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Transcript: DC Steve Spagnuolo

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A:  No, they are very efficient with what they do.  They have great players, first of all.  Ken has always done a good job offensively.  He was that way when he was at Pittsburgh, Ken Whisenhunt.  Remember way back when they had Kordell Stewart and they were throwing the ball all over the place and they had a lot of numbers offensively?
And he is doing the same thing now.  He has got a quarterback that knows how to do it.  He has a bunch of wide outs that go up and get the football for him.  They make you defend a lot of the field.  And over the course of 60 minutes, it is hard to completely shut that down.  So you have to try to slow it down and hope your own offense keeps them off the field.  That is probably the best defense. 

Q:  I'm sure Kurt Warner has probably seen about everything that you could come up with, or at least most of it.  So you can't even think you are going to fool him, right?

A:  No, I don't think it is a scheme-game.  I think it is a players' game. And if our guys go out and execute what we do better than what they do, then we will be okay.  Then if we don't - because Arizona is quite efficient in what they do - then we will have trouble.  It will be a long day.

Q:  Importance of pressure this week.

A:  Pressure is always important.  It really doesn't matter who it is.  And that will be a little bit of a focus.  But you are not going to get it continually with this group.  Kurt Warner is so good.  He has seen everything.  He will get the ball out fast enough that it will make it challenging on us.  So it has to be a mixture of everything.

Q:  Is this the most prolific offense that you seen this year?

A:  You mean other than the one he was running in 2000 and 2001? Yeah, probably.  They certainly throw --- just look at the numbers.  They have found a way to play.  The bottom line is putting points on the board and they have found a way to do that. 

Q:  They are a little unusual because they don't have to run the ball to be successful.  They will pass and they will keep passing.

A:  Yeah, that is their philosophy.  That is their strategy and they are good at it.  And why would you change.  They will slip a run in here and there to basically to keep you honest.  But it looks like they want to throw the football and they know they can, so they continually do it.

Q:  You were quoted the other day as saying that you would like to stop the run first.  Does that change with a team like this that likes to pass so much?

A:  Honestly, no.  Our philosophy is the minute you take that for granted then you give yourself up.  Because I'll tell you what, all three of the backs they have - and I'm fully impressed with their rookie -- Tim Hightower -- he looks a lot like some of these other elite running backs in the league.  And of course he may be overshadowed a little bit because they have a bunch of wide outs and a quarterback that is throwing out there, but I think all of those running backs are pretty good.  But the minute you stop thinking about the run, that is when you get hurt.  You can't do that.

Q:  How did the Jets get to Kurt Warner so many times?

A:  Early in the game - I don't know, I'm not so sure if there was as much blitzing as there were some pass rushes and their coverage was pretty good.  And then the game kind of got out of hand.  They got up ahead real quick.  And you can call defenses a little bit different.  So they kind of laid their ears back and obviously they weren't going to see a lot of running plays.  So I think that helped them.  But I thought the Jets did a really good job on them, although they also found a way to score some points.  So somehow, some way they do it.

Q:  Aaron Ross was telling us yesterday that this team does a lot of different things in terms of the type of routes that they run.  What are some of the things that they do differently than other teams in the passing game.

A:  Well, they stretch the field both ways.  They have guys with a lot of speed that can go downfield.  Number 15 has been real impressive.  People obviously have focused on the two styles there.  But they have other guys who catch the ball.  And then they spread you out.  They are in a lot of formations with four wides.  So there is a lot of speed on the field.  And Kurt Warner has been able to find ways that when --- they have blitzes that are coming that are free.  And he is getting the ball away.  And that is a credit to a quarterback when you don't have to worry about blocking everybody.  I'm sure the O- linemen appreciate that.  And he gets the ball off.  And the players now feel that he has done it, that he is throwing it to quality players and they are finding ways to catch it. 

Q:  Your confidence in Aaron Ross when he wins Player of the Week.  It hasn't been done around here in 10 years.  And that is a position where it is all built on confident, right?

A:  When you said, "haven't had that in 10 years" ....

Q:  Well, you haven't had a defensive back ......

A:  I got you.  Yeah, I wasn't aware of that.  But I think it is a credit to him.  I know there was a period during the year when he struggled a little bit and we talked about it.  And true to his nature, he is a competitor and he just kept working.  I'm glad it worked out for him.  He made some nice plays in that game.  We needed him to do what he did in that game. 

Q:  But your scheme is so different from the Jets.  Is there anything you can take from their first half?

A:  Yeah, I mean - I thought what they did coverage wise was pretty good.  And any time you can get a couple of turnovers, it is either you have made a big play or the offense has made a bad one.  And it was probably a combination.  But I thought they mixed it up pretty well.  Like I said, it is the same thing in our case here, when you have an offense that can help you by scoring a lot of points it makes your job on defense a lot easier.

Q:  Is this the type of game you want to see a lot of Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward?

A:  Yeah, that would certainly make things easier.  Our guys on offense did a great job.  Kevin and the whole crew, the way they packaged it together.  And they win the time of possession, if we can just go out and make a few plays then we have a good chance.  But we have been real fortunate on defense that our offense has been able to do what they are doing.

Q:  Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald.

A:  Anquan Boldin - when he has the ball in his hands, he runs like a fullback.  I don't know if you guys have seen film on him, but people bounce off of him.  He is tough to bring down.  And Larry Fitzgerald has been a tall, athletic, when the ball is in the air, nine times out of 10 he is coming down with it.  So the combination of those two; both are great competitors.  I don't know that this is true, but it looks to me on the field that they are competing against each other.  Who can get the most catches; who can have the most yards?  And they seem to be doing a great job of it.  Both are really, really outstanding when they get down in the red zone.

Q:  How much do you tell these guys - you have got enough rushers around the ball to strip the ball.  How much is that an emphasis for you guys?

A:  Every week.  You try to find offensive players that you think hold the ball a little bit looser, but no matter how they hold it, it is always an,  'attach the ball, a ball hungry attitude.'  We hit that again this week because Coach Coughlin always says, and it is true around the League, "If we win the turnover ratio, you have a better chance of winning the game."

Q:  When you have as many guys as you have always - seems like they are always getting the pressure - or may every other play you are getting a pressure, so when you have that many guys around the ball you say, "Hey, we have more of an opportunity to make those plays?" 

A:  It is all a swarm emphasis.  We talk about a wave of Blue and swarming to the ball; those things other defenses talk about.  And we said last week if the ball was going to be on the ground, let's make sure we get it, because that will happen a lot.  You see a lot of times balls bouncing around and the offense gets it back.  Defensively you never want that to happen.

Q:  How many have you had this year of guys just coming in and swiping the ball?

A:  Swiping the ball?  I don't know if we have had as much of that.  Do you mean out of somebody's hands?

Q:  Yeah.

A:  Had it a couple of times on the quarterback.  I remember last year Sam Madison had one against Washington.  Certain ones stick out.  I don't know what that stat would be.

Q:  Off the top of your head, do you think you guys have done a good enough job of that?

A:  I think we always hope to do better, to be quite honest with you.  But they come in bunches, though.  And hopefully those bunches are still out there and we haven't used them all up.