COACH TOM COUGHLIN
COUGHLIN: I congratulated our guys on the win, and of course coming out in the second half and playing the way they did. The first half was very disappointing. A lesser group of men would have had trouble. And even coming out in the second half we didn't start out very well. But we hung in there and we kept playing. We obviously went back and forth there, their quarterback hit a couple of big plays late. Our quarterback hit some big plays. So it was right down to the wire. Thank goodness, we are so happy to be 1-1 at this juncture. There is plenty of stuff to correct and we'll work to get that corrected. But it's a lot better correcting it when you win.
Q: Can you talk about Eli in the first half vs. the second half?
A: Well he hung in there. That's the best example I can tell you as he does. He made a couple of bad plays and yet didn't get discouraged. We got them together when we first came in at the half and talked about the character of our team would show up in the second half, how we needed to play, what we needed to do to get back in this thing. We were just down two scores but we just weren't playing very well. We just kept hanging in and believing.
Q: How did the injuries affect you?
A: We are in a goal line situation and you usually don't think that is a danger situation and we have David Diehl, he's been like an iron man around here and he gets hurt, and I didn't even know the circumstance around Bradshaw's injury, but the next thing you know he is out, and Hixon was out, and you give Sean Locklear…you've got to give people credit. He starts out playing on the left side, he's asked to go over on the right side, so some people really did step forward and play really well given the circumstances and give us a chance to win and that's exactly what they did.
Q: Any updates on the injured players?
A: No. I don't.
Q: Can you talk about the Kenny Phillips hit?
A: It really helped. And it was a thoroughly legal hit. They were over there yelling and screaming but it was a legal hit. It did give us a little juice.
Q: How about Cruz?
A: Very, very deep and personal loss for Victor Cruz and losing his grandmother. And he was very emotional. He stated to everyone how much he loved his grandmother. But he went through all that, he missed one day of practice. He was excited to play today, we made him a captain. He certainly came up with a very big game.
Q: How about Nicks?
A: You can't say enough about what he was able to do. He goes out one there with one day's practice and made an awful lot of plays in the game. Plays that gave us opportunities, kept us in the game for a long time there with the way he played. He is a great competitor, he loves to play and he loves to be in a game like this when the ball is in the air.
Q: Did you think about taking more time off the clock before scoring the winning points?
A: I did. I did. That is something, I'm not comfortable with not taking the touchdown. I'm going to take the touchdown. I could have taken some more time off. That's on me.
Q: How about your pass rush?
A: They got the ball out quick but we still got some good pressure on him. It kind of looks like how the script is going to be for us. We worked and worked and we caused some bad throws, some throws that were not complete; he played very well. But we did get after him a little bit.
Q: Your assessment of Brown?
A: Andre comes to the park and he's not sure what his role is going to be because we have our plays for David and, of course, Ahmad. Then when Ahmad went down, Andre is on all sorts of special teams and there he was going to be the primary back and I thought he did very well. Now I don't know what it looks like exactly from a pass protection standpoint yet. He did catch the ball well, run with the ball, protect the ball. He's the one who knelt down there and didn't score. That's my error (by not taking more time).
Q: We talked about the Phillips' hit. Was there a point where you saw the momentum change?
A: No because of the way the nature of the game was going I felt like we were gaining on playing the way we want to play. They came back as fast as they did, there was no time to say who had what momentum, we just had to keep playing.
Q: What made you so angry at the end?
A: I don't think you do that at this level. You don't do that in this league. You don't just, you jeopardize the offensive line, you jeopardize the quarterback. Thank goodness we didn't get anyone hurt--that I know of. A couple of the linemen were late coming in.
Q: How frustrating is this September schedule?
A: Ask me Friday morning.
Q: Do you think the play at the end came on orders from the coach?
A: Players said it did, but I don't know that. I don't know that. You'll have to ask them.
Q: What did you tell them at halftime?
A: We were down two scores. Our character would show in the second half, how we played the second half. We always talk, if we are up, it's nothing-nothing. So we were down, it's being nothing to nothing. And it didn't start out too well in the second half either. But we kept playing and even when we had the very huge plays that disappointed us, we kept playing. That's says a lot about us.
Q: Was that too much time to leave them?
A: It's plenty of time, to be honest with you. I felt we could hold. I felt we'd be in good shape, I didn't expect the ball to come out as far as it did either.
Q: Are you concered with the lack of coverage?
A: Well, naturally I'm concerned. But I will say this. The ball was thrown superbly and maybe more than my concern about that is why are we not making a play on the ball. We don't see the ball come out. We need to really, really work to know the ball is arriving because there is something you can do about it.
Q: Can you talk about Martellus Bennet?
A: He had a couple he doesn't want to talk about, but he made a couple of plays at the end for us and the one down the sideline was huge.
Q: With Eli at this point in his career, is it shocking to see him throw the three picks?
A: It's always that way for me because basically my thing is turnovers. It's like sticking a dagger right here. Sometimes there is an interception that the defense makes a spectacular play. Sometimes there are others. I really think the one that was run in for the touchdown right before the half, that was a nice fake of a blitz and then the guy stepping out of there and I don't think Eli ever saw him. But he takes it more seriously than I do. I'm just glad to win and stand here and even though we were minus-one we won the game.
Q: How do you know Eli takes it more seriously than you?
A: Because I talk to him all the time and he expresses himself to me. You can see it. It's not going to take away from his aggressiveness. You can't let that happen. But you've got to eliminate that stuff.
Q: Did you switch the secondary around?
A: Well, we had some issues, too, Hosley came out with a bunch of stuff in his eye and he was a little late getting back in the game because of that. We had more people on the field.
Q: How about the Mike Williams play at the end that was reviewed and ruled incomplete?
A: That was most fortunate, and (the booth reviewed it). We were being told downstairs it was no catch. So there was no thought on that part, but they (reviewed it in the replay booth).
Q: In the first half, did you see that Eli had Bradshaw in the end zone on the dropped pass by Beatty?
A: I saw it. Evidently he didn't.
