NFL

Giants coach believes team in rhythm

Tom Coughlin not only has the one and only Super Bowl victory of current New York football coaches, he now owns the first playoff victory at MetLife Stadium after the Giants’ 24-2 victory yesterday over the Falcons.

Chew on that, Rex Ryan. As of now, MetLife Stadium is the new Giants Stadium.

It was a day of firsts for Coughlin as he won his first home playoff game as coach of the Giants after dropping playoff contests at the old Giants Stadium to the Panthers and Eagles.

UPDATES FROM OUR GIANTS BLOG

BOX SCORE

PHOTOS: GIANTS ROUT FALCONS

COMPLETE GIANTS COVERAGE

Coughlin is not about to crow. He’s more interested in talking about how the Giants continue to come together.

“They were all anxious to play, they were looking forward to it very much,’’ Coughlin said. “I think it helped to be at home’’

The dream is alive because of how the Giants played defense and ran the football, and because Eli Manning worked his magic. Coughlin’s Giants are a dangerous team heading to Green Bay to face the mighty Packers.

“I think today we played outstanding defense, and that set the tone for everything else that happened in the game,’’ Coughlin said. “If we can continue to play defense like that, we can make ourselves heard in this tournament.’’

The fans were heard yesterday. Towels were handed to the 79,909 fans with these key words: “All In.’’ The Giants are “all in’’ under Coughlin after some rough going. Left tackle David Diehl was quick to compliment Coughlin for having the team prepared.

“You have to lay everything on the line, you don’t want to have any regrets,’’ Diehl said. “We kind of had that us-against-the-world mentality and really banded together.’’

With Coughlin leading the way, staying the course.

“I thought it was great to have a playoff game at home to have our fans as excited to be involved in the game,’’ Coughlin said. “Our players really responded well to it and we are excited that the fans feed the players and the players feed the fans. It was nice.’’