VS.

POSTGAME QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 21, 2008

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Q: Initial comments:
Obviously we're as disappointed as you can be losing the football game. There were again, as I told the guys, we made some positive plays, but you got to finish the thing out. And we didn't get that done today. They fought their butts off, and did a lot of good things. But at the end of the day, we got to finish the thing off and make a play that gets the ball back and finishes the game out or find a way to score a touchdown on the last drive. So I think all in all we did a lot of the things we set out to do today, we've just got to do them more consistently for a longer period of time. And the things we've been talking about: improving on third down, running the football, defending the run and don't give up an explosive play in the passing game and make some on ours. I think in some of those areas I know we improved today. We've just got to keep churning and keep getting it done.

Q: You mentioned scoring a TD at the end of regulation. With the time on the clock, what was the thought process?
We were trying to score a touchdown. We only had one timeout left. If we used it there, you can't kick the field goal.

Q: With the TD pass to Houshmandzadeh, did you see a letdown on the defense?
No, I didn't see a letdown. I saw them come and churn out a couple plays against a couple pressures. They got the guy blocked. We had the ball in the air a couple times, we had it tipped, and we didn't intercept it. They were able to convert the third down and were able to move the football.

Q: Do you build off of this?
We build off a week ago, and two weeks before that. So you build every time you come out here. And again we're not satisfied, we got a lot of good things done today but not enough long enough, and that's the key point.

Q: You were down in the secondary and had some kids play a lot (Castille and Jones), how do you think they held up?
I don't know. I'll watch the tape and then I won't tell you (laughs).

Q: Burress is a big play receiver. Went down on the fade and then Manning-Toomer?
Plax made the double move there and got the ball over the top on the final drive. Same thing on the wheel route. So they had a couple plays that they executed well and beat the weakness of the coverage and got the ball to the right spots on those two plays.

Q: 0-3 Carson, where do you guys go from here?
It's definitely a tough situation and a situation we never envisioned ourselves being in, but we have to keep coming together as a team. It may sound crazy, but we have improved, not enough, but a little bit. We have to keep improving and just find a way to scrape out a win and give us that confidence we need. That will give us the confidence we need to take a deep threat and say, "Alright, now let's roll."

Q: What was the difference in the offensive game plan today that created the feeling that you guys could do what you wanted to do?
There's no difference. We had a good game plan against a very good defense. Nothing spectacular, nothing different. We need to find a way to end up with some touchdowns instead of just field goals there. We'll try to do that this week.

Q: They had pressure, one of the best pass rushes in the league. They really put you under pressure:
Yeah. I don't know how many times I was sacked, but they did a good job getting pressure on the quarterback. That's one of the better front fours in this league.

Q: Did you come out expecting that because of the pressure it was going to take a series of short passes and screens, which were pretty effective for you guys?
Yeah, we wanted to get the ball out quick and not be in situations where I'm holding onto the ball and we're letting Tuck and some of those big guys loose. We did a good job getting rid of the ball early, and we got it out quick and got it to our playmakers.

Q: On the game-winning FG, were you surprised that they didn't take an extra minute just to make sure Toomer was in bounds?
Yeah, I thought his feet were out. I don't know exactly what the rules are. Were his feet in (I couldn't tell)? I would have taken a timeout. I don't know what they saw in the booth, but you'd like to have the opportunity to review the play.

Q: Antonio (Chatman) said that on the last offensive play to him before OT that you were supposed to spike it and you called an audible there. Was he your primary receiver and were you going for the touchdown?
Yeah, we had enough time to try to get in there, and from my angle I thought he was. He shook the first guy and I thought he was going to split them and get in. It was just a situation where we had enough time, and they were in the right defense to try to get a cheap one with making a guy miss, because with Antonio that's his specialty. He almost made the guy miss to get in there, but we had enough time to set up the field goal.

Q: You were going to spike it there, but audibled. Did you think about calling the timeout with third and one?
We didn't need it. Like I said, we had enough time to try to get one more play in the end zone. Stop the clock if it's incomplete. Call the timeout if it's complete and you get the first down.

Q: Did the field position on the drive in OT dictate the play-calling which seemed to be a little bit conservative the way the offense had been running at that time?
No, with the way we were moving the ball on the ground, we felt like we were getting four a pop. We tried to get eight the first two with two runs to get us to third and two and have the chance to run the ball again for a first down or throw it. Unfortunately, we weren't able to move the ball, and then on third down, I didn't throw a good enough pass to TJ.

Q: TJ said there were a couple of plays where basically you two were going off each other freelancing. Do you feel back in sync now? Were you ever off?
It's tough to say. Last week when the wind is blowing like it was 50 mph, it's tough to find a rhythm with somebody. TJ and I definitely had a rhythm tonight. He did a good job doing his own thing and getting open in a couple different situations. We had a botched snap where the ball was on the ground and he saw it and did a good job of adjusting his route. That's just what TJ does. He's a football player. He makes smart plays, heads up plays.

Q: He made a tough play on the TD, too. Did you expect him to?
Unbelievable catch. He's got two guys on him. Right when I let the ball go I knew he was going to make the play because that's what he does.

Q: There were a lot of nice things you guys did out there as a team. Did you guys think that you could win this game coming in?
We knew coming in that we could beat this team. Unfortunately, we couldn't come up with that one big play to put us over the top. We showed a lot of fight out there and there were a lot of nice things that we did out there on both sides of the ball, but in the end, it's still a loss... nothing good about a loss.

Q. With all those injuries you guys had, you sure showed a lot of heart in this game.
Yeah definitely the one thing we did show out there was heart. I mean now we're just looking at our matchup with Cleveland next week, that's all we can really do.

Q: Thoughts on the game?
It's tough to go out there and play so hard and not end up with the win. I mean there's a lot that we can build on, and I can honestly say that we got better as a team today. We've got the Cleveland Browns coming in next week and the best way to get this taste out of our mouths is to get ready to play them.

Q. What happened to the offensive line today?
There's nothing but upside. We're just going to keep learning from what we're doing and keep gaining momentum...just got to keep trying to get better.

Q: Initial comments:
Give credit where credit is due to Cincinnati, they played well. They came in here, they were 0-2, their coach said they were going to play hard, they did play hard, they were physical, they hadn't shown that kind of pressure in any of their previous games, they really did a nice job of that. Some we were able to manipulate and others we weren't, they moved the ball, they had some runs in the first half which put us back on the drawing board so to speak at halftime. They made plays when they had to in the passing game. We responded. We had the one long drive in regulation in the fourth quarter and then, of course, they did, too, but then we followed that up with the overtime plays and we are just happy to have the win. The Cincinnati Bengals are a good team. I had a sense that here is a team that was tenth in the league in ranking offensively and hadn't really gotten themselves on track and we saw them get pretty much on track today, but they also were very good on defense today. We had our hands full and we found a way to win.

Q: Was the team a little flat in the game today?
Don't give me that flat stuff. We came out, it was a tough, competitive game, and we found a way to win the game. We didn't execute as well as we have been, but you have to give them a little credit for that, too. They played well. They played hard.

Q: Can you talk about the last drive that Cincinnati had in overtime. What did you see in your pass defense down there?
What did we see in our pass defense? We had an opportunity; Sam Madison made a heck of a play to knock a ball away, real close to making the interception. It was the same play they had used earlier to convert on a big third down so we were in a good coverage, they came out in a tandem alignment, we had really what amounted to an I and O coverage on it and Sam made a nice play.

Q: Is it no longer a surprise when you see Eli Manning come through in pressure situations?
Well, we certainly needed for that to happen today and he was able to come through with it again. Again, it was the kind of game where there was a lot of pressure to have to deal with. We settled down there in the fourth quarter and the overtime. We are certainly happy to be able to finish the way we did and win the game.

Q: Did you worry that the long pass to Amani Toomer in overtime would be reviewed and overturned?
Well, upstairs they weren't sure. If there is any question, they won't let you snap the ball anyway. The umpire moved off the ball so we knew that it was a play that was allowable if you will.

Q: How did Kevin Boss' play help today?
We got the ball to the tight end today, and obviously a huge play for the touchdown, but had a couple of other balls where he was up above everybody else, to be honest with you. Coverage was in pretty good shape and he caught the ball up above. It was nice to see Kevin get involved.

Q: Can you talk about the spark Derrick Ward gave you today?
Derrick has done that consistently now really for three games. He has run hard, he has been a guy that has had some versatility catching the ball as well, some good maneuverability in traffic, and he definitely was a pickup, as you said, a spark today.

Q: Was trying to set the run up off the edge with Jacobs something you feel like you could have done more effectively today?
They defended it well, give them credit. Their scheme was such that it ended up being a lot of eight man fronts with one side being heavy contain alignment and the other side being a pressure side. Again, give them credit for that. Probably our better runs ended up going straight up more than anything else today.

Q: Do you have higher expectations of this team in tight games because you are Super Bowl champions?
I think you expect that we are going to play well when the pressure is on and we are going to find a way to win the game. We did that today, although it was a difficult game.

Q: On the play after Ward got you to near the goal line before the go-ahead score, was that a designed run to the outside with Jacobs?
Well, you saw what happened. You are talking about the goal line play? Yeah, they came underneath the wing and forced the ball to bounce and scraped the backer outside with no way for the offense to get anybody on him. Their defense was designed to go to the wing and they got us.

Q: You said the pressure at times was hurtful on offense, so what was the reason to go only to the passing game in overtime?
That was part of it. To be honest with you, there were some runs tied in there, but what the defense gave us forced us to go to the pass.

Q: You didn't do the hurry-up, but you stayed in the same formation as when you run it. Did you want to keep it that way?
We didn't have to get into any kind of hurry-up, so we huddled, but we thought our best chance to have some versatility with our attack with the run and the pass was to be in that formation or that personnel set.

Q: Tynes was kicking pregame. Was that part of his rehab regimen?
That was his regimen for today. His program for today was designed that he would... we knew probably mid-week that John (Carney) was going to be our kicker so we put Lawrence back on the schedule where he would be a heavy duty workout this morning and he did. He is coming along well.

Q: Is it going to be hard to say goodbye to Carney?
He has done very well. Let's face it, pretty much everything we have asked the guy to do he has done it, plus his kickoffs have been outstanding, directional kickoffs. He puts the ball outside the numbers and gives you a chance with some flexibility on different types of coverage schemes, too.

Q: Was your message to the team that you got away with one today?
No, that wouldn't be the way I would say it. My message today was... it ended up being really the power of the will. It wasn't our best game, by any means, but we hung in there, we kept battling and scrapping, and in what was not our best game, we found a way to win against a good football team. I don't care if they are 0-2 or not, they play in a tough division and they are a good team.

Q: Any update on Aaron Ross?
I haven't heard anything.

Q: What does that mean, 'the power of the will?'
We just gutted it out; you find a way to win. You find a way some how, some way, to put your will over his.

Q: Will you carry two kickers if the roster stays healthy?
Well, we will make a decision, we haven't really crossed that bridge yet, but we would make a decision based on where the best 53 sits.

Q: Is it disappointing to see your defense allow Cincinnati to drive back down and send the game to overtime?
Well, it was, but again what they did, they blocked a lot of our pressures up and they had the quarterback in the gun and Palmer got the ball out fast. He got it out quick. We had really a full pressure on in the last drive and they hit the slant over the middle to Houshmandzadeh and he made a heck of a play. We just didn't get there. We had a lot of pressure called, but we didn't get there many times.

Q: Burress didn't have a big day today aside from the play in overtime?
The reason was they had two people wherever he went, so we do have to deal with that. We do line him up in a lot of different places, but whenever it was a normal situation today, and rightfully so, they had two on him.

Q: His play in overtime?
Outstanding. Excellent play and Amani's play was a great play, too. You have to have them. Those are the plays you have to have when the game is on the line. Someone has to step up and make a play to help you win the game.

Q: Eli could not have made a better pass on the play to Plaxico because only Plaxico could catch it?
We have some... I keep referring to it as "elevation." We have Plaxico, we have Kevin Boss, the ball sometimes up high to those guys nobody can get up as high as they are and that is basically what happened.

Q: What do you think of Antonio Pierce's play when he took the penalty when there were only 10 men on the field?
He was making a heads-up, smart play. That is all I can tell you. We had a personnel combination out there that was set and right and one of the young guys came running off thinking he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Antonio made the smart move and didn't let them snap the ball with 10.

Q: That is a penalty you can accept?
Not accepting, but today it was a smart move.

Q: Can you just generally sum up your thoughts on the win?
"That was a fun one. That's a game that wasn't pretty at all times, we didn't play our best football, but that's just kind of how it goes sometimes. Everything's not going to go perfectly and you'll have some ups and downs, so we kept fighting, we never gave up and when we needed to make plays I think guys stepped up and made plays. We've always kind of had that ability and had that about us, and it's good that we haven't lost that. It's something you can't really coach, you can't teach. For some reason when it's clutch time and we need to make some plays, we tend to find a way to make plays."

Q: What about at the end of regulation, the 3rd-and-10 pass to Steve Smith?
"Yeah, it was a 3rd-and-10 pass, they showed blitz, I went to a check and Steve just did a great job of finding a lane. It wasn't really the perfect call, he just kind of played above the Xs and Os. He found a lane. It wasn't really the perfect route that he ran but he's just kind of a football player and saw something, saw a hole. He got the catch for a huge first down."

Q: And the Kevin Boss touchdown?
"We originally had a different play, went to the sideline when they called time out and (offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride) said, 'Which play do you like better?' We went with this one. They were showing blitz. They brought a lot blitz zero. It was all-out blitz all day. They were kind of showing that and we did a dummy cadence, then we had a good play on their blitz. We were trying to throw something to Plaxico (Burress) and then for some reason the linebacker checked out and they went to Cover-2, then we had a perfect play to the front side. (Amani) Toomer ran a good route. He held the Mike-backer - the Mike-backer ran with Toomer. Kevin Boss came across the end zone and made a tough catch, gets hit, and that's just kind of how that play works. You're going to get hit on that, so he did a great job."

Q: Coach Coughlin said they were trying to take away Plaxico Burress and gang up on your running game. Do you think you were able to spread it around?
"Yeah, they had a good plan. They tried to gang up on him and do some blitzes and roll it to both sides. It made it tough at times. When teams are doing a lot of blitzing like that, you're going to get them with a few plays and they're going to get you with some plays also. That's kind of the way it goes. We hit enough big plays and good plays to get the win, so that was a great job by our guys just hanging in there tough, never getting frustrated and keep playing."

Q: Coach Coughlin said you had a number of run calls in overtime but opted out. What is that like with the ball in your hands and what did you see that made you opt out?
"We do a lot of stuff like that. We call two plays - either two runs or two passes or a run and a pass, a pass and a run - and you just kind of look at the defense and see if there's too many guys up there, if they're coming with the blitz, then you have to check to the pass. And sometimes neither of those plays will work and you have to change the play to a whole different play. We were mixing it up a pretty good bit. They were mixing their coverages, their blitzes, what they were doing, so we'd try to get there as fast as we could, identify what they were doing and try to get it to the best play possible. It's easier said than done sometimes. A lot of guys are communicating, you're changing things up so it was a great job by our players not getting confused, knowing exactly what we were getting to and running, doing the right things and making the plays."

Q: In overtime, why the pump-fake to Burress?
"That's what we called. They were coming with the blitz. We'd been running a lot of slants, hit a few. I hadn't hit one to Plaxico, but he'd been running a lot of slants (and I) just had better looks to the other side. He ran a little fake-slant, pumped it, the corner sat just enough and got over the top of him. (It was a) good route by him and a good job going to get the ball right there."

Q: But you felt that was the perfect time for it, obviously?
"Yeah. We'd been running a lot of slants. We ran a little slant-and-go. They were in a good coverage. They came with a little pressure there, but they were in good coverage for it and he did a good job getting open."

Q: And the pass to Amani Toomer?
"Amani, the play - We've run it in the past. We hadn't run it all game, but he and Plaxico had just kind of run it. They got a little crisscross action and Amani saw the guy was guarding him pretty him good, but he was kind of fighting with him and he ran by him and got squatted. Like, Amani might sit outside and he ran by him and made the great catch down the sideline like he always does."

Q: Did you see it? You had a guy right in your face.
"I saw him getting over and I saw the guy squat kind of at the last second. I thought I had a shot to get him the ball and give him a shot to make a play and he did a good job."

Q: But you had a guy in your face as you threw it.
"Yeah, but I could still see."

Q: What about the relief of going into the bye week at 3-0?
"That's good. That's obviously your goal. You want to get off to a fast start and to start 3-0, to win this game today the way we did, to fight, it's a good feeling. We're going to enjoy this week off. We'll look at some things, kind of look at the last three games, especially look at this game and see some things we need to improve on. We'll have two good days of practice and just kind of review some of those things and then come back. We know we have a long stretch, a lot of games to play, so we know we have to get better and we have a lot of football to play."

Q: You mentioned that fourth quarter drives aren't new for this team. Any idea why you're so good at that?
"I don't know and I don't know if I want to know. It's just kind of a deal where we have a fight in us that when things are tough we play our best, the best comes out of us. You'd like to play at that level all the time, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. You're not in that pressure situation when everything gets - You know, people get all nervous when it gets tight at the end. Our guys seem to really relax and just do a great job making plays."

Q: When Toomer made that catch, how much urgency was there to get the play off?
"Yeah, that was what we wanted to do. I think he was in. He's usually pretty good at keeping his feet in on those types of plays. We wanted to get up there and get a play run, so great job by our guys getting up to the line of scrimmage, receivers getting set, getting a play run and also getting us get to the middle of the field and make it an easier field goal to win it."

Q: On the play of the Bengals.
"The Bengals are a good team. They've had a rough first two weeks. Their defense has been on the field a lot and their defense has played well. Their offense, they had to win the game last week, they played a tough game against Baltimore, so they're very talented on offense, obviously, and have been for the last few years and have a lot of good players. We knew it was going to be a close game. We knew coming in they were going to fight for a win and give it their all being 0-2 and we had to have that same philosophy. We had to want it more. We had to want it more going 3-0 rather than going 0-3, making them go 0-3."

Q: With regard to yourself in late game situations, do you relish them?
"Yeah, I mean, you don't always like to be in them, but it's good that when we go into those situations we can make plays. We kind of get into running a lot of our base plays and plays everybody feels comfortable with, protections guys know, routes everybody feels good... Guys are reacting, they're playing fast. You're not thinking much, you're just reacting because you're seeing everything clearly. We're doing a good job of doing that and hopefully we keep that up."

Q: Do you have any idea of how many game-winning field goals you have made in your career?
I don't have a specific number, someone asked me this week, a reporter actually. I think it is between 10 and 20, but I don't keep count. Every one is special, they all mean something different. This one, for me, as an opportunity to fill in for Lawrence (Tynes) and to be a part of the World Champs, has been great blessing for me. I thank the good Lord to have this opportunity and to come away with a W today. This was big for the Giants. The Bengals came in here with a lot of fire in their belly, they played a great game. Fortunately, we made the plays in overtime to pull it out.

Q. It looked like you took your shoe off in overtime. Is that something you do a lot, or was there a rock in there or something?
No. I just have some tight shoes this year and at times, especially after four quarters, my foot starts to get a little sore. So I just gave my foot a little breather, get it back in the shoe and get ready for the kick.

Q. When you signed on, is this how you anticipated it going?
You know, I just took it one day at a time. I wasn't sure how long the opportunity was going to last. I feel very blessed that Coach Coughlin, Coach Quinn, and management have enough faith in me to put me in front of the team and give me the opportunity. So, it has been great.

Q: On his overtime reception:
I needed it. I just got an opportunity to make a play. Things don't always go the way you want it, but if it comes down to it, I'm there. Going into overtime we knew we had a lot of momentum left. We just find a way to win; that is the key to this team. We just found a way to win; I'm real excited.

Q: On his touchdown reception on the last drive:
I knew we had several plays in there where I could get an opportunity to get the ball. Great call by Coach Gilbride and a great pass by Eli. I was able to come down with it in traffic. It felt really nice to be able to contribute today. I was able to make some big plays and I felt like I contributed to the victory. It was a long game but it was a lot of fun. We battled back and forth; I think someone said the lead changed seven times. It was a great football game to play in.