COACH TOM COUGHLIN
COUGHLIN: Good morning, good morning. Dallas Cowboys, in the division, let's go! Some of you guys are a little down, today. Let's get excited. Tenth overall offensively, seventh in passing, ninth on third down, fifth in the league on defense, and only one 100-yard rusher against. They have an outstanding special teamer. They have two punters on the roster, currently. Of course, Dez Bryant back deep. (Cowboys kicker Dan) Bailey is having an outstanding year. So, here we go in the division, at Dallas. The opening game of the year was a very disappointing game for us. We didn't play as well as we hoped to play. We didn't deserve to win. Let's hope we can have a better go of it this week. I'm sure there are no questions after that. I'll get on to practice.Q: On Monday, Martellus Bennett said that he thought he had played his worst game on Sunday. I'm just curious if you think he's being overly harsh.
A: I hope so. He played okay. He didn't play really well, he played okay. There are some things that he and I talked about, that he certainly can play better, do better. He agreed. So, we have a new challenge this week, which is to try and get better.
Q: In the grand scheme of how Eli likes to play the game, where does having this type of athleticism at tight end factor in?
A: It definitely can be a greater asset. He is a threat. He's a threat down the seam, he's a threat in the middle of the field in two-deep. He's fast, he's long, he can reach up for the ball, and we perhaps haven't taken full advantage of that yet, but it's a two-way street. I mean, you have to build in confidence. Being in a certain place at a certain time, the ball will be there. You have to make a play when the ball does come.
QB ELI MANNING
Q: When someone says, "Dallas-Giants," do you light up?
A: You know, it's always a big game. It's usually a close game. We've had a great history since I've been here. You've got to get excited, we've got to prepare well, and we've got to go out there and play our best football, if we expect to win.
Q: Is there something more on the back of your mind, because you lost to them earlier in the year?
A: When you have the opportunity to play a team again, you want to go out there and have a better performance, since you lost. We feel that we can play better than we did the first time. We know they're talented. If we're going to move the ball and score points, we're going to have to earn everything. We're going to have to make plays and block up their talented front seven. They have a good secondary. They have good players all over the field, and we've just got to execute better than we did the last time.
Q: You personally have played very well in that stadium over the three times that you've been there. Is there anything to it? Is it the surroundings?
A: No. The team has played well, guys have gotten open, and the offensive line has blocked well. So, we've been put in good circumstances and made plays when we needed them. It seems like all of them have been tight games, coming down to last-second field goals, or two-minute drives at the end. We've made plays when we needed to, and I have a feeling that we're going to have that same type of game.
WR HAKEEM NICKS
Q: Each time you've played in their stadium, you've had a really big game. Do you enjoy playing there?
A: Me personally, I always approach these games the same. Personally, I like playing in this stadium. I just do, I don't know what it is. It just seems like it's a big stage to play on. I love big stage games, so I look forward to playing every game, but that game, being that it's a rivalry and Dallas and New York, so it's always a big game.
Q: Did they have Carr or Claiborne on you during the first game?
A: I've seen both of them a little bit, but it was mainly… they had the rookie on me.
Q: What did you think of him?
A: I think he's a rookie.
CB COREY WEBSTER
Q: How much was the hamstring injury affecting you the last few weeks?
A: We make no excuses. We always just go out there and try to get better every week. We don't point to injuries. Once we're out there, we're 110 percent playing. So we don't let it bother us. We just try to get healthy during the week and hopefully we can keep on doing that so we can be a better team at the end of the day.
Q: When a team might be without its top two running backs, do you expect it to be a busy day in the secondary?
A: We're not sure. We're going to go out there and try to impose our will on them and not let them run the ball. It doesn't matter who's back there at running back and we'll try to control the offense by not letting them get big plays down the field and hopefully that could help us get the win at the end of the day.
Q: After looking at the film from the first game, what did you see?
A: I'll say we learned from a lot of that stuff, whether it was a breakdown in communication or whether it was guys out of position, but I think we're a much better team than we were the first game of the season. So now we have to be cognizant of where their playmakers are at all times. 85, Ogletree, is a good guy that can make plays - we found that out the first game. So as long as we eliminate some of their big playmaking ability, I think we'll be OK.
