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Tom Coughlin conference call

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Tom Coughlin conference call Empty Tom Coughlin conference call

Post  56 Crazed Dogs Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:05 pm

From Tom Coughlin's conference call.

I thought following the game - when you play a divisional opponent like
the Cowboys and you are in that type of an atmosphere, I was pleased
with our guys. Our focus was good; our concentration - even the young
guys who have never been in an environment like that - learning of, as
was stated last night, when asked we were aware of the fact that it was
the largest crowd in the history of the NFL in the continental United
States. We really weren't -- but we didn't know what the number was.
We had the same anticipation as everyone else - 110,000 or whatever was
stated. But I thought that when we took the field in our warmups and
our young guys, the way that they warmed up, I thought that our focus
was on the game. And I didn't think there was any distraction
whatsoever. And I credit our leadership for that. I think a large part
of going on the road and doing well on the road has to do with your
leadership and the kind of peer pressure that is being exerted on
everyone from the standpoint of the veteran guys. So I was pleased with
that. And the game was certainly an exciting game that went right down
to the wire, as many of our games have with them. But I think for us to
go in there, particularly after having had a game a year ago - the
second game down there in which we had really so many protection errors,
so many sacks in the game and not be able to do some of the things that
we had planned on being able to do. And to play hard, yet have very
little to show for it, I thought that this was - to come away with a
win, without a sack and without those kinds of things was real
important. Now, do we have work to do? You bet we have work to do. It
is very early. We have a lot of people in the mix which, I think,
hopefully in the long run is going to pay off for us. But our inability
to stop the run and our inability, really, to run the ball the way we
wanted to - those are issues that are first and foremost with our team.
And we will be working hard to make the necessary corrections with
regard to that. We are pleased to win, obviously. But we have a lot of
work to do.

Q: The inability to run the ball - obviously that wasn't a trouble spot
for you guys last year - was it more a product of the defenses you have
faced and what they are trying to do or things you guys are not able to
do right now?

A: I think we came out in the second half (last night) and did a better
job. I don't want anybody to think that. I think that you could have
been sitting there as a spectator last night and understood what our
mindset would be coming back in the third quarter. We thought we had to
rush the ball; we had to take some of the time of possession off of our
defensive team and we had to re-establish that part of our game. We had
some runs in the second half that were good. We started right off with
that first drive which we had a couple of really good runs. So we did
do a better job in the second half. But I mean overall it wasn't the
type of game that we had expected going in there. And yeah, you have to
give credit to the defense but you also have to realize that there is
obviously some work to be done in terms of making sure that we
anticipate and understand exactly what the other guy is trying to do to
stop the things that we have planned. And then our execution has got to
improve.

Q: Do you expect that the way your receivers have performed that
defenses are now going to have to really dramatically change their
approach to you?

A: I don't think so because I think you are seeing the way in which
people want to play their secondary, I think, is being exemplified in
just our first two games. The ability, for example last night, the
Cowboys rolled their coverage either way and still have their safeties
involved down there in the box, I think you see that. And I don't think
there is a reason to change a lot. I think it is well coordinated, they
are gapped out. The safety appears at the right time as Hamlin did a
number of times last night. I just think people play their game the way
that they have prepared themselves throughout training camp. They do
have the ability to adjust and they change and react to make slight
adjustments to their coverages and yet play in principal, the exact same
way.

Q: What updates do you have on Tuck and Hixon?

A: I really don't have much. They are going through all of the tests
today and we will have to wait and see what the tests say to see where
these guys are. I think a big factor will be Wednesday. When we do get
the information, how do they feel on Wednesday?

Q: How about starters that missed this last game - Dockery, Ross and
Canty? Do you expect them back at practice on Wednesday?

A: I couldn't say. The early prognosis is not that different from what
we finished last week with. And so again, we'll see. I think it ends
up being, hopefully, a day to day thing. But we will have to find out.

Q: Is there any reason to believe that Tuck's injury could have been
serious?

A: Anytime you have a player of that caliber that can't finish a game,
I would think that something is going on there that is preventing him
from continuing. And as I said, we'll just have to wait and see.

Q: What did you see from Boley in his first game?

A: Here is a guy that hasn't had a lot of work and yet was able to -
because of his meeting time and because of the understanding at first of
what the role was going to be and then the role did expand, obviously
during the course of the game. It was good for him to be in there. I
thought he did well. I think there are obviously ways in which ---
there are things that he is going to have to improve on. But to get out
there and get in the game, to play as much as he did, was a positive
thing.

Q: Dallas' ability to run - is that just them having a good plan or
what was going on?

A: They executed well. We were out of position some. And the results
were big runs. The number of runs that they had that were long range
runs -- that was both frustrating and disappointing. And we are going
to have to address that. There were people out of position at times.
And the result was you had some talented runners in the open field. And
they took full advantage of those opportunities.

Q: After two division games, obviously right off the bat - those were a
big deal. You now go into a stretch of three non-division games against
teams that haven't been as successful as the others in the past. Is
that something, given what your team has done the last few years - you
don't even worry about letdowns or lack or focus or anything like that?

A: Well I don't think so. I think hopefully this team will take each
game. As I say to them each week at the end of the week, "Win one game.
Win one game and then we will come back together and we will worry about
what it is we need to do to be in position to win the next game." So I
think that has been the position we have taken. The players have
understood what is meant by that. And I would expect that that will
continue.

Q: Mario Manningham had those two catches that were - one was the
juggle then he held onto it and the other one off the deflection. Is
that something he kind of seems to have a knack for - to come down with
catches like that?

A: I thought the tipped ball that he caught in the two minute drive was
just a great example of focus and concentration. The ball that he
caught in the end zone - I believe he had a little trouble with the
lights - the ball came out of the lights for him there. I think that is
one of the reasons that one ---- But he was able to stay with it and
make the catch, which is the key thing. His focus, his concentration
and his ability to stay zoomed in on the ball - there are two good
examples.

Q: I think you knew what you were getting with Steve Smith. Has Mario
surprised you at all?

A: We saw this even as he was running scout squad for us last year from
probably the mid-point of the season on when he was healthy and he was
feeling good and he was enjoying that role of taking the position of the
guy that we had to stop defensively from the receiver's standpoint each
week, week in and week out. And he did an outstanding job of that. And
we saw some things that really excited us and he continued to develop
during the offseason and then into the spring and into the summer.
Certainly there have been some things that we were very pleased to see.
I don't know who much 'surprised.' He was drafted in a high position
and we had a pretty solid feel for his ability.

Q: Mario Manningham and how he gets off the line - he seems like a very
slippery guy.

A: I think he does have the quickness and he has done a good job with
his releases. He is studying the opponent. He is trying to figure how
best for him to get off the ball and against really good corners that
play good press coverage. So he is improving.

Q: Kenny Phillips - we had talked so much last week about how you have
to manage his knee and he has got to miss practice time. And you had
said that you had hoped he could still be as productive as you wanted
him to be. I guess last night he was about as productive as you could
want, right?

A: He was very good and quite frankly, he was very sharp. He is very
much ahead of his ---. The play that he made off the foot of Whitten was
an exceptional play because there was no hesitation on his part. The
surprising thing was someone blew a whistle. Now a lot of times the
whistle will not be blown there - at least that is what they
say....whistle. His alertness - you saw him back in centerfield and he
showed great range back there. He comes down to the line of scrimmage
and does a good job of that. It is going to be the continued challenge
for him to - for Kenny to get what he needs out of the week so that
whatever happens he thinks that his mind and his body are in synch
despite the fact that he may not be able to practice every day.

Q: To stay in the secondary, how good is it for you to see Bruce
Johnson hold his own against Washington then make the pick for the
touchdown last night. I would think that as a young player his
confidence right now after these first two weeks has to be sky high.

A: Well as I said, I was very impressed in Week One because Bruce
seemed to handle everything well. He never got overly excited, he
wasn't big-eyed. He looked at this as an opportunity and he learned his
assignments. We tried to put him in the best possible position. He did
that for the most part. And then because of his study and because of
being in the right spot and because of his knowledge of his assignment
he did have an opportunity to make a play last night on a ball and then
he had the wherewithal to get the ball in the end zone. So I thought the
fact that we have scored two weeks in a row on defense has been a huge
factor as well in our ability to win - and last night the +4 in
turnovers.
56 Crazed Dogs
56 Crazed Dogs
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