Re: The helmet to helmet penalty.
A: After looking at the film I think it was definitely a legit call. I thought it was a legit call. My angle initially was to aim for his back and he began to alligator roll. Once he rolled, my momentum and our heads did collide. It's a legit call. In the heat of the battle you're just trying to help and get over there and get the guy down. He had one yard to get for the first down. My mentality was, he's fumbling with the ball, hit him as hard as I can, knock the ball loose. At no certain point in time was I going for an obvious head to head contact, but after reviewing the film I think it definitely did happen. It was a legit call. But I can learn from that. Next time just make sure I go over there and try to, I guess, push him down as hard as I can. Just make sure he doesn't get that extra yard. You know it happens. It's something you learn from. You move on.
Q: The tough thing is the ref can't legislate intent. It looked like you were trying to get your shoulder in.A: Yeah. Watching the film, I definitely did lead with my shoulder. My angle, like I said, was at a certain target point and once he began to alligator roll it kind of shifted everything. I think it was more the back of my helmet hit his helmet. Like I said, that call is just something you have to live with.
Q: Coughlin seemed to understand that the intent wasn't bad. Your conversation with him okay on that?
A: He definitely knows that I'm not a nasty player. I consider myself a very physical player, but I would never ever be a nasty player. I definitely didn't go out there with the intent to try to hurt any opponent. No matter what the situation is. It was just a matter of instincts. I'm trying to go out there and force a turnover, try to find a way to get the ball back for our offense and it ended up costing us. At the same time, I'm never going to slow down my physical play. I'll just be, maybe, a lot smarter in the situation. Try to take him down. Try to control my instincts a little bit more.
Q: Is it difficult with the short offseason and injuries?
A: It's not difficult at all. I have confidence. We're not in sync yet. We obviously know that. As a defensive unit, we're not in sync yet as a unit. At the same time, we're playing hard. We're playing together and we're trying to make things happen with what we have. We will get in sync. Definitely will get in sync and that's something we're looking forward to come this week. Try to make sure everyone's on the same page at the same time. Try to get everyone together, try to focus a lot more on technique and responsibility. With the hard work and effort, I think we'll definitely come out on top.
Q: What do you think led to the lack of urgency? Is that something that can be corrected?
A: I don't know. I really don't know what led to it. I felt like as a team, I don't feel like we had the energy we should've had going out there in our first game, especially being a division opponent. I felt like at times we were very flat. There's no focus point on that to say what caused what or what did not. We have to find a way. At the end of the day we definitely have to find our way, have to find our identity. At the end of the day, we're playing the game of football. There has to be a certain kind of passion about it. There has to be a certain kind of enthusiasm, which this team has. We just have to make sure we get back to it.
