Q: How do the Chargers use Shawne Merriman? Is he roaming from side to side, or is he pretty much in the same spot?
A: Shawne is an athletic enough guy to do whatever they need him to do. We are going to have our hands full with Shawne. They move him around. Sometimes he is off the ball, five yards deep. Sometimes he is playing different sides. He is a good player, I'll tell you that. So we are going to have to keep our eye on him.
Q: Has Coach Coughlin changed up anything this week motivationally or psychologically with the team?
A: Coach Coughlin told us what we need to do and what he sees on the field that is not showing. And we just try to carry what he told us from this week. And what he needed us to do, we just try to carry it over to the game. I think yesterday and today were both solid days of practice. Guys had a lot of energy and were flying around and making some plays. So I think this is going to be a good week for us.
Q: Antonio Pierce was talking earlier this week and he said the way things are going this is almost like a Super Bowl for you guys. Do you agree with that?
A: No question. I don't ever remember losing three games in a row. So a lot of guys around here realize that in five years they have never really been part of losing three games in a row and we have to do something about it. And a lot of guys are willing to step up and go out and make plays.
Q: Each of the last few losses you have been running really well at the beginning of the game and then the team gets behind and they kind of have to get away from the run. Is that frustrating? Do you wish they would stay with the run a little bit longer?
A: No question. I always want to stay with the run. I'm a back and that is just how it goes. I have a good team around me, we have great receivers, and the quarterback is very, very, very good. We have good offensive linemen. We try to use everybody to the best of our ability to make sure that we can give us a better chance of winning.
Q: Compared to some of the teams that you have played lately, is this a Charger team that does a lot of stuffing in the box again, too? Or are they a little bit more soft in terms of how they play their guys?
A: This is copy-cat league. The Chargers are going to look at what Philadelphia did, look at what New Orleans did. They are going to look at what the Cardinals did and they are going to try to get their own version of what they did against us to try to make it work. That is what this league is all about. And that is why if you don't come out and hit somebody in the mouth when they are blitzing real quick and discourage them from doing it, they are going to keep doing it. So we are just looking forward to a lot of pressure and we are going to block it up and get the ball down the field.
Q: Similar to what you saw from Dallas earlier in the year?
A: It is kind of like the step sister of Dallas. They kind of do a lot of the same things. They have Merriman. But they use him a lot different than Dallas uses DeMarcus Ware. So he runs around and makes a lot of plays; not that DeMarcus doesn't because he really does. We kind of know how to block up their scheme because we play against Dallas twice a year for the last five years. It is definitely going to be a challenge for us. We have a good team that is coming in here – both on offense and defense. So it is going to be a big challenge for us to come out and try to get this game.
Q: Numbers are everything, obviously. But would a 100-yard game kind of boost everyone's spirits, do you think – the offensive linemen, the running backs, everybody? That is something that you guys are used to around here.
A: Yeah, I'll tell you what, if anybody is due for one, it is definitely me. We go out; we do what we have to do to try to win the game. And the last three weeks we haven't done enough. We haven't wanted it bad enough. We have been outplayed and it is time for that to change. We have to come out and be the team that we know that we are. We are a very good football team and everyone in this locker room knows that. And we have to come out and play like that on Sunday.
Q: I don't imagine in your wildest dreams you ever would have thought it would be past mid-season and you would still be looking for that first 100-yard game.
A: I would never even imagine that. If you would have told me at the beginning of the year, I would have told them, 'bury you.' But it is what it is. I'm been running hard, I've been doing the best that I can and taking what they have been giving me and working and trying to make something of it.
Q: You had some good runs the past three weeks, though. Have you felt differently these past three than earlier in the season? Is there something changing there?
A: Not really. Just getting in there and running and just hit it. The holes aren't there very long, and when they are there you have to hit them. I think is what changes – I see one hole, I don't try to look for another one – try to get a bigger gain – I hit the first one that I see. So that is pretty much all that changed.
Q: Is there a little bit of a hesitation in reading the holes?
A: Well the game is too fast to be able to get all of those reads and look where you are going. It is way too fast for us. You have to pick one and go.
Q: Do you know LaDainian Tomlinson?
A: I know him as a football player. I have never really been around him or anything like that. I imagine that he is a great guy. Hell of a football player. It is going to be interesting to see what happens because they have a lot of talent.
Q: You mentioned that the team needs to get back to playing football – being the team that it was. Are you seeing that this week in practice – are you making strides to getting back to where you think you guys should be?
A: No question. Guys are running around, flying around, making a lot of noise. Everyone has been that guy this week – to get on someone else when they are not doing it right – make them do it the right way. I said on Wednesday morning that I was going to be that guy to come in here and jump on people's back when it doesn't look like they are working hard. And about 40 other guys had the same mentality. So it was crazy.
Q: There has been more of a sense of urgency this week?
A: There has definitely been more of a sense of urgency and I think guys have really realized that we have lost the last three games. And it just can't be that way around here. This is New York. You can't --- not three in a row. Don't lose at all. And I think this is a team that realizes the situation that we are in and go on.
