Q: How did practice go for you today?
A. "Good. It was much better weather than we had yesterday, that's for sure. It's a beautiful day and I thought our guys came out and worked hard. It was good to get Jerious Norwood back out there. He was able to participate in practice today so that was a positive. Now we have to wait and see how he responds to the work that he got today."
Q. Would he be considered full or limited?
A. "He was limited participation today. He actually got out and ran some plays, not what he would normally do on a normal practice day."
Q. How did he look after not seeing him for a while?
A. "Well he looked good, just to see that speed and Jerious' smile out there breaking in and out of that huddle."
Q. Coach Kevin Gilbride and Coach Mike Mularkey once worked together. Because of that, is there anything you take into account?
A. "Most definitely. When you've coached with a guy, you know the person not only personally, but what they are philosophically. So Mike can give us some really good insight into what Coach Gilbride is doing because they worked together."
Q. And what about the reversal?
A. "Well I'm sure it's just the same up there in New York. I'm sure that they're talking to the defensive coaches about what Mike's thoughts are in certain situations. That's the great thing about this game and about this League. Guys work with one another so you're always competing against each other. Sometimes you're on the same side, sometimes you're on the opposite side."
Q. How do you look at their receiving core? They have some young guys that have made some plays here and there.
A. "Yes they do. I think coming into the season they were talking about how their receiving core was untested. The rookie from North Carolina (Hakeem Nicks) is getting a lot more looks. (Domenik)Hixon is a big, fast, strong guy that works on their special teams. So I think that they've started to gel as far as receivers working with Eli (Manning)."
Q. Have you seen their line play slip a little bit from their Super Bowl years?
A. "I think that unit works very, very well. They remind me, after watching them on tape, of a very similar effort to our offensive line. They play hard, and they play well as a unit. They are a bunch of guys that understand their blocking schemes, and they are efficient in both run and pass blocking."
Q. As far as your schedule, this is your fourth team to compete against that is coming off a bye week. Any thoughts on that?
A. "Well this is the fourth one in six weeks. They schedule's made, and we've got to go play those games. To this point, I think we've handled it very well. It's a little bit tougher when they're coming off a bye week and you've got to go on the road, then coming off a bye week and having to play that opponent at home."
Q. How do you size up the defense's difficulties with third downs right now?
A. "Well, we're not very good. It's plain and simple. Statistically we're not very good on third down. We have to do a couple of things better. The first thing is that we have to play better on first and second down. We're in way too many third down and shorts and third down and mediums. When you're in those situations, you're putting yourself at a big disadvantage at third down. I think it's important that we stress that we have good first and second down play to get us in those third down and longs."
Q. Is there anything that kills you more than to see a third and 14 get converted to 15 yards?
A. "That's something that you don't want to see very often, because the odds are in your favor defensively. There's going to be certain times that they're going to make good throws and good catches, but statistically in those situations, the defense definitely has the upper hand."
Q. Record wise, it seems that you haven't been as effective against the top running teams. How do you address that?
A. "Well this is a very good running team and we know that. They talk about Brandon (Jacobs) and Ahmad (Bradshaw), but Danny Ware is also a very good running back. So it's going to be very important that we are very gap sound. To defend the run, you have to make sure you're gap is sound, and you've got to swarm the ball and play with leverage. I think if we can eliminate explosive plays in the running game, then we'll enhance our chances this week."
Q. Any progress of Michael Turner?
A. "Michael did not participate today. He was out watching practice and we'll see where he is tomorrow. I know Michael is doing everything in his power to get well as quick as possible. I really can't put a time frame how quick it's going to be before he gets out here. The sooner the better."
