Tom Coughlin has unquestionably softened his dealings with the media in recent years, but he took a poke on Monday when asked, again, about the difficulties of motivating a team already eliminated from the playoffs.
“It’s almost like the media has a series of questions ready to go and as soon as you’re out of contention for that playoff spot, the questions turn to how you have to motivate your team, how are you going to inspire your team, what does your team have to play for,’’ Coughlin said the day after a 23-20 overtime victory in Detroit.
“We’ve had it both ways around here. We’ve had people in that Super Bowl locker room and we’ve had people in our locker room after we’ve had disappointing losses. How do we handle it and what kind of men are we if we are completely opposite and don’t rise to the occasion and meet the bell when things aren’t going well. I take that stuff very seriously.’’
If the season ended today the Giants would own the No. 11 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Depending on how the last weekend goes and how the strength of schedule tiebreakers tumble, the Giants can rise as high as No. 9 or drop as low as No. 15. The Giants haven’t had a top-10 pick since 2004, when at No. 4 they selected Philip Rivers with the sole intention of trading him to the Chargers for Eli Manning.
Coughlin said RB Andre Brown “felt pretty good on the plane last night,’’ but cautioned “of course that doesn’t mean anything.’’
Brown left the game in overtime with a concussion.
Rookie RT Justin Pugh admitted all the criticism of the offensive line after last week’s 23-0 loss to the Seahawks served as motivation.
“I think the way we played last week was something that affected the way that we prepared this week and making sure that we went out there and tried to prove people wrong and play physical, play with a lot of emotion and play with the effort,’’ Pugh said.
After watching every kickoff sail out of the end zone for a touchback, rookie Michael Cox got impatient in OT and took one out from 7 yards deep in the end zone.
“If he doesn’t get to the 20-yard line, we’re all over him, and when he gets to the 49, we’re cheering,’’ Coughlin said. Cox returned the kickoff 56 yards.
The lone interception for Manning was his 26th of the season, which puts him alone in the Giants record books. He had shared the record for most interceptions in a season, 25, with Frank Filchock (1946) and Charlie Conerly (1953).