Finish.
"From the earliest part of camp moving forward, every week we seemed to have an injury that, under normal circumstances would've been considered devastating," said Coughlin, whose team won its second Super Bowl title in 5 years with a 21-17 win over the Patriots.
"What happened there, the players fed off of me and I fed off of the players. We all felt bad when an individual would get hurt and couldn't continue. But we never changed our objective, our goal or what needed to be accomplished and what we had to do.
"That was a great statement about our mental toughness. That's what we had to rely on. We had to answer those questions. The next guy had to come along and step up and play well and give you a chance to win. And that's exactly what we did. That's exactly the approach we took."
Giants starters missed 68 games to injuries this season. That's the most in the NFC East. By comparison, Eagles starters missed only 18. Starting cornerback Terrell Thomas and starting middle linebacker Jonathan Goff both went down with season-ending knee injuries in training camp. The guy who started at middle linebacker for them Sunday, Chase Blackburn, was substitute-teaching when he signed with the Giants in late November.
Running backs Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw missed a combined six games. Defensive ends Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck missed a combined 11 games. Left tackle Will Beatty was put on injured reserve in late November with an eye injury. Center David Baas missed five games. One of Sunday's heroes, wide receiver Mario Manningham, sat out four games with a concussion and a knee injury.
