Mark Cannizzaro

Mark Cannizzaro

NFL

Coughlin testy with three weeks to go

For the better part of the last 14 weeks — even as too late arrived too early for the Giants — the old-school disciplinarian head coach did everything he could to gently manipulate and massage his players in an effort to keep their morale from disintegrating as their playoff hopes deteriorated.

Even in the darkest times for the Giants — through the stunning and debilitating 0-6 start and the season-crushing home loss to the Cowboys three weeks ago which halted the four-game winning streak that had inched them back into the cusp of contention — Tom Coughlin coddled his players more than he crushed them for their poor performances.

But on Wednesday, the weight of a season’s worth of disappointment and the reality of three garbage-time games staring him in the face seemed to come crashing down on Coughlin, who in his morning meeting with reporters appeared more on edge and agitated than he has been all season.

The saltiest moment of his 11-minute press conference came when Coughlin was asked if, with the team officially eliminated from playoff contention as of Sunday’s blowout loss to the Chargers, he planned to take down the Super Bowl “countdown’’ clock general manager Jerry Reese installed in the locker room before the season as incentive for the players.

“I didn’t put it up,’’ Coughlin said flatly, “so I’m not taking it down.’’

Asked if it is still there, he said, “I don’t know. You tell me.’’

For the record, it is not. Reese took it down after the team returned from San Diego, where it was pummeled 37-14 and officially eliminated from playoff contention.

“It has no reason to be up right now. As players we understand what we’ve created here for ourselves, which is not a chance to go into the postseason,’’ safety Antrel Rolle said.

“There’s no need for it to be up right now,’’ defensive end Justin Tuck said. “We can’t reach that goal, so for us we move on to our next goal and that’s just trying to win some football games.’’

Coughlin’s message to his players as they prepare to play the 11-2 Seahawks Sunday at MetLife Stadium was this: Regain your respectability after what took place in San Diego.

“He was concise and forthright in what he wanted to get across to us: Our challenge this week is earning our respect back again within the league,’’ receiver Victor Cruz said. “Nobody is happy to be in this position, so everybody naturally is going to have a little bit of an edge about them. That’s going to come across.’’

It did with Coughlin on Wednesday.

After giving a rundown of the team’s injury report, followed by a detailed scouting report on the Seahawks, Coughlin was asked how he “guards against’’ his players’ disappointment at being out of contention with three games still to play affecting their play the rest of the way.

“I’ve mentioned how this has been handled many, many times,’’ Coughlin said, clearly annoyed he was answering it again. “We are a resilient team and I believe we will bounce back. Mondays are difficult [and] Wednesdays we start to come up. My job has become to encourage, to lift them back up, to point us in the right direction — and that’s what I continue to do.’’

Tuck said the plight of the team “is eating at all of us,’’ because “we’re used to being in the hunt.’’

“We had high expectations for this year and we’re not going to reach those and [Coughlin] is the type of guy that’s going to put all that on his shoulders whether that’s warranted or not,’’ Tuck said.

“We’re all smart adults,’’ center Kevin Boothe said. “We understand what’s happened and the opportunity that’s been missed.’’

Boothe called Coughlin “the best motivator I’ve ever been around in my life.’’

Coughlin’s latest motivational tactic is based on a quiet fear this season could spiral to even uglier depths if the Seahawks come to MetLife Stadium and pound on the Giants.

“The last thing you want to be is embarrassed,’’ Tuck said. “And this is a team that, if you’re not ready to play, will embarrass you … and laugh at you about it.’’

And hasn’t there already been enough of that to go around with these Giants for one year?