How even-keeled Tom Coughlin kept Giants from desperation

Tom Coughlin Photo: Getty ImagesTom Coughlin did not believe it to be true but he knew he was powerless to stop the condemnation from flowing onto his players if, collectively, the Giants could not stop their losing ways.

Coughlin did not view his team as losers or chokers. But if the players continued to blow fourth-quarter leads and come up smallest when big things were needed most, even the most veteran of head coaches could not hold off the abuse.

“I really don’t like all those things that are associated with losing in the fourth quarter in terms of the quality of the men,’’ Coughlin said not long ago, when his Giants were 0-2. “The quality of the men is very good. Sometimes we certainly…