New York Giants' coach Tom Coughlin praised his team's defense on Monday, the day after an impressive 26-3 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
"We played outstanding defense, let's face it. We played a team that had been on fire and we played very well, very sound, didn't give up a lot of big plays, gave some up, but hung in there and battled and scrapped and got three critical turnovers," Coughlin said.
Entering the game the Giants had been struggling defensively, not getting to the quarterback and giving up too much yardage against the run. So, what changed against the 49ers?
"I think it's the quality of the team we played against. There wasn't any question that we were going to have to be at our very best if we were going to have a chance to win.," Coughlin said. "We played hard, we ran the right plays at the right time, we had some extremely timely plays, I thought. We had six sacks in the game; we hadn't had many going in. We kind of rose up and played well."
Injury Updates
Coughlin said "the plan right now" is for defensive tackle Chris Canty (knee) to come off the PUP list. That, however, does not mean Canty is guaranteed to play Sunday against the Washington Redskins. Travis Beckum (knee) is also eligible to come off the PUP list, but Coughlin did not mention plans for the tight end. As for safety Kenny Phillips, Coughlin said the team will have to "wait and see" to determine his status. Phillips (knee) has missed the last two games.