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Eli Manning, 10.26.09

Q. What did you think when you saw the tape today?

A. Same as yesterday, just sloppy football. There is definitely room for
improvement. We had our chances and sometimes you are going to have
games like that where you are not playing your best. When it comes down
to it, we had a chance to win in the fourth quarter. We had an
interception and a fumble in our two-minute drive to get the game back
tied, maybe get it into overtime. That is kind of where you lose the
game and we had the opportunities and we played sloppy early on and
didn't do all the things we needed. You are gong to have those games
sometimes and all you can ask for is to have a chance to be in the game
in the fourth quarter, which we did. That is when we have been really
good at making plays and scoring in those situations

Q. Were there wind issues?


A. No, I don't think there were any wind issues

Q. The balls to Manningham and Smith down on the left, did the wind take
those?


A. No, just bad throws.

Q. You said last week you were a little off, this week sloppy football,
is this a two-game swoon?

A. We haven't played real good football the last two games. There are
some decent things, we scored some points, we had some opportunities. On
our two- minute drive we have third and seventeen from our own two-yard
line, we get a third down conversion, those are big plays. Kevin Boss
making a great play down the sideline in the two-minute drive. That is
kind of what we are getting back into, making some big plays in the
two-minute, playing good football. Then on the interception I had Boss
open down the middle field for possibly a big play again. Things are out
there, and I've got to play better. We can play better as a team, get
back into our rhythm. Football is not always going to be perfect every
week. You are going to go through slumps where you are not playing as
well as you would like to play. As long as you have a chance to win in
the fourth quarter, that is all you can ask for. That is when you have
to win a game and we didn't do it yesterday.

Q. Was the Arizona defense dictating tempo?

A. I don't think they were dictating the tempo. They were moving around
and we were trying to get everything solved and everyone in the right
spot. A lot of times we did a good job of doing that and gave ourselves
some opportunities. They did a good job. They had a good game plan and
they executed well, but we could have performed better.

Q. Coughlin has always talked about the offensive balance this team has.
Leading into your two-minute drill, you guys had 10 more pass plays than
run, any reason?


A. Eight guys in the box a lot and preventing you from running. We had
some runs called that we were getting out of because there wasn't going
to be a high success rate on those runs. We kept some runs on that we
wanted to try to get something going and keep them honest, so we weren't
throwing every single down. They were playing a lot of single high and
we have to be able to throw against that.

Q. Are defenses forcing you to be a passing team more than a power
running team?


A. I think people are trying to take away our run game and challenge our
pass game. They have done a good job of making plays early on and doing
some good things. We have to continue to get better in the passing game,
where we are making plays and getting teams out of that so we can run
the ball also.

Q. On the third and two pass to Manningham down the sideline, was that
called?


A. We had a pass called anyway. They were showing a blitz, we protected
it up and tried to give it a shot. There was press coverage so we
thought we could take a shot. He had him beat, I just threw a bad ball.

Q. You guys got off to a 5-0 start, now there are three teams with two
losses in the divison, are you concerned?


A. We're not concerned. We knew it was going to be a tough battle, we
have a long season left. We are 5-2, we're not in a bad spot, we are
going to get back to playing better football. We have a big game vs.
Philly at Philly, it's a huge game. We know it's going to be a tough
battle, but we have to go out there, play well and eliminate the
mistakes.

Q. Is it sort of late in the season to play Philadelphia for the first
time?


A. We will face them twice kind of back to back, that's alright. We will
worry about this one and see if we can go out there and play.

Q. Is this game against Philadelphia a very big game?


A. Always a big game. Any time you play any NFC opponent it is going to
be a big game. Philly, it always seems like it comes down to the wire
and is a tight game. We have to play great football. They are going to
have some blitzes, new things, a lot of stuff defensively that we have
to be prepared for. It is going to go back to execution and we have to
want to win more.

Q. Do you think a lot of the guys in this locker room are going to want
revenge from last year's defeats to Philadelphia?


A. They know what all these games are like and how our season ended last
year, but it is a new year and we have to go out and handle our
business.