Q: Have you started any extension negotiations with Victor Cruz, and how is that going to play out going forward?

A: We’re in the early stages of our evaluating the team as a whole, individually. We have not yet discussed anything with respect to salaries.

Q: Is that the biggest challenge you face during the offseason? Are you expecting a line to form at the door for people looking for more money?

A: That’s a good problem to have. You win the Super Bowl and if everybody thinks they’re the reason we won – that’s a good problem to have. That means you won it. It’s just part of the offseason. There are always contract issues in the offseason. That’s what the offseason is. You have to deal with contracts and things with your roster – who’s going to stay, who’s going to go. Again, we’re in the very early stages of the evaluation process. The coaches are evaluating the players from their perspective. Our personnel staff, we’re evaluating our players from our perspective. Obviously we’re looking at the UFAs and RFAs from the other teams, along with starting our draft meetings, our pre-draft meetings before we go to the combine in a couple of weeks.

Q: Do you think that the cap number will accommodate what you want to do?

A: It looks like [the salary cap] is going to be pretty flat. It could be a little bit more than it was this time, but it could be a little bit less. I think we can work off of the same number we worked off of last year and I think we’ll be pretty close either way. It will be pretty flat, I think.

Q: How far behind the other teams do you feel you are?

A: We’ve obviously been working as we went along through the playoffs, but it’s a lot different when you’re still playing than when you have nothing else to do except concentrate on what you’re trying to do in the offseason. We’re a little bit behind. Again, like you said, it’s a good problem to have. But we can catch up quickly. We’ve done it before. We have a tremendous staff with Dave Gettleman in the Pro [Personnel] Department, Marc Ross in the College [Scouting] Department. Those guys are real pros and we can catch up pretty quickly.

Q: Last offseason was crazy with the lockout. This offseason you have 24 free agents. Is it going to be just as crazy? You have more time, but it seems like you have just as much work to do if not more.

A: It’s a significant amount of work, but that’s what the offseason is. We’re used to doing a significant amount of work in the offseason. There’s a lot that goes into it. There’s a lot of planning, a lot of preparation and a lot of discussion on guys and on salaries and where we can go and where we can’t go. It’s a lot of discussion to be had, but we’ll be ready.

Q: Is there any wariness to breaking up the chemistry on this team or is there any more impedance in how to keep it together and re-sign guys because of that chemistry?

A: Wins always make you love each other. So that’s a common denominator – wins. Every team is different, as you know. Every offseason the team changes, but there will be a strong core of the players – our current players – coming back. I can tell you that. But there will definitely be some changes.

Q: Was there anything during the season that said to yourself, ‘We’re doing things the right way’?

A: We always try to do what’s right for the New York Giants. We try to make good football decisions. It would be great to look like you’re really smart in the offseason and go out and make a lot of splashy moves so you guys can write nice-going things about our personnel staff, but our goal is to make good football decisions and that’s what we try to do every year. We don’t just think about our personnel for the current year. We think a couple of years down the line and that’s important. I think fans think about the here and now, what our team looks like now. We think about that as well, obviously, because you want to win every year, but we definitely think a couple of years down the road a little bit in respect to personnel.

Q: Is there an example of a decision you made with the future in mind?

A: I don’t want to give up our secrets. No I can’t give an example, but just trust me. We’re not just thinking about the here and now in the front office. We’re thinking about at least a couple of years down the road.

Q: Do you see guys on the roster now that haven’t contributed but will be able to next year?

A: There are always guys. That’s what’s important in personnel. When you look at personnel and look into the future you always want to look on your roster first in our opinion. Look at your roster first – is the guy that you need already on your roster – before you go out and look for someone somewhere else. More times than not the guy is already on your squad. So there are some young practice squad guys that we like. We had a terrific practice squad. They did a lot in helping us in preparation – mimicking the other teams’ offenses and defenses for us. There are some kids on the practice squad that we really like. Hopefully some of those guys will step out of the shadows and heal some voids for us as we move along. They’re on the practice squad for a reason. We don’t have guys on our practice squad just to be dummy defense. We have guys out there who we think can have some redeeming qualities that might develop into some players. We try to develop them, as we go through the year, on the practice squad.

Q: Any names on the roster right now who you would identify as guys who could be those people?

A: Several guys. I don’t want to start calling people’s name right now, but there are several guys that we like, that we think have a chance to compete for a job for next year.

Q: Is Victor Cruz lightening in a bottle or can there be another great discovery like that next year?

A: Every year there’s a guy that comes out of the shadows on different teams. That’s the beauty of the personnel in scouting. You go out and some guys like that fall through the cracks. You only have seven rounds. Those kinds of guys would probably get drafted [in] the old days. I think Rosie Brown got picked in the 27th round. If you had 27 rounds those kinds of guys would definitely get drafted, but you only have seven rounds now. So some players like Victor, with a couple redeeming qualities that some of our scouts like would probably get drafted at some point in a draft in you had that many rounds. But it’s only seven rounds. So it’s not an exact science. Every year there’s a guy like that and there are plenty of guys who are in the Hall of Fame, but they didn’t get drafted.

Q: How does losing two of your tight ends in a single game throw a monkey wrench in everything? How do you recover from that from a personnel standpoint?

A: Obviously we think both of those guys flashed and were showing talent to fill the void at tight end, but we’ll just see how they are health-wise after the surgeries and see how quickly they can get back. I’m not a doctor, but from perspective, right now they’re both probably guys that will end up on PUP at the beginning of the season and see how healthy they are and how quickly they can recover from these injuries that they have. Obviously Bear Pascoe is kind of like a joker on offense for us too. We talk about Kiwi being a joker on defense, Bear plays tight end, he plays H-back, he can play fullback. He can do a little bit of everything. So he’ll be back along with one of the practice squad guys that I said I wasn’t going to name. But Christian Hopkins is a big kid that we like – practices hard every day – that our coaches like and think he has some potential to come in and compete for a job as well. He’s a big kid. He’s at least 6-5, about 275 pounds and he works hard every day at practice. He’s endeared himself to our coaches with how hard he works and he has soft hands, catches the ball nice. He’ll be a guy. And obviously we’ll look in free agency and we’ll look in the draft for positions that we think we may have some holes right now.

Q: Is there anyone else who is expecting to have surgery this offseason?

A: We haven’t had that meeting yet. That’s part of our personnel meeting, where we finish evaluation. Ronnie Barnes is there. He’ll discuss the health of our players and where he thinks they are and when they project to be healthy again and those types of things. That’s part of the process we’re in as well.

Q: Is it hard for you to assess your first four draft picks from the 2011 Draft because of the injuries and not playing and circumstances?

A: I think if you go into the season, you’re counting on all of your rookies. You love for those guys and you really want at least your first three picks to contribute, but a lot of times they don’t. I use this as an example, Randy Moss. It’s hard for guys to come in and do a Randy Moss as a rookie because the league is so different from the college level. Most guys you draft are developmental players, even the guys you draft in the first round because the game is so different. But you do want your first three picks to come in and contribute. And they did to a degree. Marvin Austin didn’t because he got hurt and was out for the season, but Jernigan did a couple of things for us. He came on a little bit late and helped us in the return game some. We do think he’s going to be a good receiver for us as well. And Prince, he’s a first round pick. We expect him to play and play a lot and play well. Obviously he was set back with the foot injury. And Brewer, he’s a big athlete. It takes offensive linemen, sometimes, a little longer than others, but we have high-hopes for him that he can come in next year after he’s been through a whole season. Our guys are really like a bonus to us because we feel like we’re going to get a first and second round pick that really didn’t play and contribute a lot. So that’s going to be like a bonus for us because we’re picking low. We have a couple of high draft picks that really didn’t play for us. So that’s a bonus to us in respect to personnel and draft, to get our first and second round pick back and playing a lot of football for us.

Q: How do you evaluate the market value of a player who spent the season on IR?

A: It’s difficult. All the guys are different. A lot of it depends on how much did they play – was there enough to evaluate and how extensive the injuries are. All of that comes in to play. It’s no one way or another to evaluate that. There’s a lot that goes into it – how much did he play, how extensive is it, how much damage does he have with the injury? So there’s a lot going into that.

Q: Is there any way you can avoid what happened last offseason with Osi? Is there a peaceful solution on the horizon?

A: Again, we’re in the early stages of the evaluation. Osi is under contract, but we’ll discuss everything as a staff and we’ll discuss all issues that could possibly come up for us. We’ll come up with a game plan and we’ll move on day-to-day and see how things work out for us.

Q: What was your favorite part of this run?

A: No, not really. Again, we had a good nucleus of players coming back. We won 10 games last year so we felt good about the nucleus of players coming back. So we thought if we could improve in some areas – we talked about we gave up to many explosive plays, we talked about we put the ball in harm’s way offensively. We cleaned up some of those things and we were fortunate enough to win enough games to qualify for the tournament. We got in and got hot and were able to finish the season on top. That’s what you try to do every year. I said this to several guys after the season and throughout the playoffs, the margin of error between winning and losing or making the playoffs is really small. The ball could bounce one way or another and you’re in or it could bounce another way and you’re out. All of the teams are pretty evenly matched and you have to have a little bit of luck to make it and you have to have some good players and you have to have some good coaches. It’s a combination of the three things that help us through this playoff run and to win the Super Bowl.

Q: Do you look at the team more as 9-7 or as a 6-0, Super Bowl team?

A: It doesn’t matter how you look at it. The result at the end is really what matters the most. We were able to get hot at the right time. At times we didn’t play very well, but we played well at the right times. It’s not like we played against Jefferson Township High School. We played against some good players in the tournament. We earned the right to be World Champs. I look at it like that way.

Q: How do you feel about offensive line and you still envision Will Beatty being your starting left tackle? Kareem McKenzie at right tackle is going to be a free agent.

A: I thought our offensive line did a good job as a whole. The one game everybody, all of a sudden, made it sound like they were terrible [was] against one of the best fronts in the National Football League, in the [NFC] Championship Game against San Francisco – those guys are pretty good up front. But the week before Eli had tons and tons of time to throw the ball. I think they played well in the Super Bowl. Who’s going to be in – that’s part of the evaluation process. We don’t know who’s going to be the five who will walk on the field as the starters for us next year, but we do have some good players, we think, in our offensive line. We have some young players that we like as well. We’ll see how that goes, but I do think we’ll have a good core of those players coming back to put in there.

Here is the transcript of New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin's press conference Friday. A little late-night reading material for you. See all of today's press conferences on our Transcripts page.

Q: What’s it like going back to a once in a lifetime experience and what will you tell the guys who haven’t been to the Super Bowl before?

A: For all of us it’s a lifetime experience. We may not put once with it, but if you’re fortunate enough to be in a position where you’re going to the Super Bowl and you’re in this profession, it’s very, very difficult to compare anything to it, whether you’re a rookie, whether you’re a veteran, whether you’ve been in it as long as some of us have. We’re very excited about that. We’re trying to keep all things in perspective, not get the cart before the horse. I think they’re doing a pretty good job of that. Just the turnout, in terms of the number of people from the media, makes it very difficult for them to realize it’s work days. These are work days for us and we have to get our work done.

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Q: How’s the shoulder?

Nicks: The shoulder is doing better, getting better day to day, still a little sore. Once I start working it out throughout the day it loosens up a little bit.

Q: Any chance it will slow you down?

Nicks: I expect to be full go by next week. Just want to give myself a couple days to try and get it back right and rehab it a little bit.

Q: How painful was it during the game?

Nicks: it was painful. I landed right on the AC joint that I injured a few times this season. I kind of landed right on top of it. I went in and got it taken care of and by halftime I was cool.

Q: Did you separate it?

Nicks: No, I landed right on top of the AC joint. It was an AC sprain.

Q: What was your first impression of number 80 (Victor Cruz)?

Nicks: I remember in his rookie year, the pre-season game against the Jets definitely jumped out at us. He made plays, he’s been a playmaker ever since.

Q: How do you study against opposition that you play?

Nicks: You have to look at the things they do. It was early in the season when we faced them. I feel like we are two different teams at this point. They do some things different, we do some things different. We are at a different place now. It’s on a big stage so you have to be ready to expect everything.

Q: What do you think about the Patriots having a wide receiver in their secondary?

Nicks: You don’t want to overlook him because obviously he is an athlete. He is playing both ways over there and making plays. It’s something you don’t want to overlook. They are here in this big game for a reason; whatever they have been doing has been working to get them to this point. We just have to take advantage of the opportunity.

Q: Do you think it’s weird that they have a receiver playing in their secondary?

Nicks: I don’t want to say it’s weird because like I said, he is an athlete. Maybe he is good at doing both, so you can’t overlook him. Whatever they have been doing up to this point has been working. They are where they are today, so you can’t overlook him.

Q: How do you think you would do in the secondary?

Nicks: I think I would do good.

Q: <<Inaudible>>

Nicks: I think coming in as a rookie maybe, I think it really helps where you come from. I ran a pro-style offense in college so it was seamless to me. I just had to get down the concepts, patterns and stuff like that. Once you get it down, it’s all about reading defenses and reading coverages. If you could read coverages and what not, then we’ll be good.

Q: What impresses you about Kevin Gilbride’s offense?

Nicks: There’s always the ability for you to win in your routes, no matter what coverages they play. If they try to take one route away, you might have to convert to another route within the offense. You try to take one side of the formation away, then you have another coverage beater to the backside. It always works hand in hand.

Q: Where does Kevin Gilbride rank in your mind?

Nicks: I feel like he is one of the top coaches. This is not his first time here, he’s been around, he has a pretty good resume. He definitely puts us in the right position to make plays.

Q: Are you surprised he hasn’t gotten any head coaching offers?

Nicks: I don’t really look into that. He has been doing fine since I have been here. Eli is doing good so I don’t see any need to change.

Q: How big is it having Mario Manningham back?

Nicks: It’s huge for us. He has definitely been a guy that injuries have kind of hindered him a little bit this season, but he has done a good job of fighting through it. When we needed him, he has been flying high throughout the whole playoffs and has been making plays in clutch situations.

Q: Compared to the 2007 Super Bowl run, how has this year’s preparation been different?

Jacobs: So far our preparation has been energetic, guys have been running around, doing the right things and not screwing up any of those things. Coach has been on us, make sure guys don’t fall asleep and forgot the task at hand.

Q: How does the New England defense compare to the San Francisco defense?

Jacobs: They are pretty good. They have some big hefty guys in there, they are hard to move. They have great linebackers that hold their gap and play the run the right way. I think they are a good defensive unit. I know the numbers say different but I think they are a good defensive unit.

Q: Do you think you and Ahmad Bradshaw are going to have to play a bigger role to win this game than you did last week?

Jacobs: No question. I definitely think we are going to have to play a bigger role. As long as we stick with the run, be patient, hang with it, something is going to pop at one point or another.

Q: Are you more confident with Ahmad Bradshaw and Hakeem Nicks this time around since neither played in the November game?

Jacobs: Yea, you are always going to have more confidence when you have all your guns. We were missing two talented guys who were big parts of our offense. They know that and they are preparing for that. It definitely gives myself and our football team more confidence going into this one.

Q: What do you remember about the 4^th and 1 play during the final drive of the Super Bowl in 2007?

Jacobs: It was 4^th and 1 and if we don’t get it, game over. We got a fresh set of downs and we were able to drive the ball and win the game.

Q: Do you remember what play you ran?

Jacobs: I went over Snee, Richie pulled and I got quick the one yard.

Q: What makes Wilfork so tough?

Jacobs: He is definitely hard to move. He is strong and he is quick for his size. You can’t get one way where he is going to this or he is going to that. He is not one dimensional. He makes it really hard for people to figure out how they are going to block him.

Q: Has the blueprint to beat New England changed in your mind?

Jacobs: We haven’t changed anything. We are still doing the same things. We just ran the ball a little bit better then and I hope we can get the run going again. Nothing has really changed and we still do the same things.

Q: What impresses you about JPP?

Jacobs: That he has a motor that he has. He keeps going with great technique, he just keeps pushing. He doesn’t stop until the whistle blows and that is unbelievable for a guy that plays as many snaps as he plays.

Q: Do you still think that New England views the 2007 Super Bowl as a fluky win for you guys?

Jacobs: I have no idea, I am not in their locker room and I haven’t spoken to them to tell you if they’re thinking that. If that is what they are thinking, if it’s a fluke, we still have the ring. So fluke or not, we won the game.

Q: In the regular season game against the Patriots you did not have Ahmad Bradshaw. How much different is your running game is with him?

Jacobs: With Ahmad being in this game, it gives us a lot of confidence that we can do a little more in the running game than we did the first time around. I think we ran the ball okay the first time but I think we are always stronger with more weapons.

Q: Is it as simple as when you and Ahmad are healthy, the run game improves?

Jacobs: Well, our running game has gotten better because our guys have been together throughout the course of the season. This is the end of the season, so guys know how each other works. We can pick up slack in certain areas.

Q: Did you see Victor Cruz having the season that he did?

Jacobs: The season he had has been phenomenal. I saw it with Victor last year in the preseason right before he got hurt. I definitely saw this in Vic, no question about it. He is a talented guy and I continue to wish him luck and much success throughout his career.

Q: Is capitalizing in the Red Zone more important when you play against a team like the Patriots?

Jacobs: Yea, when you are playing a guy like Tom Brady with explosive receivers and tight ends, you have to score. When we get down there we definitely have to get points and not field goals. When you get down there in the green zone you have to score touchdowns.

Q: Is there a particular style of offense that works well against their defense down there?

Jacobs: Not a certain style, you just can’t turn it over and make little mistakes.

Q: What do you tell the young guys who have never played in a game of this magnitude?

Jacobs: Keep calm, don’t blow a gasket. A lot of guys get excited too early and their game gets messed up for the first 20 minutes when you are out there. Just stay calm, take advantage of the opportunity. When you get your chance to get in there, make a great play.

Q: How many tickets do you need?

Kiwanuka: I’ll make do with whatever I get. Obviously I would love to have everyone to support me but at 800 dollars a clip, that’s just not feasible.

Q: About going back home to Indianapolis…

Kiwanuka: It’s hard to find all the right words to describe it. It’s a culmination of a lot of people’s careers. When you get a chance to get to the Super Bowl, you have to enjoy it, you have to take it in because these opportunities don’t come around very often. We have been fortunate enough to have a couple in there in a short period of time, but getting to one is big enough but now getting to one in your hometown, I don’t know how many times that is going to happen.

Q: About going back home to Indianapolis…

Kiwanuka: I try to get it out of my mind a little. I try to take every game as they come. From the time it was announced, I said that would be awesome if I could get there, so I’ve been looking at it for a long time.

Q: When you were growing up there did you go to any Colts game?

Kiwanuka: My first Colts game, I had a buddy named Tim Bolman who was playing against the Colts not too long ago. I didn’t have a chance to get to a lot of Colts games but I was definitely a big fan. Especially when Peyton (Manning) got there and they went on that big run. Growing up there, there wasn’t a lot to cheer about but when Peyton came, he turned everything around.

Q: You have a ring from 2007; do you feel like it’s yours?

Kiwanuka: The way I compare it, I played on some good high school football teams too and won two state championships. One as a sophomore and one as a junior. The one during my sophomore year, I was on the field, and I contributed but I wasn’t a starter. For my junior year I was starting on both sides of the ball and my friends were all involved. I feel like this one will be more like that.

Q: Do you think the transition to LB has gone as smoothly as you hoped?

Kiwanuka: I think the difference from this time and the first time was this was what I was asked to do before I signed my contract to come back here. They said we have these guys, this is the role we see you in and I accepted it. There was no wavering in my mind about what I was going to do. I think that made it a lot easier.

Q: Do you have to explain to the young guys what’s expected and what to expect?

A: The only thing that I tell the younger guys is make football football. Don’t make this game bigger than it has to be. Everybody around you is going to make it bigger, but we have to concentrate on why we’re going out there. There’s going to be a lot of parties. There’s going to be a lot of people pulling at your coat tail. Listen, if you go out there and you handle your business and you win this game, you can party all you want to after that. For me personally, the first time I went to a Super Bowl I approached it as such, as a once in a lifetime thing. I’m blessed to have an opportunity to go to a second and hopefully will get the opportunity to go more. You have to approach it that way because you never know. I know a lot of guys that have played a lot of great football for a long time and have never gotten the opportunity to be in this position. I’m definitely trying my best to take advantage of it.

Q: Was it a hard transition for Coach Coughlin to become more flexible?

A: No. I don’t even remember. I think, honestly, regardless of if he’s hard or not, looser or whatever, we just take it in stride. I don’t think it was an adjustment period for us. I think he did a great job as far as realizing how he was going to be effective as a football coach. For us, we just took it in stride. It didn’t take us long to adjust.

Q: Players in the locker room called him "loving" and "caring." Do you agree?

A: In certain situations. What I’ve learned from him for being around him for seven years is when he’s all about football, he’s all about football, but there’s more than that side to him. I think you have to pay attention to or realize that and maybe go through some things in life to realize that. Me going through the stuff that I went through this year, I realized that again. But he’s more than a football coach. He’s a mentor. He’s more of a father-figure at times - my hats off to him for that.

Q: Is it too simple to boil this game down to if you guys can get to Brady you’ll win?

A: I don’t think so. Look at ’07. That was pretty much the reason why we were in the game, because we kept him off-rhythm. Obviously he is the main reason why [the Patriots] are successful. The way to kill the snake is to take off his head. The way to kill an offense as potent as that one is making sure you take care of Brady. Our defensive front will put a lot of pressure on itself to make sure that we do our best to get after him.

Q: What did the Patriots do in the game earlier this year that made it hard to get to Brady? Did they make it difficult to get to him?

A: I think Brady makes it difficult to get to him. We feel as though we can play with just about any line in the country given the time. He’s did a great job of getting the ball out of his hand the first time we played him. When he didn’t, we hit him. I think that’s going to be paramount in this football game and re-route their receivers and battle and try to confuse him a little bit. That goes back to that game of chess I talked about earlier, but we’re ready to give our rush a little bit more time to get after him.

Q: What do you think of the guys deep on the roster?
A: I look at them as starters also. We’ve had a lot of injuries this year – a lot of guys missing time. That roster has had guys step up and play just like we expect them to play. We prepare our entire roster to go out and play a football game. Our backups are tremendously prepared and have gained a lot of experience throughout this year. We feel very confident in any of those guys being in the ballgame.

Q: New England’s run game?

A: They do some neat things to get their running game started. They mask a few things in their personnels and how they set things up. Running or passing, it’s better to have a compliment. But they still can be effective running the football.

Q: What percentage of stunts will this defense run to stop the Patriots?

A: We run our fair share. I think we do a good job of when we’re not running stunts to disguise them as stunts. Obviously we can get after the quarterback with straight rushes. I don’t think it’s necessarily the percentage of stunts. I think it’s timing, knowing when you have tendencies as far as formation stuff, down and distance stuff on teams. I think Coach Nunn did a great job of schooling us up. He gave a lot of freedom to call our own stunts sometimes. It’s all about timing because if they know you’re stunting it doesn’t matter what you run, they’re going to block it.

Opening Remarks

This is a very exciting time for us. We have just finished our first practice of the three that we will have here before we travel out to Indianapolis. We have been off for a few days, I wouldn’t say the practice was sharp but I believe it was okay. There are a number of guys that were not able to participate today and I think you know who they are but hopefully we will get some of them tomorrow and then as we move along, we will get them all back in preparation to play an exceptional New England Patriot football team who has a 10-game winning streak since the time that we visited there. They have two home playoff wins and outstanding play on both sides of the ball with an outstanding kicking game as well.

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Q: Is it different preparing for the Patriots this time?

A: I think any time you play the Patriots they’re always going to have something new for you. The last time we played them they showed a lot of different looks, some different schemes on defense – things that they have not shown before. When we played them in the Super Bowl four years ago they had some new things for that game. They tend to have a theme of the game and it changes from week to week. You go back and watch the last couple of games, each game is a little different, a little different scheme that they’re going to play. They’re always going to be well prepared. They’re always going to have some things that they think are going to slow us down so we have to be prepared for that.

Q: How hard is it to stand in the pocket and not get rattled when you’re getting hit like you did in San Francisco?

A: That’s the job of a quarterback. When it’s a game, where first off, you’re going to throw it 58 times you’re going to take some more hits. That’s just part of the deal. It wasn’t like we were throwing it every play, we just had a lot of plays – over 90 plays in the game. Our guys protected well and did some good things. They had some coverage sacks and different things going on. As the quarterback, you have to stand in there. I didn’t feel like I was taking many big hits. You have to do your job and keep your eyes down the field and make sure you’re playing smart football and make sure, whether you’re getting hit or you’re getting pressure, [it doesn’t] affect your decision making and your throws.

Q: Do you have to fight off looking over your shoulder?

A: Yeah, you have to try to eliminate that and not let the play before dictate what happens on the next play. You have to do that no matter what. It could be any type of circumstance. Each play you have to forget about the last one and move forward.

Q: Is that a skill you can get better at?

A: I don’t know if it’s a skill. Really, it’s just a mindset. Yeah, I think you can work on it. I think it’s something you have to think about, something you have to tell yourself – ‘Hey, last play they got good pressure. This time I’m going to be well protected. I’m going to be smart and go through my reads.’ If you feel something, if you sense something, then you have to be smart and move up or get the ball out quickly, but don’t try to imagine there’s someone behind you.

Q: Do you think the practices at Hoboken High School helped?

A: I think it was productive. I’m not trying to say that was the reason we’ve reached the Super Bowl, but I definitely think we got some work done. One of the guys who was probably at every one of those throwing was Victor Cruz, a guy close, a guy who did a lot of spot work and making decisions and reads and just talking through things. Obviously he’s a guy who’s had a great season. I’d like to think that that work paid off and we got better. We got to talk over some things and decisions. I’d like to think that the work that we did during that time helped guys have a better understanding of our offense.

Q: Do you get tired of people asking about your legacy?

A: Yes.

Q: What will winning this Super Bowl do for your legacy?

A: I don’t think I get asked much about a legacy. I don’t think that’s anything that I worry about. My job is to try to play at a high level, try to play football for the Giants. I think the important thing when you play in big games, like a Super Bowl, is don’t let the fact that it is a big game make you think about other things. You have to keep it simple in a sense of this is a great opportunity for this team, for this organization to win a championship. That’s the important thing. That’s what you play for. You had a goal at the beginning of the year to set out to win the Super Bowl and be champions and that’s what we’re working on. We have one game and really you’re just thinking about going out and playing your best game of the year. That’s the mindset, that’s the focus you want to have. When you start thinking about other things or what this might mean, that’s when you’re really distracted from what your job has to be.

Q: When’s the last time you put on your Super Bowl ring?

A: I don’t know. Three years ago, plus. It’s been a while. I probably haven’t put it on since the start of the ’08 season.

Q: Did you think about the story of Super Bowl XLVI?

A: No. I think you just think about their defense. You start thinking about the last time you played, some of the new things they did, what was their scheme, what was their thought, the type of game that it turned out to be – trying to work hard on focus. It’s been a lot easier now. We have the game plan now. We have more film. We have our rules, things we think we can attack them with. I think you just stay focused without thinking about the football part. You don’t think about the celebration or you don’t think of the ticker-tape parade. You think about playing that football game, those plays, things that might happen, the decisions you have to make. I think it’s important that everybody keeps that focus.

Q: Does it help you at all that you beat them in the regular season without some of your weapons?

A: It’s always nice to have all of your weapons anytime you play a game. Last time we were missing Hakeem and Ahmad and Baas, I think. Obviously had a few guys out, but I think our game plan was probably pretty similar. I mean the game plan that day didn’t change based on the players that we had going in. Obviously you feel good about every game you go into. I don’t think it will make a difference from our mindset because of the new players.

Q: How much does your preparation mirror what you did in 2007?

A: I hope the preparation is pretty similar. I think our plan last time was very good, as in our scheduling, how we practiced, our meeting times. From my self-schedule to what I did before we went to [Arizona] and once we got to the Super Bowl site – when I could watch film, when I had to do media, practice, what I did at night to get my rest – I remember pretty well how I tried to stay on the same schedule that I normally would for a home game. So things that I did on a Thursday night, I’d do the same on the Thursday night at the site. Obviously it’s always a little different because there’s traveling, there’s other obligations you have to do for Super Bowl week, but you try as much as possible to keep things as consistent as you can.

Q: What did you learn from Super Bowl XLII that you can do differently this time?

A: I don’t know if there is anything I learned that I’d do differently. I thought I had a pretty good plan last time – a lot of it about my scheduling and staying on the same routine as I’ve been on the last twenty weeks of the year. Football players get in a routine. I’ve treated every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday pretty much the same for these last weeks. I want to try to keep that going this week and into next week. I thought I had a good plan last time. I’ll try to keep that same thought process.

Q: What are you going to look for knowing that the Patriots switch between a 3-4 and a 4-3?

A: They do change up their alignment, but we should be prepared for both of them. We’ve played a lot of 3-4 teams. We played a lot of 4-3 teams. They can play both of them in a game, but it seems like they try to have a theme of what they’re going to base out of that week. It can change. [Against] Baltimore they were more 3-4 it seemed like. Games prior, the last time we played them they were more 4-3. We’ll be prepared for both of them or whatever they want to show, we’ll have a good plan.

Q: Knowing that you went to Foxborough and won without all of your players, how will that help going into this game?

A: I think it’s still the same mindset. It doesn’t make you more confident or any less confident. I think it’s still going to come down to our preparation and the way we go out and play next week. I don’t think it changes our mindset at all.

Q: Are you happy to be playing indoors?

A: I haven’t thought about it much. It really doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. We’ve been good outside. We’ve been good indoors. The fact that the game is in a cold weather city it makes you happy that it is indoors. You don’t have to worry about the weather being a factor. It’s always a good day to throw the ball inside.

Q: What’s the significance of playing in Peyton’s "house"?

A: Again, we keep focus on the game and none of the outside stories.

Q: How was practice today?

A: I thought practice was good today. I thought guys had good energy, running around making quick decisions, fast paced. I think that’s good for the first practice knowing that we have six more practices before we play. I thought it was a good tempo, good pace and guys were prepared. We’ll continue to get better as the week goes on.

Q: Has the offense peaked yet?

A: No. I hope not. I think there’s definitely room for improvement in a couple of areas. You always want, at the end of the season or the last game of the season, to be playing your best football. That’s what we’re striving for. That’s with the run, the pass, our defense, everybody playing well. I think we have improved over these last four or five weeks and we have to keep that mentality. We have to keep getting better.

Q: How much do you expect the Patriots’ defense to try to hit the quarterback?

A: I think that’s the strategy of every defense. How do you slow down an offense? Well, you stop the run and get pressure on the quarterback. That’s always the objective. It’s a matter of can the opposing team do it and can we do things to get the ball out quickly and protect and have a good mix of run and pass and play action where you can keep the defense off balance and not knowing what to expect.

Q: What kind of impact can Peyton have on you for a game like this?

A: He was very helpful in getting me some tickets to the game. I think that’s one less thing that I have to worry about.

Q: Have you talked to Peyton about his future?

A: I have not. No.

Q: How different are the Patriots defensively from the when you played them in the regular season?

A: They’re talented on defense. They do a great job of getting turnovers is one thing. So you have to be careful with the football. They can change up their scheme from week to week so you have to be prepared for a lot of different things, a lot of different looks, have a great understanding of what they can do out of certain alignments. Their front four is very large. They have some large guys right there in the middle. They do a good job of getting pressure on the quarterback also – a lot of sacks. Their offense is high-powered so they can score. Their offense gets a lead for them a bunch, which leads to turnovers and different things for the offense. You have to have a great preparation and go in and just be prepared. They do a great job of disguising things and showing different looks. We have to be prepared for it all.

Q: Can you just talk about Kevin Boothe?

A: Kevin’s done a great job for us, whether he has to play center, whether he has to play guard, sometimes he plays both of them in the same game for a few plays. He’s been very important to this team and given us that comfort knowing that whatever happens amongst the offensive line, if a guy gets banged-up a little bit or goes down that Kevin can come in and play a number of spots.

Q: Does Tom Coughlin have to give that message of "finish" anymore?

A: The message is still brought up. I think it’s something we’ve talked about for a long time. It was one of the main focuses at the beginning of the season. I think we’ve done a good job, obviously, of finishing the regular season strong. We finished the fourth quarter strong in a number of games and obviously now we’re at the point where it’s the last game of the season and let’s finish the season strong.

Q: The last couple of weeks you’ve been the team looking for revenge. Now that’s flipped.

A: At this point it’s not so much about revenge. It’s just about the opportunity to win a championship. I think that’s what has motivated us these last weeks, whether we were in the playoffs, to make it to the playoffs and a chance to be playing your best football at the end of the season.

Q: How different are you going into this Super Bowl than you were going into Super Bowl XLII?

A: Anytime you have four more years of experience you should be a better quarterback and a better player – a better understanding of your offense, better control of what’s going on. I think I’ve made improvements in those four years. I’ve worked hard to try to become a better quarterback and make better decisions and be a better leader. Those are some of the things I’ve worked on.