New York Giants Official Website

Transcript: Coach Tom Coughlin

Take this story to go! -    RSS |  Podcast |  Mobile

You know what I was really pleased with... you know we had some young guys on special teams, for example, that played well.  The left side of our punt team, for example, with (Michael) Matthews and big Jon (Goff), those guys had not played together side-by-side and they did a nice job against a very good special teams outfit.  I was pleased with that.  We had to make an adjustment, we made a little adjustment in our field goal protection unit just before the game, and the guys did okay with that until THE play, which was some kind of play and we could talk about that if you want.  The young linebacker Chase Blackburn played really well.  (Bryan) Kehl played well enough to win, let's put it that way.  A young guy trying to figure it all out did a good job, an admirable job.  We played a lot of aggressive defense yesterday.  We were aggressive in our coverages.  We gave up some big plays, but I think sometimes you forget that team had -- what were they -- third most in the NFL with big plays and the best percentage passing over 20 yards in the NFL, so there is some history of them making big plays.  We did some of those things.  We didn't play as well offensively as we can play and that is continuing to bother me a little bit and it is something that we can and we will work out and it will be better, but there were some opportunities that we didn't take full advantage of.

How did you handle Aaron Ross' situation with him coming out of the base defense and going into the nickel?

Aaron had a couple of the glaring plays that you are talking about, but he also played very tight coverage the majority of the day and played well.  We have some guys that can play in those coverage situations and as I said, we played a lot of aggressive, a lot of man, and put them in situations where they had to cover without any help.  Sure you make a mistake here or there if you don't cover the talented guy.  They ran a little switch route on us and that makes you hesitate a little bit and he got out in front of us and they threw the touchdown pass, but I thought that overall he played okay, he played well.  He did his job.  We gave up the one big play, as I said, but he has got to get better, we all have to get better as we go along, but we are 5-1 after six games so we are pretty pleased to be where we are.

If he played well, then why did he come out on the base defense?

Well because at the time when he got beat then we went back and he was in on all the nickel and all the dime stuff and he kept playing and he continued to play better after that, I think.  We have some guys that can be interchanged and that is kind of the way it is.  A guy makes a mistake and he needs to come to the sideline to talk about it or discuss it or take a series to kind of go back over his thoughts and get himself collected, there is nothing wrong with that.

Why do you think the offense has been inconsistent as of late?  Is it a lack of focus?

I don't know about that, but we had the penalties on the offensive side of the ball yesterday, which does bother me a lot, and that can be a little bit of focus, no question about that.  Some of the... we got the ball in great position a few times yesterday, which was outstanding.  We have been waiting for the turnovers, we got three, we got a safety, we got some really good opportunities, and really we did that a year ago, too, if you remember.  Twenty-four points a year ago came off of turnovers, 12 this year, and we were able to put the ball in some, but you would like to do it all of the time.  You would like to have the ball in the end zone.  There was some inconsistency, no doubt about it, and there were some blitz situations that didn't work out the way we wanted them to, but we can improve on that.

What was the problem with the running game not getting the yards per carry it had been getting?

The problem, I think, was that the corner blitz got us a couple of times, tripped us up, and we didn't get started the way we wanted to.  We kept trying to hammer away at it.  Give them a little bit of credit now, they did a nice job with their overload schemes, kind of following our motion guy and getting another person in position to make a play.  We hurt them once or twice, but not enough, and we did gain over 100 yards rushing, but it wasn't the way it has been.  We need to go back and clean that up.  Our pass protection was very good.  Our quarterback was only hit once, which was a big objective in the game as well.

How did you see the pass interference call on Plaxico Burress?

You know what, it is very hard to see it.  I am going to give my player the benefit of the doubt in that situation.  There was a lot of contact, no doubt, but you know what, it happens every week and it happens in every game.  You have a situation where the DB is trying to figure out what he can get away with and the receiver is trying to figure out what he can get away with, so there is a lot of contact.  I just think that in the give and take out there that is one play that I can't see to the best of my ability exactly what happened either from the end zone or the sideline copy. 

Do you think at all that Burress let his anger from that play linger?

I think it did linger.  There isn't any question about it.  What happened right after that?  That is something that you just have to learn that it is over and you have to go forward and you can't let it affect you for the next play.

Do you worry about his emotions getting the better of him next week since he is returning to Pittsburgh?

I haven't got to that point yet, so I am trying to take care of today and get back up there and look at this Pittsburgh team.

Can anything be done about the passes that were batted down yesterday?

I think there can be.  You had a couple situations where the rush was right in the face and they weren't all three-step drops, but some of them were, and that is not an easy thing to outmaneuver, but that is another area of the game that is frustrating when the ball gets batted down like that because you are thinking in that situation that you are going to make a play.  Hopefully we can do something about that.

You are pretty emotional on the sidelines...

Not me?  How can that possibly be?

Do you think that sometimes the emotions ride so high that some things get out of hand on the sidelines like yesterday?

What happened?

Guys yelling at each other on the sidelines?  The Kiwanuka play in Tennessee?

You remember the play in Tennessee with Kiwanuka...  I am not going back to that situation to use as an example.  That is not comparable at all.

What are the chances of Antonio Pierce practicing this week?

We are going to have to see.  He is getting better, it is kind of a day to day, small gains, but nevertheless he is getting better and we will see.  I can't tell you right now what is going to come of that.

How is Mathias Kiwanuka?

Okay.

He had a doctor looking at him?

He had a thumb; he has an infection in his thumb.

Ahmad Bradshaw?

Bradshaw has had some issues where his back has been... he has been sore back there, but I think he will be okay.  He has played through a lot of that.

What about David Diehl?

He is, I hope, going to be okay for Wednesday.  He is tight in the back and stiff and sore.

This next stretch is pretty tough; do you look at it as a stretch or just game to game?

It is one game at a time, just like they all are.  I will go back and talk to you about what the Rams have done to give you an example.  Every game in this league is a hard, hard game.  Every game in this league is a difficult game to win, home, away, wherever, and to make the mistake and not recognize it as that is foolish.  It is one game at a time, no doubt a very difficult game, a very good football team, a very physical football team, and they are the next opponent.

What about going into that environment?  Possibly very similar to Cleveland?

It has been loud every place we have went for 12 weeks.  That is part of being on the road.  Come together, fight for each other, and make it happen for your team.

You have gotten away with some inconsistent play thus far. Are you looking for more consistency going forward from your offense with difficult games coming up?

Well you better be sharp in all three phases every week.  I don't think we got away with anything.  Two weeks ago we didn't get away with anything.  Yesterday we got back to playing very well on defense and got some turnovers.  The one thing you are forgetting is on offense we didn't turn it over.  Now we are in a four-minute mode and we put the ball on the ground and Diehl makes a heck of a play to get the ball back so we don't have to suffer through that one.  That is something that cannot happen, but we didn't turn the ball over.  We knew, quite frankly, going in that was going to be, for us, the key in the game.

Are the tight ends getting open?

They are open sometimes. It is just the progression on occasion doesn't take the ball to them.

Regardless of the pass interference or not, do you think that Nate Clements did a good job covering Burress?

Clements is a very good football player.  Everyone knows that.  When he went to San Francisco it was kind of well stated for the price that he went there for.  He is a very good football player, but so is Plaxico.

Is the injury to Burress' finger a concern to you?

No.

Do you have any reason at all to discuss with him what happened yesterday?

As I mentioned yesterday, the discussion was at halftime.

The field goal block. Was that leverage that did it?

No.  That was God and the fact that he is about (6-5)... now that was a very interesting technique there and it is something that you see from time to time, but you don't see it in that fashion.  You realize he was in a four-point stance and actually leapfrogged over and never touched anybody and landed right in front of the ball and their two outside people went up field.  This is not the first time they have done this now.  It wasn't necessarily with him, but they put themselves into position and they played the ricochet perfectly. Two weeks in a row now they have done it.  That particular play was quite well designed and with Lawson having come off two weeks with a hamstring you could see that they picked their spot.  The very next time, when we kicked the 48-yarder, he is not in there and we protected well, but that technique wasn't used.  It was back to the double push.  That was a very, very interesting play and thank God it didn't beat us.

Was that the way they had blocked the field goal the previous week?

No.  They came through with a great pressure.  They are a very good special teams, very good field goal block, team.

When you see something like that do you think about how you could do that or if you have a guy that could do that?

Maybe Burress could be that guy to jump over the line.

Why would you consider changing the kicker when Carney hasn't missed besides the block?

Just because you will ask me the question every week.

Yeah, but why mess with a good thing? Does that enter into your thinking?

That may enter in once in a while.

I assume you are still undecided?

Undecided.

Are you going to announce it or will Tynes?

Ha ha.