Can you explain the left-handed pass that was intercepted?
Just saw Kevin Boss open and was trying to get him the ball. That is one of those things where everything is telling you to try to get him the ball, but you just have to know you can't afford to have a turnover there and especially can't afford to float it in that situation. Sometimes you have to know when to stop competing a little bit, just say, ‘they got us,' and either throw it with your right hand or don't throw it and take the sack and get the field goal.
Can you explain the difficulties in the red zone today?
Just mistakes in the red zone. It is not production on that one, just a mistake on my part. Had a fumble later on and those things are going to cost you. When you don't score down there it is one thing, but when you turn the ball over and get zero points you just can't afford those. It is hard to overcome those things. That was kind of the way it went most of the day. We did a lot of good things and got down there a number of times and made some good plays and then just had mistakes. Either mental mistakes or guys doing the wrong thing, a lot of the plays they made were just bad football on our part, mistakes that we were making. In this league you can't do that. If you make a mistake, it is going to cost you. Sometimes you are going to get beaten and that is one thing and sometimes the other team makes a play, but when you hurt yourself it is hard to overcome those things.
Do you have any explanation for the amount of tipped passes that you have had lately?
No. I thought the receivers did a good job today, caught a lot of passes. Obviously early on in the first series we were driving down there pretty good, running the ball, hit a pass, moving the ball. We have a first down play, have Hakeem Nicks wide open, we are going to get another first down right there and we get a dropped tipped up interception. I don't have an answer for that. Sometimes those things happen. We have to catch the ball, it is that simple.
Any reason for using more screen passes in this game?
I think we ran two screens to Ahmad (Bradshaw) so it is just trying to slow down the rush a little bit. Mix up some different plays so you are not just standing in the pocket every time. We tried to do a few things, we didn't have a whole lot of success on them, but it is a good thing to do to slow down the rush.
Was this the most undisciplined game you have ever been a part of?
Yeah, it was frustrating. It was just so many sloppy things that happened. It is just tough to think about some of the mistakes that happened. Not blocking the right guy on certain things, tipped balls, fumbles, interceptions, penalties, and there is not really an answer for it. It is a day where you are doing a lot of good things and you can look back on the day when we watch the film tomorrow and we'll see a lot of plays, ‘hey that is a great job, it is a great job,' but it is the bad plays that are killing us. We are just having too many negative plays. It comes down to being more consistent. We have the playmakers to do good things, but if you are going to make mistakes, if you are going to screw up so many things, it gets cancelled out.
What happened on the left-handed interception?
I am not very good at throwing left handed and it was a bad decision on my part.
Just trying to make something happen?
Yeah, I saw him open and it is just one of those things where you see somebody open, you want to try to make a play, and I have to watch the film. I don't know why the ball is in my left hand anyway or why I couldn't throw it with my right hand, but it is just what happened trying to get it to him. I think I threw it high and it got tipped up and intercepted.
You threw a pass left-handed last year?
Yeah, bad habits. You don't want to try to throw it left-handed. It is one thing if you throw it and you are sure you can get it there, you throw it low, but you can't float it, float it high in the end zone down there in that situation.
Does it seem like any dissension in the locker room is affecting things on the field?
No, no. I don't think it bothered this team last week. A lot of times when stuff is said to the media the players don't even know a whole lot about it. The only reason I know about it is I get asked about it by the media. We are just creating distractions so we have to eliminate that. We have to know that whatever happens we have to keep it in-house, keep it amongst the players. We can't afford to have distractions. We have to worry about football.
How important was it to have Kevin Boss back in the lineup?
Kevin did a good job today and obviously hit a big play right down the middle in our second drive. Again, we just didn't capitalize on some of the big plays that we made. Blocking, having him receiving and doing a lot of good things and he played well so it will be good to build on that and keep going.
How surprised are you that the major penalties all seemed to be on veteran players?
Yeah, some of them. Both sides of the ball had them. The Titans had some personal fouls also, but obviously we didn't capitalize on them. When you are at the end of the game you can go down and score and get back in the game and have something happen, you can't afford to have a personal foul and now you are stuck at 3rd and 30 or whatever it is. Right there you put yourself in a situation that makes it tough to win, tough to have success, and those things can't happen. It is one thing if you go out there and you just get beat and they are better than you, they outplay you, or they out-scheme you. Those things sometimes you can handle and you can learn from it, but I don't know what you learn from...all we learned is that we can do a lot of good things and we made stupid plays that we can't overcome. We have to learn to just be more consistent. If you know your responsibilities and there are plays there to be made, you just have to make them. We are not asking you to do anything unbelievable, just do your responsibilities.
Are there certain drills or techniques that the players can do to reduce the tipped pass interceptions?
I don't know. I don't have the answer. It is just catching the ball. Some of them in the first game were high balls, but at this point I don't have the answer for the one today. It was just a drop. It got dropped, got tipped, and a d-lineman catches it. It is just unfortunate. I don't think there are drills to do. Maybe throw it lower or something. It is frustrating.
Can you talk about the long pass to Mario Manningham that would have moved you off the goal line that got called back due to a penalty?
Yeah we had a great play called, we get a big play, and all of a sudden at that point you are right in the game. You are down just a little; I think the game was tied up at that point right? The game is tied up, you are on the 50 yard-line, you have some momentum going, and all of a sudden now you are down two and they get the ball at the 50 yard-line after the kickoff and they go down and score. Now you are down nine all of a sudden. After that we still moved the ball, we are going down to score again, get down to the five yard-line and have a fumble. We did everything we could possibly do to lose this game and that is the sad part.
Is it a bit of a comfort that you haven't played any of the other NFC East teams yet?
You have to beat everybody. All the games matter. It is not like some games don't matter. Every game counts, every game is just as important as the next, and when we get into the division it is not like those games get any easier. We are playing all really good, tough teams. You have to try to win games at home and when you have opportunities and you feel like you are playing well in good conditions and we feel like we are playing well, we just have nothing to show for it.