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Tom Coughlin walked into the morning meeting yesterday and laid it all out for the Giants, told them specifically what is at stake in Sunday’s regular-season finale. The microscopic chance the Giants have of squeezing into the playoffs was not the central theme.
“Pride, honor, dignity, playing the game the way we’re capable of playing the game,” Coughlin said. “Finish the season with a game we can all be proud of.”
There’s been nothing to be proud of the past two weeks, as the Giants had their postseason destiny in their hands and fumbled it in losses to the Falcons and Ravens by a combined 67-13. The three-word phrase no team wants the season to be reduced to — playing for pride — is at the Giants’ doorstep as they try to prove they aren’t doormats closing up shop one year after winning the Super Bowl.
“We’re going to find a lot about a lot of guys in this locker room based off this game — their approach, how you go out there and play the game,’’ Antrel Rolle said. “I think we’re going to speak a lot of volume for the kind of caliber guys we have in this locker room.’’
No one knows what comes next, which is the confounding part of this whole unsavory mix for a team that believed it was at its best when the stakes were highest. The Giants are 2-5 since a 6-2 start and the past two games have shaken their confidence. Sure, up next, the Eagles are an NFC East rival but the Eagles are 4-11 and have lost 10 of their last 11 games. Still, the Giants admit they have no idea if they will put up a fight or fade quietly into the offseason.
“Honestly man, I don’t know,’’ Justin Tuck said. “I think a lot of times I sit here in front of you all and I try to [B.S.] an answer to you when I don’t know, but I can be honest with you and say I don’t know.’’
It’s a shocking admission, considering the Giants aren’t eliminated from playoff contention. They need to win and have the Packers beat the Vikings, the Lions beat the Bears and the Redskins beat or tie the Cowboys. They might as well also need Jupiter to align with Mars, but a chance is a chance, no matter how small.
“I’m confident that we’re going to go out there and give our all, but a lot of times you can give your all to bring down a wall that’s not moveable,’’ Tuck said. “We have to give our all as a team. That’s something we haven’t done as much as I would like this year.”
Coughlin says he wants to use this final game to “resurrect a little bit of pride here,’’ but this is quite a comedown for a team that a year ago was one game into a torrid six-game tear that ended with the hoisting of the Lombardi Trophy amid falling confetti in Indianapolis.
Three years ago, Coughlin appealed to his team to try to finish the 2009 season at 9-7 after a blowout loss to the Panthers in their 15th game. The plea fell on deaf ears as the Giants went to Minnesota and were buried 44-7. In 2010, the Giants after two straight losses needed all sorts of help to qualify for the playoffs the final week of the season. They didn’t get it, but won their final game 17-14 in Washington to finish 10-6.
Coughlin called this team “a group of outstanding character people who listen to what is said,’’ but he knows leaving this season on a winning note will only do so much. “Will I be proud of the season?’’ Coughlin asked. “I’m proud of the individuals, I’m not proud of what’s been accomplished.’’
A realist, Rolle said beating the Eagles will “take care of that day’’ but it won’t eliminate the bitterness of missing out on the playoffs, if that is indeed the case.
“Will it help the season or make you feel any better about the season? Probably not,’’ Rolle said. “But you know it will make us feel better about that day, understand that, you know, we didn’t go out like chumps.
“If you’ve got pride about this sport, then you know it will be shown on Sunday. If you don’t, then it will be shown on Sunday. It’s that simple.’’
paul.schwartz@nypost.com