Q: What was the mood of the team today after the win?
A: It felt pretty good to get back into the win column. It has been a tough four-game stretch for us so to go down to Dallas, to beat a tough divisional opponent in a tough environment, is big for us.
Q: How much confidence do you have in Eli and the offense to win the games late?
A: We always know the he is going to get it done. From our side of the ball as a defense, we know that we are going to get another chance to stop them after we score. We know we are going to have to hold them or get a stop to protect the win. We pretty much know that when our offense is going down and putting a drive together the last five minutes of a ballgame, we have a pretty good shot of scoring some points.
Q: Does the offense scoring do anything for the defense?
A: It definitely energizes us. We feed off each other, all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams. Coach is always talking about all three phases working together to finish football games and I think we did that last night. I think that we demonstrated that we can perform all three phases at the end of games in the end of the season. That is going to be good for us confidence-wise moving forward.
Q: Have you watched the game yet?
A: I haven't had a chance to watch the game yet.
Q: Do you think you caught some breaks that you were not catching earlier in the season with Dallas missing on big play chances?
A: You create your opportunities and they may have missed a play but there were some plays defensively that we missed. It goes back and forth and you create your opportunities and when they occur, you have to be able to take advantage of them. I think, as a defense, we did that last night.
Q: At 7-6 do you feel fortunate to be in the position you are in?
A: It is not about style points, it is about having the opportunity to accomplish what we set out to accomplish at the beginning of the season, which was win the division. Now we are in a pretty good position but we have three tough ballgames ahead of us. We know that we are going to have to finish. Coach Coughlin started it in training camp with the motto of 'finish' and that is the mentality. That is the mentality of our football team for the next few weeks.
Q: What was the difference that allowed you all to pull this victory out?
A: I just think that as a team, we looked at each other in the eye and we knew the opportunity that we were faced with. We knew that the win would do us a lot of good and in a sense, the playoffs kind of started for us yesterday. We knew that we had to win that football game to have an opportunity to accomplish what we want to accomplish. When we went down by 14, we looked at each other and we knew that we could do it. We had confidence in one another and we were able to make enough plays in the end.
Q: Did anyone say on the sideline if you don't win this game, the season is over?
A: No, guys weren't talking about that; guys were talking about taking it one play at a time. Play one play at a time. Don't worry about the play before and don't worry about the next play, just worry about this play and focus on making a play for this football team to help us. I think guys did a tremendous job of focusing on the task at hand.
Q: Why haven't you guys been able to clean up those details on the blown coverages?
A: It is a work in progress and nothing is going to happen overnight. Obviously, you want to start playing your best ball towards the end of the season this time of year so it is very important to try to correct as much of that as possible. It doesn't have to be pretty, as long as we make enough plays at the end of the day. We will take a win.
Q: How concerning is it?
A: It is tough and that was tough but at the end of the day, that last drive we tried to eliminate their opportunities during that last 45 seconds. At the end of the day, special teams made a huge play on the blocked kick to preserve the win for us. We were able to finish the game with all three phases of our football team and that is what is important.
Q: What surprised you about Eli Manning when you first came to the Giants from Dallas?
A: I didn't know how goofy Eli was. Eli is a great guy and a tremendous football player. He is one of those guys that is the first one in the facility and the last one out of the facility. He loves the game of football and he really cares about his teammates. When you have a quarterback on the team like that, you have to have his back. You want to help in any way you can so that our football team can be successful because you know he is going to give you an opportunity week-in and week-out to win a football game.
Q: When you hear everybody talking about all these other quarterbacks, do you ever wonder why they are not talking about your quarterback?
A: There is a little bit of that but at the end of the day with the mentality of this football team, it serves us right. We are a blue collar football team. We are tough and hard-nosed. It is not about stars or anything like that. It is all about tough, hard-nosed and playing the game the way it was meant to be played and really being a team and not a collection of individuals.
Q: What does it mean to know that everything you want is in your hands?
A: It is a good feeling and it is great to secure that division road win but there is no rest for the weary. We have to come right back and we have another tough divisional opponent in Washington at home this coming Sunday and we are going to have our work cut out for us.
Q: Since you have worked against him in practice, what do you see in Mitch Petrus?
A: He is a strong road-grader type of offensive lineman. He is going to come in there and try to battle and create those run lanes for the running backs. He really has done a tremendous job for our offense in that regard and he has also done a great job pass protecting. I remember sometimes last year when I went up against him on scout team and I would have a headache after every practice because he was such a physical player. I knew once he got an opportunity, he was going to be successful. I am happy for our football team and I am happy for him personally.
Q: Do you think there is a correlation that you have been able to run the ball better the last two weeks and he has been playing the last two weeks?
A: The offensive line is playing great and he is a big part of that, absolutely. The backs are running hard and they have confidence, the offense as a whole has confidence. They really give us an opportunity to control the football and any defensive player will tell you that they love an offense that can run the football because it gives you a chance for extra rest.
Q: Do you expect anything to come from Ahmad Bradshaw violating team rules?
A: That is something that is an in-house issue and it will be taken care of in-house. Ahmad wants to win just like the rest of the guys in that locker room and so the discipline issue is going to be taken care of in-house. As a team, we trust Ahmad. He is our guy and one of our guys and we have his back. He has our back and we look forward to putting that behind us and moving forward.