Coach John Harbaugh sits down with Giants.com for a weekly conversation about the latest at 1925 Giants Drive.

Q: NFL Films had you mic'd up for Sunday. On the last play, it reminded me of when Villanova won the national championship and Jay Wright is just walking off coolly as they hit a buzzer beater. There was chaos around you on the sideline. Internally, what was your heart rate though?

Harbaugh: The heart rate's really not that high. Yeah, it's stress. It's just the moment. It's the moment. So it's very, very intense. And everything's on the line in one play, everything you work for, and you know, there's plenty of times where it goes the other way, too. It's just the way it works, but I really felt a sense of accomplishment and gratitude really to God honestly. That's how I felt. I sort of jumped into prayer a little bit. That's really where I was going with it and then for the guys to keep believing and not lose their poise, keep their heads about them when everybody's losing theirs, that was pretty cool.

Q: Right before the play, you signaled "watch me, watch me." Was that to the ref in case you wanted to call a timeout?

Harbaugh: Yeah, that was in case we didn't like what we were seeing as far as the formation or being lined up or whatever, we were going to call a timeout.

Q: Back to the basketball analogy, when it comes down to a last play, is there a choice between calling the timeout to get everybody set…

Harbaugh: … or let it play out. There is. I don't think there's any science to it really.

Q: Another thing is you had to cover your mouth with your hands when you were talking on your headset about bringing pressure. You don't carry a play sheet.

Harbaugh: I have a play sheet I look at sometimes. Some of the calls are on there. There are reminders on there, but I don't call plays, so I don't need the call sheet to call the play.

Q: What is the key to goal line defense?

Harbaugh: First of all, you've got to have a good package. It's important to have a package that's not predictable and also has answers for all the different things that you can get. You've got to be able to be versatile down there with your calls because they'll attack whatever you do. There's always a scheme for whatever you do. They've only got to go a yard or two, and the field, it's 53 yards wide and two yards deep (in that moment). It's hard to defend that. You think of it like a war analogy, man, you're backed up to the cliff. So it doesn't take much. So you've got to try to surprise them every play, somehow, so that's part of it. And then the execution of it. The defensive line, they've got to play low and dominant. They can't get moved because if you're in the end zone, then the ball carrier is in the end zone. That's a really big deal. And then you've got to play tight coverage. You've got to play man and zone and you've got to be able to pass off picks. It's a lot of little nuances to the coverage.

Q: Were you surprised that there wasn't a run play in there? Or does that speak to how you had shored up the run defense over the course of that game?

Harbaugh: Yeah, maybe, but they had a timeout, so we knew that the run was on the table. So we were playing defenses that were actually run-centric. We weren't playing pass defense there, so you had to count on your guys to play man and they did it very well. I mean every play they played great man coverage. That was what they did.

Q: Dennard Wilson lost his father recently. The defense has come up with the big play two weeks in a row. You gave him a game ball after this one.

Harbaugh: Heck yeah. I was happy for him, happy with him. He's been through a lot personally, and I think he's still dealing with all that. So to see that happen because he put so much into it, heart and soul, he's all in, man. He puts everything into it. He's blood, sweat and tears every day. And then the guys love him. The players love him. They respect him. The coaches love him, so yeah, I was really happy for him. I think I met (his father) back in Baltimore a few years back. Dennard talks a lot about him, so I feel like I really know him well in that sense because he talks about him all the time. They had a really close relationship.

Q: Shifting to Arvell Reese, he had another monster game. When was the first time his name came across your desk in the pre-draft process?

Harbaugh: I probably saw him (on TV), but I didn't really know about him until I started doing the linebackers on tape. And he was one of the top guys. So I looked at him really early, and he jumped off. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. Arvell for me was the guy that I thought was the top guy. He fit what I was looking for, what I'm always looking for, in a player, a defensive player.

Q: How helpful were the conversations with Matt Patricia at Ohio State? You mentioned this week how Arvell came from a complicated defense.

Harbaugh: Matt was really good about that. He cleared that up. He made no bones about it, how football smart he is, how versatile he is. He was certain he could play anywhere, but he confirmed our thinking on the inside backer thing.

Q: What about Ted Ginn Sr., his high school coach in Ohio?

Harbaugh: Yeah, I know Ted. I've talked to him over the course of the last 30 years because I used to go in there and recruit when I was a college coach. He tells the personal story. Arvell will tell you a little bit about his story, but Ted gave me the whole story, and then I met his mom and dad after he got drafted. It's just incredible. I just realized how close families are, how much it means to them, and it's just I feel the same way about my daughter as they felt about their son. I was really drawn to their family.

Q: Is this the point where you might start seeing teams account for Arvell and know where he is on the field every play?

Harbaugh: Well, they're going to try, sure, and that'll just open somebody else up. That's good. You just keep it moving. First of all, you've got a lot of players you're playing against that are really good. There's just a lot of great players, but our challenge will be to keep the schemes moving to balance whatever they do. I really believe in our coaches. They're very good. They keep it moving really well, so that'll be our job, to keep it moving on. Yeah, I think they'll try, but I also think that we're going to have answers, too.

Q: Elijah Campbell doesn't show up in the box score at all. He doesn't even show up in the play-by-play last week. But he gets a game ball. Why?

Harbaugh: You can put him in that sort of special teams captain kind of a role. He's a top special teams player in the NFL. I mean, (opponents are) accounting for him. They've got a red dot next to his name in their special teams meeting. He's a difference-maker. He's just a disruptor. Our gunners are playing like – you talk about the style and how far (Jordan Stout) is punting it, but that has to go with the coverage. You can't just punt the ball down there and not have great coverage. Coverage has got to be that much better. So it starts with our gunners, and Elijah leads the way with those guys and they're all playing well. Nic Jones is playing really great. Every guy that's gone out there and played gunner so far has played really well.

Q: Dominic Zvada came up clutch. He talked this week about sports psychology and working with Suzi Freeman at Michigan and Dr. Lawrence here and how that's helped him. How important is that part of your program here?

Harbaugh: It's all there. Dr. Lani (Lawrence, the Giants' senior director of performance psychology, wellness and clinical services) does a great job. She's very versatile. There's a lot to psychology. There's a lot to mental health. There's just a lot to it. Sports psychology is one piece of it, but more important is really just the mental health part of it. I think that's even way more important, and she's great at both. She's great at all areas. So then the sports psychology part, that's up to the coaches too and we should be involved in that too. Hopefully your players do the same for each other. I think that needs to be part of the ingredients for the whole thing – helping guys. But the fact that I think nowadays players, especially those kickers and punters, man, it's such a mental game, but they're probably more tuned into it individually probably. I think it's great that Dr. Lani does her part with meditation and she does a lot of great things, but the individual part of it is really more relational. Like if you have someone like that, they've got to be your person. You've got to trust them. You've got to believe in what they're saying. So for him to find somebody like that is probably pretty valuable.

Q: Who are your game captains this week?

Harbaugh: Tremaine (Edmunds) on defense, Zay (Isaiah Likely) on offense and Nic Jones on special teams.

Q: I wanted to go back to something you said during the draft. You said it's amazing how one addition changes the math in a room. Is that bearing fruit now? One little tweak here, one little tweak there, and it adds up.

Harbaugh: Yeah, it's in ones. One thing better would be a good way, especially when it comes to personnel. One percent better when it comes to your day. Our dad taught us that. One thing at a time, 1-0. That's what that is – one thing at a time, one thing done well at a time. Like if you're lifting weights, one good set, one good rep. Sometimes you've got sets that have a lot of reps, 12 and 15 reps. You're doing three and four, you just want to get to 12. But if you focus on three and have a good rep and then four and have a good rep and then five and have a good rep, it's amazing how fast 12 comes. If you're thinking about 12 when you're at three, it's like it never gets there. That's such a great truth and how life works.