of X’s and O’s. It’s a lot of fun spending time with him.
The hardest QBs Banks faced
Bolavip: You played against a lot of great quarterbacks. Who was the hardest one to figure out, to get down or reach?
Banks: Well, I think Joe Montana will go down as one of the greatest of all times and he was very difficult to play against. He didn’t run a lot, but he ran enough. He made great decisions and he’s just a winner. He’s just so talented.
In terms of who was the hardest quarterback to deal with, it’s probably Randall Cunningham because he was a player that you really couldn’t game-plan for. You just had to go into the game and adjust to what he was doing because he was so good and so athletic.
Randall Cunningham throwing a pass.
He was just not predictable on what was going to happen in the game. He’s not like a typical quarterback where you can look at film and say, ‘Okay, we’re going to do these types of things.’ With him, it was just whatever happens on game day, that’s how you would have to adjust. Big headache, big headache.
Bolavip: When you played, was Philadelphia the team you wanted to beat the most, especially on the road? Which was the toughest to deal with?
Banks: Yeah, the [Eagles] were tough. Washington was a team, though, that we needed to beat in order to be in the Super Bowl.
The interesting thing about the era that I played in, especially in the 1980s, there were three teams that won all the Super Bowls except one. It was New York, Washington, and San Francisco. Chicago won one championship in the 1980s [1986] and the rest of the Super Bowls were won by New York, Washington, and San Francisco.
Being that Washington was in your division, you knew that if you could beat Washington, win your division, you had a pretty good chance of going and beating the 49ers or playing the 49ers for a chance to go to the Super Bowl.
Keys behind Super Bowl XXV win
Bolavip: And there was also a team in Buffalo that went to the Super Bowl but couldn’t win it four times in a row. And you beat them with a missed field goal. What’s it like being outside, on the sidelines and knowing your destiny, your fate, and the Super Bowl is hanging on somebody else and you can do nothing about it?
Banks: Well, I was on the field during that kick, but I think the way that game was going, if they hit that field goal, we would have all taken our helmets off, shook their hands, and said, ‘Great game.’
It was just such a hard-fought game. But I think the key to that missed field goal was probably orchestrated before Buffalo even took the field. Sean Landeta’s punt. If his punt was 10 yards shorter and Buffalo started with field position with 10 more yards than they started, we could’ve all done the same thing and they would have kicked the field goal and won it. I think Sean Landeta had a great deal to do with how that series began and how it ended.
Scott Norwood of the Bills misses a 47-yard field goal wide right as time runs out to lose Super Bowl XXV against the Giants.
Bolavip: Does winning bring you together as a team, or do you think the team was already united before you won the Super Bowl?
Banks: Well, the journey brings you together because you have to be really connected in order to achieve anything in sport, in a team sport. You forge a bond where it’s one for all and all for one. We just continue to fight for each other and we become very close as a result of that. That bond is never broken.
In sports, egos come, but I think in order to win, you’ve got to put egos aside. That doesn’t mean you put your pride aside. It doesn’t mean you put your identity aside. But you understand that no one is bigger than the collective. You have stars within the collective and you always acknowledge and give deference to that. But when you have a guy as great as Lawrence Taylor, who was one of the best teammates you could ever have, that just tells you the ego is not part of it.
Bolavip: Did you feel unbeatable whenever Lawrence Taylor was on the field?
Banks: We, as a team, felt unbeatable. Lawrence made us that much more formidable. It was one of the greatest teams of all time.
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH CARL BANKS ON BOLAVIP US:
