We've got a lot of work to do. There's no doubt about it but we were plus-three (in turnovers) and I was pleased with that and justice has been served. A young man, Victor Cruz, really has had an outstanding camp. He has worked his tail off every day, he's made a lot of plays this past week and the writers who were following practice have asked and kind of smiled when we mention Victor Cruz and he was truly outstanding tonight. I thought we got better as the game went along. Our ones didn't play all that well and we had a little trouble getting the ball back in the first half. We just hung in there. We were plus-three in turnovers and that was a big factor in the game. Didn't like the penalties down the stretch there. It looked as if we were trying to sabotage ourselves right at the end but we overcame it and Rhett Bomar made the nice scramble run against 2 man coverage and it was a heck of a quarterback draw so it's nice to win. It always is. There's an awful lot of work to be done. We need some more continuity. I was pleased that (Scott) Chandler was able to hang in there (at tight end). (Bear) Pascoe was able to hang in there. Chandler played the game but didn't practice, so I don't know how well he played but he did do a nice service to the franchise by coming in and going. We thought we had only one tight end two days ago so that was a good thing but as I said, we got a punt blocked, we did have some misfortune along those lines but we overcame it. We didn't cover a guy and then let him score. We had some miscommunication in terms of the personnel on the field. Things we can learn from. We'll do a very, very good job with this tape and hopefully we'll make some improvement in the next two practice days.
Q: What happened on the play where Eli got injured?
A: There was a run called and Eli just went for the fade ball with the wide receiver without really making any type of an alert or changing the play so he was just going to go ahead and communicate with the receiver and throw the ball. The only problem was that the play that had been called was a middle burst by Brandon Jacobs and Brandon thought he was getting the ball.
Q: How was Eli afterwards?
A: He seemed…he has been sent home so I don't know. But he – just like he always does – he handled it well. I was a little surprised at how quickly the helmet came off. He's got the four posts on his helmet and the thing still came flying off so. The first thing we'll do is make sure that there is no swelling. If there's no swelling then I think we'll be able to go ahead and get the helmet on and practice.
Q: You didn't sound surprised when you were talking about the success Cruz had tonight. Was there a certain point that you saw that this guy has the ability to play like that?
A: Last week. He's an everyday guy. He does everything. He's on special teams. He's on scout teams. But he emerged during the week as making some spectacular catches and one day, as a matter of fact, I said to the media people that we should celebrate the guy. Why not? Why not write about him? He had a great day at practice – write about him. And I'm sure you guys did. He had a good game and I'm glad for him that he did. Real good guy.
Q: On the Eli play, it looked like you had Bender lined up at tight end – were there any problems with that there?
A: No. There was no problem with that. It was generally the miscommunication between…the run that was called was being blocked. That was the issue.
Q: What happened defensively on the Jets' first touchdown?
A: I just got done saying that. We had a miscommunication on the personnel on the field. They had a corner with the goal line people. We had goal line people out there. We didn't get the corner on the field and the safety came running out. So at one point we thought there were 12 and then there were ten. It was a botched play. It will be good experience though.
Q: When do you think Eli might get back? Are you concerned about lingering injuries like a concussion?
A: Well I don't think there was a concussion. That is not the information that I got. It was a cut – a good sized cut – and blood and that type of thing but…I'm not going to be able to say. All I know is this small amount of information that I have. When we get more information that will be forthcoming.
Q: When you saw that blood coming from Eli's head did you panic at all?
A: No, because first of all, to be honest with you, the nature of the play itself was…it should have never happened…but it did. I didn't realize the extent of the cut. I saw the hat come flying off and then I saw the amount of gauze being applied and his pants and shirt were all red. That means it squirted. He's a tough guy though.
Q: After you guys went three and out and the Jets get the ball and then Antrel Rolle picked it off right away. Was that what you envisioned with the veteran playmakers like Grant and Rolle – just quickly turn that back over and have that ball and gain momentum?
A: That's certainly why they're here. That's to bolster our secondary and to combine with the players we have here. It was just a nice way for us to start the game with an interception and then back to the one-yard line.
Q: Do you have anything on Chase Blackburn's injury yet?
A: Not yet.
Q: Did you see anything positive in Will Beatty at left tackle?
A: I'm sure there are some positives. The second half there was obviously some production out there. I don't know how much we ran. We didn't run very effectively, but we did gain some yardage and Andre Brown had a couple of nice runs. Danny Ware had a nice run.
Q: And your rookie punter?
A: Yeah he had a rough night but you've got to go through it. Maybe this is what the doctor ordered. If you're going to go grow up, then you've got to do it under fire and this is the only way to make sure that he gets some composure and understands the role that he plays and he probably ended up with some decent yardage because he kicked that spinner and it rolled and that type of thing but it certainly wasn't quite the way we envisioned it.
Q: Jim Sorgi threw the ball pretty well
A: He did. He threw it well once he got in. He was a little slow to get started, which is to be expected, because the number of snaps that were cut off of practice this week because of our situation with the tight ends and then we had to go ahead and serve our defense as well, it wasn't an awful lot.
Q: How about Ramses Barden – how do you assess his play?
A: I'd have to look at the tape. I didn't see anything spectacular jump out at me.
Q: Did you see Bradshaw make some cuts that maybe last year he wouldn't have been healthy enough to make?
A: Yeah. He made a classic Bradshaw move to run through an arm tackle.
