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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Deadpan Tom Coughlin swore Wednesday he didn't know Sunday's game in Jacksonville will be his 300th as an NFL head coach. "Really? Thank you very much. I didn't realize that," the New York Giants' coach said. "For a young guy, that's hard to believe, 300 games. I must have started when I was 15." Coughlin is the oldest coach in the NFL at 68, but he often says he considers himself younger than outsiders do because he got into the head-coaching game so late in life. Obviously, with the Giants sitting at 3-8 and about to miss the playoffs for the fifth time in six years, uncertainty surrounds Coughlin's future as Giants coach beyond this season. But he never addresses that issue in-season, preferring to stick to his mantra of focusing on the week and the game at hand to the exclusion of all else. The Giants may decide to move on from their two-time Super Bowl-winning coach, or he may decide to move on from them, but all of those decisions are for January. This week is about the game in Jacksonville and an attempt to end the longest current losing streak in the NFL (six games). But because it's in Jacksonville, where Coughlin served as the inaugural head coach of the Jaguars from 1995-2002, it also is a little bit about reflection, much as Coughlin may try to brush that part of it aside. "We've traveled to Jacksonville before, and I've been very appreciative. The fans have been great when we return back there," Coughlin said. "It will be the same, my family will all be there at the game. I understand it's alumni day, so obviously a lot of emotion going back there. I'll certainly be appreciative of all those things. But just as the Jaguars' will be, our full intention is to get ready to play a game and win a game." Coughlin has a career record of 161-138 in 299 games as an NFL head coach.
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