He looks the same, still sports that ever-present facial hair growth that never quite materializes into a beard but stops short of clean-shaven. Maybe a few extra flecks of gray are present.

Kurt Warner also acts the same. Amiable, humble but subtly confident, exuding the natural leadership vibes teammates easily pick up on. He sounds the same, is the same height and weight.

Yet Kurt Warner has undergone a dramatic transformation in his brief time with the Giants. He’s behind center in the same position he manned so exquisitely for the Rams, but that’s where the similarities end. Warner the quarterback now bears little resemblance to Warner the quarterback then.

Oh, the quick release is still there, as well as the pinpoint accuracy and that little wobble on the football that will never be confused with a picturesque pass. Watching him operate, though, and studying his statistics reveal stark differences. Consider them the necessary adjustments of working for Tom Coughlin.

“That’s, quite frankly, how we play,” Coughlin explained.

“The mentality of playing the position for me has changed a little bit,” added Warner.

How the Giants play is not the way the Rams played when Warner was winning one Super Bowl and two MVP awards. First for Dick Vermeil and then for Mike Martz, Warner was the triggerman for the Greatest Show on Turf, an attack that sent the ball coursing through the air, an offense based on speed and precision that rang up yards and points like a pinball game. Force the ball into coverage? Sure, why not? Risk an interception? We’ll get the ball back soon enough. The goal was to set a frenzied pace, and it worked magnificently.

With the Giants, Warner’s priorities had to adapt to the specifications Coughlin demands out of his quarterback.

“Obviously we’ve stressed awfully hard taking care of the football,” offensive coordinator John Hufnagel said.

If low-risk leads to low-reward, so be it. Ball security is paramount. Keeping his team out of bad situations is more important than putting them in spectacular shape. Warner heads into tomorrow’s game against the Lions at Giants Stadium having made an impressive and successful metamorphosis. He has been safe and the Giants aren’t sorry.

“It’s something I’ve had to change with my mentality of playing,” Warner said. “That’s been one of the biggest challenges, but it’s also rewarding to come into a new system and play the game differently but still play it successfully.

“With our philosophy, we don’t just drop back every snap and throw the ball down the field. We have to be efficient with the football, we have to take care or it and put together drives. That’s the key for what we do and what my role is on this team, to make all the plays that are there to be made but never force things, never put us in a bad situation, because we’re not at the point as a team where we can just overcome a bunch of mistakes.”

Warner is the NFL’s only starting quarterback to have thrown just one interception. His completion percentage of 64.6 is not up to the 70 percent goal he sets for himself, but it’s certainly acceptable. He only has three touchdown passes, which seemingly was his weekly output in St. Louis.

Most tellingly, the Giants are 4-1 and Warner has thus far accomplished the near-impossible: He has tempered any and all groundswell to get rookie Eli Manning in the game.