QB David Carr
Have you been able to move on from the Tennessee game?
“It’s tough, but the one thing that I kind of had to do with myself these
last couple days is realize that that was just one game. It was a bad half of
football and you kind of just have to move on from it, really. If I just sat
around and worried about that for the rest of the year we’d probably have a
pretty bad year. But you have to realize that we were making pretty good
progress. Just seven days before that we beat a pretty good team in
Jacksonville, so it’s not like I just forgot how to play football one week. It
was just a bad day.”
Can anything positive come from a game like Tennessee?
“Yeah, just realizing that you never want to be in that experience (getting
benched) again. And I think that if someone’s will is pretty strong you can
find a way to make sure that you’re focused enough and making the right plays
where you don’t have to put yourself in that situation because its not a good
feeling.”
Why do you think the team struggles on the road?
“I don’t know. I just think that, obviously, in the NFL it’s tougher to
play on the road, but we’ve made it really tough. And we just make too many
mistakes early, turning the football over in particular, my fault. You can’t do
those types of things. You can’t do them at home, but especially you can’t do
them on the road because then the crowd really gets into it and you give them
something to feed on.”
What makes the Giants defense tough on QBs?
“They just rush the passer. They do a good job of getting to the
quarterback, and those guys outside aren’t too bad either. If they don’t get to
you, they’re still covering down pretty good and they’re not afraid to come up
and play man coverage and get in your face. The nice thing about it is we have
some pretty big receivers. We have some good guys that can push people around
too. So it’ll be a good challenge for them.”
TE Owen Daniels
What were your thoughts about making plays in the second
half at Tennessee?
“I had the opportunity to make some plays. The way they were playing the
coverages was leaving me open and I had to take advantage of it.”
Does the attention that WRs Andre Johnson and Eric Moulds command give you opportunities?
“Right, and I like to try to take some of the (defensive) attention away
from Eric (Moulds) and Andre (Johnson) out there so they can continue to make
plays. Hopefully that will help out for this week.”
Did you expect to make an immediate impact when you were
drafted?
“Honestly, I can’t say that I did. I was trying to make the team and then
see what happened from there. I think once things went well in OTAs and
(training) camp then I got the opportunity to be the starter and I’m just trying
to take advantage of that right now.”
WR Andre Johnson
Do you worry about QB David Carr dwelling on last week?
“I’m pretty sure what happened last Sunday is put behind him. David comes
in and prepares every week, and I’m pretty sure what happened to him on Sunday
will just make him want to go out and perform well this Sunday. I’m not really
worried about him being nervous or anything like that. I think he’ll go out
there and play well.”
What are the challenges of facing the Giants defense?
“It’s a big challenge; we know that. Like I said, they’re probably the
hardest team in football right now. It’s going to be a big test for us. It’s
going to give us a chance to see where we’re at as a team.”
RB Wali Lundy
What are your thoughts on the Giants run defense?
“They’re very impressive. They have (DE) Michael Strahan leading them. And
it’s going to be a tough job for our offensive line and our running backs to get
a running game going, but that’s what we do. We get paid to play too.”
Do you look forward to tough games?
“You definitely look forward to the challenge. You look forward to going
against the best. I mean, in this league you’re obviously going against the
best week-in and week-out.”
Why do you think the Texans have struggled on the road?
“If you turn the ball over on the road it’s going to be hard to win. It’s
going to be hard to come back form. So that’s the key right there. If we don’t
turn over the ball we win games.”
QB Sage Rosenfels
What did it mean to you that Coach Kubiak had the
confidence to put you in the game?
“I think everyone has confidence in all the quarterbacks here. I think the
quarterbacks have confidence in everybody else, so I think that’s part of the
good team chemistry that we have. I think it starts from the head coach and
works it way down to the players.”
What were your thoughts on Coach Kubiak picking a
starting QB?
“Coach Kubiak has been doing this for a long time, and he knows what’s best
for this football team. He played for ten or 12 years and coached for ten, 12
years in this league. He knows. He has a Ph.D. in football.”
What do you think coming right back and performing will
say about QB David Carr?
“Well, David’s a fighter, and he’s been doing it for a while. He’s not a
rookie. He’s been doing it for a while and I except he’ll come back and play
better this week. Hopefully he’s going to play better this week. It’s a great
test for us to go into New York against one of the best football teams in the
NFL, and it’s also a great stage. So we have a lot to prove. We think we’re a
good football team, but we have to prove it this week. And there’s not a better
stage to prove it than against one of the great teams in the league on one of
the greatest stages.”
Did Kubiak saying Carr would start at New York surprise
you?
“I’ve been in this league, this is my sixth year. I expect anything.
David’s played really well this year, I think, so to me it would have been a
surprise if he wasn’t starting. He’s played well; he had a bad game, and that
doesn’t lose you your starting job for the year. Like I said, he’s going to
bounce back. He’s going to play really good football for us this week and help
us win.”
LB DeMeco Ryans
What will it take to stop New York?
“Its going to take everybody doing their job, knowing their assignments, not
trying to do too much, but everyone taking care. They’re one-eleventh of the
defense. There will be no where for them to run.”
What do you think about facing two distinct rushers in
Giants RBs Tiki Barber and Brandon Jacobs?
“Tiki Barber has great vision. He does a great job of cutting back a lot of
runs. Brandon Jacobs, he gets in there and he’s going to basically try to run
you over and out physical you. So you pretty much have to bring it to both of
these guys if you expect to dominate and stop the running game.”
What are your thoughts on stopping the run and the
passing?
“You always have to stop the running backs because you want to get an
offense to be one dimensional. We want them to throw the ball. The running
game is the most important thing to stop. It’s going to be a tough task for us,
but we’re up to the challenge. It’s a great challenge for our team this week
and our defense this week facing a top ranked offense in the league. It’s a
great opportunity.”
Did you face QB Eli Manning in college?
“I played against him; I think it was, two years in college.”
How much do you think Manning has changed since college?
“He’s still the same. He’s always been a mature quarterback. You know, he
learned from his brother. He’s a great quarterback. I can’t take anything from
him. He has a great arm. He manages the game well, and he’s been doing that
since college. Nothing’s changed.”
T Eric Winston
How can the offensive line play better on the road?
“You have to just practice where we do a silent count during the week I
practice and do things like that. You really just have to focus in and get that
timing down with the center so that you’re coming off the ball right with him.
You can’t lose a step and allow a step, especially with these guys coming off
the edges. They are so good. They’ll step on you and then you can’t recover.
So it’s going to be important this week just getting the timing down with the
center and the snap, making it look like we’re at home.”
Do the Giants have a complicated blitz scheme?
“No, it’s not complicated. They’re going to give you a lot of looks at the
front, but they’re not really going to come after you too much. They can, but I
think they’re relying on their guys up front a lot. They think they can get the
job done, and they have. They’ve done a great job against all the teams.”