There are probably two separate items that we could discuss today and they should be kept separate.  We are the NFC East Champions; Divisional Champions.  We are very proud of that.  It’s a hard-earned position to get to, the 11 wins represent our season up to this point.  We are very proud of this accomplishment.  And our players should hold their heads high and feel good about that.

The other issue is yesterday.  Yesterday we did not play well.  Give credit to the Eagles, they did play well.  As I looked at the tape I was really interested in looking for all of the kinds of things you do as a coach to put your finger on – know whether the intensity level was the same, whatever.  And as I looked at the tape, you take the first four drives our defense played versus Philadelphia played very well.  Our offense took the opening drive and against the wind went the length of the field. We had the reverse which set us back, minus-12.  We came right back with a very good third-down play.  And that being at the +31-yard line into the wind.  We weren’t going to kick a field goal.  It was fourth and four.  We went for it.  We did not make it.  And unfortunately we had two other fourth down situations that we didn’t make, either.

But the bottom line was that we did not make enough plays.  We didn’t turn it over; they didn’t turn it over.  They rushed the ball.  We did not rush the ball with consistency. We had some good plays, no doubt about that. They had a 30-yard run and two big play passes.  We had two runs that were big plays, but no passes that were big plays. And of course you know we had a couple of key drops, a fourth-and-three drop; a beautifully thrown post ball that we did not catch.  The one play that we made prior to the half where we blocked the field goal, picked it up and scored was an outstanding play.

We actually blocked two field goals in this game.  Two momentum changing plays in the game, which I thought going in at the half, as I mentioned yesterday, would give us the kind of momentum, excitement, exhilaration, whatever, to come back out after the half and go back to work and win the game.  That just did not happen.  We had the wind in the third quarter but did not have very many plays – six or seven plays. And time of possession swung in Philadelphia’s favor and we weren’t able to make the kind of plays that we have been making that would get the ball back and give ourselves more opportunities offensively.  The snaps were one-sided.  The time of possession was one-sided.  So I would say that we didn’t swarm to the ball the way we have been probably defensively.  That would be the one comment that I would make.  And as an offense we did not have any rhythm or any continuity.  And it seemed like there would be two or three pretty good plays and then a setback play; a play that would knock us out of rhythm or would not allow us to go ahead and make the first down or continue the drive.

So we didn’t make the plays that were necessary for us to win.  The players were in this morning.  We covered all of the details.  The coaches went into great detail with everything.  Everybody was very serious – feeling down as (you would expect) they would.  But as I started the meeting off it was about being the NFC East Divisional Champions and the fact that we should be proud about that.  And then that we would analyze the game, as we always do.  And we would put our heads together and come to work on Wednesday and have a good solid week of practice and a big, big divisional game in Dallas this weekend.

Q:  Are you confident that this team will be playing its best going forward?

A:  It is interesting that we are in this frame of mind that we are in.  We do have 11 wins.  So let’s not overreact.  Everybody be honest about yesterday.  And go back to two weeks ago.  The Washington game was a solid football game; very well played.  And yesterday wasn’t.

Q:  What did you find in regards to the intensity level?

A:  I thought the intensity level was good.  I thought theirs was very good and I thought ours was good.  I didn’t see anything that way.  Westbrook had a big game, no doubt.  He was the guy we had to stop. He had 203 yards. We didn’t do a very good job of stopping him.  We did have some breakdowns in our gap responsibilities with the run.  Sometimes it looked as if we should have stopped them.  And it was a four-yard gain. There was some of that; and obviously third down.  We went from 27% — holding Philadelphia to 27% three weeks ago to 67% yesterday.  So obviously that is not very good.

Q:  Will there be enough motivation going forward?

A:  I think it was made very clear today that we have a very important divisional game this weekend.  We are really looking forward to preparing and going to Dallas and playing a good football game within the division.  So I think – I don’t know how anybody thinks that way.  I understand the question. But I can’t imagine thinking that way where there is so much at stake – and there really is.  There is an awful lot to play for.  I told our players point blank, “Okay, we haven’t even secured a bye week.  You have to go in and play and win and, of course, this thing is about a three-game season now.”  And see if you can put together the amount of wins necessary to secure some of these things that are still left out there.

Q:  Do you feel like there will be more motivation because you can hurt Dallas’ playoff chances?

A:  Again, we deal with our team.  It is the New York Giants and making sure that our team is challenged with our goals – not with someone else’s.

Re:  Not enough pressure on quarterback yesterday?

A:  We didn’t put enough pressure on him, no doubt about that.  And when we did he found a way to get out of it.  And he hurt us with his legs as he did over there.  That is one thing that was talked about all week long; the phrase we use is ‘cage’ – ‘cage the quarterback.’  Well we didn’t keep him caged.

Q: On some of the third downs you were talking about, maybe players didn’t get after them enough?

A:  Well, I don’t know if it was laying off.  That’s not how I saw it.  But I can give you one example. There was a one-yard pass to Smith in the flat where there was a missed tackle, and then no one else showed up.  That is the point I was making about we didn’t swarm to the ball like we have been doing, no.  Now, the reason for that….   The other issue is that they didn’t have a lot of long third-downs.  And that is an issue, too.  You need to keep people in that long yardage area so that you can — and what we have been doing has been great.  When it is long yardage we have kind of covered everything and then broke up on the ball and then tackled it and then it was a fourth-down play.  There were very makeable third downs yesterday.

Q:  Ross’s ankle?

A:  He has a sprained ankle and we’ll see.  They are pretty optimistic today about it.  But again, we have tomorrow and then on Wednesday we will have to tell about where we are on that.

Q:  Jacobs’ knee?

A:  Jacobs is sore.  He is sore.  This is an on-going kind of thing.  And hopefully we can get that under control and he will be ready to go.  He is sore today.

Q:  Do you want to be cautious with Jacobs?

A:  If he is ready to go, he’ll go.  If there is an issue with any player that they are not medically ready to go, then we will be consistent with that as well.

Q:  Brandon said he could have gone back in. Could he have gone back in?

A:  Is that what he said?

Q:  …

A:  Well, I think he could have but he was in some pain at that time, too.

Q:  Did he have an MRI?

A:  He has had any number of them.

Q:  Had you planned on having Dockery outside for Ross and put Terrell Thomas on the inside?

A:  Well we’ll see.  We will see.  We have the ability to play Terrell.  We have ability to play Aaron inside.  Dockery could actually go in there.  So we have some flexibility there.

Q:  Is inside on the nickel a good spot for Thomas?

A:  He has played pretty well in there.

Q:  After looking at the tape and having 24 hours to think about it, did the Burress situation have any impact on the game?

A:  No, I stick to what I said yesterday.

Q:  Any impact on the field?

A:  How did you see it?

Q:

A:  There were some open.  We weren’t always able to cash in on it.  Hixon made some nice plays.  The inside routes that he caught the ball on, they were outstanding.

Q:  Did Syracuse contact you regarding Gilbride?

A:  No.

Q:  Do they have to contact you if they want to speak with him?

A:  I think it is proper protocol, but I don’t know that it is written down anywhere.

RE:  Report they are interested in him

A:  You are asking me something that I don’t know anything about.

Q:

A:  Well, I don’t know that and no one has said anything to me.  I don’t know if Jerry Reese has talked to (them).

Q:  Would you allow that?

A:  I am not going to answer a question which is just conjecture.  So let’s wait until something happens.

Q:  Has Dockery been in on the FG block team?

A:  He has been in there, yeah.  We have all of the corners involved in there.  Terrell and Dock were competing pretty solidly throughout the week.

Q:  What do you think of the play Cole made to block your field goal attempt?

A:  Well unfortunately it has been the second time we have had a jumper.  So we have to tinker with our protection and take care of that as well.

Q:  Are there any similarities between the two blocked field goals the opposition has had against you this year?

A:  I think we have the individuals that have the ability to do that.  This one wasn’t completely clean like the first one was.

Re: seeming lack of pressure on the quarterback in recent games

A:  Well, all you have to do is go game by game.  There wasn’t much pressure yesterday.

Q:  Did you blitz enough yesterday?

A:  The exact number – I can’t tell you what it was.  There was pressure called during the game. We didn’t get home. But anytime you overdo it – the touchdown run was a full blitz and he just found a way to find a crack.  He got lost in behind here and found crack.

Re:  more on pass pressure

A:  Anytime you are not pressuring the quarterback.  You can’t allow a guy to stand back there.  Even on the Westbrook touchdown pass reception there was – he even se up a tough block …. Chip on an end and then came out.  There was a little too much time there as well.

RE: Terrell Thomas and blocking on the blocked FG return

A:  He actually blocked three guys and the along came Kenny Phillips and cut somebody off as well.  So we have worked hard on that since the first time we were able to do that.  It is the scoop and score idea.  But guys were in good position to help yesterday and they did.  It was really interesting because that kind of a group doesn’t always have – with the block team isn’t always gifted in terms of speed and that type of thing.  And they actually flashed with a couple of guys back to the ball that was scooped.  So it was a good thing that Terrell was in good position there to help.