HEAD COACH TOM COUGHLIN

Opening Statement: 

Outstanding defensive effort and just continuous pressure on the quarterback.  A defensive touchdown, all the things you think about when you think of a great defensive game, the pressures, the sacks…  They ran the ball in the first half and that is what we talked about at halftime; stopping the run, being able to do that, and then special teams coming through for us with some pressure coverages.  Offensively, I think we had some opportunities in the first half but it wasn’t a very good offensive game and we will have to evaluate that when we take a look at the tape tomorrow. 

Can you talk about Osi Umenyiora’s incredible performance tonight?

He did a great job to have those kinds of numbers and the whole front did.  We had pressure from all spots and a lot of contributions with regard to that.  As I said, it was just an outstanding defensive game and people came up with plays, play after play in critical situations, to give us a chance to win the ball game.

Can you talk about Michael Strahan setting the franchise record for sacks?

I thought a week ago, and I told Michael after the (Washington) game, that I thought he was close to where he wanted to be and his timing was back.  I was glad to see him get a sack tonight and set the record for the New York Giants.  We played a very strong defensive game and again, contributions by everyone.

How badly did Steve Spagnuolo need this kind of a performance out of his defense?

I think if you look at last week’s game it was a strong game as well, particularly obviously in the second half.  The guys just keep improving.  What we do every week, ok, is when we look at the tape, we break it down, and we talk about improvements in all three phases as the offense, defense, and special teams and then as individuals and constantly reinforce that.  I think therein lies where the improvement came from; guys have just worked at it, worked at it, worked at it, and it is a solid system, there is no doubt about it.  No two people call the game the same way and so on and so forth, so that was the Giant defense in action.

When you look at how many points Philadelphia put up last week against Detroit does it make this win and defensive performance that much sweeter?

Just to win the game, that is what we play for, to win the game.  As I have said, it was a great defensive game.  We are now two and two.  We give ourselves a chance to be in the hunt.

Is Derrick Ward getting better and better?

Yeah, for a guy who didn’t practice much he played well.  I just don’t think we had any numbers on offense at all that we could stand up here and talk about.  We had some series in the first half where actually our play-action pass game was very good. On the touchdown drive we did a great job with that, but we had a bad interception that should have converted into points.  We just didn’t help ourselves out with regard to that.  The defensive touchdown was a huge boost, but then we missed the extra point, so that was bothersome as well because obviously two touchdowns and two two-point conversions and that could be erased.

Are you concerned about the kicking situation?

I am concerned about the misses, no doubt.  We have got to do better than we have been. 

DEFENSIVE END MICHAEL STRAHAN

Any feelings about getting the Giants sack record?

That felt great and to do it here in front of the home crowd in a big game like this against a very tough opponent and with L.T. here was special.  Definitely without a doubt.

Did he say anything about you still have to get nine and a half more?

Oh of course, you know L.T. told me that.  He told me that before the game, but I love the guy, I loved watching him as a fan, I loved playing with him as a player.  In my mind there is never going to be another L.T.  I could have 500 sacks, but there just will never be another Lawrence Taylor.  He revolutionized the game.  Best defensive player to ever play and that is why I was a school kid the first time I saw him play and I still am like that around him because he just has that presence about him.  He is a great guy.

How amazing is it to get the 12 sacks and your partner Osi having an amazing performance of his own?

Yeah, it is amazing to get 12 sacks; I didn’t know that was… I wish we had another chance to go out there and maybe could have set the record instead of tying it.  Osi with six is absolutely phenomenal.  I have never seen somebody go get six sacks like that and go from last in the league to probably leading the league in sacks in one game.  I am proud of him though.  He deserves it.  He works hard and he has been battling with some nicks and bruises here and there.  He deserved every one of them.  I am sure he is going to let me know about it this week.

You guys let up 80 points over the first two games and now you have dominated the past six quarters. What was the turnaround?

I just think our attitude is what do we really have to lose and in a lot of ways a lot of people don’t expect a lot out of us.  To be a defense that gave up 80 points in two games so everybody says, ‘you’re done, you’re finished,’ for us it was, ‘well it is a long season, we are just having the opportunity to learn this defense and exactly what to do in this defense.’  Until you get to the real game situations you don’t know.   Now I think guys have confidence in what we are supposed to do, guys are very accountable to each other, and I think that has been the biggest difference.  You realize that if you mess up you disappoint not just the ten guys on the field, but you disappoint the other 52 guys who are on the team in uniform.

You know you would have had the NFL record if Osi would have…

Yeah if he would have gotten the guy down and that poor kid that they had over there… why didn’t they help him?

Who?

The tackle, move the back over there… I am 35.  Runyan is an all-pro.  Go help that young kid.  That really, I felt in a lot of ways, you are going to ruin the guy.  If that is your first start and that is what he gets it is not a good thing.  In Philadelphia the poor kid goes out and orders some food they might do something to him.  I feel bad for the kid, really I do.  That is a hard start for a guy to start out with and especially when he had no sacks coming into the game.  Trust me, we get very, very selfish with sacks with each other and when somebody gets one you want one, when somebody gets two, you want more, so Osi really, really set the bar today.

How special is to get the record and get the win?

To get the record and lose, trust me it doesn’t feel good, so to get it and win and the defense plays the way the way that we played today, that is the best thing.  We really, like I said, have been under fire the first two weeks so to come out this week and play this way against this team who we have always had trouble with.  Definitely this is a team you have to play four quarters against and they moved the ball a little bit later in the game but we seemed to push them back.  I am just proud of everybody. 

DEFENSIVE END OSI UMENYIORA

Q: No sacks in the first three games, how does that happen? 

A: Well, sacks come in bunches.  Sometimes it just happens like that.  As long as you keep working, as long as you keep putting pressure on the quarterback, it’s eventually going to happen for you.  It was just one of those nights tonight.

Q: Strahan broke his record tonight and then all of a sudden you broke yours, did you guys have any fun with that?

A: No, I was happy for him.  He deserves that, he’s one of the greatest players in Giants history.  For him to get that record tonight, and the way we won the game, it was just a tremendous win for us.

Q: Did you feel a break-out game was coming for you?

A: Eventually. Last week we were able to get pressure on the quarterback and if we keep rushing the quarterback the way we were, eventually we were going to get some sacks.  We have some of the best pass rushers in the league on this team and we just haven’t been able to put it all together.

Q: In the fourth quarter here, you were all sitting on the bench, shaking your heads, and laughing to each other, what were you saying?

A: Everybody was just saying “it looked like a video game out there for you.”  But Winston Justice is a very good football player.  Tonight was just one of those nights. He’ll learn from that experience, he’s going to be a good football player in this league.

Q: Collectively as a team, do you think you guys just weren’t getting it done?

A: I don’t think so.  I just think we learned how to make plays.  The first couple of games we weren’t making plays on the football, we weren’t getting after the quarterback.  Eventually I knew it was going to stop, we have a lot talent, a lot of good players, and outstanding coaches.  It’s just coming together for us and we just need to keep it going.

QUARTERBACK ELI MANNING

Q: How important was it to get to the record of two and two?

A: It was a big win tonight.  Obviously in a division game, coming off a big win last week and we needed to get a little momentum going.  Two and two, it’s a rough start, but we’re back in the hunt a little bit. We just have to keep finding a way to win games.

A: How about a huge boost given to you by the defense?

A: The defense played outstanding.  That’s big.  If they can keep doing that, then it will be a lot easier to win games, but as an offense we can’t always depend on them to play that well, we have to give them a little bit more help.

Q: Can you talk about the interception and what you saw?

A: The interception, just a bad throw, right read, just threw it behind Shockey.  Just one of those things that happens, just a bad throw, can’t afford to turn the ball over right there, in the red zone.  We need to be able to get points, had a little momentum going, but just a bad throw.

Q: How big was the momentum of the second half of last week, leading into this week?

A: To get a win, defense played outstanding last week, offense we had a come back and played great in the second half, and fight back for a win. Definitely gave us a little confidence going into this game and our abilities.  Defense definitely needed that and honestly, it helped them tonight, because they came out fired up and played an unbelievable game.

Q: You’re usually the one under heat, sitting back in the pocket, did you sit on the sidelines and have any compassion for Donovan McNabb?

A:  Yeah, I was just sitting there saying “As an offense we didn’t play great, but I feel a lot better on our side of the ball than how he was feeling.”  Just a rough day, under a lot of pressure all day, and that’s tough. I give a lot of credit to our defense, Osi [Umenyiora], Strahan, all those guys, for getting after him.

Q: How does he look to you, as far as mobility?

A: Donovan [McNabb] looks fine.  He’s one of the best players at the quarterback position, makes plays, tonight he just didn’t have a lot of help.

Q: As the quarterback, how do you see Derrick Ward doing?

A: I thought Derrick [Ward] was running hard, he’s doing everything we’re asking him to do, he’s picking up the blitzes, and knowing our offense.  He’s a guy who has stepped up into the role, didn’t know what it was going to be this year, but he’s been around this offense, he knows what he’s doing and he’s running hard for us.

Q: How much of tonight’s struggles would you attribute to what you were not doing, as an offense, to what they were doing, as a defense?

A: Well I thought in the first half that we were doing a decent job.  We were moving the ball, we just didn’t have a lot to show for it, but we had some drives down there.  We had the missed field goal, had the interception down there, but we were still able to run it, throw it a little bit and do it fine.  The second half, came out just not executing real well.  They [the Eagles] had some blitzes and did some good things, disguising things, bringing some corner blitzes and free safety blitzes.  We had to try to throw hots and different things and just weren’t able to get first downs.  We just have to find a way to stay on the field and help out our defense.  We can’t keep going three and outs and leaving our defense out there that much in the second half.

GIANTS PLAYER QUOTES

Antonio Pierce: You have to give credit to the “D” line.  All of the heat that the “D” line got and the secondary coverage – it was a beautiful all-out performance. I have never seen anything like that.  Osi and the “D” ends could have had 20 sacks.  We had two good weeks but we still have a lot of work ahead of us.  We’re not satisfied yet.  We need to really keep working on it and just do what we need to do to get better.  We are flying high right now but just two weeks ago we were at the bottom of the dog house with everybody in the National Football League and we were the joke of the town for the defense.  We didn’t forget about that and I thank guys for playing like that the last two weeks. 

Justin Tuck: Amazing.  I haven’t seen anything like this before in my life.  Osi, Stray, Mathias, and myself, we all had a great game.  Not only that but we stopped the run and we put them in a pass situation and we took advantage of that.  We were hungry tonight.  We saw those guys against Detroit last week get nine sacks.  We said, “Hey, why not us?”  So we came out today hungry.  I commend the coaches for calling a great game and getting us in situations where we can rush the passer. 

Osi Umenyiora: Most important thing is that we won the football game.  We were just hungry.  We have outstanding pass rushers on this football team.  A lot of disrespect was going on – talking about how bad this defense was.  Spags got us ready and we came out.  We fed off of last week.  We just need to keep getting better.  It’s huge to be able to set records, especially in a game of this magnitude.  We needed this game. 

Michael Strahan: Phenomenal.  We couldn’t have asked for a better performance.  This was probably one of the best performances that I have ever been a part of defensively; especially against that team – they are a good team.  Some of the individual performances were pretty incredible.  Osi – six sacks – that’s amazing.  And I’m just proud of everybody the way that they have played because we have been under a lot of heat at times.  Guys are stepping up now.  It was great to get the record – it was great to get it out of the way.  Hopefully now it will free me up to get more sacks.  I have to catch Osi now. 

Mathias Kiwanuka: These things don’t come along too often.  You have to take it in.  I attribute this to hard work and dedication.  We knew this was going to pay off.  We have worked hard all week coming into this game.  Things weren’t falling our way but once you get on a roll like this, and with the leaders we have stepping up, it is easy for everyone else to fall in place.  We have pass rushers at every position but in all honesty, it starts with those two guys on the end.  They make a lot of plays and they sit the offense on their heels and after that it makes it real easy for everyone else to come in there and clean it up.  I think if we start putting games together like this and get a couple more in a row, our confidence factor will kick in a lot harder than what it is right now. 

David Diehl: Unbelievable game by the defense.  Those guys definitely came to play.  They got after the quarterback.  The crowd got into it.  It was a huge boost for our team.  It was a huge boost for everything.  Everybody kind of fed off of it.  To be able to got out there and have that many sacks, it is a credit to our defensive line.  Congratulations to Michael Strahan.  That is a huge milestone.  It is an unbelievable accomplishment to beat Lawrence Taylor for the all-time sacks.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  Osi, if he isn’t the defensive MVP of week, I don’t know what you need to get it.  I talked about it all camp – being able to play up against him got me completely prepared for the season.  Things didn’t always go my way but I knew the work I did against him would definitely pay off.  It just shows the type of player that I knew he was.  He was amazing tonight.

Shaun O’Hara: Tonight was a treat for everybody on our sidelines and in our stands.  A lot of times in the game we don’t get to watch a whole lot because we are making adjustments and going over things with the coaches.  But today was different.  We were hustling over to get a chance to watch the defense perform.  They set a record today for sacks so it was a great day to be a Giant and a great day to watch the defensive players work.  Two weeks ago we were in the dog house.  That’s the NFL – outhouse to the penthouse and visa versa in just a couple of weeks.  We are 2-2 right now and now we have confidence and momentum.  We are going to come back next week and try to get number three.

Sam Madison: It’s unbelievable today.  We knew we had to do one thing – we had to get Strahan that other sack and Osi just took all the glory.  He had eight or nine sacks.  I’m only exaggerating; he had only six.  It was unbelievable.  It feels good to play together and have great coverage and coverage sacks altogether.  We have been working hard all week, guys have been focusing and guys were hungry and guys just getting a little swagger about themselves and going out there and performing.  The Eagles come in riding very high from last week’s victory – putting up a lot of points.  And in our first couple of weeks we gave up a whole lot of points.  So to play the way we did tonight was great.

Jeff Feagles: I’m glad I have two guys who can run down there and catch them.  We work on that every week.  And they just always do a wonderful job in practice and it carries over into a game.  Corey Webster and David Tyree, they just helped us out a lot on that.  It is a great momentum for the defense – going out there inside the five-yard line – tee off on them and we get great field position and we turn it into points. 

Eli Manning: The defense was unbelievable; incredible.  They played outstanding.  They kept us in the game.  We tried to get some points, give them a lead, and they played terrific.  They were all over McNabb all night.  They stepped up big-time tonight.  You can’t leave out anybody on that defense tonight.  The whole crew played outstanding – Osi with six sacks, Strahan for being the all-time Giant leader in sacks, as a team 12 sacks.  That says enough.  To go against a team that last week put up 56 and keep them to three points, that’s a great feat and I give them a lot of credit.