Coach Tom Coughlin
Good afternoon. Still disappointed, that hasn't changed. I think the players are very somber; they are remorseful because of an opportunity lost. We had many opportunities that we didn't take advantage of. We didn't play well, Dallas played better than we played. We created opportunities for ourselves late in the game, but we weren't able to capitalize on them. We lacked consistency; we lacked fundamental technique play at the position with consistency pretty much everywhere. I was positive about our special teams play. I think that with our kickoff return team, we do have the possibility of going forward there, and establishing some opportunities in the return game. We did have a nice punt return as well, which was called back due to a penalty, and the penalty was legitimate. Otherwise, offensively we were sloppy with technique, we were not consistent at all, we had dropped balls. We had some opportunities in the run game, but we didn't seem to be able to push the line of scrimmage enough to crack the runner through the line of scrimmage. We'll continue to work on that. We're still very disappointed, obviously, in the goal line aspect of our game, with the ball on the one-yard line and the inability to score. Simple fact of the matter is, defensively, they score three of the four times they had the ball in the second half. That is a concern. They did have the one breakout run, which was an outstanding individual play, in which we had our arms around the runner twice, and we had many people over in that direction, but we weren't able to bring the ball carrier down. We had, I thought, a great chance when we created the first and 30 situation, that would have even been a most difficult field goal at that time, for them to score with one play over the top of us that way, which has been done in preseason, and for us not to learn something from that is very disappointing for me. There will be a renewed conviction about preparation and practice, we do know that we have a lot of work to do. I think that the players, their eyes are open to the fact that we lost a football game that we certainly thought we had a chance to win. Had our play been a little bit better, we may have been able to do something about the outcome.
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QB Eli Manning
Q: Were you able to see more positives on the film than you thought were there?
A: Yeah. I think there were definitely positives. The second half, we played pretty well. Two scoring drives, only had three possessions, so I think you just saw missed opportunities. I think there's some games that you lose and you look at it and you just see where you just got beat on all aspects and had no chance. That was not the case in this one. I thought we had opportunities. We let some plays slip away. We let some opportunities slip away and we just couldn't make them up at the end, so I think there's things that are very correctible that we'll able to do and play much better. We'll learn a lot from this game though.
LB Keith Rivers
Q: How did you feel before you got hurt out there?
A: There's a lot of room for improvement. I've just got to get better and correct some of the mental errors and continue to progress.
Q: How did you feel physically out there?
A: I felt good. It's fun to be back. It's fun to be a part of the action. Had a great time playing and obviously it didn't end up the way we wanted it to happen. Before the game, I was pretty nervous and I was able to settle myself down and realize I've been here and done it again and it's not my first rodeo. Able to calm down and got out there and made a few plays, but I also had some mistakes that need to get corrected.
Center David Baas
Q: How frustrating is this loss?
A: It's frustrating because you work so hard to get to this point and you come away with a loss. I'm not going to sit here and cry. You have to move on, but you have to be diligent in your work, especially out on the practice field to correct those things and make it right going into the next game.
Q: Is that frustrating when you try and say to build the bridge and then lose this game?
A: Last year is last year. We've got new guys this year too. That's the thing, we have to be able to correct that no matter who's in there and make it work and we can't miss those opportunities when they're presented to us and we did. We didn't execute.
CB Michael Coe
Q: What happened last night?
A: We lost as a team. We did things not sound out there. We just didn't take care of the little things over the course of the whole game.
Q: Did you feel that they were targeting you?
A: No. I thought actually they would, but the quick game is not going to beat you the whole game. I think they got in a situation and they were just attacking the slant. That's not going to win the whole game, so I wasn't really too much worried about that. You can't let that bother you. I think, as a secondary, I hope we can be a little bit sharper on those things, squeeze a little better outside in. Those are things that we can take care of on ourselves.
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CB Prince Amukamara
A: I know that I can't rush it. I know that it's just time that it takes for it to heal.
Q: What are your thoughts for the start of next week?
A: That's my plan. I just have to take it day by day to see how it feels. It's just mainly on how it feels.
Q: How does it feel right now?
A: It feels good. I'm not sure if I could run on it or anything yet. I haven't tried that, but I've been doing a lot of rehab and a lot of work on it, so I know I'm progressing.
RB David Wilson
Q: Do you think you could've corrected the fumble?
A: Yeah. You've just got to hold the ball high and tight and keep it up and it happens to best of them and it's something I know that can't happen. You're disappointed in yourself when it happens, but it happens to the best of them.
Q: What did you see from yourself in kick returns?
A: Just that they were blocking and executing well and just that we were real close to taking one all the way back.
WR Hakeem Nicks
Q: How did you come out of the game yesterday?
A: I came out pretty good, a little sore afterwards as we expected. The main thing is I finished the game, played tough. We got some things to work on as a team, as an offense, but we will get those things turned around.
Q: Did you have pain during the game?
A: I felt it at times in certain routes, but it wasn't nothing that held me from playing in the game or coming out the game. It was maintainable. It wasn't excruciating pain or it wasn't extremely bad, but I maintained it and fought through it and finished the game.
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