Tom Coughlin Press Conference, 12.29.11

Q: How did Osi look in practice today?
A: He did good. He did a little bit more, felt better, felt good, moved around well.

Q: Are you optimistic that he'll play on Sunday?
A: We'll see.

Q: Did Hakeem do more?
A: Hakeem didn't practice.

Q: At all?
A: No.

Q: How about Mario?
A: Yeah, he worked. He was limited, but he worked.

Q: How did he look?
A: Fast.

Q: Ballard didn't run outside?
A: No, they didn't think they could do it.

Re: ability to come back in the fourth quarter
A: With the score of the game and whether it's our prepared two-minute approach, it depends on how far you're down and when you start it. It's all a prepared, thought out process which also has to take advantage of whatever adjustments they've made throughout the game. We go with that.

Q: Why have you been so successful in the fourth quarter?
A: We've emphasized it since day one. We were doing it in training camp. We're doing it all through the year. The opportunities come. In most cases we've been pretty successful with it. It certainly has been a plus, but we're continuing to stress it because in the games that we haven't won, we either haven't gotten in that situation or haven't quite gotten it done.

Q: Do you think there are certain players that perform better under pressure?
A: I don't know. I certainly think that we've all been led to believe that some guys, whether it is a focus or whether it's just an ability, when that situation arises they do well in it. Whether they're better at that time than any other time, I couldn't tell you that, but there are guys who over the years and the history of the league have certainly performed very well in those late stages of the games. I'm talking more about quarterbacks.

Q: With Eli, what changes in the fourth quarter?
A: The execution. The consistency. His ability to make plays whether he's moving, whether he's had to do something to adjust, whether he's changed the protection, whether he's changed the pattern. Whatever he's done, he's done it having fully thought it out and reacted well to it and then just executed and made it happen.

Re: Tony Romo.
A: He's dangerous because he extends the play. You can't allow him to do that. When he does extend it, as he did a couple of times on us in Dallas, he makes big plays. He's probably not running as much as he once did, but he is running enough to get the ball down the field. He sees things very well. You just have to do something about trying to force him to step up in there rather than get to the outside. He can get to the outside to his left as well as to his right.

Re: Osi Umenyiora.
A: You have to understand that you have to see what happens daily in terms of how he feels and where he's at and that type of thing. If he continues to progress, we'll look forward to it. I'm saying that it will, but I'm not going to predict that.

Q: You said that there was a chance that Jake Ballard was going to run and then they decided...
A: I said that [the trainers] initially thought about running him. He ran hard yesterday, did a lot yesterday. They didn't want to do that again today. He wasn't ready to do that today.

Q: Are you doing anything differently because a tie is good enough to win the division?
A: No, not really. That's in the back of your mind, but you're playing to win.

Q: At this stage in the week what are you looking to see?
A: The buildup that comes with moving from early week to the end of the week, having gone through the majority of situations. Seeing the energy level and the passion and the intensity rise up and in some ways, see them a little short with each other once in a while. So you know they're ready to go.