Tom Coughlin, 08.04.09

Q. How happy was the team when they heard the news about Antonio Pierce?

A. Without a doubt, I think everybody was very happy with the decision. Now we can move forward.

Q. Did you see a little bit more of an extra bounce in his step today?

A. No, he’s been very good all through this.

Q. What have you seen out of Kevin Boss so far, and what do you want to see out of him?

A. Kevin has improved every year. His blocking has improved, he’s an outstanding receiver, and he gets elevated so you can throw the ball up high to him in the green zone. We’re obviously going to try and take advantage of that.

Q. Do you see a difference with him in camp this year?

A. Oh yeah. You’re seeing a guy who’s been through it and knows what to expect, he knows what his responsibilities are. You can always tell with a guy like that, that there’s a rising level of maturity.

Q. We’ve heard from the team that Antonio Pierce is a great teammate. What do you think makes for a great teammate, other than being a great football player?

A. Team first. That’s what makes for a great teammate. A guy that is concerned about his teammates, is here to serve, comes in with the right purpose, which is an unselfish commitment to his team, is always thinking outside the box about the big picture. As it goes forward, it’s also those guys who work as hard off the field as they do on the field, in the locker room and what not. Just being a good friend…that’s what it is.

Q. The defensive backs have looked very aggressive these past couple of days. Has that become more of an emphasis this year?

A. No, we’ve always tried to be aggressive with the secondary. We do play a lot of press, so we’ve got to teach that because we’re bringing the safeties down a lot. It’s been a good start. You can see in the third practice that it’s almost time to get the pads on. I’m sure by the end of practice in the afternoon we’ll be saying that we’ve got to get the pads on. The blocking surfaces aren’t great and we’re getting some collisions anyway, so we might as well be in them.

Q. How does Osi Umenyiora look so far?

A. Good, real good. He’s been good off the mark, got a great attitude, team guy.

Q. David Carr had his arm wrapped during practice, what’s going on there?

A. Yeah, I asked him this morning. We had so much on him that he was writing everything down on it. I don’t think there’s a real issue there…nobody has reported anything to me.

Q. Does the offense look like it’s moving a little bit slower to you at this point?

A. Well, it’s not obviously going to be in mid-season form. We’ve got lots of different combinations, lots of receivers moving in and out. We’re playing all of those backs basically by rotation, so they have all been coming up as a one. It’s early, but I’m not very patient, so I’d like to see some more progress out of them. On offense it’s got to be more than a good play-bad play. You know what I mean? We can make a big play, and everybody remembers it, but to me, at least, it’s come on back and let’s get the next play. What are you going to do now? You make a good play, and then you can feel good about it, but now let’s go out and make another one. Let’s not turn around and make the ball go backwards.

Q. Is Rich Seubert’s injury anything new, is it serious?

A. Not that I know of.

Q. How is Will Beatty going to work into the offensive line? What have you seen in him so far?

A. We’re trying to get him out there. We really didn’t have much of him this spring. He’s come back, and at this point in time he’s healthy. I think his weight is down a little bit, so we’ve got to get him a little stronger. This guy is here for a reason, as an athletic left tackle. At least from an athletic standpoint, he’ll be able to match up against some of these great pass rushers. I mean he’s got to learn how to do that, he doesn’t know it yet, and hasn’t really had enough time to get in there. I think the first time that he went in the spring against Osi, it was like, ‘whoa….that’s what you were talking about.’ He’ll learn, though. You can tell he wants it.