Just over a month later, in January 1982, Erhardt was hired as offensive coordinator of the New York Giants by head coach, and former fellow Patriots assistant Ray Perkins, the first since Joe Walton filled the position under head coach Alex Webster in 1973. During the latter portion of that first season, Perkins announced he was leaving to become head coach at the University of Alabama, with Bill Parcells replacing him. Parcells had been Erhardt's linebackers coach with the Patriots in 1980, and kept his former boss in the same position.