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**Coach Tom Coughlin* Q: I saw that Victor was one of the captains that you guysnamed today. Can you reflect for a minute on him going from basically a walk-on to captain in a couple years? A: What he brings to the table is documented by the way in which he’s come in as a college free agent and become a Pro Bowl player. I think it’s that attitude, that work ethic, the conditioning and the way that he, just the way he thinks, his values, his principles, the way he is with his teammates. If you remember earlier in the summer, he expressed the fact that he would like very much to be a captain and it happened for him. I’m very happy for Victor. I’m happy for Eli and Zak and Jon Beason and Antrel. Q: You’re so used to the Xs and Os relationships but when you see somebody take their life journey, Victor’s getting married, he has a child, things do change. Do you enjoy that part, kind of seeing their journey? A: Oh, absolutely. When it’s positive, it’s great. Seriously, we do enjoy it. Q: How ready are you to play this game on Monday given that it will be seven weeks since you reported to camp by the time Monday rolls around. Has it felt long? A: No, it really hasn’t. It has not felt long. I said from the very beginning that I was going to look at it as a positive. We had the extra week – good. We need the extra week. I think that prevails all the way through. We’re making progress; we’ve had a nice, hard couple of days. Hopefully we’ll be on our game on Monday night. Q: Do you feel like something positive early for the offensive side would do a lot for your team? A: It would help. *Q: In what ways? A: I think just the idea that against a very good defensive team that we can score, move the ball and score. That’s what it’s all about. Q: What are the challenges for Weston Richburg as a 300-pound kind of guard going up against bigger guys? What are the challenges for a guy that has to play that position at that size? A: Not that difficult. You’re going to have to be physical; you’re going to have to be able to block a really good football player, no matter if it’s the first two or even the substitutions. So from a physical standpoint, yes; from a mental standpoint, there’s no doubt that there will be some things that will happen in the game that he’s going to have to, as a young guy, adapt to right away. I think he will. Q: Ben McAdoo not only came to a different position with a different team but a completely different media market, and the offense has been so much the focus, as you know. Have you said anything to him about that adjustment or handling any of that? A: I really haven’t. We’re all coaches, we’re all going through it and as he’s said many times, it’s not his offense, it’s out offense. Everyone wants to single Ben out, but he’s done an outstanding job of teaching the other coaches exactly what this offense is about and we’re all in this thing together. It’s not just any one individual. It’s a team concept, team thing, and that’s the way that we share it. Q: We’ve made a big deal about the offense and all that. How valuable is the fact that you had one turnover in the preseason? A: That would be a strong objective that we had. I can see that Detroit had that as an objective as well. If you don’t do that, if you don’t turn it over, you give yourself a chance. Q: You talked a few weeks ago, I think you said you were still looking for playmakers or you’ll find out who your playmakers are. Are you further along or is it…? A: It happens out there (pointing to the field). It’s on Sunday. I hope we are. We’re certainly in position to do that. I thought Rueben (Randle) made a really nice play out there today, so I hope we can get a bunch of guys that will make plays and move the ball and re-enforce everybody … build their confidence and give us the idea that we can do many things with many people. Q: With Brandon Mosley back on the field the last couple days, I know he’s been limited, but do you have more of a concrete idea of what you’re going to do at right guard come Monday night? A: We’ll see. It will be day-to-day, but we’ll see. Special Teams Coordinator Tom Quinn* Q: Do you go into Monday night thinking Preston [Parker] is your guy [at punt returner] or is it Preston and Rueben [Randle] from last year? A: It is Preston right now. He did a good job during the preseason, so it is his job right now. We will run with him. Q: What do you like about him in that role? A: He has a quick first step to get the return started and he has experience back there as well. Q: With the way kickoffs have been going in the NFL, do you sit there and wonder why the [league] even bothers because it seems like only about one of 10 are being brought out? A: I do not think it is that low, but it is, especially in the preseason, tilted that way. You almost want to tell your kickers to three-step approach it to get some coverage. As the year wears on and the weather changes, especially in the northeast, kickoffs become much more in play. Q: Is there a rule of thumb for when to take it out of the end zone? A: We do it game to game, but usually it is five yards deep [in the end zone]. You should have a clock in your head…. [The ball] is not hanging up there too long even if you are five yards deep. You just want to be smart and make good decisions. Q: Do you feel like you got enough opportunities in the preseason coverage-wise? A: It was about the same as it has been in the past. You go first half and second half with guys and a lot of times guys are covering kicks this time of year. Once the season starts, guys are playing a lot of offense and defense, so it is kind of a mixed bag going into it. You don’t have enough reps playing next to each other and how to play off of each other. That comes with time. Q: Is it one of those things when you go up against a returner like [Jeremy] Ross… I would imagine right off the bat you are putting as much emphasis as you can on him? A: We have basic rules we live by and play by. Whether it is preseason, regular season or postseason we stick to those rules. It really shouldn’t matter who you are with. If we just do our job, then we will be good.LB LB Jon Beason Q: You fully expect to be a part of it on Monday night? A: I do. You want to go out there and make an impact and do your job within the confinements of the defense and the best you can for the time you have. That’s always my motto. *Q: Have they given you an amount of snaps you might play? A: They haven’t at all. That’s a good thing that they haven’t because if it was up to me, I’d play every down. I’d play offense, too, if I could. Q: Do you expect them to limit you? A: No, I don’t think so. They haven’t given me any indication that that’s going to be the case. 52, as long as I can. Q: They listed you as limited today in practice. Is there anything specific you weren’t doing or was it more preventative and this was the plan all along? A: I think if you talk about there being a training camp and a preseason, it’s because you kind of build and get ready for the opener. Having missed that, I think it’s smart to kind of, get a couple reps, come out and you build on it every day based on how you feel. Obviously the worst thing that can happen right now is a setback and that’s just how injuries are. A lot of time you look at a guy and you say, ‘Well, his toe’s good so he’s good,’ but there are other things that you have to work on, compensation, make sure that everything's working in perfect symmetry so you can stay on the field. Q: So much is made of their passing game, Megatron and Stafford winging it. But you’re in the heart of the defense, you get a good look at those running backs. What can you tell us about that one-two punch? A: I think they have the ultimate compliment. You’ve got a guy who’s tough in between the tackles, going to get those tough yards in Bell, and now you see Reggie Bush is later in his career, he’s emerging as a true, three-down back. A match-up nightmare, has been for years. I played against him twice a year for, I don’t know, five or six years in Carolina. They want to use him, they want to get him the ball. You’ve got to know where both guys are and based on who’s in the game and where they’re lined up tells a big story. We’re just trying to study them and get a bead on them because if not, he can hurt you. Q: You’re clearly the leader on the field, but what does it mean to you to be named a captain, one of the captains of this team? A: All-Pro is great, Pro Bowls were huge when you get recognized outside the building, but there’s no greater respect or honor than to be chosen by your teammates, by your peers. Someone’s looking at you saying, ‘I like the way you go about your business and how you play the game.’ For me, it’s all about an example. I actually appreciate being named captain because it puts more pressure on me to uphold a higher standard, to be consistent at it and to make sure that I’m always doing the right thing. It gives me an opportunity to do more. RB Rashad Jennings* Q: Everyone has their worries [about the offense]… Do you have any doubts or is it all a part of the process? A: Everything is a process. You would be silly to say otherwise. We have no doubts. I don’t think I would even comment on it. That’s silly. This is the National Football League. I believe everybody in here believes they can play across all 32 teams. It is about executing. It is not about talking. Q: Do you see progress being made each week that maybe we didn’t see? A: I think we all saw the same things. The filter in which we are seeing it is different. Obviously, just like anything else in the world, we want immediate gratification for our work. We know it is a never-ending process. We are growing every single day. There is no doubt about that. It is a long season. This is Week 1. This is what we have been preparing for. Preseason doesn’t matter, it is a clean slate. We are excited to start off the season. Q: Do you think not enough attention is being put on the Lions new coordinators? A: I don’t think it needs to be talked about. I think two teams have a game plan they are trying to execute. Regardless of whether it is new or it is old. Coach is going to make the calls, but the players have to make plays at the end of the day. That will never change. They do have a new defense they are trying to implement. We have a new offense. Does that matter? No. At the end of the day, it is all about results and we have to go out here and produce. *Q: The strength of the [Lions] defense would appear to be against the run… As a running back, when you go into a game and you know they are geared into stopping you, how much does that get you up for the challenge of trying to knock heads against a brick wall so to speak? * A: I think every single defense is geared towards stopping the run. I have never been inside of a meeting where the head coach doesn’t say, ‘Stop the run.’ As a running back, we know how to execute a game plan. We know what defenses want to stop. We know the recipe to winning from the defensive side of the ball. There is always going to be stopping the run. … Make any team one-dimensional, [that’s the goal] of what they’re trying to do. It is about accomplishing what we are trying to do in our huddle. We are really focusing on our game plan and understanding theirs and how to attack it. Communicating across the board and making sure we are playing physical and staying on track…Getting to third and manageable and playing football. Q: Is there a different sense now that you have a game plan geared towards the Lions and geared towards what you guys want to accomplish? A: During the preseason, some games are not necessarily game planned as they are during the season. It is a one-week season. Every single week is a one week-season. The first week is against the Lions. They are a good defense. We have a great game plan. We still have plenty of time to watch film. We still have plenty of time to clean up what we need so we can fly around Monday night. Q: From your perspective, you said you like to look at your own linemen’s tendencies to figure out where holes might be… With changing parts along your line, does that make your job that much more difficult? A: It doesn’t make it difficult. It is just a new person I am looking at. Every single offensive lineman has gifts and talents and attitudes. Just like every running back, every quarterback, every receiver, every tight end. Once you understand their tendencies, you know how to light a fire up underneath certain people. That comes in the psychology of it. You know how to pull the best out of players. You know what to expect. You know how the matchups will be. You kind of play the game with your eyes closed in the fact of what is going to happen pre-snap every single play. Obviously nothing is 100 percent in the world, but that does give you an edge to get that hidden yardage. Q: Is that something you can visualize before you get the ball? A: Yes. It is just like the quarterback. They are visualizing what should happen based on the defense. Calling them into motion and seeing what they have or snap cadences. There are a bunch of different tools you have to get a pre-snap and play the game before it happens. As a running back, that is when you can break big runs and also tempo and make sure you are setting your blocks right as a part of being a complete back and complete football player. Q: Do you have a sense out of everybody offensively that the ceiling fan has completely stopped going into Monday? A: Now we are looking at it now like we are in the kitchen. We are chefs. As long as we are looking at the same cook book on the same page, we are all using the ingredients we need to, then I think we are going to pull something nice out of the oven. That is kind of where this offense is at now. We found the fan a while back and now we are cooking. Q: How would you describe Ben McAdoo’s manner and how he interacts with you guys? A: He is always preaching to us to be smart, sound, poised and a disciplined football team. He expects a lot out of us. He is very consistent in his message. He sees everybody as players. He treats everybody the same. That is something you can respect. Whoever is out on the field has to do great. As a player going into year six, you can appreciate that. You know the expectations are high every single day. You have to perform and continue to get better. WR Victor Cruz Q: How is your baby? A: Growing rapidly. Q: Goes fast, doesn’t it? A: Too fast. She’s well. Q: What does it mean for you to go from undrafted to now you are a captain? A: It is a tremendous honor. Extremely humbled by it, I don’t even know where to begin. I have been smiling since I got the news. I am just happy, not so much for myself but that my teammates just carry me in high regard and really want to see leadership capabilities in myself and that is the best part that your peers see it and not just yourself. It’s great. I just want to be able to lead these guys to victory and lead these guys not just on the field but in their personal lives. Whatever they come to me with, I just want to be there to help. *Q: Do you change or do you just continue to be the same guy? Do you have to be more outgoing? * A: No, I am the same guy. Nothing is going to change. I am going to obviously try to get us together and continue to do the traditional things that we do from a receiver standpoint and get the offense going together and stuff like that. Other than that, I am the same guy I am not going to change just because I am a captain now or anything like that. Q: Tell us about how you found out? You said you been smiling since you got the news, how did it come out? A: Coach Tom Coughlin, during his team meeting this morning,g called up five names to come up to the front of the auditorium and he said that that we were elected captains and everybody gave us a round of applause. He told us to lead from the front and things like that, and that was pretty much it. Q: When you think back to watching your teammates, some are obviously back as captains and some have moved on or retired. What is it that you hope to emulate? What did you take from them that maybe..? A: Just their ability to feel the beat of the team. Without reading the paper or being in the media, just knowing what this team means. Feeling what this team is lacking, feeling what this team needs to do each and every day to get better. Just having that knack to understand where this team is mentally was the thing I am going to pick up the most. I think I can do a good job at that, and I have done a good job at that so far. At least mentally myself and it’s just my job now to be vocal about it a little more than usual. Q: When you got a break and a moment to get to your phone, who did you tell? A: I told my fiancé, obviously, first and then I told my mom and I could feel her screaming through the text message and that was it. Everyone else kind of filled in after that. Q: To take a moment to reflect on your journey, what do you make of it? A: I don’t even know if this happens. It is once in a lifetime, for sure ,and to make it where I came from, to do all the little things I did to make this team, to climb every ladder, to overcome every obstacle, it is extremely rewarding and it’s crazy. I told one of my friends, they texted me and said “this is going to make a great movie one day,” and I was like, ‘this movie isn’t over yet, we are only in the middle.’ Q: It seems like yesterday you were catching three touchdowns against the Jets? A: I know, it’s crazy. It feels like yesterday. That moment felt so surreal for me catching those touchdowns in that preseason game and it felt like I had arrived and it felt good. More and more stories kept coming after that and it was unbelievable. Q: Sometimes guys arrive but they don’t know how to handle it from that point forward. What do you think equipped you to handle the success? A: Just going through all of that. Being at the lowest point and coming out of that and coming to the highest point. I think all of that was in preparation for this moment and I think I am extremely prepared. I know how to handle pretty much every situation, at least individually. Other guys can kind of cope with that because I have been there. I have been through that situation; I have been on the brink of winning a Super Bowl and winning a Super Bowl. On the brink of probably not making this team at one point, so I have been through every spectrum. So I think all of that has prepared me for this moment. Q: From a football perspective, is there a moment where you doubted your future the most? A: It probably was after that first Redskins [Washington] game my second year. I had that one drop and in this league, you have your moments and you have your windows of opportunity and you have to take advantage of them and when you don’t, you are replaced or you shuffle around and things like that. But I was fortunate enough to be given a shot and come back that next week and really do some good things. Q: You guys heading into the season opener Monday night and everybody is looking for instant gratification from the new offense. What are your thoughts on this? A: I am just exited to get going. I am excited to get a full four quarters under my belt. I am excited to go out there and put our offense to the test. Put ourselves in third down situations where we have to convert. You know, challenge ourselves a little bit and see ourselves come through, which is the biggest key, and I am excited for it. I am excited for our entire team. I am excited for our offense to see what we are really capable of. Q: You got to see in the last couple of days the first real full gameplan. How much more expansive is it than some of the things you guys showed in the preseason? A: It is a lot more. It’s pretty extensive. It is a lot of variations, a lot of different things that we have installed so far. Especially today being a third down day, we got the full….in. It will be exciting to see how he calls it and how much of those plays we actually run on game day, but everything is in and we are ready to go. Q: You have a new offensive coordinator. Naturally you guys are going to be looking at him also to see how he is doing. How do you view that? How tough is that for a player and how do you sort of balance that? A: It is not really tough, at least on game day, because we are so locked into the plays and trying to make sure we get everything right. We don’t really pay attention to it; it is not until after the fact or maybe after the game where we really look at it and really see it for what it’s worth. I think so far, at least in the preseason, he has done a really good job of calling good calls and calling good things to get us in the right place at the right time. Just a matter of executing those things properly and getting the ball to the playmakers and us making plays with it. Q: How much does knowing that you are going to have the first full four quarters help? A: It helps a lot. We can get into a groove. We don’t have to worry about coming out of the game, we don’t have to worry about…you know these are for real games that count towards our season, that count towards a playoff berth and these matter. Mentally, it is something that soothes us that we can go in there and get into a groove and things are going to go astray, things are going to go…at times, but we have another series to come back and prove people wrong, so it will be fun. Q: It’s got to feel good to at least put that preseason behind you at this point? A: What preseason? I don’t even know what games. I am not sure I know what you are talking about. It is cool. Q: You have been hearing about the offense non-stop. It’s got to be a little tiring for you guys. A: Absolutely. I cannot wait to get on that plane, so I don’t have to talk you guys about the offense anymore, but it should be good. It should be fun. It will be exciting for us once we get going. We’ve got one more good work day of practice in and we will see what happens. Offensive Coordinator Ben McAdoo Q: When you look at Monday night and what you plan to do, how can you convince Giants fans or anyone who watched your offense in the preseason that the results, the production, will be better? A: Well, we had two good days of work so far this week. We are going to get ready to take a look at the film, hit third down today, so it was a productive day for us. We are going to go up, take a look at the tape, meet with the players, dust it off and get ready to go tomorrow. Q: Can you see where those of us who watch the preseason games, the expectations for your offense would be fairly low given the production of the starters. A: I feel that we made progress. We are making progress; we are starting to click in practice. We are getting some chemistry going and we just need to carry it over to game day. Q: Why do you think it hasn’t carried over to the games in the preseason? Is it the newness to the guys or is it something that you had seen along the way? A: The preseason is over and we have two quality days of work this week and we need to carry that over to Monday night. Q: You made a point from the first time you talked to us on the conference call after you were hired the idea of building an offense together that would adapt to personnel. Was there a point in the summer where you started adapting to what you had here versus installing the playbook? A: Absolutely, that process never ends. You are always trying to bring out the strengths in the guys you are playing with and work it that way. *Q: When you talk about the preseason being over, do you see a correlation between the preseason success and the regular season success at all? A: There are certain things you like to work on each week, but preseason is more about evaluation. Sure you would like to go out and be more productive. We realized that we weren’t as productive as we wanted to be with our first group, but we are not looking in the rear view mirror now. We are looking forward, taking care of today, preparing for tomorrow. Q: The one thing you were very successful at was not turning the ball over. Where is that on your list of priorities going forward in terms of helping an offense operate? A: Well, don’t jinx us, but these guys, they have worked very hard at it. It is very important to them. The fundamental part of things we work at every day. Eli Manning and Ryan Nassib have done a great job of listening to their feet in that regard. The running backs are very conscious of how they mesh with the quarterback and how they take care of the ball after the handoff and that is important. The receivers have done a nice job of plucking and tucking the ball. Q: Preseason being very vanilla, you don’t show what you are going to do in the regular season. Come Monday, are we going to see something very different or is it just going to be more concentrated on preparing for the Detroit Lions? A: We are going to prepare to go out and play well and win the game. Re: play-calling A: I am going to prepare to call the game and that is how we will move forward. Q: Eli Manning said earlier in the week that he was looking forward to the opportunity for you guys to sit down and start putting together the game plan this week. I would assume by now that it has happened. I am just curious what your thoughts were when you guys got together and put together your first “game plan” together for the season. A: We put a good chunk of the plan in. We are not finished yet. Of course, you are never finished, the hay is never in the barn, we always have work to do. A good chunk of the plan is in. Q: Eli Manning mentioned during the first preseason game that you met with him the day before the game and it was something that he hadn’t done before. Is that something that you have continued on and it is going to go into the regular season. Is it something you guys did when you were in Green Bay? A: It is a process that we like to go through each week. Obviously in the preseason, really in the beginning part of the regular season, it is a little bit different every week. You get into that normal Sunday routine, but there is a process we go through and we like to believe what we believe in and we like to include the quarterback and the decision-makers in that process. Q: What do you view is the benefit of that? Why do you think that is important to have them the day before the game to be able to give last-minute input? A: It is just like any other business. The more people you have pulling in the same direction, the better chance you have for long term success. Q: You have had kind of a lower profile most of your career. Beginning Monday, there’s going to be a lot of attention on you. Are you ready for that? What is it like going through that? A: It is a team game, but I knew what I signed up for when I signed a contract. Never back down from that. I am excited, I look forward to it, confident, and confident in the players in the locker room, confident in the coaches upstairs and I am excited. Q: Do you expect to script the first couple of plays? A: No. Defensive Coordinator Perry Fewell* Q: On Jon Beason being back on the field. A: Yeah, it is. He is very excited to be back. The process begins of learning how to play with him with his other teammates now. That will be a little bit of a process. Q: What do you do with Jameel [McClain] now, how does he fit in? A: He is ready to go and he will be one of our players. We don’t know who is going to start and that kind of thing right now, but he will be one of the main callers in our defense. We will have packages for him and obviously in the base, we will have packages. We have some plans so we can utilize all of our personnel. Q: Is [McClain] behind at the outside position because he didn’t spend any time there this summer? A: I would say yes and no. No, from this standpoint, he is a veteran and he has played there before. He played there in the OTA’s for us and did some things for us in the OTA’s. We’ve planned with the end in mind, so we will be okay from that standpoint. Q: Where is Beason in his process of being back to practice for two days? A: Mentally, he is very sharp. That is not a problem. Just him seeing the plays over and over with the speed he plays at and the tempo he plays at. We have to get him to calm down a little bit from that standpoint so he can see the play and digest the play and make sure he is executing what we need for him to execute. Q: Would you have any reservations between splitting snaps between Beason and McClain? A: [The middle linebacker] doesn’t have to be a full-go and be out there all the time. Like I said, we have a plan. Tom [Coughlin] has a plan. We will reveal that a little bit later. We want to get three or four good practice days out of those backers. We have worked both guys at the position. We have a system of communication so that we are not handcuffed with the helmet. We have things in place to communicate. Q: When you look at Detroit, it seems like there is a lot of weapons out there… Is this one of those challenges that will be as tough as any that you face this year? A: No doubt. They are an extremely talented football team. From [Reggie] Bush, to [Joique] Bell, on the outside with [Golden] Tate and Megatron [Calvin Johnson]. The tight ends. They have three tight ends. They have four or five legitimate receivers. They have three legitimate backs. The quarterback is a good quarterback. The offensive line didn’t give up a lot of sacks last year. This will be one of those challenges. They are a tough opponent. Q: With all the focus on Megatron that we have made, the idea of you going against Calvin and how you are going to play him… Does it start for you with [Reggie] Bush and [Joique] Bell? A: No doubt. Bell can hurt you and Bush can hurt you in the run game. Even though they have all those weapons on the outside and the tight ends etc., you still have to do a good job in the run game because those guys are legitimate runners. They are good football players, so yes, it begins with those guys. Q: Can this defense build off last year? A: I don’t know if I can compare this group with last year’s group. The faces have changed. I think that this group has worked in the preseason as well as the offseason to work on their chemistry. I like their chemistry. With Jon coming back, that chemistry and that dynamic will be interesting to see how quickly we develop and become a good unit. It is a different group from last year. Q: With Prince [Amukamara] and [Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie] on the outside ,who are both pretty good corners… Does that free you up as a coordinator to do some other things? A: I think that we have established and Jerry [Reese] has done a good job, our front office has done a good job establishing us with some good corners. Not only DRC and Prince but [Trumaine] McBride and [Zack] Bowman. I have a little bit more flexibility than I have had in the past. A direct answer to your question is yes. Q: Defensively, to have two captains in [Antrel] Rolle and Beason, both very strong personalities… Does that make a unit better? A: I think it starts to get better because of their commitment and their communication with each other. Does it make it better? I can’t answer that because each football team each year is so much different. The personalities are so much different, and you don’t know how they react to the leadership that they have. It’ll be a challenge for both of those guys also to be leaders and direct their units and direct their team in the direction we would like for them to go. *Q: Ben McAdoo has been under the microscope because he is taking over a unit that struggled last year… Have you offered him any advice? ** A: I have a lot of confidence in him. I am Ben’s champion. We as a staff have a lot of confidence here. He is built for the position. He is in New York. There are a lot of expectations here. He expects a lot of himself. The cream will rise to the top. He will rise to the top and get it done. He knows exactly what to do. He is ready for this. Q: Did you give him any advice since he is a first time playcaller, first time making a game plan. You have been on the other side of that. Did you give him any advice or any insight on what maybe a defensive coordinator is looking at? A: I have not called any offensive plays. You don’t want to see me call any offensive plays. We just talk. Give advice? No. Ben McAdoo is ready. There is no advice for me to give except, “we are in your corner,” and like I said, we have a lot of confidence in what his skills and what his offensive staff’s skills, and they can do. Obviously, I know as a coordinator and being my first time, it takes a little while to get a unit thinking like you think. So we are going to be patient and we are just going to fight every week and crank out victories and we…when they come around. Q: From the time of the preseason to know what kind of growth have you seen in him [Damontre Moore]. A: I hate to give him a good compliment because he might go the other way on me. He really has performed well in that stat sheet. He has been very productive from that standpoint. I think the game is important to him and he is taking some ownership of his actions. So now can we convert that preseason to the regular season when the marbles are on the line and we need you to be productive? Each and every week we need you to be consistent for us. So we like that growth that we have seen. Can he take the next step now? He has been here before. Q: This was the game last year where Prince Amukamara shadowed Calvin Johnson and had some success and he came out of it with a lot of confidence. Talking to both he and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie yesterday made it seem like they expect to kind of man their side. Without asking you to give up a game plan, can it be to an advantage to have different looks and throw different looks at a receiver like a Calvin Johnson? Rather than just having one guy be on him? A: I think yes. I think that plays a big advantage for you if you can do that and not have the same person over and over studying that same person patterns. Yes, I think that is a big advantage for you. Q: When we talk about Damontre Moore, you were talking about his growth. We see the starters are Jason Pierre-Paul on the outside and Mathias Kiwanuka. What do you anticipate his [Damontre Moore] role being? How much do you think you can work him in and how much do you expect of him during the season in terms of playing time and impact? A: I don’t determine that. We let Damontre Moore determine that through his play. If he can be consistent, like I said before, he has taken responsibility for his actions and his assignments on the field and that keeps getting better and better. The best man is going to win the job, so if he keeps getting better and better, then that makes our defense better and our competition. The eye in the sky doesn’t lie, so if he rises to the top and he becomes the guy because of the stat sheet with what he is doing, then he will push somebody out. Q: Are you willing to rotate him and Mathias Kiwanuka a little bit if you have to early in the season. Maybe mix and match in certain spots. A: We do that anyway because you know the way we ask our guys to play. We ask them to play hard every football play. In order to play hard very football play, you can’t take every single snap as a defensive lineman so we anticipate him being a part of that mix, no doubt. Q: With Devon Kennard is there a role that he does best? Is he better in coverage? Is he better coming on the blitz? What kind of role do you see for him now that it is not the preseason anymore for him, a guy who is not flashing on the practice field? What is he best suited to play? A: He is a big strong man. He is really good in the run game. He is good when he can put his hands on people and knock the crap out them. He is not bad in the pass game. He has some work to continue to do there, but we really like him in the run game and we like him in the pressure game also. Q: Is Jason Pierre- Paul back to being 2011 Jason Pierre- Paul? Or is still a work in progress? A: I have to let the season play out to let you know that. He flashes and I see the old Jason Pierre-Paul at times now. Jason Pierre-Paul, when he was the old Jason-Pierre Paul, he would wow you and he would kind of be non-existent. That is not a good word, he would just kind of be there and then he would wow you again, and he has these wow plays, like, “geesh.” We will just have to let the season play out before I can say that because he “wows” me sometimes and then he is just there sometimes. Q: Another newcomer to your defense is Johnathan Hankins; he is going to take over that starting role. What have you seen from him this summer? A: Consistency and really strength at the point of attack. Johnathan Hankins is a full speed football player. Meaning he gives you everything he has every play. His hustle for a man that’s 323 pounds is outstanding. I like where he is, he is big and strong and he is a good anchor in there for us. Q: Where is Jay Bromley? He seemed to flash early on in OTA’s. He was just kind of out there and trying to get his feet wet. It seemed at the end of preseason he really started making strides. Is he a guy that can play his way into a rotation this early? Or is there kind of pecking order for him? A: I think he can if he keeps working. I think Jay Bromley’s best attribute in my opinion is he really pushes the pocket in the pass game. I think he is learning to be a better run player, not that he is not a run player but I think he is learning to be a better run player. His best attribute right now is how he pushes the pocket and the inside push he gives in the pass rush. There is definitely a role for him and there is a place for him on our defense, on our football team for him to excel we just have keep watching him develop.

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Quotes (9/5): Coughlin, Beason, Cruz