The Giants are in the playoff hunt because coach Tom Coughlin is doing one of the best coaching jobs of his long and storied career.

So says Tiki Barber, former Giants running back, who did not exactly leave the team on the best of terms with Coughlin.

“This might be one of Coach Coughlin’s best jobs, because I can’t think of a time where he’s had a team that has really lacked a lot of talent like this team does,’’ Barber said Tuesday on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

Barber played three years for the Giants under Coughlin — after his first seven for Jim Fassel — and blossomed into a star running back late in his career. Barber retired after the 2006 season and took some parting shots at Coughlin, though Barber always has maintained he respects Coughlin as a coach and a man.

This season, the Giants are 4-3 and Barber gives credit for the winning record, and first place in the NFC East, to the guy in charge.

“I mean, there are a couple of guys that stand out,’’ Barber said. “[Devon] Kennard is a very good young player, obviously [Odell Beckham Jr.] is as well, and Eli [Manning] is the consummate quarterback and leader for this team.

“When you think about leaders and coaching jobs, you think about the guys who push through the adversity. Now, we saw this start to happen in the preseason. It was like: All right there’s one guy goes down. All right there’s another guy goes down. Oh, this [Jason Pierre-Paul] thing happens, there’s another guy that goes down. This guy is out for the season. And when you start to see that it is easy to just say, ‘All right, this season is a wash.’ Well, the Giants, sitting at 4-3, certainly haven’t washed this season.

“And I know, from having gone through this with Coach Fassel, when Coach Fassel started getting all these injuries the team imploded. So Coach Coughlin is doing an amazing job holding this team together and most likely going to win the division because of all the lack of cohesion in all the other teams, right?

“Dallas has the injury issues. Who knows what’s going on in Philadelphia? They are like a roller coaster. And the Washington Redskins, although playing better, I still think are a couple of years away. So even if it is by default the Giants are going to get to the playoffs, and we all know what happens when Tom Coughlin-coached teams get to the playoffs.”