Opening Comments: "Alright, injuries – (WR) DeSean Jackson has a foot contusion. He was stepped on about the third or fourth play of the game, mentioned it at half-time, so that's why he had the boot on after the game when you saw him. (T) King Dunlap is getting better with a concussion. He did not pass his impact test last week, so we'll get him another one this week and see how he's doing. (WR) Jeremy Maclin is getting better with both the hamstring and the shoulder strain. He actually ran this morning, so that's a good thing. (CB Dominique) Rodgers-Cromartie is making progress with the ankle, high ankle sprain. (QB) Michael (Vick) feels a little bit better with the ribs, but again, we'll just take that day-by-day, see how he does. If he had to play today he wouldn't be able to play.
"(DE) Brandon Graham had a rib contusion, and again, is making progress there. The game yesterday was the epitome of NFC East game, tough, hard-nosed. The guys are sore today, I'm sure (New York Giants Head) Coach (Tom) Coughlin would be telling you the same thing. It was a physical, physical game. I was proud of the way our guys handled it, in particular both fronts I thought had big challenges, the offensive and defensive line. I thought the coordinators had good game plans, the coaches executed their part well, and then the players executed their part well. It was good to see (QB) Vince (Young) in action.
"There are a few plays he would like to have back, but for the most part he stayed aggressive, he continued to fire when called on, and made some good plays down the stretch. That 18-play drive, with the six third down conversions, was special. In general I just think the attitude of the football team was good, and I'm talking about coaches and players when I say the football team. The guys, they pulled it together in a tough place to play and came out on top."
On whether he plans to go with Vick as soon as he is healthy: "Yes."
On how he would say Vick improved over the weekend and whether he'll be okay by Wednesday: "We'll just see, see how it goes, take it day-by-day here."
On whether Jackson's injury is serious: "I don't think so. It's sore today, but it's not a Lisfranc or one of those things. It got stepped on. It's tender. He came in early this morning and got treatment, so we'll see how he does."
On whether he is more comfortable with not needing to rush Vick back after Young's performance last night: "Well, I felt that way going in. I don't have a long history with Vince, and I felt confident that he would be able to be successful, knock a little of the rust off, get kind of caught up with the game speed and then be okay, and then I also have confidence in (QB) Mike Kafka. So that allows us to do that, although that's what we normally do anyway. We're not going to put a guy out there if he can't play."
On whether he allows himself to look at the big picture of being 4-6 and two games back in the NFC East and what they have to do the rest of the way: "I don't think you can do that right now. I think you have to just take it one game at a time. There's not enough time or energy to worry about all that stuff. You kind of control what you can control, and that's getting yourself ready to play the New England Patriots, who are a good football team. And so I think if you get into all that other stuff you can drive yourself crazy."
On whether he has considered leaving CB Joselio Hanson in the nickel spot even when Rodgers-Cromartie is healthy after the game he had last night: "I'm not anticipating DRC back for a while here, so I would tell you that Joselio did do a nice job, but DRC is a good player too, so keep them all out there. That's a good thing."
On whether he had considered switching from Rodgers-Cromartie to Hanson in the nickel position over the last few weeks: "Well, you saw where he was playing a little bit more, and then we moved DRC outside, and gave him some reps out there, and moved (CB) Nnamdi (Asomugha) around a little bit. So, (Defensive Coordinator) Juan (Castillo)'s done a good job of kind of positioning guys and moving them around. We've got some talented players there, and I'm counting (Hanson) in that, so you want to use them all if you can."
On whether he addressed the fourth quarter issues the team has been having with the players before the game or last night when the game was tied up in the fourth quarter: "Well listen, they know. These are smart guys, so they know that we've struggled in the fourth quarter. There's not a lot you have to say. It's just important that you maintain your energy through it, and that you don't put so much emphasis on it that you start doing things crazy as far as penalties and turnovers, and so on, and that the coaches, they give the players the calls and they know they can execute."
On what he thinks was different last night that made it a good fourth quarter: "Well, you know I said this last night, I thought everybody realized that they were in the fourth quarter and they all kept their energy level up, not that they hadn't before, but they kept their energy level up and made plays."
On whether he had seen anger from the players about fourth quarter leads: "I can't tell you they'd be happy. Nobody is happy giving up fourth quarter leads. There's an anger, but there's more of a want-to to get it fixed. Those are the things that drive you as coaches and players. You've got a problem? Let's go solve the problem."
On telling the team to relax, let their personalities to come out, and to have fun, and whether he thought the team was getting too uptight: "Listen, we have a lot of great personalities in the room, and a lot of good football players. And coaches for that matter. So, we're all in this thing together, so let those personalities show, right?"
On whether he felt that players were not showing their personalities because of the losses: "I mean if I said it I probably sensed it."
On whether he wonders how the team got to this point, 4-6, after last night and beating the Cowboys 34-7: "You know what, I never go there. I've already knocked out this game here, the Giants. We've looked at it, reviewed it, now I'm on to the Patriots. So, by the time I get in here I'm well into the next team. There's just no time to do that. Or, does that really help you win? I mean, does that help win the next game? It doesn't help, so you get rid of all that junk and then you concentrate on the things that can help you win."
On whether the excellent protection was the result of doing something differently and having extra players in protecting, or whether it was just the front five: "Well, you've got to give credit to the front five. There were enough times when they had to single it up and block the guys. Like I said, I thought both sides, both the O-Line and the D-Line I thought stepped up, against quality opponents in that one-on-one battle they each had. I just thought that they played well, and that helped us as the game went on."
On what the 18-play drive was like from the sideline, and whether he was conscious of how long it was, and whether he was counting all of the third down conversions: "Well, I wasn't counting the first downs, but I do check the clock every play, you've got to do that, I mean, that's all part of it. And then you're always thinking the next play, you're trying to stay a play ahead of things. (Offensive Coordinator) Marty (Mornhinweg) did a nice job with the calls, and Vince and the offense did a nice job of executing them, but we were aware that time was coming off of the clock, yeah."
On the extraordinary length of time the drive took: "Am I going to tell you we had that planned? No, I'm not telling you that, but you are aware of it. That part you're aware of because you're always checking both clocks up there."
On whether he gets those 'wow' moments on the sideline, like when WR Jason Avant made his spectacular catch, and whether he even gets lost in it for a second to appreciate it while it's happening: "That was a wild catch, but we got hurt on it. I believe (G Evan) Mathis got hurt on that play. It was like sweet and sour pork, right? You just had a great play and then somebody got hurt."
On the conflicting reports over whether Graham has a swollen knee or a rib contusion: "He did have a little bit of swelling in the knee, which isn't unusual, but he also took a shot in the ribs, where he got hit, so that was bothering him. Really, I was probably backing off more for the leg than anything. Right now you figure he's into his third week of camp, so that body's hurting. So you back up a little bit and just kind of let him catch up here."
On whether the shorter plays during the long fourth quarter drive was by design: "No, not necessarily."
On why Jackson was more involved in the offense: "Just what they were playing, so it kind of worked out that way."
On whether he was surprised that happened with Maclin out: "Not necessarily. Listen, he made a nice play there at the end, that one where he caught it short of the first down and then breaking a tackle. He did some nice things."
On what makes RB LeSean McCoy such a dangerous player late in the game, even if things haven't gone too well for him early: "Well, what teams end up doing, you get down into that area when you're in your four-minute offense and running it and they want to get the ball back, they'll bring a lot of people up on the line. So, if you break that level one then you've got room to go. It's just a matter of getting a body on a body, so you credit the offensive line and tackles, and when there's a fullback in there, the fullback. And then he's patient enough to allow that to happen. A lot of guys will rush in there and won't allow the linemen, the blockers to get a nice fit on their players. So, he's patient enough to do that and then you don't have to give him a lot of room. When he hits it, he hits it."
On what the message is that McCoy's 60-yard run came on his 23rd carry: "Well, he was fresh, although he told me he felt slow because he got caught. I thought he was fresh throughout the game, and that's not even saying what we ask him to do in the pass game. We threw him a quick screen in there, and a couple of other screens, so we're asking him to do a few different things in the pass game also."
On whether he gave any thought to giving McCoy a chance to extend his touchdown scoring streak instead of just kneeling to run out the clock: "(Joking) You know what, he had his chance."
On whether there is something Vick could learn from watching what Vince did last night about putting together a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter: "No listen, Michael's had enough of those type of games that you know what he can do. It's still a team sport though, right?"
On how tough it was on Vick not to be able to play yesterday, and how much he anticipates him pushing through the pain management with his ribs: "Well listen, he was the first one to call Vince after the game, so he was watching it. He's a pretty competitive guy, so I don't think it was a whole lot of fun sitting there and watching. In other words, he would like to be out there doing his thing, but he handled it well, I think, and he and Vince have developed a close relationship. Michael has been good for Vince. They have a good, nice friendship going there."
On what he has seen out of Castillo and how he came out and had a really good game plan: "I'm proud of Juan, because he's had a few of those, a few pretty good game plans, so this wasn't the only one. Juan's a standup guy, and he realized that we're all in this thing together, coaches and players, and he gives credit to his guys and they respect him. The thing you know is if, and you've been around this league long enough where you see this, that if a coach doesn't know what he's doing, the players are normally the first ones to call him out, and Juan's guys are all in. So that's a tribute to Juan and the defensive players there."
On whether he is concerned about Mathis practicing all week: "His toe feels good."
On whether RB Ronnie Brown looks a little different, faster or fitter, than he did early on: "I think he's getting used to the offense, really, is what he's doing. Remember, I didn't trade him because I didn't like him, that's not why we traded him. He had an opportunity to go in and start with the Lions, they were banged up at running back, and he's a veteran player, he's been around a while. So, I just thought as long as I could get somebody, another back, that was somewhat comparable to him."
On that he wouldn't have traded him if he liked him more than RB Jerome Harrison: "Well, it was an opportunity for him to start, that's what I'm saying. I mean, I've done this before, but whatever you want there, you can put down. That's my statement."
On what he finds most challenging right now about the Patriots: "They do, they play tonight, so we'll have a chance to see them there. They're a good football team. They're a good football team on both sides of the ball, especially well coached. We've got to make sure we go through the process here, start with the coaches, make sure that we put together a game plan that's good, and that we present it to the players in a matter that they can understand, and go out and execute it, and the players will do their part in executing it and practicing."
On whether LB Keenan Clayton was more involved in the defense overall: "He was, yeah."
On whether Clayton's increased role on the defense was because looking ahead to the Patriots they use a lot of two tight end sets, and whether he wanted him to have a game under his belt: "Keenan's really come on, on the special teams. He's upped his game. He was sat down for a little bit, deactivated for a few games there, and when he had his opportunity to get back in there, I just thought he really put it on a different level than what he was before. And then we started feeding him into the defense in practice, and he was picking things up well and attacking, he was playing at that same level that he was on special teams, so (I) gave him an opportunity to step in there and play, and he did some good things for us."
On whether this is a good time for Clayton's role to increase because of the upcoming game with the Patriots: "We'll see. We'll see when the game plan is put together how it's set up."
On when he talks about letting the players show their personality, where he comes down with it in terms of Jackson who kind of toes that line: "Well listen, I'm not going to sit here and tell you I was happy about a penalty. I wasn't happy about that. The thing I appreciated was he came out with that attitude that we all love as far as loving to play the game, and he was fired up and ready to go, and that part I did appreciate."
On the penalty not making sense: "Yeah, it doesn't make sense."
On whether the penalty was called correctly: "I was told the penalty was called correctly."
On being on the competition committee and the penalty: "I'm going to do some more research on it, now that it's over. I didn't understand it when I was out there. I mean, they explained it to me well, but it's one of those that you kind of raise your eyebrow to."
