New York Giants' news and notes: Quotes, and more

By Ed Valentine@Valentine_Ed Dec 7, 2012, 7:00am EST

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Players and coordinators were available to the media on Thursday. So your New York Giants notebook for Friday morning begins with some of the quotes from those media sessions.

Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell on the critical comments made this week by Antrel Rolle and Jason Pierre-Paul:

"You know what; I think the players and Antrel are always looking to be a self-improving defense. I think he’s trying to send a message to our guys that it’s December, and that we really have to ball right now. We have to do what we need to get done to win these football games. I think that was his message. When you play this game, when you play professional football, you’re not a soft person. This is hard-hitting; this is a man’s game. Anybody that steps on that field, they're a man. I think he’s trying to send a message that it’s time to get going, boys, it’s December and we have to do a much better job than we’ve been doing."

Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride on the type of defense being run in New Orleans by ex-Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo:

"Exactly like what we saw when we went against Philadelphia. It’s Jim Johnson’s defense. Steve was there with him, learned right there. It’s an outstanding concept. He’s got a great command of it. As always, everybody kind of goes off in their own direction and tweaks it a little bit. Same difficulty to contend with defensively because it’s well designed and well thought out. They’re about 50-50 pressure/dropping back to two-high. It’s a well thought out, well-conceived approach to defensive football."

Osi Umenyiora on Antrel Rolle's comments that the Giants offer too much praise to opposing players prior to games:

"That’s Antrel’s opinion. He’s one of the leaders. He’s one of the very good players we have on this team, so he’s entitled to that. But at the end of the day, if a guy is a good player, I’m going to call him a good player, period, and that’s just the way it is. If we’re playing against Drew Brees, he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league, and I’m going to say he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league. If anybody has a problem with that, then I guess they’ll take that up with me in private, but I’m not going to heap praise on… You guys know I’ll never do that – call somebody good if he’s not good. But if he is good, I have no problem saying it."