Redskins QB Rex Grossman
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Q: Are those interceptions in the beginning easier to bounce back from than other ones – almost like a punt?
A: Sure. Any time you call a flea flicker there's a little bit of a risk. Say you have a reverse or a double reverse pass or a wide receiver passes down the field. There's risk involved in that. The second one was a little greedy on my part, but whatever. We won the game. We did some good stuff.
Q: How were you able to stabilize after those two early turnovers?
A: When things go bad early, you have 55 minutes to fix that problem. Obviously you don't want to have that, but if you have something bad happen real late in the game, you lose the game. You have a lot of game left to put some points on the board and the game kind of has its own flow and way of working itself out. You never want those. I'm not sure why I've taken so long talking about those interceptions.
Q: Have you always been as resilient as you've been as a Redskin? You're able to bounce back and not be dragged down.
A: I think that this offense allows you as a quarterback to bounce back because it's a great offense. As a quarterback or any player, all you want is an opportunity to make plays and use your skills to play well as a quarterback. There's one thing that I love about Coach Shanahan and Kyle, they stick with the game plan. The next play that's on the first 15, they're going with it. They trust you. Just call the play and let's go.
Q: It's also an offense that can make great plays. You can break.
A: Yeah, it can break. You know what I thought we did well today? We ran the ball and there weren't any big running plays, but we got consistent yardage. We got consistent 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 yards a pop. It allowed our third downs to be a little bit more manageable. You don't get too many guys covering a small area. The wide receivers and offensive line did a hell of a job converting those.
Q: Talk about your third down throw to Gaffney and your touchdown to Santana on third and 8.
A: The first one was a three step drop, trying to hope that they were going to all-out pressure you and get rid of the ball before and maybe hit a slant route to break the tackle for a touchdown. Or, they drop a bunch of guys out and you get a completion. There are not a lot of great plays unless it's a scramble play for dropping it in coverage. They ended up blitzing, but also kind of leaving a big gash there for Jabar. He did a hell of a job of stopping, jumping on two feet, spinning out for the first down. That was a great play in the game. That really gave us a cushion. The throw to Santana – they were in two man. It was kind of a flat route with a corner route. Everybody in high school runs that play. We had good protection on it. It was a nice high low read. Santana did a hell of a job of getting off his defender. They went running and they honored the flat route. That was my signal to let it go and it worked out.
Q: Jabar is kind of your go-to guy on third down.
A: Yeah, ever since Florida he's been my guy, not that anybody else on this team doesn't have amazing skills. I think everybody does something really well on our team. Collectively, I think they're a great group of wide receivers. They all have something about them that not many people do.
Q: You know that playoffs are not a possibility for you. Is playing a potential spoiler for you, especially a team in your division, a good consolation prize for you?A: No. I don't really care about the Giants at all. I care about our team and going out and winning a divisional game and working your ass off all week and celebrating the fact of all that hard work. You go out, you execute, and you win. That's plenty of gratification and that's all we really care about. Spoiler? I don't really have an opinion on who makes the playoffs, it just sucks that you're not involved.
Q: You've had trouble scoring in the first half of the game for stretches of the season. Last game, you had 20 points, 17 this week. How much does that change the game for you when you get something going early?
A: We've been doing that for about a month now, a little over a month. It's good. It's nice to see. We've been getting off to pretty fast starts for the past 5 or 6 games. It definitely helps. It helps the defense. It helps when you have the running game going to score some points. They just get a little bit more anxious as a defense with play actions and all that stuff. Any time you have success in anything you do, it usually creates more success. That's the quote of the day.
Q: Jabar is on pace for 1000 yards. What's going into that for him and for you working together? What is he doing well?
A: The reason is that he's been consistent. He's been healthy. He's been a consistent route runner, consistent catching the ball. That's all you can ask for. He's got a lot of talent. He's a big receiver that knows exactly where to sit in zones. You're kind of on the same page. You're looking in the pocket and seeing where the defense is and he's running his routes and kind of slowing down in that area or setting up a defender in man to man. He's a very smart football player. Kyle has done a good job of using those skills and getting him open. He's been playing well.
CB DeAngelo Hall
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Q: What was the difference for you guys tonight defensively?
A: I think we did pretty much the same thing to them the first time. We just played ball. We know these guys, man, we like playing them and I hope they like playing us.
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Q: How did you feel this week compared to last week? You must feel pretty good about how you performed this week.
A: Who'd we play last week? New England? I thought I had a good game against New England. Obviously I didn't get the pick or things like that but I felt like I played pretty good against those guys and I feel like we all did. We definitely gave up some plays that we shouldn't have but I don't feel like I had a bad game against them at all.
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Q: Talk about the interception and what happened on that play?
A: Um, it was just a post-corner type route and kind of got me a little bit on the post but I was able to sneak my way in there, run it down and was able to get my head around and see the ball in the air, and I was able to make a play.
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Q: Do you feel like you know the Giants' tendencies because you see them so much?
A: Not so much their tendencies, but from an offensive coordinator standpoint, and a play-calling standpoint, we pretty much kind of have a feel for what they like to do. You know it's hard to know when somebody is going to run something in this league but to have pretty general understanding of what they wanted to do, the types of routes and the type of plays, it definitely makes it a little easier playing a division opponent.
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Q: Were you surprised by some of the comments that were made leading up to this game?
A: No, it's football, man. We can come out here any day and they can say whatever they want to say and that's the good part about it, at the end of the day you've got to strap it up and go out there and play it on the field. That's the bottom line, Antrel Rolle, him and me we've been going back and forth since our days in college, you know him at Miami and me at Virginia Tech, you know I used to take shots at him; they would take shots at us. At the end of the day, like coach said, at the end of the day you have to strap it up and play. You've got to prove it on the field, so you know that ninety five out of one hundred times, it makes for a good clip but at the end of the day you've got to go out there and play.
WR Santana Moss
Q: On that first play were you thinking here we go again?
A: Not really. You know we tried to take a shot. I didn't really think "oh here we go again." I thought, 'hey, underthrown, better luck next time.' I was thinking afterwards when I got to the sideline that I should have grabbed him and P.I'd (Pass Interfered) him. I was coming back to try and knock his hand down but, you know.
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Q: What were you thinking coming back out after that?
A: We didn't really lose hope man. We're just playing and having fun and this is something that we should have been doing a long time ago. We're going out there and our minds aren't really on nothing, no negative plays and no negative thoughts and go out there and make the plays that count.
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Q: What is your team's mindset now?
A: We feel like we need to go play good and go out there and have positive thoughts and you know take advantage of opportunities that are given. When you're out there, you're out there for a reason, so when stuff happens there's a reason it happens that way. So instead of letting it get you down, you go out there and say "hey, let's make it next time."
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Q: On Rex Grossman…
A: You know Rex is just being Rex. I can't say much more about him, he's just the guy that regardless of what he does, he's going to go out there and give us a chance. That's what I've been saying from day one, that I ride with a guy like that, if you give me opportunities, that's all I'm out there for. You know I need him, I need the line, I need him, I need people to protect him and the rest is history. We've got to run the right routes and he gets us the ball.
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Q: What'd you think of the defense today?
A: Defense has been doing what they've been doing all year. I'm glad that we could help them out and play the way we did today
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Q: After those two picks, is Rex the kind of quarterback that comes back out and shakes it off?
A: If you're playing at this level, you better be that kind of quarterback. It happens, and I feel like a lot of people put a lot on Rex because he does it. We forget about it because we know at the end of the day he's giving us opportunities.
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Q: So when he comes back into the huddle, do you ever see him get frustrated by interceptions like that?
A: No, he's been the same all year. Something happens, then ok, put it behind and let's keep it moving.
S Oshiomogho Atogwe
Q: If you didn't know better, you would think the Redskins are the team to beat in the East right now and that the Giants would be at the bottom with nothing to play for here. To what do you attribute that?
A: It's just what coach has been saying all year. This is a team with character. Regardless of where we are in the rankings or regardless of what point of the season it is, we're going to play with passion, we're going to play with integrity and we're going to play to win. So like you said, we might be down and out of it but we've still got something to play for. We're building something that will last longer than this season, we're building something for the future and it starts with games like these where everybody comes together and believes in each other to the point where we're able to play the best team in our division.
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Q: Containing that offense; is it as easy as you guys made it look out there today?
A: It was a great job by our coaches, the game plan that we had and what they trained us to do all week was very effective. We had Eli confused back there a few times and never really allowed him to sit back there and read everything as he wanted to and I think like I said, the coaches did a great job of giving us a plan and we did our best to execute it and it worked out.
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Q: You've said interceptions come in bunches, you guys had three today for the first time all year.
A: That's a great feeling. D-Hall's pick was great and Josh's pick was good, and everybody was flying around, London had a few forced fumbles and we were making big tackles and it was just one of those days where everything was coming together both against the passing game, and the running game and as well for the offense and these are the things you work for. It's sad that it comes at the end of the season when we're out of it but like I said we're building something for the future.
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Q: Is today the best day of the year for the secondary?
A: I'd definitely say it's one of them. Just given the circumstance of Eli coming in having thrown over 300 yards, 400 yards passing in the prior weeks, to be able to shut him down and I don't even know how many yards they had. But to limit them in their production and to make plays at the same time, that's a good job for the secondary.
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Q: Considering how they played against you guys the first time, are you surprised at the comments coming into this game?
A: Yeah well that's my boy Antrel. What up Trel! He made that comment, and I wouldn't say we were surprised because we definitely know what we're capable of but they had been playing extremely well coming into this game and they had a lot of momentum. So to play so well against them, it's an accomplishment and we're definitely proud. Join other diehard Giants Fans!
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