TE Chris Cooley
Q. What was your overall assessment of how the team played? Were you a little frustrated?
A. I think we showed flashes of what we can do offensively, but we weren't consistent, and we didn't take care of the ball, we had some silly penalties, and we stopped ourselves on drives. It's hard when you-to establish a drive and take two or three chunks down the field and then don't finish, that's the kind of momentum that we need in the game to just go ahead and score a touchdown. They're a good football team, you have to give the Giants a lot of credit. They've been a good football team the past couple of years, but I think, in our locker room right now, we feel like we left a win out on the field. We're disappointed.
Q. How much did their pressure disrupt the offense?
A. They did a good job getting to Jason (Campbell), and we knew that they were going to. They have three outstanding rush defensive ends and they did a good job. I was happy with the amount of time he had to throw and what we were able to collect out of that, other than the one fumble, I think we were fine as far as the pressure went.
Q. Last year you guys had a similar result against them in week one. This team is supposed to be "new and improved" but it seemed sort of similar out there.
A. Yeah, I understand. I think we did a better job of moving the ball down the field and taking some chunks. We really stalemated in the run game in the second half, which was unfortunate. Beyond that, we just stopped ourselves. We had a good drive going, then Jason (Campbell) threw a pick...guy made a good play on the bootleg, kind of had a couple of first downs and then we fumble and they take it in for a touchdown. You can't stop yourself, especially when you play a great team like the Giants.
C Casey Rabach
Q. It looked like you guys put together a nice drive at the end, is that just a case of too little too late?
A. Yeah, exactly. You know, like I said before, if you start off slow, and you're inconsistent, then you find yourself playing catch up. At that point it's just a little too late.
Q. Clinton Portis goes for 34 yards on the first play, and then after that the running game really didn't do much. Is that on them, on you, or both?
A. Yeah, I think it's a combination. We've just got to play more consistent. We have a spurt here, a spurt there, and then a lot of lulls in between. Offensively, we just need to play our game, and just play better.
Q. How frustrating is that considering you guys are in your second year with this offense, and this kind of was a repeat of last year's opener after all of the talk about being better, and more consistent.
A. It's real frustrating. Any time you lose a game it's real frustrating, no matter what happens...it really is. You know, give credit when credit's due, New York's got a good team, but if we play up to our potential it's a winnable game for us.
RB Clinton Portis
Q. It had to feel good breaking off that big run to start the game. How frustrating was it though to not be able to capitalize on plays like that?
A. I mean it's frustrating, you know when you get downfield it's a big momentum changer, on the first play of the game. I mean they did a lot of stuff that we expected, we really didn't have a chance to get into our offense. They dominated the time of possession, kept us off the field. We were playing from behind, so we kind of got out of our offense and we can't do that. I don't think at this moment that we're good enough to spot any team in the NFL 17 points and try to play catch up. So I mean, the team kept fighting, the defense came out and they gave us everything they had, they were on the field a lot. For us, we can't do that. I think our defense is one of the best in the league when they're fresh, when they're able to run around and do the things they do....we've got to sustain drives.
Q. How frustrating is it to have to sit back and watch so much from the sidelines, you talked about the difference in time of possession?
A. It's just frustrating because you don't get a rhythm-our playbook...what we thought we were going to come up here and do and expose, we really didn't. We just didn't get the opportunity, it wasn't that we didn't call the plays, we just weren't in a position to do it. So, we did all we could have done, but we left a lot of points on the field and when we get in the redzone we've got to finish. I think that hampered us last year, not scoring seven in the redzone. Anytime we get in the redzone it's got to be seven points. I think our defense did a great job at holding their offense, but at the same time, their defense did that to us. I think we gave up ten points on offense alone.