When all the practices and meetings and film work are over and done with, when the flight has taken off and landed, when the Giants finally gather together inside their hotel conference room in Appleton, Wis., Tom Coughlin will take the stage.
“This time of the year with so much focus, so much attention, we look forward to that Saturday night,” Coughlin said yesterday.
After inspiring victories, players often hearken back to the message from their head coach the previous evening, and Coughlin takes this aspect of his job quite seriously.
“You don’t walk up and ad-lib a whole lot with your team,” he said. “You prepare yourself for what they’re going to hear and, under the circumstances, exactly what the message should be.
“I might start off the week with something very powerful, change it around a little bit during the week and then say the same message at the end of the week in a different way.”
As much of an affinity as Coughlin has for Vince Lombardi, he said he will not reference him with the Giants set to face the Packers in the NFC Championship game at Lambeau Field, located (where else?) on Lombardi Avenue.
As Coughlin as grown into a more inspiring and understanding leader, his ability to shape and deliver a message also has evolved.
“He’s been getting better, I can tell you that,” linebacker Antonio Pierce said. “The ones before were kind of like bedtime stories. There was too much going on. Half the guys couldn’t relate to it. Now he’s getting up to date, to the 2000 era. He’s been doing a lot of things different each and every week. We’ve had special people come in there and talk to the people, people like that, and he’s had honorary captains. So he’s done things very differently. Of course he says things to fire guys up. He knows what buttons to push with certain guys on our team and I think he understands our mentality right now.”
Former linebacker Harry Carson will be one of the Giants’ honorary captains, but Coughlin did not say if Carson will speak. At times, players currently on the roster are chosen, and one who certainly could get the call is Michael Strahan, who at 38 years old is second only to punter Jeff Feagles (41) in terms of age and, in his 15th season, is the longest-tenured Giants player.
“Basically play loose, have fun, enjoy it, and to be honest with you, it’s just a game,” Strahan said of what wisdom he’d want to impart. “All this stuff, all the media, all the cameras, this is all great. But the bottom line is when we kick off, it’s just football. It’s no different. You can be hyped and it’s going to last for a second, but after that it’s down to just executing it and being smart like we’ve done so far so get us to where we are. If we can realize that and get back to that or start that way, we’ll have a great chance of winning.”