Q: Do you have to teach more this week with David?
Gilbride: You know Eli (Manning) has been listening to me for six years. So some of the beautiful things about it is he'll see me even looking with a grimace on my face and he will say what happened. Through the years that has happened. So from the standpoint of reinforcing some things, reminders, yeah, from that standpoint. He knows the base offense but it's the subtlety of what we are doing. You've just got to do it and have heard and listened so many times that you are able to naturally reinforce because you have heard it so many times yourself.
Q: He has obviously he's played a lot. Do you have sense of if he were to start on Sunday what you would get out of David?
Gilbride: I expect him to play well. Last time he played for us for any extensive period when we wanted him to do something was the Minnesota game and I thought he was outstanding. So I would be disappointed if he doesn't play well because I think he will.
Q: He said yesterday how that he felt like a little kid who never gets to play with the toys. He got to play with the toys the last couple of days, do you see that in him?
Gilbride: If you are competitor, and he is, and you are a football player, you enjoy playing football. So it's got to be frustrating for a guy who started to just be on the sidelines, and now he's got a chance. So if I was him, and what I have observed of looking at him, he looks generally excited about this opportunity.
Q: He's been here for two years and has a good understanding of the offense. Are there some things that he wouldn't be able to do that Eli would do?
Gilbride: It's kind of like some of the things I just said. Does he know our base offense? Yes. Has he heard the same corrections or does he have the same depth of understanding? You can't possibly if you haven't heard it for six years plus played and had things reinforced as a guy who has been on the field. So from that standpoint, he knows the fundamentals of what we are trying to do. The underlying foundations and concepts are what we are trying to get done. It's just a matter of have you heard the same things over enough where your reaction and your response is if it were Eli (Manning) out there? It's unfair to expect him to do that, but am I confident that we are going to go out and play our offense and he will be able to execute? Yes.
Q: With that in mind, are you going to have to cut back?
Gilbride: We're not. As the game unfolds or as if it looks like there are some things that are not going as you planned or you thought it might, then you scale back and you adjust. But we do that if a receiver is not getting open, if the running game is not going as well as it should, if somebody is getting beat in pass protection. But going into it, I would be very disappointed if he doesn't play well because I think he will.
Q: A lot of times when you see shutdown corners shadow the other team's best receiver, but Nnamdi Asomugha doesn't currently do that a whole lot. When you go into a game what do you gauge of what they might do?
Gilbride: You have to base your thinking of what you have seen. What you have seen is a guy that lines up to the offensive left and the only time he comes over is if there is a tight end and two wide receives and then it's a corner over. You plan accordingly and I think based on what they have done over the years, you would be surprised if they did something different. You never know. If they do, then you make the adjustments as the game unfolds. But right now everything we have seen, and not just this year but over the years, has been that way. That's what I am expecting.
Q: When Darcy Johnson came here he seemed to be more of a receiving threat. You wouldn't have kept him in this role if you didn't think he could block. Do you think he is more complete now than he was?
Gilbride: He has made advancements, there is no question he has gotten better. I think when we first got Kevin (Boss) you wouldn't have thought of Kevin as a blocking tight end. He has improved, I think Darcy (Johnson) has improved as well.
Q: When you are making a game plan, you once said that there are certain plays that Eli likes to throw so you kind of put more into it… does the same thing go with David too?
Gilbride: Absolutely, you know what people are doing conceptually, so from a strategic standpoint, this would be the best thing I can do against or these are the best three things or four things. If your players can't do those things, then what can they do out of those four. Maybe they can do one or two. Now maybe it's the receiver, maybe your line doesn't hold up well enough. Maybe your back…whatever it is. So certainly if the quarterback can't do it, it would be foolish to ask him to do something's you didn't think he was capable of doing. The good thing is I don't think there are many restrictions or many differences. I think what we will do is call what we would normally call and if it looks like as the game is going on that we have to make adjustments because either what they are doing or we are not performing as we would like we will make the adaptations and modify what we are doing.
Q: Is it kind of a weird different feeling for you if you are not going to go in with Eli?
Gilbride: Absolutely, just because he is such an extension of the coaches and me. It's nice to know that what is being communicated to the rest of the offense in the heat of the battle is what you want. Again he can repeat almost verbatim the things that I have said. This year more than any other year, he will just see me with a look on my face.
Q: If Eli can't go, do you tell David to cool the scrambling?
Gilbride: No, definitely not, but I mean you are going to hold your breath, but you wouldn't rather have him stand back there and get clocked where hopefully he can defend himself more effectively and that's something he does well. So hopefully there will be a modicum of intelligence of when he runs and he gets to the point okay where he says I got as much as I can get, now be smart about it and get down. Don't be foolish, don't be reckless. I think he has the understanding that he's the starter now and we have a very young guy behind us.
