Coughlin loosey-goosey this week

Tom Coughlin's Friday news conferences usually are tombstone-serious. He's in game mode, so he'll say a few words on injury updates, answer a few questions with any of his three stock answers -- "yes," "no" and "we'll see" -- and, more often than not, wrap things up quickly.

It's the opposite of the Kentucky Derby, the least exciting two minutes in sports.

But Friday, given a few more questions and a little more time, Coughlin might have started riffing on airline food, reality television or any of the other topics that comedians often mine for yuks.

Coughlin was performing, trading one-liners, making silly faces and exaggerated gestures, even throwing some verbal jabs at reporters and Giants staffers. About 50 hours away from the NFC Championship Game, Coughlin was . . . relaxed.

"I'm not a very good jokester," he said after one of his half-dozen or so zingers. He declined to offer any knock-knock jokes.

So what gives? Why was Coughlin letting loose? Will there be a two-drink minimum at future news conferences?

"I like to think I know Tom pretty well, playing for him the past five years, and I think he's just comfortable with where we're at mentally as a team," defensive end Dave Tollefson said. "For a head coach, you're always trying to manage that mental aspect of the game for your team. You don't want them too high or too low. The leadership in this locker room has done a good job of keeping everybody on the same page, and I think he's just as excited.

"For a 65-year-old man to be jacked up for a game like this, I think it speaks on what this franchise is so excited about. We're in a good place right now."

Coughlin has told his players to enjoy this playoff run, and he seems to be practicing his own advice more this season than ever. Kenny Phillips said that on flights home from road games, especially wins, Coughlin will sit among the players and not up in first class, as many coaches do.

"He's like one of the guys," Phillips said. "After a win, he's normal. We have normal conversations."

Coughlin wasn't always like that. He made a big change in his persona in 2007 and it helped the team win a Super Bowl. This year, he seems to be loosening up even more, perhaps hoping for similar results.

"When the team needs to be disciplined, yelled at, or if things should be tense, he does a good job of doing that," Eli Manning said. "I think he's gotten better over the years that when there's a time to relax and smile, he does. You do see him smile a little bit more than eight years ago when we first came in. We are winning a few more games than that first year, also."

This wasn't the first time this week that Coughlin showed some of his deeply buried personality. On Thursday, he guffawed about the idea that a month ago, people were calling for his job, but these days, they're calling him a possible Hall of Famer.

"I think the last few weeks, he's been excited," Manning said. "That's the message he's had for the players, that this is a fun time. It's hard to get to this position and you have to enjoy it."

Coughlin certainly seems to be doing just that.