Will Beatty would not be ready for full contact this season. He was placed on the injured reserve on November 30 with the Giants record being 6-5. The Giants won the Super Bowl this season. Beatty became the first Connecticut football player to win an NFL Super Bowl. In the offseason, during a lifting session, Beatty disrupted the sciatic nerve in his back. The nerve injury sidelined Beatty from OTA's. While allowing his Sciatic nerve to fully heal, Beatty sat out the majority of the pre-season. Due to the detached retina he sustained in the previous season, Beatty received a new helmet,
Warren Beatty points out that Kazan "was the first in a string of major directors Beatty sought out, mentors or father figures from whom he wanted to learn." Beatty, years later during a Kennedy Center tribute to Kazan, told the audience that Kazan "had given him the most important break in his career." Biskind adds that they "were wildly dissimilar—mentor vs. protege, director vs. actor, immigrant outsider vs. native son. Kazan was armed with the confidence born of age and success, while Beatty was virtually aflame with the arrogance of youth." Kazan recalls his impressions of Beatty: He followed his initial film