Falcons vs. Giants Gamecenter Falcons Postgame Quotes Giants Postgame Quotes - Sunday, October 15, 2006:
HEAD COACH TOM COUGHLIN
Head Coach Tom Coughlin on the win: "I thought the second half was well played. It was very hard, tough football. I did not think the first half was very good, although defensively holding a team like that to seven points was good. Offensively we were in position a number of times, but we did not pull the trigger because of penalties and what have you. We came back in the second half and played well. I was really happy for the players. We had a gut check at halftime and they came out and played well. The team came here with a great purpose. It was in a dome stadium against a very good football team. A team that had all kinds of statistics on special teams, defense, and offense that has played extremely well. We are very happy to get out of here with a win." Coughlin on the Giants running game: "Their defense coming in was third in the league against the rush. They are a good defensive team. There is no question about that. We were able to have good balance and hang in there. We did a good job up front creating some opportunities. I thought there was good, hard running in Tiki Barber and Brandon Jacobs." Coughlin on the physical play of his team: "Every week you talk about winning a physical battle and you have to win them in this league."
Coughlin on breakdowns: "There was a lot technical assignment discipline that had to go into this game. When you play a team with a QB that runs the ball well and hurts you in so many ways, there was a lot that going into this game in terms of containment and staying in the rush lanes." QB ELI MANNING QB Eli Manning on the continued success in the 2nd half of games: "We would like to get off to a fast start and start well in the first half and tried to get the lead. At least we played great in one of those halves. We just had some bad breaks (in the first half). I give a lot of credit to Atlanta. They have a good defense. he second half we really calmed things down and ran the ball great. Tiki had a big day. The offensive line did a great job and the receivers and tight ends started making some plays when we needed it."
Manning on the importance of Tiki having a big day: "That's always big for our offense. When Tiki starts to run the ball we start to control the tempo of the game. The play-action starts opening up some. He (Tiki) is unbelievable and he does a great job. Every day, every game he impresses me more." Manning on the play of Shockey: "He's been banged up, but he had a great week of practice and is looking to be back to full speed. He made some big plays. He made some big third down conversions and two touchdowns. He's back and playing well. It's just another weapon in this offense."
RB TIKI BARBER RB Tiki Barber on the success of the running game today: "The good thing is that we didn't get away from our running game despite being down by 11 points. Fortunately we did what we do best and that is running the ball. We did some misdirection to take advantage of the speed of their linebackers. They have a very good defense. We have to give our coaching staff a lot of credit for that." Barber on Shockey's play today: "I told him after he scored his touchdown that it was his coming party. I was thrilled big time in what he did in this game." Barber on what does today's win say about the team: "We have a resilience about ourselves and no matter what the circumstances are, we don't get down on ourselves. That is the character of this team. We continue to fight despite the circumstances and today we did that. Once we did that, we took control of the game and didn't let up. It paid off in a good way."
Barber on running predominately to the left side: "We run very well to our left side. Our schemes are designed to work well to our left. We did it last week and again this week. As long as it's effective, we will keep doing it." C SHAUN O'HARA C Shaun O'Hara on Eli managing the team: "Eli's the captain of the ship. He's the one that's directing all the sales. He's the one that gets us up there. He does a great job managing that aspect of it." O'Hara on Eli's game adjustments: "We put a lot on Eli, and every week, he's in charge of a lot. He's really the one that gets us on the same page." TE JEREMY SHOCKEY TE Jeremy Shockey on the team's preparation this past week: "We had a great week of preparation. I think everyone expected to win the game no matter what the score was. Things happen when you practice hard."
Shockey on the Giants strong running game today: "Obviously, I love blocking and helping the team win. I'm not 300 pounds. Patience is a virtue. I was being patient. I work hard every week. I expect to win every week. I'll take wins every day besides catching a pass or two. I think we did a great job of stabling the run." Shockey on his touchdown catches: "I'm not going to really elaborate on the plays. I practice hard every week, and I expect to have games like this, not just one. I expect to have a lot of games like this and that's the expectations I put on myself and the team. I want to be involved. I want the ball in every situation." DE MICHAEL STRAHAN DE Michael Strahan on applying pressure: "We were just trying to be aggressive against the run and the pass. We had a few mishaps and let him (Vick) run for one TD. We had another one with Warrick Dunn. But hey those two are their playmakers. We settled down and got after it. It's not that we didn't think they could run. Stats and film show they can. But we didn't let that hinder the way we played them today." Strahan on staying position: "Oh that was huge today. We always had back up today if Vick did get outside. nd we did, we always had someone to step up and make a play. In the first quarter, he ran around a little bit. We said we would stop it, and in the second half, we pretty much shut them out."
Strahan on punishing offensive attack: "It's great to see our offense run and run. They (the Falcons) could not stop the run. It's so much fun watching Tiki (Barber) work, and watching Eli complete passes. They started out a little rough too. But like the defense, they showed a great deal of composure too." LB BRANDON SHORT LB Brandon Short on defensive aggressiveness: "It was absolute domination. After a bit of a slow start, absolutely. Michael Vick is arguably the most explosive player in football. But we had a game plan today, and we executed the game plan very well today." Short on shutting down Dunn and Vick: "We didn't totally shut them down. I do recall a 90-yard run. But if it wasn't for that one long run, we played very well today. Today it was really about motivation. It wasn't about things said. It was about veteran leadership that exists on this team. Guys knew the Falcons had an explosive team, and we contained it." CB SAM MADISON CB Sam Madison on what it took to win today: "Had we gone out today with any less effort, we would not have won this game today. At halftime, we just were calm, and saying to ourselves that we just needed to do the small things, and the large things would get taken care of. And they did. Things we were doing were hurting ourselves. It wasn't anything they were doing. And in the end, that's what spelled victory."
