Head Coach Tom Coughlin

(On his impressions of the game…) We talked about starting fast, and we did it.  I thought that was very good.  We haven't had a lot of success here, so it was nice to be able to come here and win.  I thought our guys handled all that went with the environment, the noise and all those things, very well.  [I'm] disappointed with one turnover, which gave them a little bit of momentum, but they weren't able to capitalize on it.  We had a very good first half, with contributions on all three sides.  With the exception of the one ball that Leon Washington broke out with in the middle of the field, we did a nice job with our strategic placement of the ball in terms of our kickoff.  He's an incredible weapaon, obviously, for their team in terms of field position.  We had just the one punt, and the coverage on the punt was very good.  We thought Leon would be back there, and he was.  Our defense played well.  We gave up the one double-move touchdown.  I was pleased with the end of the game because of the way we put the ball on the ground.  We haven't always been able to do that or have been successful with that.  We were a little bit frustrated by not getting the ball in the end zome for a touchdown at the opposite end of the field on a couple of occasions.  But we give them, obviously, credit.  They played hard all the way.  They had a lot of things they had to overcome today.

(On switching the offensive line around…)  We felt that coming in here that the noise and what have you – we just felt like we would have a better handle of what was going on in terms of veterans on the field.  Of course, the other thing is Adam [Koets] gives us total flexibility.  He played tackle on Wednesday, played center and guard on Thursday and Friday.  We just felt like when we came in here the right move was to try and put as many veterans out there you can.  We may have had, what, one false start, maybe?  There's definitely times we've been here with a lot of those.

(On if he would want to start Shawn Andrews next week…)  I would want to look at the tape, but I know we had some success over there running the ball.  I don't know whyat the stats were in the pressures.  I'm not sure there was even a sack.  I don't think there was.  I know Shawn was excited about playing, and I know when he came to the sidelines on a lot of occasions he was happy to be out there.

(On if he was pleased his team kept its poise after an early turnover…)  I was.  The defense, of course, helped out tremendously by forcing the punt.  I was disappointed in that whole thing because I had a bad look at the Kevin Boss fumble.  I was blocked out.  I didn't see it.  I might have been able to hurry things up a little bit had I been able to see it, but I did not see it.  That was a problem.

(On the play of Eli Manning…) I thought he was really sharp.  I thought he managed it, the whole first half, was [sic] done very, very well.  He made some outstanding throws.  He even came out of the pocket on the run for the one to Boss, which I thought was very good.  He directed the run, he directed the pass, he kept everybody poised, the clock was not an issue for us.  He did a really nice job. 

(On the pressuring Seattle's Charlie Whitehurst…) Well, it was a young quarterback making his first start.  We had an idea of how they would attack, what their plan would be, they certainly were trying as best they could not to put him in a real difficult situation.  We were trying to pressure him, trying to get up there. 

(On his overview of his team…)  Today, it was the idea that we came back from the bye and played well.  That's something that's always on your mind.  I thought that was a good thing.  I thought our players really approached the game well.  I told you the other day that I thought on Monday they really came to work ready to go.  That's what I was looking for, and that's what they gave us.  That was a real plus.

QB Eli Manning

(On the game) "We got off to a fast start, which has kind of been tough for us.  Unfortunately it ended with a fumble but that drive we were moving the ball.  After that, the defense did a great job getting us the ball again in great field position and we took advantage of it – moved the ball up and down, scored when we got in the red zone until kind of late in the game.  So we just did a great job mixing up the run and the pass.  Pass protection was outstanding [with] offensive line coming in and out and different people playing different positions but no panic and everybody did a good job knowing their assignments."

(On what the crowd noise was like) "You know, it's kind of like what I said earlier in the week to our guys.  The only way to calm down their crowd noise is to move the ball, get first downs and get the crowd out of it and that's exactly what we did today.  They take great pride in their crowd noise so it's always going to be a little loud but we never gave them an opportunity to… you know, usually the crowd gets really loud like on a second down and they get a sack and then you have a third and long and they're all hyped up.  But we were trying to stay moving the ball – a lot of third and shorts – and we never gave the crowd a whole lot to cheer about.  That's what you want to do offensively – don't give them anything to cheer.  We were very consistent moving the ball and that's what you have to do."

(On how good he thinks the Giants team is and what they can do) "You know, we're finding ways to win.  When we find our rhythm, we're doing a good job of staying with it and kind of having it for a number of drives and that's important.  Today we found it quickly and stayed with it until the fourth quarter, just moving the ball up and down.  Had to settle for some field goals late but it's fun.  We feel like we're still hungry though.  Every week, receivers always have things they want to improve on, I have things I want them to improve on and we have to get better from a passing standpoint.  The offensive line had some new guys playing different positions today and they did a great job of knowing the game plan.  Shawn Andrews getting in there, played really well, did a great job and everything – pass protection, run game and knowing all of his assignments.  We just got to keep hungry and play like we're desperate for a win every week."

(On if he ever felt he had an offense this good before) "We feel good about our offense.  Whether we're in regular personnel, we're running the ball, we're getting good play-action, Bear Pascoe filled in great at fullback, catching the ball out of the backfield.  Receivers are great going three-wide.  We have three talented receivers who are all making plays and the offensive line is doing a great job.  So things are going well now but we just got to make sure we stay committed to getting better, understand the game plan every week and don't start thinking we're good right now.  We've got a tough schedule ahead, playing Dallas next week.  They're always tough.  The defense is always tough.  And again, we've only played one game in the NFC East so we know we got a lot of big games left."

(On Kevin Boss getting a touchdown) "Yeah, I was happy to get him a touchdown.  He was a captain today.  He was excited about that.  I know he was a little frustrated after the first possession, having a fumble.  So it was good to get him in the end zone.  He was fired up and excited.  He's always been great for us down in the red zone, scoring touchdowns, and it was good to get him back in there."

(On the touchdown to Boss) "I was just reading that, scrambling right and just kind of saw him working the back end zone – 6'7" – I just threw it high and he did a good job of going up, making the catch and getting his feet inbounds so it was really just a great play by him."

(On the first TD pass to Hakeem Nicks) "Man coverage, we were in a three tight end set.  Did play-action, had Boss on a little crossing route.  Their rookie safety is a good player but like a lot of good safeties who get a lot of interceptions, they get a little nosey.  They'll start cheating on the crossing route to Boss. "He didn't take it away but he just sat enough.  He kind of saw it and he had his feet set and I took a shot and threw it over the top of him.  Really not a great throw on my part but Hakeem did a great job of running it down, making the catch for the touchdown."

(On the Steve Smith TD) "Steve had a little underneath route.  They didn't have a whole lot of defensive linemen so there were three down and they went with their kind of Tampa 2 and he had a little underneath route and caught it, made a guy miss and got in the end zone.  It was a good play by him."

(On why they were still throwing late in third quarter) "Sometimes it's just what the defense does.  If they had stayed two safeties deep, we would have run it.  When they bring safeties down and have three linebackers in the box, we're not going to run into a brick wall.  We're going to still throw it, we're goint to still run our offense.  I wasn't told, 'Hey, don't throw it here.'  I'm trying to run our offense and get better.  I'm still making corrections in the third and fourth quarter, trying to improve and make sure… I'm trying to run the offense."

WR Hakeem Nicks

(On his touchdown catch) "He (Manning) threw it up there for me to go get it.  I tracked it down and went and got it.  Simple as that."

(On if there was ever doubt that he'd get to it) "Yeah, the whole time I was tracking the ball, I was thinking, 'I gotta get it.  I gotta get it.'  Because in the huddle, Eli told me, he said, 'Win this post for me.'  And I was like, 'I got you.'  So he threw it up for me and I went and got it."

(On the space in the middle of the field) "It was one of those situations where I think he read that safety on my side so I had to overrun that safety and he put the ball where it was supposed to be and I had to go get it, which I did."

(On if he was surprised how easy it seemed to jump out to a lead, given the history of this team in this stadium) "I wouldn't want to say we were surprised.  We had a pretty good week of practice and we knew as a team what we wanted to come out here and do.  We just got to continue going up from here and taking one day at a time."

(On taking advantage of the back-shoulder throws) "That's something that a wide receiver and quarterback, when they're on the same page, you know going into the game that the defender likes to play over the top so you practice that back-shoulder throw."

(On how good this offense is) "I think we're as good as we want to be.  We just got to come in each week, continue to scout our opponents and be on top of our game plan and everything will take care of itself when we play."

Safety Antrel Rolle

(Did you take advantage of it being Whitehurst's first start)…"It doesn't matter who was in there. The quarterback could have been Hasselback, it could have been whoever, it was going to be the same outcome.
The opponent doesn't dictate how we play. We just go out as a defense and as a team. I think that we show week in and week out that we can be a very dominate force, defensively. Especially when we play with the scheme.

We're playing ball right now. We're just taking it one game at a time right now. We're definitely a top notch contender, as long as we keep playing team ball."

CB Terrell Thomas

(Thoughts on the game…)"It was good for the Giants to get a win against a good team in the NFC West. Every week were just trying to get better. We're playing on all cylinders as a team: offense, defense, special teams. We're just worried about next week. Our offense controlled the game. It wasn't that loud, Houston was a lot louder. It was great to see a lot of Giants fans out here and get that W."

(Thoughts on getting a win…) "It's a great feeling. It was also great playing against an old team but foremost we got the W, that's all that matters."

WR Steve Smith

(On Eli Manning…)  He put the ball on the money.  I dropped a couple of passes, but he did a great job.

(On if this felt like a college game…)  It did.  I'm used to us playing all the way to the end.  These past few away games – at Houston we got a big lead, and it's been comfortable.  It's good to get other guys in there.  We just want to keep it up.

(On what got poured on him in the end zone…) I think it was Miller Lite or something like that.  I tasted a little bit.  I was posing with No. 12 [Seattle's 12th Man emblem], but the guy messed it all up for me.  Just right when I scored I just saw it.

(On expectations for this team…) It's high; it's up there; extremely high expectations. Eli, you can't say enough about his recognition of the defense, how he's making plays and making it easier for us.  So we've just got to keep doing our jobs. 

(On what can stop the offense…) I think ourselves.  We're the ones who can stop us.  We have a great quarterback who's smart and reads [defenses].  If we stay on pace and do what we do, we'll be fine.

TE Kevin Boss

(On how it feels to be a seemingly unstoppable offense…) It's a pretty good feeling.  Ev ery time we touch the field we tell ourselves we're going to get in the end zone.  All 11 of us on the field believe we're going to score a touchdown every single possession, and I think we were pretty close to doing that today.

(On how many tickets he, a Western Oregon grad, bought for the game…)  I got around 37, but I thinkwe estimated over 100 people were at the game today.  It's pretty neat for all of us to come back here.

(On his early fumble…)  It wasn't the way I wanted to really start.  It's my first fumble since my first game of my college career.  I haven't fumbled since then.  That was the second fumble of my life.  I guess if I hadn't done that we probably would have won 49 to whatever it was.  It felt good to get in the end zone after that.