**
HEAD COACH TOM COUGHLIN* *Q: Is there any sense of a time frame with Andre Brown now? **
A: Not really. Not until I hear some more information. There's MRI's and that type of stuff going on so, when we know, you'll know.
Q: That's going on today?
A: Going on today, or else it's being discussed by the doctors and that type of thing.
Q: What have you seen out of your defense? There was a lot of talk about the offense going into this last preseason game. Your defense has forced some turnovers and what have you seen?
A: They've done a real good job of that. We've not capitalized on it. We've had a bunch of turnovers. We had some turnovers the week before. We've had some turnovers in special teams and defense. Last night, we had exceptional field possession and we just don't do anything with the field position we have. That's unfortunate, it really is. We finally got a couple of punt returns last night. We had one that took us into the 30-yard line. We had another circumstance with an interception, where we took the ball at the 40 and then fumbled it right back to them, on what was called a fumble. It's interesting. I would really like to understand whether or not the officials call that the 'tuck' rule. That was kind of David Carr's motion. That's his motion and he claimed that he thought he was throwing the football. That would be an interesting discussion that I'll have with Dean Blandino. We had excellent field position, we had a chance to score. We didn't do it, but we have had turnovers. We've been plus-four and plus-two in the last two games, which is something that we strive for. Physically we've done a pretty good job. Last night they did rush for some yards. Give them some credit. The week before we held a very good rush team to a few yards, so we've come a long that way. Last night it was the two big plays. If you take the 92 yards down off the board, that's a 200-yard game for them. You can't do that obviously, but it gives me a chance to look at the game from a little different perspective. Give credit where credit is due. That type of thing. We have had turnovers and we have done some good things from a defensive standpoint and special teams as far as getting the ball for the offense. We just haven't really capitalized on it.
Q: How much clarity do you have on your roster after last night's game
A: Clarity?
Q: Or is it still very cloudy for you?
A: It's not going to be very cloudy. We haven't had a chance to discuss it yet, but we're going to when we leave here and we'll get some things resolved.
Q: Do you have any more information on Adrian Robinson's foot injury?
A: Supposedly a sprain. At this point in time and, again, you could come back in five minutes and I could say it's a different story. There's no surgery or anything like that to talk about.
Q: Is it that mid-foot sprain, or is it …?
A: It's not exactly mid-foot, it's off to the side a little bit. I think he tried to turn around at halftime and go last night, but he couldn't really get up on his toes well enough to be able to do that.
Q: With Andre Brown sidelined for awhile, do you think you need a running back with some NFL experience here?
A: Well, that's going to be discussed. We'll discuss all of those things. We need some true definition of how long this injury is going to be and once we understand that, I think there will be some discussions about a lot of different things.
Q: Could he be a candidate for IR with a designation to return?
A: He could be. Yeah. Sure.
Q: How comfortable are you with David Wilson taking over as the short-yardage guy, goal line guy?
A: David Wilson runs in there hard. I don't have a problem with that at all. That's not an issue for me. He's powerful. He's compact. He has tremendous leg strength, which is his forte. For him to run the ball in short yardage and goal line, I don't have an issue with that at all.
Q: What about the amount of his carries?
A: I think you have to have in the back of your mind a little idea about the number and we do. It's interesting because last night we had 71 snaps. We had 32 minutes time of possession, 71 snaps to their 60. The last two weeks, we've had a lot of snaps. We had over 80 the week before, so we've been in a lot of snaps. There's a lot of snaps in these games. When you look up there sometimes, preseason, you're wondering, when the hell is this quarter going to get over? That takes place during the regular season. You have to do what you have to do in order to win. It is a game of strength and endurance and power and that kind of thing. David is a guy who has outstanding endurance and strength. I'm not aware of what the number might be, but I'm sure we'll work that out.
Q: He also said he hopes he's convinced the coaches he can pick up blitzes and he's not a liability.
A: He's done a pretty good job of that. The last couple weeks he's improved and he's also done a nice job when if a half a jersey is hanging over, like he did last night on that play-action pass, he'll step in there and bang the defensive tackle. He's a much improved player. Much more aware of what he has to do to contribute to the entire pass protection scheme. Sometimes it's important that he has to be out. You have to realize that too. He does, he's starting to understand that as well.
Q: You have prepared a lot of teams for a season. Do you get a feel for your team at this time of year? Do you have a feel at this point for what kind of team you are going to be?
A: I would say our expectations are always very high. Sometimes they're met, sometimes there not. Sometimes it takes a lot of season before it comes to fruition, but we generally have a pretty good sense of what we've got. We may not be getting everything we think we need right away, but we'll have a good handle on what we think we have.
Q: How would you characterize your sense?
A: I'll pass on that one. I feel good about it. We don't have a lot of the satisfaction of having seen everything in preseason. If you look back over the years, this drive the other night, the 91-yard drive, that was a good thing. We needed that and that was good for a lot of reasons. For the group of guys who were playing together upfront, to play 10 plays in a row, which we haven't had. For it to come to completion with Eli checking a play and getting us something where we could pick it up and throwing the ball and Hakeem making the nice play, that's positive. That's all I can say, and we're making progress. I think we said the other day we are a work in progress. I believe that. We're going to get better as this thing goes along and hopefully we'll make some good progress here in this week.
Q: You got a chance to look at a couple young safeties after Tyler Sash went out with his concussion. Any impressions jump out at you?
A: Well, Cooper Taylor did some things. You know, he hasn't been around. He hasn't played, so we really haven't seen much of him, but he did a couple of decent things on special teams and he ran around at the safety position as well.
Q: How tough is it with a guy like Cooper, when you only see him in the fourth preseason game and then you have to make some tough roster decisions?
A: You're answering your own question. It's not an easy thing. You're not going to spend all of your time speculating. He's a draft choice, so there's been some tremendous research done with regard to him. You have to step up at this level and show it just as well.
Q: Do you have a handle at all on who is going to be in and who is going to be out of practice on Monday?
A: That's another issue. You know you'd love to stand up on a band box and say, 'Alright, anybody who makes this team has got to practice. We need to practice.' But you know what? It just sometimes doesn't work that way. Then you're scrambling. It's very difficult to put together the kind of week that you need to have when you are at 53 and eight and out of the 53, there's three or four of them that can't practice. That becomes rather difficult.
Q: And there's some big guys in the game plan.
A: Absolutely.
Q: Is practicing on Wednesday next week as good as having a guy work on Monday to you?
A: Oh yeah, absolutely. If we can get Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in a solid week of normal preparation, I think we'll be okay.
Q: Is your center or left guard position set at this point if Baas can't come back, or do you juggle some more?
A: We'll see. We'll see.
**
QB ELI MANNING**
Q: How important was that last touchdown…
A: Right, well, I guess we answered part of the criticism we've been getting, our red zone efficiency, so it's good to kind of get in there and finish a good drive, go 90 yards, convert some third downs, had some good plays and, finally, finish it with a touchdown. So that was good. I feel good about where we are and how guys are playing. I think we've gotten better at some things in the preseason. That's what you want, you want to see where you stand and what you're not doing as well, what we need to work on each week, so I think we still have some areas to improve on and that's going to happen throughout the season. We are in a good spot right now but we still have to make strides each and every week to get better.
Q: You heard a lot of words like 'intensity' and 'urgency' when you guys reported to camp. Did you see anything this past month that leads you to believe that that message is still there?
A: Yeah, I think we've had a good training camp. I think guys are learning, taking each practice seriously, are making good decisions. We've had some young guys step up and learn the offense better. I think that's been good, we have good veteran leadership. I think we've had a successful camp, we did some good things and we just have to keep that attitude and keep trying to improve every week.
Q: Do you ever have a feel this early in the season what kind of team you guys are going to be?
A: I think we have some talent on this team. I think there's going to be some opportunities to hit some big plays, whether it's David Wilson in the run game or getting him balls, with our receivers making big plays. This offense gives us opportunities to get the ball down the field and it's just a matter of if we can execute them. Can I get the ball to the receivers, can guys make the right decisions, can we protect. If we do, everything will work out where we could be a high-powered offense and score a lot of points.
Q: You haven't really had a chance to have all the pieces together. Do you feel like you've gotten enough work with each individual piece?
A: Yeah. With Hakeem and obviously with Victor, he's missed the last few weeks or so with the injury but he's a guy that knows the offense very well. It's easy to read his body language, he's going to make good decisions so hopefully we'll have him this week for practice and as we game plan for Dallas. It won't take any time, timing wise, to get back on the same page.
Q: Defensively you guys have had a pretty good preseason. What have you seen out of your defense?
A: They've done a great job getting turnovers, getting us great field position and that should be great for us. If we can take advantage of that and score points and build leads, early leads, that will put us is a good spot. So hopefully they can continue to play well and slow down offenses and we can do our job and score points.
Q: Is there concern about Andre Brown? Obviously the injury is going to put him out for a while but your backup running back is now gone.
A: Yeah, obviously when you lose a running back, a guy who's going to play a decent amount, it's tough. But David has had a good preseason and we've got a couple other backs that have been in the system for a little while, are veteran guys, so someone's got to step up and obviously play a role and get some reps in the run game and help out in the pass game.
Q: You've been around the game a long time but you're a captain on this team and a leader on this team. When it comes to the final cutdown day, how do you mentally approach the fact that you know you're going to lose some teammates. That's a big deal.
A: Yeah. It's never easy. Obviously this year we have four quarterbacks in the room and you know you're not going to go into the season with four quarterbacks. It's tough because you spent the last four months with these guys and they're all great guys so you hate the fact that one of them is not going to be a part of the team. It's tough. Other guys also, they've done a great job getting better and working, working with all of them throughout practice and in games. It's just part of the business and not one of the parts you like about it, but I guess, in a way, you get used to it and understand how it works.
Q: Is it your understanding that Victor is going to practice on Monday?
A: I don't know, I have yet to ask him on that one. I haven't heard one way or the other.
RB DAVID WILSONQ: Do you expect that you will get the ball more, take more snaps? Has that been explained to you?
A: Not really. I've been having the same responsibilities going into it and I think I have the same responsibilities. And that's to go in there and be effective, make plays, that's what we expect from anybody that's in the backfield. Dre is strong, he'll make a big recovery and he'll be alright. We're looking forward to getting him back.
Q: What if you get the ball 30 times in the opening game, are you set for that?
A: I'm in shape, so hopefully I can handle it. Whatever they need me to do, I'm ready to do it. I think I prepared pretty well, I'm a physical guy, so I think I'm in pretty good shape.
Q: What kind of spirits is Andre in? He seemed pretty positive and optimistic after the game.
A: I didn't see him today, haven't seen him.
Q: The plan was to split carries; if it's 70/30 now, can you handle that?
A: Whatever they want me to do. Like I said, when I first came here, whatever the coaches need me to do. If they need me to kick a field goal, I'm going to go out there and give it 100 percent trying to kick a field goal. The carries or the workload, all that, is not a big factor for me. When I'm on the field I want to be effective and help my team win games.
Q: Do you care about first, second or third down? Andre has a lot of third down responsibilities. Do you feel, no matter where you are, you can do all the things you need to do?
A: Same answer – whenever I'm on the field, I want to be effective, go out there and make plays. Q: You had a pretty good blitz pickup on, I think, the third possession.
A: Yeah, you know, preseason, just showing the coaches that I can do it.
Q: You guys were looking for some big plays, that was a big play down field but people aren't looking at you so much, without you that play doesn't happen.
A: Yeah, every guy plays a role and plays their part so when all 11 guys do that, that's when we have big plays. We're going to need a lot of those this week. Preseason's over and it's the regular season so everything's going to count. Mistakes are going to count and they're going to hurt you and positive plays are going to count and they're going to help you.
Q: It seemed like they were sending the safety a lot, Wilson, the guy you picked up on that 35-yarder to Murphy.
A: Yeah, I didn't look at his last name. I just picked him up like he's the guy I got.
Q: It seemed like they were blitzing the safety a lot. Did you feel like it was a good test for you guys in terms of the pass protection?
A: We weren't really looking for a test, but just to show the coaches I can do it. Having the opportunity definitely helped out a lot.
Q: What about goal line and short yardage stuff? We haven't really seen you do a lot of that since you've been here. Is that something that you feel comfortable doing?
A: Most definitely. I run in between the tackles. Don't get confused by my size, I'm a physical guy. I'm from the country so, you know, I grew up chopping wood and building houses with my dad, all that, I'm well put together.Q: Do you look at this as a chance to maybe get some more touchdowns, get in the end zone more? Do you think you have that opportunity now?
A: Yeah, I have the opportunity and, due to Dre getting injured, someone's got to do it. Going into it, it was mainly his job. We had a goal line package where he was the guy to go in and get those tough yards. Now he's out and I'm definitely going to have to step up and use all that stuff.
Q: Do you think that's maybe an underrated part of your game? People see the 84-yarder last week, but the inside, third and one, second and two, those kind of things, are you as confident with those types of plays the way you are with the long ones?
A: I'm confident and I know I can do it. The main thing is to just go out there and do it. No matter what I think, people are going to judge off what they see so I have to go out there, put it out there and let the coaches see it, let my teammates see it and I'll be in that situation more often.
Q: Those are the kind of plays you take a pounding. You could get one yard but you're going to get hit pretty good, too.
A: I'm well put together.
Q: Even in college you split that sort of goal line stuff, right?
A: Yeah, before. Due to my size, man, people just judge off my size. I'm looking forward to getting in there and getting those tough yards
SAFETY ANTREL ROLLE Q: Collectively, you've had a pretty good preseason defensively. Is that something that you feel is going to carry over into the regular season?
A: It means nothing at this point. What happens is more punctual as to what I'm looking at and that's something that's going to be determined throughout the course of the season. Do I think it's possible? Of course. We put it out there in preseason. Why not go out there and do it for the regular season? Obviously, we know the speed of the game definitely speeds up and teams really throw their playbook at us. We're ready for whatever comes our way. We're a very confident defense and we're a veteran defense and we're going to go out there and make things happen.
Q: You say you're a very confident defense. You guys aren't coming off the best statistical year defensively. Does that shake anything at all in your faith in the defense?
A: We don't worry about last year. The season is what it is. We finished 9-7. We didn't make the playoffs. We understand what we left on the field last year and us understanding that at this point is only going to allow us to get better and if we're going to have that improvement and that extra motivation, that drive to get better and to make sure we don't have those let downs. Extremely confident? Yeah. We are extremely confident and I would not take that word back because that's what we are as a defense and I stand strong by my word. It's just a matter of us going out there and displaying that. I can sit here and talk until I'm blue in the face, but what speaks for itself is what we actually go out there and put on film.
Q: It's human nature for a team not to be hungry after a Super Bowl win. Is there anything the veterans learned from last year to regain the edge the year you won the Super Bowl?
A: I can't say that took place last year. I'm no one to say what took place. I can only speak for myself and that definitely wasn't the case for myself. I just think we had some letdowns. We didn't go out there and play the best of the best of our games when the opportunity presented itself. I don't think it had anything to do with a Super Bowl hangover. I think we just failed to capitalize on our opportunities.
Q: Because of that, do you think a lot of people are overlooking you this year?
A: To be honest with you, I can care less of what anyone picks or how they may perceive anything or even how they may view the Giants because at the end of the day they don't play the game. They don't dictate anything of what takes place out there on Sundays or Monday nights. Like I said, to be honest with you, I could really care less.
Q: How should people view this team?
A: Just tune into the TV and watch. You can't speak about it in words because we haven't put anything out there yet. I can't sit here and say to view this as a Super Bowl team when we haven't gone out there and displayed that we're a Super Bowl team. Tune in Sunday night against Dallas and they can start making their observations at that point.
Q: How are things going out there with you and Ryan Mundy?
A: Things are great. The communication was awesome. We were on the same page at the same time on each and every play and things are only going to get better at this point.
SAFETY STEVIE BROWN
Q: How disappointing has this been?
A: It's very disappointing. You work all summer getting ready for the season and just a freak accident like that to happen definitely sucks.
Q: Did you plant wrong?
A: When I planted it just kind of gave in on me, a little buckle move and just went down.
Q: Did you know it was bad as soon as it happened?
A: I was hoping it wasn't bad. There's been plenty of times I've been running and tweaked something and sat down for a second and just move your leg around and you're like 'I'm fine' and you keep it moving. That's what I was hoping it was, but it was hurting a little longer than normal.
Q: Do you have a date set for your surgery?
A: No. No date set yet. I'm still trying to get my motion back in and get all the swelling out.
Q: How frustrating is it?
A: Very frustrating. You always want to be out there playing and contributing, so not being able to sucks.
Q: Did you have an opportunity to talk to Terrell Thomas?
A: Yeah. I've talked to T2 a few times. I was asking him about the different type of surgeries that he's had and the different surgeons that he's had. Just the whole recovery process. I know me and him are going to get together some time this weekend and talk a little bit more as well.
Q: Being in a contract year, does it make it even tougher?
A: I wasn't even looking at it like that. I was just more focused on winning this year and definitely trying to get better.
Q: Are there different types of ACL surgeries you can have?
A: Yeah. I've been doing my research. There's the one with kind of a cadaver. I hear it's something where they take part of your hamstring closer up to the knee. They use that and then there's the patella one. That's supposed to be the stronger one, but it's a lengthier recovery time as well. I've just been hearing a little bit and reading a little bit just trying to do my research right now.
Q: Did they tell you if it was a full tear or a partial tear?
A: I don't know if I can answer that one.
Q: Do you have a sense that they will stand by you after this?
A: That's up to them up there in the front office. So we'll go from there.
Q: Are you going to be around?
A: Yeah. I'll be around. I'll definitely be around.
Q: Do you know who is doing the surgery yet?
A: No, not yet. I still don't have a doctor yet.
