I thought we had some outstanding objectives today that we asked our team to do. One was three penalities, and we did have four. I think all four of those were in the first half. We didn’t want to turn it over; we did turn it over once. We thought, I don’t know what the field position situation would be, but we did have some punt returns today that I think helped us negate the booming distance of (Shane) Lechler’s punts, which I thought was something we really wanted to try to accomplish against a very difficult punter. Eli (Manning) played, and he played well. He was able to put some points on the board and then we got him out of the game. So I felt good about that. I’m hoping he is going to feel good next week and be able to practice and those kinds of things. Our team definitely needs that.
Q. Can you talk about the team’s focus and the ability to score right away?
A. Each drive of the year, we have scored. We have two field goals and we have three touchdowns. The opening drive and our defense has forced the other guy three and out (four of) five times, too. We are aware of that and we’ve tried to build on that. That was a very good drive, that opening drive today.
Q. How much did Eli try to convince you beforehand that he was good to go?
A. We had talked all week long and there was not going to be any early decision made on this thing. He has felt better every day and I really trust him, and he would tell me the truth. He went out on Friday and did about half, then took most of the snaps on Saturday morning. Today he went out in his normal routine and felt good. He said he felt very good. I watched him warm up and he seemed to be quite … and he didn’t think he was indicating any hesitation. I think he would tell me if he did. He wanted to play, he wanted to play all week. He has done a great job with the power of the will over these things a couple of times. I told him exactly what my thoughts were and that will remain between he and I. He did warm up well with no hesitation, so I felt he should play. Then we started to get him out of there.
Q. Is he reporting any soreness or any pain after the game?
A. Nothing, nothing.
Q. At what point did you decide the game was under control and to take Eli out?
A. Right when we took him out.
Q. The fact that he didn’t practice and he was pretty much spot on. How impressed are you with that?
A. That was good, that was a very good performance. We were just happy to get him in, have him play well, and get him out.
Q. If the game had not gone that way would he have played more?
A. He would have played more, for sure. It didn’t happen that way and yes he would have played more.
Q. What about (Ahmad) Bradshaw’s performance today?
A. He played very, very well. He has had the same routine. Practice Friday. But, he has run the ball very well, very tough, very physical. He makes a lot of people miss. He had a very, very good game.
Q. They have a couple good defensive ends, but it didn’t seem that off the edge was there?
A. They were very good. Kelly is a good player too. They have got some good players. But, we were able to…and of course one of them, I think the 19-yard touchdown run was just an excellent run. Where I think he made some people miss. They blocked very effectively.
Q. I know you said you met most of your goals, but three strip-sacks, you couldn’t have seen that coming?
A. Yeah, I didn’t have the ball coming out on those but we had a number that we were thinking maybe we could accomplish. After we study a week and look at the opponent then we challenge any number of things with our team. They responded real well.