COACH COUGHLIN:  Good afternoon.  We've just completed our normal Friday routine, our practice on the field.  Preparation has always been the real key to success for our football team, and of course we put an awful lot of emphasis on that this week.  Green Bay Packers are an outstanding football team.  They've done so many impressive things over the course of the season in terms of their statistics, where they're ranked, whether it be their special teams, whether it be their defense, whether it be their offense.  They've done an outstanding job under Mike McCarthy and his staff, and they are a very, very worthy opponent in this the NFC Championship game.

        That having been said, our players are extremely excited about this opportunity to go to Green Bay and to play in this game, and we all look forward to wrapping things up tomorrow morning with our routine, our jog­through if you will, our meetings in the morning and then going to Green Bay.

        Do you have any questions?

        Q.  Can you talk about what it's been like, the biggest game for most of these players?  Has it been normal?  Have they been able to get business done?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Well, it has been a very normal week, and one of the things that I think I'm most proud of this group is we do have some veteran leadership that seems to have the ability to bring them into focus even when there's an awful lot going around them, and that's basically what has to happen.

        I think that for the most part we've done that.  Now, there is obviously all this going on around the outside, and I have to remind them once in a while that it's about the game, and what we've done all year long is prepare ourselves for one game, and we've done it each day where the meeting is the most important thing, the practice is the most important thing, et cetera.  So nothing is going to change from that standpoint.

       Q.  You've won nine straight on the road but you're going into a totally different environment, a rabid, crazy environment.  What will you tell them how to deal with that?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  We've dealt with rabid, crazy environments for quite some time, so when you talk about going into a different environment, if you want to pick the weather situation, we've been to Buffalo in that situation.  Now, perhaps not the extreme temperature, but nevertheless a very, very difficult day with rain and ice and snow and wind, et cetera.  So from that standpoint we've done that.

        But we've been on the road, for quite some time, very successful to this point on the road obviously, and there's good reasons for that.  I think we're a team that has good character.  I think we have good leadership, as I've said many times before.  I think our leaders are able to bring our players right back into focus when something doesn't go our way.  We do have some toughness; we've got some mental toughness.  We are resilient; we've proved that many times.  So this is a great challenge going into Green Bay, but we look forward to it.

        Q.  Can you give us an update on Madison, Ross and Dockery?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Madison did not practice today but that's the way they wanted it from a medical standpoint, and I still remain optimistic about him.  Dockery did not work, and we'll rule him as out.

        Who else was it.

        Q.  Ross.

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Ross practiced every day this week.

        Q.  Along those lines would you consider these two teams the most toughest­ minded teams in the NFC?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  I wish I could tell you that I really knew that about the Green Bay team.  I will say this to them, and I told our players this this morning:  Wherever you are, you go down 14 to nothing, you have a couple of turnovers that end up being touchdowns, you're a pretty tough mental team and you do have some outstanding leadership.

        But that's been the story of our team, as well.  I would say that both teams do have that characteristic.

       Q.  Talk about Eli wearing the glove.

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Would you stop?  What is with you (laughter)?

        Q.  He's been practicing wearing a glove.

        COACH COUGHLIN:  He's wearing a glove on his left hand because he feels a little bit more secure with it from the standpoint of the ball and the snap.  If that takes place and he feels good about that on Sunday, then maybe he'll wear it on Sunday.  But whether or not that's a key factor ­­ he didn't wear anything in Buffalo and he hasn't worn anything yet, so we'll see.

        Q.  How have your guys embraced the underdog role?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  We've been the underdog ­­ we don't even talk about that to be honest with you because we're always the underdog.

        Q.  Have you been able to have any kind of contact with Ross or are they concerned with his shoulder?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Yeah, we did some bag work out there and he tackled and he felt pretty good about it.

        Q.  How do you think the youngsters and the veterans have blended together so well with this football team?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Well, I think it's been a real interesting process to watch as you saw the development of our veteran players as they worked with the younger players.  The younger players start to come along, the younger players not even wanting to say anything versus the older player, and then all of a sudden the banter starts to take place as they got more comfortable with one another.

        But I think the leadership with regard to that. Almost at every position has been a real key factor in the emergence of these young guys and the way they've approached the game.

       Q.  Some of the most famous games in history have been played in bad weather.  We remember them almost more for the bad weather than for the games themselves.  Is there part of you that kind of embraces what might happen on Sunday and how the weather might play into that?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  I'm very much preoccupied by the team, by the Green Bay team, but it'll be one of those situations where both teams will have to play through whatever the weather brings, and I'm not going to tell you that I might embrace it or might think that it is something that I would sit back and put on my top five list of things that I'd want to have happen.  But if it does, then so be it.

       Q.  I'm wondering why you haven't discussed it with the team.

        COACH COUGHLIN:  That's wrong.  That's been the perception ­­ for whatever reason that's been said all week long.  It's been discussed with the team.  What has been said is that is a topic that really doesn't need any further discussion because it is what it is, and both teams will play in it.

        Q.  Why haven't you discussed the idea of the underdog with the team as you said earlier?  Do you sense that in a positive way your team plays with a little chip on its shoulder in that role?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Well, I'm sure they're very much aware of the fact that wherever we go, whoever we play, we're normally the underdog.  Now, some of that goes along with being on the road, there's no doubt about that.  But I think we look at that as just one more challenge.  I would say that for sure.

       Q.  You obviously have your blinders on and are focused, but do you think about how big this game is not just for the organization but for the area, the tri­state area?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Well, I always think about New York Giant pride, and I do think about the idea that we represent a great franchise, a great city, the greatest city in the world, so therefore there's an awful lot of people involved and interested in how the New York Giants play.

       Q.  How much time have you spent looking at game tape from Week Two?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  We looked at it, definitely.  We spent a part of ­­ that's a part of our cut­ups, and we spent a lot of time looking at it.  The reason is you want to make sure that you know exactly what took place in that game and then watch how the Green Bay Packers have progressed and how our team has progressed.  And in doing so you formulate your ideas about what it is that is going to be necessary for us to have to do to win.

        Q.  When you look back at that game you didn't have Jacobs available for that game.  How much now, when you look at that, has your running game changed or how much different can it be this time around?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  It's different from the standpoint of you've seen how Jacobs has played, you've seen how Derrick Ward has played, and you've how Bradshaw has played. Ahmad has given us a one­two punch there that does cause people some issues in terms of preparation.  That's how the running game has changed.  Thank God our front five is still the same.  The tight end obviously with Jeremy gone has changed.  But these kids do a good job.

       Q.  When you look back at that Week Two game, do you say we didn't do the stuff that we could have done with Brandon?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Well, I say that to a certain extent, but we look at all those things from both standpoints, what we did well, what we did poorly and what needs to be improved upon.

        Q.  When you go back to week two and you look at how the Packers dinked and dunked their way down the field effectively, it looked like the receivers had a lot of room.  Do you think that was more attributed to the fact that your defense at that point was not comfortable and not confident in understanding the scheme?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Part of it was scheme.  Part of it was the fact that they do, as you say, the underneath game very well, the quick game very well.  But you have to be aware of the fact that it may be one or two quick shots and then boom, and then try to take the ball deep.

        Q.  The mantra all year has been one week at a time, one week at a time.  This week have you ever mentioned the words Super Bowl?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  No, we have a pyramid.  We look at the pyramid.  We know what the top of the pyramid is.  We talk about win one game.  Win one game.  That's what we talk about.

        Q.  The routine you have on Saturday night, the whole rousing speech, kind of getting the final bit of motivation Saturday night, how much for a big game do you try to step that up?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  There's still a conclusion of pulling the week together, and that's all part of it.  Some weeks are different than others.  But this time of the year with so much focus, so much attention, we look forward to that Saturday night, as well, and the players do, as well.

        Q.  Do you go in prepared with what you're going to say?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  There's no question.  You don't walk up and ad lib a whole lot with your team.  You prepare yourself for what they're going to hear and under the circumstances exactly what the message should be, and you want them leaving the meeting that night with a couple of thoughts.

      Q.  Do you save up the best for last kind of thing?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  I might ­­ I start off the week with something very powerful, change it around a little bit during the week, and then say the same message at the end of the week in a different way.

      Q.  Will there be any Lombardi reference in there?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  I don't think so.

       Q.  Is that totally your domain, or would you let others speak?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Well, we've had Greg Gadson speak on a Saturday night, but that's the only time I can think of.

       Q.  Your team has done ­­

        COACH COUGHLIN:  The evening goes in different ways.  It starts with special teams and then it branches off into team ­­ into, excuse me, offense and defense, then it comes back to me.

    Q.  Your team has pulled a 360 in the playoffs with penalties and turning the ball over.  Why is that?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  We did that during the year.  What are you talking about?  We're sixth in the league in penalties, the fewest penalties.

   Q.  The turnovers ­­

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Turnovers I'll go along with you, but penalties, no.

        Q.  Why is that?

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Well, I think the message, the focus, it's very, very clear.  When I stood before the team before our first playoff game, it was the idea of playoff teams that did not turn the ball over, playoff teams that did not turn the ball over won it 86 percent of the time, and I quite frankly told the team that you could end the meeting right here based on this.

        360, good job (laughter).

        Q.  (Indiscernible.)

        COACH COUGHLIN:  Oh, always, always Mr. Mara, always Mr. Tisch.  There's no question about it, how proud they would be of this team.  How proud they are of this team, let me rephrase that.  Those two gentlemen are not very far from anything that we say or do or think about, especially at this time of year.