NEW YORK GIANTS MEDIA SESSION - SAFETY DEON GRANT - ingles

Super Bowl XLVI – Wednesday, February 1, 2012

(on if he feels pressure covering the Patriots tight ends) “It’s hard for me to feel pressure about something that we did a good job with last time we played them. We know it’s going to be different, but it’s the same tight ends we faced the first time we played them when we had to play man-to-man on them. Did they get some yards? Did they get some catches? Of course they got some because they’re great tight ends. But at the same time, did we swarm down? Did we do things to them that a lot of other teams couldn’t do to them? Yes. So, nervous? Not at all. I don’t get nervous. I don’t care how good they are. Even if, God bless the dead, one of my favorites of all time, if they bring Walter Payton back and I have to face him or Barry Sanders – I think two of the greatest running backs in the game – I’m not going to be nervous. It’s just part of being competitive. But I do think they are great tight ends though.”

(on the injuries the Giants have sustained this season) “I think that might be the biggest highlight of the season – with the injuries, with the despair of us starting 6-2 and then losing four straight – is that we knew we had a lot of injuries; we knew we didn’t have a lot of key guys playing, a lot of young guys had to step up in a major role, and we never pointed a finger. We never pointed the finger saying it’s the coach’s fault. No, he didn’t do it. I never pointed a finger saying it was Antrel’s (Rolle) fault, saying that it was Corey’s (Webster) fault, the D-line’s fault. We stuck together and I think that brought us even closer together than we expected.”

(on the worst injury the team suffered) “There wasn’t one because we really didn’t think about it. If you look back, I was in the locker room, even when we were losing, we still came and did interviews and it was the same like, ‘Okay, this thing is going to turn around.’ That was one thing I always said and I kept confident. As long as we had an opportunity to still get into the postseason, we have a chance to turn this thing around and get back to doing what we were doing. We never really looked at one injury that was bigger than the other injury because we started off the season with probably the two biggest injuries you could have losing Terrell Thomas and Osi (Umenyiora) not starting out the season. That’s probably the two biggest keys to this particular defense. And then our first rounder (Prince Amukamara) missing the first 10 games. We never trumped one injury over the other one.”

(on if he ever got tired of losing players to injury) “No it didn’t. Even when we went and got Will Blackmon off the streets or whatever the case, and got Chase (Blackburn) – because they really weren’t playing with anybody so that’s why we call it off the streets – when we got Chase, it’s like, ‘Okay, at least we got somebody who knows the defense who can fill in.’ Once that he got in, we have to make sure that we embraced them in the right way that it doesn’t skip a beat. We’re here now.”

(on if they have a battle-tested mindset) “Oh yeah. It has to be. We never broke down and pointed fingers. There never was selfishness in the locker rooms or media rooms. It was more of if there’s a time we need to pull together as a group and be brothers, this is definitely the time. It happened before we played Green Bay. Even though we lost that game, we felt confident leaving that game like we were supposed to won. Even after we lost to Washington, we still had confidence like we could make things happen.”


(on where his friendship started with Patriots Defensive End Shaun Ellis) “It was before high school, back in the days of AAU basketball.”

(on how far apart they grew up) “Hours. He grew up in Anderson, South Carolina. I grew up in the Augusta, Atlanta area. It was hours away. But they used to come to Georgia and play AAU basketball and we used to go there and play AAU basketball.”

(on having a similar career path to college teammate Shaun Ellis) “It’s been similar as far as he’s still playing, I’m still playing and I think us two and Chad Clifton are the only three that are still playing from that same group as far as when we left the University of Tennessee. And that part was similar. And Shaun finally won a divisional championship. I think this was his first year in winning that. He didn’t have injuries, I didn’t have injuries. So I have to say yeah, we do have similar paths.”

(on where he came up with the expression ‘Where’s ‘Trel?’ in regard to Antrel Rolle) “It’s a lot of things mixed up. Like when I come in there, they call me the Godfather or Grandfather because when I come in the training room, I’m the only one saying, ‘Good morning everybody,’ and waking them up, I have the music going. So when I’m coming in, a lot of people here are talking about how ‘Trel is in the media, how ‘Trel is in the locker room. I know ‘Trel off the field also. ‘Trel is the type of guy who can get ready in two minutes. If it’s 10:30 and we’re supposed to be on the football field, he starts getting dressed at 10:27. He’s probably in his own zone, so when I walk in there, he’s nowhere to be found, I’m like ‘Where’s ‘Trel at?’ Everybody liked the way I started saying it, and I kept going, ‘Hey, we can’t go anywhere unless we have ‘Trel. Where’s ‘Trel at? Is ‘Trel in the building?’ So they ran with it. Everybody started saying it and they ran with it.”

(on if he remembers the first time Defensive Coordinator Perry Fewell told him they were going to play three safeties) “Yeah. He came up to me before I signed and said that. Before I signed again last year, he told me that on the phone. He told me that the situation was, he was looking for Kenny (Phillips) to return and if not, it’s like he’ll have me so it’s a win-win situation. When Kenny returned, they were looking at ‘Trel (Antrel Rolle) to move around and play this or play that because he had played the corner. He liked a more physical nickel. He said, ‘So we can mix it up, have you and Kenny back there. Both of you are parallel to one another, so you all can play strong and free safety and we can rock ‘Trel down sometime and play sometime. You had been playing in the slot, playing the top tight ends throughout your career, so we can put you down sometime and leave ‘Trel in the back.’”

(on how crazy the idea of playing three safeties was) “I didn’t know it was going to be to this extent. But, I’ve been loving it because I love to be on the football field. There’s not a better feeling than being on the football field with the guys I’m on the field with. So I’ve been loving it, and it’s been working.”