On the defense making key stops early: "(The Eagles) had chances and the defense kept us in it in the first half. We had one good drive there and settled for a field goal. Second half we had a great drive, went down there and scored, defense gets us a turnover, we had a big play to (RB) Brandon (Jacobs), scored another touchdown and all of a sudden we have the lead. We had a couple series in the fourth quarter that didn't go our way. With eight minutes we had a couple chances. I missed (WR) Hakeem (Nicks) high on a third down. On a second down we could have got some yardage and we were a slide away from being right in the game."
On why he dove rather than dive: "No reason, I have to slide. Sometimes you're just going with your momentum and you're trying to get us much yardage as you can and you're just kind of running and it comes to the point where you don't want to slow down, or maybe it's too late, and you just go down the fastest way you know how to. It has happened to me before, I just got to not worry about the yardage, we already have the first down and I need to go feet first and move the chains."
On whether or not he thought it was a fumble: "No, I didn't think anyone touched me unless someone got a foot or I kicked up or something, but I knew no one hit me. When I hit the ground the ball popped up."
On whether he is comfortable sliding: "I always slide, sometimes you are trying to get yardage and trying to do as much as you can. I had a lot of running room and you are trying to get as much as you possibly can, maybe you spin some more, and it kind of comes to the point. I'm not the best spinner and I had a couple guys coming at me and I have to go down and it comes to the point where it is too late to just go down and slide and you have to take the hit, so you just go down the fastest way you can and if you do that you have to hold on to the ball."
On whether the personnel changes made things trickier: "Not trickier. (WR) Derek Hagan came in and got a touchdown, he did some good stuff, and he has been in this offense before the last couple of years he played. Philadelphia did a good job, they had a good plan for us and they played hard and they did a go0d job mixing up the coverage. They did a good job against our running game and, again, we had chances. We were playing well, they are a good team, and we had chances in the fourth quarter to go down, they had the lead and we had a chance to go down and tie the game up and see what happens from there, but obviously we didn't do that."
On what was going through his mind during the fumble and challenge: "I was just hoping that a guy happened to touch me, or that my leg kicked up and touched a hand or anything. That's all I was hoping for, but after that there was still time and we still had two timeouts left after the challenge and the two-minute warning, so I was just hoping that we could get the ball back and give yourself a little chance."
On how turnovers are becoming a recurring theme: "Well, if we want to go anywhere we have to fix it. I have to stop the turnovers. The interceptions are obviously a problem, they are adding up. Some of them you can control and I don't feel like I am forcing them into tight spots. (CB) (Asante) Samuel jumped one and the next one it was kind of tipped, I didn't see exactly what happened, if it tipped off of a helmet or if he just tipped it up and got it. Some of those are just good plays by the defense. I don't feel like I am forcing it into crowds or making arrogant throws."
On losing a big game: "Obviously it was a big game and we were playing Philadelphia for a chance to take a lead in the division at this point, but again it is not the end of the world. We still have a lot of football left, a lot of divisional games left and we have to find ways to bounce back, to get back to playing better football. We have things to fix. Obviously we can't afford to turn the ball over. The defense did a good job holding them to field goals, and one that got blocked, but we can't afford to make mistakes."
On what he though would have happened if he did not fumble: "You never know, you can't really 'what if'. Obviously we were close to the end zone and we'll never know if we go in and score or if they buckle down and stop us, but it is a first down and we still have a shot and that is all you can ask for. You want a shot to win the game at the end, we had a shot, and we didn't take advantage of it."
On whether or not this team can bounce back: "Well, we can fight through it and we have talent and we fought through it tonight. We hung in there. When we needed to make plays, we did that. When we needed a drive in the second half to get it within a touchdown we went in there, had a long drive, converted on third downs, and did a lot of good stuff. Put some pressure on Philadelphia, all of a sudden our defense gets a turnover and we take advantage and go down there and score again. We had some momentum going, but we didn't take care of business in the fourth quarter. We didn't win the fourth quarter and that is what it came down to."
On whether Coach Coughlin said anything about his fumble: "Yea, I know my mistake and I just have to get it through my head. Slow down, don't worry about the yardage, I got the first down, I need to go down and go from there."
On if he is comfortable with the mechanics of the slide: "Yes, I have slid this year and I have slid a lot. I think every time I have run this year I have slid feet first except for this time."
