On his plans for the week off:
"I’m going to get healthy, get some rest. I’m going to
try to catch my little cousin play some high school football down in
Mississippi on Friday, but nothing major."
On if he was banged up on the last series of the game
against New York:
"I was fine. They gave Ladell (Betts, RB, #46) an
opportunity and as a team we didn’t get in."
On if the question, "Why wasn’t the best player on the
team on the field" is fair:
"I take that as a compliment, but I think Sean Taylor
(S, #21) is the team’s best player. Some people think it is Santana Moss (WR, #89) and some might think it is London Fletcher (LB, #59),
or someone else. You know what happens. If (Betts, RB, #46) had scored
that touchdown, it wouldn’t be a problem. But we didn’t score, so now
it’s ‘Well, why wasn’t Clinton in?’ Who is to say I would have
scored?"
On if he was surprised by the lack of running game:
"Things happen. I’m surprised we had four
three-and-outs in the second half. For us, as an offensive team, with
the offensive power that we have, to not be able to convert third and
short, and not be able to convert on the goal line. You couldn’t have
told me, with the way we have been playing, that we wouldn’t be able
to convert third and one. All season we were perfect, until yesterday.
To get on the goal line, and to have an opportunity, we really messed
up a lot of opportunities yesterday."
On if the decision to depend on Ladell Betts (RB, #46)
or himself at the end of the game was fair considering how little the
running game was used up until that point of the game:
"I think that for myself, Ladell, and Rock
(Cartwright, RB, #31), we are just buying into it. When they put us
in, they know we don’t take five plays to warm up. We know we are
going to be in staggering. You never know when your number is going to
be called. When it’s called you just have to go out and execute. We
had a play where Ladell came in and had a big run, a 10-yard pick up,
and that was his first play of the game. You know the expectations are
always high and you want to go out and succeed."
On his thoughts while watching the last series of the
game:
"I was thinking Ladell (Betts, RB, #46) was going to
get that yard. I really felt like he was. There wasn’t an argument
going on over on the sidelines like ‘Why am I not in’. They called the
play, Ladell was in the game, and I’m sitting over there like, ‘Please
save this game for us.’ It gave us the opportunity to stay undefeated
but it didn’t happen."
On the Giants defense on the last play:
"Anything is possible. They didn’t do anything that
was spectacular that we didn’t know they were going to do. We didn’t
come out and do anything they weren’t expecting us to do. Once you get
out there in between the lines, people know plays all the time. You
have to go out there and stop it. If we had to do it all over again,
who knows what would have happened. But those two plays, they stopped
us."
On if the team feels a loss of momentum:
"I don’t think so. You want to go undefeated all
season long. Everyone wants that. Once it doesn’t happen, you have to
figure out what’s the next step. You have to figure out a way to
continue to win. Now we are 2-1. We lost one game. Is that the end of
our season? That’s not going to make or break our season. But at the
same time, what we need to do now is stop the bleeding. This week we
have the opportunity to have a bye. The following week we play
Detroit, who has been playing great ball. We have to go out and find a
way to beat Detroit and if we do that we will be feeling good about
ourselves again. We just feel bad because we let a game slip away. Up
17-3, you can’t tell me our defense hasn’t given up one touchdown in
six games including preseason, will come out and give up 21 points in
the second half. I wont believe that and I still don’t believe that
happened yesterday. As a team we have to find a way to bounce back and
find a way to beat Detroit."
On his overall evaluation of the team’s offense in the
last two minutes of games so far this season:
"From what you see in desperation plays, I think we
play great when it comes down two minutes. As far as our timing, we
might be off with timing and blowing some opportunities. But as far as
executing plays, when you put that ball up, receivers are going up to
get it, knowing they are going to get hit when they come down with the
ball. Then, keeping the ball alive and once we get down, I think it’s
our timing. We are catching penalties or blowing opportunities."