Can you talk about the third down play where Eli checked out to a run with Derrick Ward?

Without going into a whole lot of detail, it became a guessing game.  They were threatening blitz and then backing out when we checked, so it was if we checked they checked kind of a thing.  It ended up being in our favor in that one.

Do you feel like Eli managed the game well since he didn’t play especially well?

He did, he did.  The one that hurt me was right before the half, the tipped ball where the defensive lineman dropped out and tipped the ball and he didn’t see that guy per se.  He thought he was going to the safe spot in the defense and ended up getting the ball tipped for an interception and adding three more points to their score at halftime.  That was a tough one.  I think he caught it out of the corner of his eye, our shot at the deep ball when he was scrambling and that is why he threw the ball down the field.  Now the arguable thing there is with Plaxico’s immediate tackle. They had a full field to go to take advantage of that and we were able to get the ball right back and that became our next score.  He did a lot of things from the standpoint of managing the game, controlling the clock, being able to change the play at the line of scrimmage, the cerebral part of the game he handled extremely well.  We are capable of better games on offense, let’s put it that way.  We had a lot of inconstancies if you will.  We would have a good play and then not a good play and some of that you would have to give credit obviously to the defense.  When you are evaluating looking at it you always feel like you can do better.

Is that a step forward for him by winning the game when he struggled?

Well he still was very accurate.  Even though the quarterback rating wasn’t where any of us want it to be and the interceptions were too high, he still made some huge plays to get us in position to have an opportunity to score the second half points without a doubt.  I think the one consistent thing that I can say about our team yesterday was that they all played hard and they all stayed in the firm belief despite the fact that things weren’t always going to go in the way we wanted them to go.  There was some obvious adversity that had to be overcome and despite that they continued to believe they would win and they played hard. 

Is there any thread that links Eli’s success of getting third down conversions in the second half?

That was execution.  If you are going to follow up on Eli’s play, in the second half I believe it was seven third down conversions, a penalty third down conversion, and only two that weren’t made and the two that weren’t made in the second half were third and eleven.  Within the concept of what we were trying to accomplish by down and distance we were able to keep them in a make-able range for a great part of the time and he executed very well. 

Did Plaxico Burress show you something in how he came out in the second half?

I really think we can build on that.  For him to come out in the second half and play like he did, receive the encouragement that he got from his teammates at halftime, realize that he had let his teammates down, and then come back and play like he did, I really think that is a good positive sign.

Has Derrick Ward shown you that once Brandon Jacobs is healthy that he has to be a part of your offense?

There is no question.  I think Reuben (Droughns) has to be a part of it too.  I think that they all have their place.  Derrick, as we have said many times, had a really good summer, it was very encouraging.  What I liked about Derrick was the fact that when you looked at him on the field he looked so much quicker.  That in itself could be a dimension to take advantage of.  He has done that and he had obviously proven that he can certainly perform at this level and play at this level at a high performance level if you will.  The more players you can involve, the better you are. 

Anything new with Jacobs?

No.  They are still saying no today but he has a full day tomorrow.  They are doing more things with him on the side.  I think he is getting close but I wouldn’t say it would necessarily be right away, tomorrow, the next day, or this week.

Did Ward tweak his ankle?

Yeah I think he did.  He played with it though.

Any other injuries?

Not really.  The bumps and bruises that you are going to get any time, but I don’t think anything that has to be stated right now.

How much more are you considering putting Aaron Ross into the starting lineup?

We want to continue to progress him and after we have had a chance to look at the next opponent and sit down and talk as a staff we will see where we are on that.

With Corey Webster going in and out as a starter how do you keep his confidence up?  What do you say to him?

You need everybody and you need people to be in a position to make the plays when they are there and this is just something that Corey has to fight his way through.  He has had his issues with injuries that he has come back from and battled to get back.  This is just, from the standpoint of the game and playing the game, his performance level has to increase.  While you can be factual you are going to have to obviously pat him on the back and tell him that he can do it, you have seen him do it, and we are encouraging him to do it again.  We need everybody. 

Did you get an explanation of what happened with the deep pass to Santana Moss with Sam Madison and Corey Webster in coverage?

No, I didn’t ask that.  Sam was coming on the outside and Corey was back in the deep middle and certainly when you have the formation that was being utilized and the people that were being utilized in the formation, this receiver is down on you so much faster than what is happening on that side of the field. It looked like he was in great shape, and then we didn’t make a play on the ball. 

What was so different with the defense between last week and this week?

I just think that obviously they have grown and progressed by virtue of the errors that were made earlier and by studying and by improvement being the key.  I think we had, as I told you last week during practice, the practice week was of good focus.  There was obvious pride on the line.  It was a big game with a divisional foe and as I said, I thought we are probably getting to the point where I think a lot of the guys know the defense well enough to be instinctive.  So we got some better reactions, got some people flying to the ball, and as I said, they played hard, they gave good effort. It wasn’t always pretty but we did it.

Does the ‘us against the world’ feeling tend to work?

If you look around the world of professional sports, it does I would say.  It has worked in many indications in the past it has worked.  I think for these guys, for these players, there was an obvious reason to cite a lack of quality play and I think we have some good players that quite frankly were fed up with what had been going on in the first couple of games and decided they were going to do something about it. 

Do you see Mathias Kiwanuka thinking less and playing on instincts more?

I think so.  That would be a good example.

Do you think it had to do with the defense having him lin up front more at times?

No.  As a linebacker he came down hill and hit the run with good power and force.  He was basically where he should have been the majority of the time.  The two sacks he was credited with, he was down, playing inside as a matter of face, and he made good rushes.  Again one of them was a case where you had a good strong rush out of Osi (Umenyiora) and a good strong rush out of (Michael) Strahan and he was coming as well and he benefited from that, which is what you want.  You want to be in a position where the quarterback decides he can’t go down the field and he pulls it down and someone is in position to make a play.  He was there and I thought he was real aggressive. 

Have you spoken to the team about the next stretch with three of four games at home?

I haven’t talked to them yet because I really haven’t had a meeting with them yet.  We will.  You come real quick to the end of the first phase of the season to start the second one.  We will just continue to take it one at a time.  Obviously a huge opponent this week and they played obviously very well.

Do you think you need to say anything to your defensive coordinator this week as he will be playing his old team?

I don’t think so.  I don’t think from that standpoint.

What does it tell you about your team that on a day off there are so many guys in here working?

They didn’t have the day off.  They had to lift, they had a conditioning run, they could look at the tape if they wanted with their coach, but they basically could spend the day with their family.  I think they are focused and they are pretty serious about their work.

Can you walk us through those last four plays?

You had two great plays by Kawika Mitchell and you had a play by (Aaron) Ross where he came in and cut the lead blockers, here is Ross coming in and Sellers coming in.  You had (Justin) Tuck making a penetration and forcing the ball a little bit wider than the path would have wanted to be on the last play and good team defense all the way around.  First of all, after the punt return, no panic.  It is alright, they have to score a touchdown, it is okay, we are alright.  13 plays and then having the ball basically, it was really a little farther out than the one, but they kept saying the one so the play-action pass wasn’t a surprise right away even though there was a lot of clock left and they didn’t really have any timeouts.  To be in position to make a play on that was good.  The decision, which I thought was the right one on their part, to run with the clock where it was, but we got some outstanding plays.  Obviously you have to, to be a point-blank range and to be able to keep the opponent out of the end zone a very good football team.  A really strong statement about the pride of our defensive team and the way that we approach the game and the fact that even though it was a difficult circumstance to be in, an up hill circumstance, there was certainly no one out there that didn’t believe they could get it done. 

Is there more satisfaction in the way you won?

What I really liked about our team yesterday was that our offense gave the opponent ten points OK?  Our defense never got down.  The defense is in the locker room encouraging the offense at 17-3, the offense is encouraging each other, the offensive players are encouraging Plaxico, the special teams guys are getting there… so everybody, even though the score was 17-3, the locker room was pretty convinced that if we take the ball and score we would be one score down and we would be in a position to be in the game again.

Is there any temptation to put Justin Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka in as defensive tackles more?

We have explored a lot of those possiblities and continue to work with others but it is by situation.  Those big guys obviously have a great purpose.

Chris Cooley said he had to block Strahan 12 times by himself in the second half, what was that a product of?

Their protection scheme.  They put him in that position a number of times.  Over the years they have always depended on… the Redskins have a very, very good maximum protection scheme, whether it be with two tight ends together or one tight end, they want to eliminate some of the rush lanes for the good rushers, the tight ends one way and the backs the other way.  That is just a part of their scheme and it has always been a part of their scheme.  The other thing was that they were trying to do some things formation-ally, as you could see watching the game, to get certain match ups.  I can’t speak for what their plan was or what their game plan was; I will just make the same observation as you.

Did you see those last two runs coming?

No, but it kind of made sense what they would do.  I don’t know about the last call but certainly the run after the pass certainly was a good call. 

Did you run more zone defense in this game?

We pretty much played some balance stuff.  Our pressure packages are both zone and man so I don’t know that it got any more or any less than it has been.

Did you see what the Eagles were wearing yesterday?

No.  I haven’t seen them.