Opening Statement:

Just to clear up a couple of things, we have E.J. Underwood with a fractured jaw.  He will have surgery either tonight or tomorrow morning.  Kawika Mitchell, with the groin strain, had some strength this morning.  Hopefully that is going to be something we can control. I don’t know if he can work it for this week, but he will make it.  Rodney Burgess, we have a few people that are getting MRIs that I really shouldn’t comment on until I find out what the MRIs are, but Rodney Burgess is one with a shoulder being looked at.  Then we have some other guys that are being X-rayed or MRIed that I will comment on when I get the information back. 

I thought to sum up what we talked about last night… the first half was well played.  The defense gave up the big play strike right off the bat and that was really a designed, what we call like a firm Y hook, where you clear one area out, bring the inside receiver out and occupy the defenders, and give the ball to him.  The only thing is that our corner allowed the outside receiver, the Washington kid, the running back to get up the sideline and Pennington saw him and made the quick pump and then went.  There was a lot of room out there for Washington to maneuver and he did and made a big play, but then after that I liked the way we came back.  We came back and actually there were five three-and-outs in the first half with the one touchdown being given up.  Offensively I thought we did a lot of good things, and as was mentioned last night by many of you, the offensive line played well.  It continued to play well and did a nice job of protecting the passer. 

We ran the ball efficiently but not for any big chunks.  We were able to move the pile; we were able to do those kinds of things.  We are going to have to be an error-free offensive team because the setbacks are difficult to overcome.  We got the ball in position a few times and were not able to make the field goal and missed some opportunities there that would eventually hurt us at the end of the game.  Our second teamers coming in the second half did not play as well as I would have hoped they would have played.  We got hurt defensively with the two long balls. 

Certainly any time you give up the deep ball you are not happy about that.  We also had practiced the heck out of the no-huddle quarterback sneak only to see that end up a score, which bothers me.  Offensively we gave up some penetrations and some hurries and a couple of hits on the quarterback that were not necessary.  We really never gave ourselves a chance by consistently getting into position.  We had one drive at the end of the game that was deep in the Jets territory and should have either been a shorter field goal attempt or a touchdown and ended up we got sacked and pushed back and had to go for the field goal then.  That part of the game, the second half of the game, wasn’t as productive obviously for us as the first. 

What are your plans for the kickers this week and how many tryouts might you look at?

Well, I don’t know that we will try any.  This day is devoted to evaluation and talking in great detail about what we are going to do in terms of this short week.  We do have a short week.  The one thing that I will say to you as you try to build a case here against the kickers is that the ball was struck well.  The ball was struck well. We were errant with the location and the accuracy, but the ball was struck well.  I certainly was disappointed because the nine points obviously were the difference makers.  Hopefully we can improve upon that. It is a matter of continuing to work, and we will continue to do that.  Now that we are in one-a-day sessions I think we can spend perhaps some extra time before and after on some of the issues that we need to make sure that we correct.  There’s not going to be any panic, we certainly are not going to miss anything in terms of what we are trying to accomplish and evaluate those people throughout the league who are either working or possibly might become available, but we are going to continue to work with the kickers that we have at the present time as well. 

After looking at the film of last night’s game, did Justin Tuck’s performance look just as good?

Yes.  It was a very, very good game, a very strong game.  He played well up front. Osi (Umenyiora) played well up front.  We were able to exert some pressure on the quarterback in a strong performance. 

Has Coach Spagnuolo changed the approach of the pass rush?

Well, there is obviously a difference philosophically.  There is difference in terms of strategy and in terms of the different kinds of rushes that we are using.  The fundamentals, what we really worked on this week, I think I mentioned to you, was the fact that we wanted to when we got a position where the blocker was turning out on us, whether it be a rusher or a blitzer or whatever, we wanted to be able to do something about it.  There were a couple of occasions where we were able to improve on that. 

Is the injury to E.J. Underwood season ending?

Well, I think that it is a pretty serious thing.  There is going to be a length of time there when he can’t have contact so that is a decision we are going to have to make. 

Do you know when he got hurt?

I think it was on the safety when the punt was negotiated out of the end zone and it became a safety.  I think it was that play.

This is two years in a row now with him getting injured in the third preseason game?

Yeah.  You explain it.  I don’t know.  We really wanted to take a long, hard look at him last night too and before I knew it he was gone.

I know you don’t want to comment on it but are any of the guys getting MRIs some of the top players?

You are right.  I don’t want to comment on them until we get the information back.  There is really nothing to say until we see what prevails here, if anything. 

Did anyone on the second unit look OK in the game?

There were flashes like there always are.  If you look offensively, (Ahmad) Bradshaw continues to do some impressive things.  I think that there were occasions where (Guy) Whimper did a good job.  On the other side of the ball, you had again some flashes but some plays that, quite frankly, weren’t very good.  I thought Reggie Torbor played pretty steady when he had the opportunity to play.  We did get some penetration and had a good four-minute defensive exchange there at the end of the game in which we got good pressure from the up front and the linebackers and were able to force a punt right there.  There was some good play there.  I think what eventually happened defensively our second group eventually kind of leveled off with the plus minus performance but in the very beginning it was just not good enough. 

Has Reuben Droughns shown you enough to be what you thought he would be as a complimentary back to Brandon Jacobs?

I think he certainly has shown that he is a very steady performer that has multiple roles and can perform in a lot of different ways.  He is a steady, powerful guy that can be utilized largely in the same way that you would utilize Brandon. 

How would you assess the play of Anthony Wright and Tim Hasselbeck?

Obviously we had nothing to show for our performance in the second half, and I think that is basically where it starts.  I think both guys had some opportunities.  Certainly not the consistency of protection that was afforded to Eli (Manning) with the first group, but they had chances.  We just never had the chance to put the ball in the end zone.  I thought we may have a chance there with the closest we got there with Hasselbeck.  The second down play was probably the best opportunity we had and then took the sack on third down.  You just would hope that something good was going to come out of whoever played in terms of some production and points and that wasn’t to be the case. 

Is it possible that you would go with two quarterbacks instead of three?

There is always that possibility.  A lot depends, as we go forward here, as to how we want to shape the roster.

Are you concerned about the consistency of the snapping?

You have to be concerned anytime you make a change like that.  You had Jeff Feagles, who couldn’t hold the other night, too.  Cory (Ohnesorge) did an admirable job in there and it was just the one bad snap.  Jay (Alford) has been taking all the practice snaps since the injury to Ryan (Kuehl).  I think that the concern arises when there is a malfunction.  Obviously a malfunction happened on one kick.  We just keep working at it.  There is no question that the ability in Jay is there, but he also has to continue to play in the defensive line as well.

Do you feel that Eli has done a good job managing the game in the first two preseason games?

Yes.  He had the high percentage again and really was able to move the team under different circumstances and different thoughts that we had in terms of what we were trying to accomplish.  He did a good job of all of those things.  Again it is points.  You have to put points on the board.  You don’t want to rely on the field goal in the first place.  You want to score touchdowns.  That is where it is.  It is not even really the green zone; it is right at the fringe, that 25 yard-line area where we stumbled.

Do you think Eli’s increase in accuracy can be attributed to him working with Chris Palmer this off-season?

That and certainly any time you are focusing on areas in which you need improvement and you are paying a lot of attention to it.  I see improvement in terms of his ability to move his feet and to work well within the pocket, slide, to step up when he has to, to keep both hands on the ball, and then make an accurate throw.  I think the indication, if you remember a year ago, basically the same pattern, the crossing pattern that was not accurately thrown to Plaxico (Burress), basically the same thing last night to David Tyree, right on the money for what should have been a big play.  I just think that he has worked hard on it and certainly it has been reflected here in these preseason games. 

Any word on Michael Strahan?

No.

How did Manny Wright look?

He made the one penetration that you saw, which was a move in which he showed his quickness and his ability to come off the ball.  We think that we want to keep working here. 

If the snapping becomes a problem is it too late to teach Zak DeOssie how to short snap?

It is not too late.  It might not be ideal for a lot of reasons.  We have other guys that have short snapped, (Shaun) O’Hara, (Grey) Ruegamer, those guys are short snappers as well.  Like I said part of this, don’t forget, you are doing these things and it is preseason games that this thing raised up its ugly head right now without the traditional holder and I think that forces you to focus on it.  Even though we have a short week there will be a lot of time spent on that. 

Any update on Gerris Wilkinson and Ryan Kuehl?

Progress but not ready to come back. 

Who is going to play at weak side linebacker without Wilkinson and Mitchell?

Reggie (Torbor) played in there and did a good job the other night.  That is where he would have to go if Kawika is not able to go this week.