NFL

Some Giants will watch scoreboard despite Coughlin plea

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(Joseph E. Amaturo )

Tom Coughlin is telling his players to keep their eyes off the scoreboard tomorrow, but that sounds like a hopeless proposition for the Giants’ imperiled coach.

Several players said yesterday that they will at least take a peek at the Bears-Packers updates posted at FedEx Field during the Giants’ pivotal matchup with the Redskins.

“Coughlin told us not to [look], but I’m not going to lie: I’ll be watching,” defensive tackle Barry Cofield said. “I mean, we’re only human. You can’t help but want to know what’s going on.”

PLAYOFF SCENARIOS

Chicago’s matchup with Green Bay is of viewing interest to the Giants, of course, because they need the combination of a win over Washington and a Packers loss to make the playoffs — and, perhaps, save Coughlin’s job.

Coughlin has insisted this week that he won’t pay any mind to the Bears-Packers score, and that’s believable coming from an NFL coach famous for his tunnel vision.

“We’ll play the game, be focused on the Washington Redskins, be focused on a divisional game on the road and whatever transpires will transpire,” Coughlin said.

But that wasn’t exactly the same message emanating out of the locker room, with several Giants agreeing with Cofield that their curiosity is likely to get the best of them.

“It’s natural to want to know what’s going on,” cornerback Corey Webster, who might not play in the regular-season finale because of rib and knee injuries, told The Post. “We’re not robots. The key is to not let it affect our concentration.”

The Giants’ scoreboard gawking won’t just begin at 4 p.m., either. They also will be pulling for the woeful Panthers to upset the Falcons and the Buccaneers to knock off the Saints in 1 p.m. contests, thereby giving the Bears a huge injection of incentive because with a loss by Atlanta, Chicago could claim the NFC’s top seed.

But lest you think the Giants will get distracted by all the attention on the Chicago-Green Bay game, Cofield promised to be responsible about it.

“It doesn’t have to be continuous,” he said, smiling. “I’ll just peek occasionally. Maybe every quarter when there’s a little break in the action.”

The NFL switched kickoff times for several games tomorrow, including Giants-Redskins and Packers-Bears, to heighten the scoreboard-watching. Though that might make for delicious suspense and drama for the viewers, some Giants say it will be excruciating for the players involved.

“You’d definitely rather know what’s in front of you from the beginning than have it be a minute-by-minute thing,” Justin Tuck told The Post. “That’s tough.”

At the same time, Tuck said he is vowing to heed Coughlin’s call.

“To me, score watching isn’t going to help our cause at all,” Tuck said this week. “I have to be focused on winning the football game, and that’s all that matters for us. If we don’t win, we don’t have a shot.”

Tuck’s promised approach might save the Giants some heartbreak, judging from at least one report coming out of Chicago.

According to sources cited by ESPN Chicago, Bears coach Lovie Smith — who has promised publicly to go all out against the Packers — has told several of the team’s rookies and backups to be ready to play tomorrow.

If that’s true, then the Giants could very well end up playing for pride and a 10-win season with no playoff berth to show for it.

After back-to-back embarrassing losses, the Giants know they will only have themselves to blame if that’s how the scoreboard shakes out.

“We put ourselves in this situation,” Cofield said. “We just have to play Giant Football and hope it works out for the best.”

bhubbuch@nypost.com