Q: Can you shed more light on Kenny Phillips?
A: I really can't. He is on IR. And that is all I know at this point.
Q: Are you absolutely convinced that he will come back and play football again?
A: I am, yeah. First of all, what we have done is in the best interest of the player and the New York Giants because we feel like this young man has an outstanding future. Now you know that I don't have a medical degree, right?
Q: What is the next step in the process with the timetable for deciding as to whether he may or may not have surgery?
* *A: I don't know a whole lot about that. I think that he is probably exercising his options in terms of listening to the doctors. That is what I would say. When that decision is made then you will probably know it as well as I will.
Q: What can you tell us about Aaron Rouse?
A: Big, strong player what we were fortunate to find available on the waiver wire. I think that he is a guy that we can work with and certainly can make an impact with our team both on special teams and in the secondary.
Q: C.C. Brown - what have you seen from his playing time?
A: We know that he is a physical guy that has been a starter in this league and finds himself in that role again and he is very happy about that. He is glad to have the opportunity.
Q: Why did you target him in free agency? What did you see that you liked about him?
A: We liked his physical play. We liked his physical play.
Q: Did you have any inkling that Phillips had a situation that could develop into what it has, and is that why you signed Brown?
A: No, no. But you are talking about last winter with free agency. We actually thought we were adding depth to that position, which we were. And as it turns out, you never have enough.
Q: One of the things that Kenny was doing was playing up top in space. Do you feel C.C. will be able to do that?
A: I think he can, yeah. I think he can. And there are ways to maneuver so that one guy is up and one guy is down the majority of the time. It is not going to be an all of the time thing. But both guys have to be able to play at the line of scrimmage and play in deep center field position – or deep half.
Q: That was my next question. Johnson plays a lot down low. We have seen him play up top as well. Do you think he can do that, too?
A: Yes. I think he is going to have to.
Q: Do either Tuck or Canty have a chance to play on Sunday?
A: Canty? Tuck, we will just hold out until ….
Q: What kind of progress has he shown?
A: He is a little better every day. He is a little better every day.
Q: A team that deals with injuries well – how much of it is due to coaching and just having a really good system in place?
A: I think it is a mentality. And I think players have to understand it as well. And they do. Our people seem to do a good job. And I think it goes back to leadership again. Now, there isn't any question about when you take an outstanding player out of your team, or off your team, there is a void. And that void has to be filled in by everybody else. There are examples of it out there right now.
Q: In training camp did the doctors have an idea that Kenny's season could end like this?
A: No, there wasn't. The term was, "we could manage it." And he was all for it. You saw his camp – he had a great camp.
Q: Did they kind of know what it was?
A: They knew what it was, sure. They knew what they were dealing with, yes. Because they did all of the tests. But did I know that coming in? No.
Q: Is there a possibility that he can rehab this without surgery at all?
A: I don't know. You are asking the wrong guy. I'm not a doctor. I can't tell you.
Q: But it does sound like from what you have been told this is not a long term or career threatening situation, nothing like that?
A: That is what we certainly believe.
Q: How is he doing, by the way?
A: Well, he is very emotional about it. He expected to play and wanted to play. And he is playing well. And he is very upset that it wasn't the direction that this was to go in. And he fully understood the management part of it. And obviously he could it, played well in the game with it. So he is very emotional about it. And as I said – and I have tried to be consistent with this – the first thing that I say is: our concern is about the player – the player's health and his emotional well-being and all of those things. We want to be there for him – to support him. And I'm talking about our team, our players, and everyone. And then we want to have the circumstances corrected and want to put a smile back on his face and get him back out on the field playing the game that he loves to play.
Q: Were you stunned to get the news after such a good game?
A: I was not a happy camper. Every day is a new day in this business.
Q: They looked at it again and it wasn't progressing the way you had hoped?
A: No, it swelled and then he has to go back to doing all of the things that he does in the training room to get the swelling out of it and then they felt that on Sunday morning that – he was in great shape. He felt good. The swelling was down, he was ready to go.
Q: But when they looked Wednesday --?
A: It's not just Wednesday. It was the next morning and all of that business, too.
Q: By the time we got here Pierce was walking off. He looked like he had all of his gear off already. Was he limited or did he not practice.
A: No, he practiced – the full practice.
Q: Hixon?
A: We will see. He is another one.
Q: Dockery?
A: He is another one.
Q: If Tuck can't play, is Sintim the guy that will step in?
A: We'll see.
