Manning’s Monday Comments
You won the NFC East, but not the way you want?
No, but obviously anytime you win the NFC East… if you told us at the beginning of the season, ‘hey, week 13, week 14, you are going to be 11-2 and NFC East champs,’ you would take it every time and be happy about it. Obviously it means we have been playing good football, we have had a good season so far, obviously we are disappointed about yesterday’s game and we didn’t play as well as we could, but that is football. We just have to look at it, we have looked at it and saw some things we could have done better, but we will bounce back and it doesn’t take long to get fired-up for this week’s game at Dallas, a big game. They are playing well and we have to go out there and try to get in the game and get back to playing good football.
What is the thing that stands out most to you about yesterday’s loss?
I think just our third down conversions. I think that was the biggest thing. We didn’t turn the ball over; we didn’t have many penalties, just on third downs we just couldn’t convert. A lot of them were manageable situations, they were third and four, third and threes, we just didn’t do a good job doing that, whereas all season we had done a great job on third downs of converting and that way you keep the ball in our hands, you get some opportunities to get some more drives and get into a rhythm, it keeps their offense off the field. The third really and fourth down conversions we just did not do a good job converting those and it didn’t give us any more opportunities to make plays and get points on the board.
Did you watch the Dallas-Pittsburgh game yesterday?
I saw it, yes.
At that point when Romo threw the pick and the Steelers won you knew you had won the division?
Yeah, I knew.
What was the feeling right then? No party hat?
No, no party hats. Obviously we didn’t break out the 2008 NFC East champion hats at the time. It kind of, for kind of a bad day, ended it on a good note. It is always important to win your divisional championship and it is hard to do, especially in the NFC East with tough teams, tough games, and we have done a great job all season of playing well. We didn’t have a good one yesterday and we have to accept that and learn from it, but I thought for today the spirits were pretty good. Obviously guys are disappointed, but we are not hanging our heads, we are not moping around here, we know we have some big games ahead of us and right now we are playing to try to get better. Our goal is to get better and get back to playing our style of football.
Was there much talk among the guys about winning the division?
Yeah, guys knew it. One of the first things Coach Coughlin said when he walked in to the team meeting was, ‘congratulations on winning the NFC East.’ It is important that the guys know that. I think that is a way of trying to lift the guy’s spirits a little bit. It has been a while since we have lost games around here. It has gotten to the point where we are not used to it and that is a good thing. That is the way we are going to try to keep having that feeling and guys don’t like to lose. It is frustrating knowing you forget how bad it is losing around here and that is also good so hopefully we can get back to that winning feeling.
Did you get a sense that the wind came out of your sails on the end around on the first drive?
I don’t think the wind came out of our sails because then on third down we hit about a 14 yard play to give us a shot at a fourth down to see if we could get something going and again, one of those plays we didn’t convert. Obviously it is kind of the way things went all day. When we needed to make a play on a third down or fourth down, it wasn’t like it was fourth and 12, they were very makeable situations, we just didn’t make the plays that we needed to, whereas in the past games we have won we have converted that fourth down that we needed, we converted those third downs in crucial situations. Yesterday, whether it was us or the Philly defense, sometimes they prevented us from doing that from their play, but some of it was our play, us not making the plays, either me or whatever reason not giving us the opportunity to make those plays.
How often did they double any of your receivers yesterday compared to when Burress was out there?
It is hard to say. They were still playing two high safeties a lot and on first and second down they did some blitzes, but it wasn’t like they had a total change of philosophy. They still had two safeties high. We ran the ball decent at times, we didn’t get any big runs, but we had a lot of opportunities where on first down we rushed for eight or nine yards. We had some second and twos and on second down we would lose a yard or lose two yards, when we have been really good on that second down going ahead and getting that first down and getting a new set of downs. I don’t think their philosophy completely changed. On third downs they play a lot of 2-man, which is two high safeties, where you have to run the ball or I have to run to make something happen or hit some option routes. We had some good calls we just didn’t convert on them.
Are you concerned now about how the running and passing game will be affected without Burress out there drawing double coverage?
No, I am not concerned about it. If you look at the prior weeks, we weren’t getting double teams and we did just fine. We were throwing the ball, we were running it, it was tough running it at times, but we were successful in the pass game and that is what we have to get back to. Yesterday we were not successful in the pass game, we didn’t do a whole lot of throwing on first and second downs and our third down passing game, that is where we were not successful and that is what we have to get back to doing.
When Domenik Hixon missed the deep ball that had to be frustrating?
No. You can’t let one play carry over to the next play. We knew it was going to be a tough game and a tough defense. With the conditions we kind of had a feeling it was going to be low scoring. We did a good job of not making the big mistake, not turning the ball over when we were frustrated and not moving the ball, but we gave ourselves a shot in that game and we had opportunities in the fourth quarter when we had the ball and we knew we had to go down and score and we just didn’t convert and make the plays that we needed. We have had bad games before in the past and when we have played bad it has been really bad and we have had turnovers and we haven’t been in the game at all, we have lost it in the first half and in the fourth quarter we didn’t even have a shot where this game we weren’t playing well, but we weren’t making mistakes, huge mistakes, we just weren’t making the plays. We still gave ourselves a shot to win the game and have a chance in the fourth quarter and it just came down that we didn’t make the right plays.
Is it a weird feeling winning the division coming off a loss?
It is a weird feeling. We are 11-2, we know what are record is, we are proud of the way we have played, and so like I said earlier we have gotten used to winning and that winning feeling. Coming in here on Mondays and everybody is excited and fired-up about what is going on and we have only felt it twice this year, that losing feeling, and I think it drives us to get back to winning. No one likes coming in here on Monday, no one likes going into those meetings where we watch the film and you see the bad plays. It is not fun. It is not fun for the coaches and it is not fun for the players. Our focus is, ‘hey let’s get back to that good feeling on Mondays celebrating a win and get back to playing good football.’
Are you concerned that playing for a first round bye won’t be enough motivation after winning the division?
I think our motivation, as it has been all season, is let’s play good football, let’s play consistent, solid football. We have something to prove here and it is not about anything else but let’s get back to playing our style when we are making the plays and we are scoring points and we are running the ball, we are throwing the ball, and we are having a great mix. Our goal is to get back to playing our style of football and everything else will work itself out.
Does it factor in the game that the Cowboys might be desperate to beat you guys?
Well I think we know what to expect from them. They are coming out ready to play and they are coming off a frustrating loss last night and so we know they are in a must-win situation and we have to have that philosophy also. They are fighting for the playoffs and we are fighting for home field and a first round bye and we know we have Carolina and Tampa right on our back in whoever wins that game tonight so we know we have to step up and we have to win a couple of these last games.
Is this a game you just try to put behind you and move on?
Yeah I think right now our approach is that we learn from it, but this is one you have to forget quickly and just say, ‘hey we didn’t play well, but next week we will get back to playing more consistent football, we will make some of those plays.’ It is not like we just went out there and played awful, we just didn’t step up at times and make the plays that were there and that is just frustrating. It wasn’t all just with the passing game, some of it was the running game and just different things where we had some checks where we should have had some good plays, but we were a little off here, a little off there where we just didn’t make those plays that we normally do. That is what is frustrating about it, but it will be good to get back here on Wednesday, get back to practicing, and again, it doesn’t take much to get fired-up for a Dallas game at Dallas. It is always a tough game and we know what to expect when we go there.
Because of the nature of the rivalry over the past few years, do you relish the opportunity to possibly end their playoff hopes?
I think we are going to be fired-up no matter what because it is a division rival, they are a good team, and our focus is we want to play good football, not trying to knock someone else out or end their hopes of making the playoffs. It is about us and playing the style of football that we have been accustomed to and we have done for 11 games this season and hopefully getting back to that style.
