Q. With the Falcons, Cowboys and Eagles losing last week, destiny went back into your own hands. How important is that?
A. It's only as important as we make it. We still have to come out and play ball on Sunday, and if we don't take advantage of it, then those guys losing doesn't mean anything. For us, we have to take care of ourselves and our team first before any of that matters. We can look back at the end of the season and say that really was the turning point for us.
Q. Did you sense that everybody came back from the break with a hungrier attitude?
A. No question, I did and I know guys around me did. We had a good two days of practice, very, very solid preparation. Guys are on point, a lot of energy and we hope that carries right into Sunday.
Q. Danny Ware is getting back into things. You guys have been successful as the three-headed monster at time here. Can you guys be that way again?
A. Yeah, no question. I think Danny (Ware) is doing the best he could, learning as much as he can and he is doing a good job translating what he's done in the meeting room on to the field. We have to wait and find out to see how things pan out in the game. I am sure he will do fine, he is a very talented guy and he wants to win.
Q. It looks to me that the running game in the last couple games has been effective but just not as many runs as you would like to maybe get the numbers up. Do you sense that the runs have been efficient?
A. Yeah, we have been averaging close to five yards a carry over the last month or so. Things change in the football game where you have to do something different and that's what happens. I think Coach Gilbride has done a great job all year long of calling plays and getting us into things that we need to be in. We can go out there and run and it's up to us to execute.
Q. The recent efficiency with the running game gives you reason to believe that you guys could dominate with the running game in the second half of the season?
A. Oh, no question, it's going to be nice and cold. The ball is going to be really hard and we just have to be ready to carry as many times as they are going to give it to me.
Q. Do you like that?
A. I love it. I love when you are out playing the game in the outdoors with those elements. It makes it good for us because we can step our game up knowing that our team is going to need us in order to win the game, to move the ball. I like putting everything on my back.
Q. I asked you a couple weeks ago would you be surprised if I told you at the beginning of the year that you wouldn't have a 100-yard game and you said you would be really surprised. You have 20 carries once this year, would that have surprised you, too, if you only carried the ball 20 times once in a game so far?
A. Yes, that would surprise me, too. It is what it is; we have a lot of guys who are capable. Ahmad (Bradshaw) has been doing a really good job for us, Danny (Ware) is going to come in for the second half of the season and will do a really good job. I don't really care as long as we win and guys are getting hooked up because I am not getting as many carries is all that matters.
Q. The only thing is you guys haven't been winning.
A. If you give me the ball eight or nine more times, it's the possibility that I still wouldn't change that. I'm one man and this is the National Football League, guys are getting paid to. I am confident that I could do it, no question about it, but another five or six carries probably wouldn't change anything.
Q. The Falcons gave up a lot of yardage on the ground to the Panthers last week. There were two big runs by the Panthers. When you watch that game do you see maybe an opportunity for that?
A. No question. The way the Falcons play, they are very fast. They do a lot of twisting and looping on the defensive front. Their linebackers do a good job of running and cutting off plays. When you are good at something like that it always leaves room for error. There is always room for error for any style of running you play. If you are a guy that likes to play downhill and stuff up the hole, there is room for error there, having a back that can get to the outside and leave that big pile inside. I think it's open; they haven't really given up too much except for that game.
