NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS PRESS CONFERENCE - SAFETY PATRICK CHUNG - Ingles

Super Bowl XLVI – Monday, January 30, 2012

(on how it feels to be at the Super Bowl) “It feels awesome. It feels awesome. I mean we’re still here on a business trip, though. We’re still here to work hard but it feels good. It feels good to be here. A lot of guys don’t get this opportunity but we’ll take the best of it and just play a good game.”

(on what has jumped out at him that’s ‘awesome’) “Just the atmosphere – there’s all these people around, all you in here. It’s just a crazy experience and feeling just knowing that we’re at the big show.”

(on what the Patriots can take away from the first game that they faced the Giants this season) “I’m one of those guys where that’s the past, man. They’re a new team and they’re firing on all cylinders right now. Eli (Manning) is playing good and a lot of players are playing at a higher level and it’s a new team.”

(on being a veteran in the defensive secondary and what kinds of things he tells Matthew Slater and Julian Edelman) “Matthew (Slater) played safety before so… Bill (Belichick) is going to put the best guys out there. You’re going to learn the same things and everybody’s learning in the same room, so you’re going to have to know what you’re doing and you’re going to have to know what you’re doing fast. The only advice I can give is make a decision and be a leader back there. Safety is a very reliable position so you have to make the calls and make sure everyone’s on the same page.”

(on what he tells Devin McCourty) “I don’t have to worry about Devin. Devin’s smart. That’s one thing I like playing (with) him is he’s very smart, he’s comfortable and he’s calm and he can always make plays.”

(on if he’ll ever play any offense since the Patriots use offensive guys on defense) “No, man. I’m not an offensive guy. I like to hit people.”

(on how he would account for the defense’s success in the postseason in contrast to the struggles of the regular season) “That’s not really a question for me. I just feel we’re playing like a family, playing intense, playing with passion, playing with intensity and just taking one play one by one. You can’t really move on to the next one, can’t think about the one before, just playing every down one by one.”

(on if he’s reflected on his injury and coming back just in time) “I mean, it is what it is. God works in mysterious ways so I’m just glad to be back, glad to be with my team and now it’s time to go.”

(on if he expects anything different from the Giants) “I expect a very good team to come in here and play a very good game. That’s the reason why they’re here also. They’re the best team in the NFC and they’re here to play a good game.”

(on what he learned back at the University of Oregon and how that mixes in with what Belichick coaches) “It’s kind of similar. They always have the saying, ‘Win the day.’ Like I said, do it down by down, play by play – that’s kind of like do it day by day. Don’t worry about tomorrow, don’t worry about yesterday, just win that day. Just take it day by day and just make sure you do everything in your power to make sure when you go home, you say, ‘I won.’ Just take it on with life.”

(on what his support system is like back home) “I just talked to my brother right now actually, right on the phone. That’s where I’m from. That’s where I was born. Jamaica all the way. I represent them. I’m Chinese also. That’s my culture and I’m going to represent it all the way.”

(on the Giants saying they intend to pick on Julian Edelman if he’s back in the defensive secondary) “I have no comment for that. It is what it is, man. The best player’s going to play at any position. A player’s going to play. It’s the last game. It’s all on the line so it really doesn’t matter.”

(on WR Julian Edelman playing defense) “He’s good. I feel he’s good. He has the quickness, he’s fast, he’s smart, he has good hands and he’s tough, he’s physical. That’s all the intangibles of a good player. I have no worries about Julian back there.”

(on Deion Branch) “He makes plays, man. He’s a veteran that makes plays and can make big catches. If there’s a lot of pressure on guys, he can take the pressure because he’s been there, he has that experience; he has all the things that veterans need to play in big games like that.”

(on how the Giants’ receiving corps stacks up against other teams they’ve faced this year) “They’re very good. They’re three different types of receivers, but they’re three very good receivers. They all can get the ball, they all have good routes and they have Eli (Manning) throwing to them right now and he’s on fire so you’ve got to stop them. They’re definitely versatile receivers.”

(on if the Giants’ receivers are the best they’ve faced this year) “As a corps, I think so. You have three receivers who can make a big play if anyone gets the ball, definitely.”

(on what the biggest lesson they learned from the AFC Championship game against the Baltimore Ravens) “The main lesson? Play to the end. That’s all I can really say. Play to the end because you never know what’s going to happen.”

(on Sterling Moore making two huge plays at the end of the AFC Championship) “He’s a baller. I mean, he’s a baller. He’s mentally tough. He’s been through a lot of stuff, man. He’s mentally tough, he’s fast, he’s quick and he’s confident. He’s confident and he feels he can do a lot of damage. He’s good. He wouldn’t be out there if he wasn’t.”

(on if he knew Sterling Moore, being a West coast guy, before he joined the team) “I didn’t know him at all. He came in and made an impact. People know him now.”

(on what Victor Cruz does so well in the slot for the Giants and how you take that away) “Take it away or just contain? You can contain it, man. He’s quick, he’s good off the line, he’s good into his routes, he can catch the ball, he can uncover, he’s physical, he can break tackles – he’s like a complete receiver. I’ll give it to him; he’s a complete receiver. He can do it all and we’ve just got to contain him.”

(on having some guys still on the team that have Super Bowl experience) “It’s good to have experience because those guys can bring that experience to the young guys and tell them what they need to expect. I just think it’s good to have them. We have a team right now that’s ready to play. Regardless of veterans, rookies, third-year players, second-year players – we’re ready to go right now.”

(on Giants’ receivers Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks) “Nicks will go up and get the ball. He’ll get the ball. He’s physical. He can break tackles, obviously. You’ve seen him make big plays. Manningham has good routes and he has good hands and he can get the ball too. They have three dangerous receivers we have to be able to stop, definitely.”

(on what the mood was like in practice today) “We were happy. It was time to get back at it. We’re on a business trip. It’s the Super Bowl festivities and it’s fun and all that, but when we’re on the field, it’s go time – business.”

(on if Bill Belichick is more relaxed than he has been) “He’s always relaxed. He’s relaxed and he wants to win. That’s how he is. We’re here now. We’re here to play football and get things going.”

NEW YORK GIANTS MEDIA SESSION - WIDE RECEIVER VICTOR CRUZ - Ingles

Super Bowl XLVI – Monday, January 30, 2012

(on how often he’s had to pinch himself as the season has gone along) “I think I still have the sore mark right here on my arm. It’s been an amazing ride for me man. It’s one that I didn’t imagine having initially. I just wanted to come in and do some good things and see where I could fit into this team. It’s been amazing.”

(on if he consciously came up with his end zone dance the first time he scored) “No, it just kind of happened. It was one of those things where I was coming into the week and it was Hispanic Heritage Month around Week 3. My coaches were like, ‘Man, you’ve got to do something special. You’re half Puerto Rican and you’ve got to do something to really get the people fired up.’ So I said alright, and whatever, as I wasn’t expecting to get into the end zone as it was my first start. So I got into the end zone and as I’m running in, I was like, ‘Wow, I need to do this thing now.’ It’s just something that kind of came about and then my grandmother loved it. It just continued from there.”

(on dance instructors in New York stating that his dance is not technically correct) “This is my way. When those dance instructors get into the end zone, they can do it whatever way they want to.”

(on if there is some irony in that he was not invited to Indianapolis for the Combine) “I guess so. Being from a small school, I understand how that whole thing goes. I wasn’t 6-5, 220 pounds or I didn’t have off the wall statistics, so I understood how that whole thing goes. I’d rather be here for the Super Bowl now than the Combine.”

(on if he was disappointed that he wasn’t invited to the Combine) “No, I wasn’t disappointed. I just knew whatever opportunities were in front of me, whether it be Pro Day, Combine, or whatever it was, I just had to make the best of it. I had two pro days. One was at Boston College and one up at UMass. I just did the best I could and was fortunate enough to open up some minds.”

(on what it says about the draft process and the League that they can miss some big talents that go undrafted) “I just think there are so many guys out there. There are so many guys that you’re essentially just taking a chance on. Some guys just slip under the radar. Once those hidden gems kind of get figured out and somebody sees them and they get their opportunity to make the best of it, then it’s a great opportunity. It’s a great shot that they took. If they don’t, then it’s another one bites the dust.”

(on if he sees opportunities to exploit the Patriots’ pass defense) “I think so. Any time you look at a defense and you see a receiver playing defensive back, you automatically open your eyes up and want to exploit those matchups. Going into the game, we just have to understand and see where we can exploit them and see what coverages they come out in and what they do defensively against us. It should be an interesting time to see how they do and see how they play us. We’ll see how it goes.”

(on if he thinks he can exploit matchups against Devin McCourty, who has struggled this season) “Anytime you line up and you’re playing football, as a competitor, you think you’ve got a good shot. Anytime I line up against anybody, doesn’t matter who it is, I think I have a good shot to do some good things, catching the football and making good things happen.”

(on the biggest surprise this season in terms of the attention he received) “I think just all of it. I think the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ thing was pretty eye-opening. It’s just been an incredible ride. I can’t even put it into words. Sometimes I kind of think back to where I was a year ago and where I am now, it’s just a complete 180. It’s just amazing.”

(on how the difficult times have helped shape him as a person) “They’ve just helped me to learn to battle through adversity, battle through things that I wasn’t comfortable battling through and understand those moments and just battling through them. Understand that this is something that God has placed before me that I can handle, and I just have to get through it and keep plugging away. He’ll get me out the other end of the tunnel.”

(on who he is most thankful to for helping him along the way) “Definitely my mother. She’s the one that has kept me humble and grounded and just made sure that she never gave up on me. As many times as she could have, as many times as she could’ve just dropped the ball and say, ‘Forget it. You’re just screwing up and you’re just not going to be anything.’ She never did that. She never gave up on her son. I thank her for it every day.”

(on who is most thankful for on the Giants team) “Everyone, man. Everyone. The staff. Everyone that believed in my talent. Everyone that was up there during the whole process that believed in me and really gave me a chance. The entire organization has just been a class act and they treated me just like anybody else.”

(on what the plane ride was like coming into Indianapolis) “Guys were excited, initially, getting on the plane and sitting down, everybody was talking. Everybody was videotaping and recording everybody. It was cool going in. Once we got in the air, everybody was relaxed, falling asleep, things of that nature. It was a good flight.”

(on if he’s spoken to any of his UMass coaches or teammates and what their thoughts were on everything) “I speak to Coach (Brian) Crist, my former receivers coach there, and I speak to (former quarterback) Liam Coen all the time. He was texting me earlier today. They are just proud of me. They’ve seen how far I’ve come. They really have been around for my entire journey, so it definitely has been great to talk to those guys. They’re just proud of me.”

(on if there is a veteran player that has pulled him aside and given him advice on what to expect this week) “I think it was Deon Grant. Deon Grant just came up to me and was like, ‘Man, just enjoy it. Enjoy the moment. Understand what you have to do. Focus. Understand what you do well and hone it on that. Watch film. Watch all the film you get. Don’t let the moment consume you. Don’t get overwhelmed with this. It’s just another game. We just get a trophy at the end. That’s the only difference.’”

(on at what point they’ll be able to flip the switch back to it feeling like any other game) “I think that’s going to happen right when we get to practicing. We got today off and tomorrow is Media Day. Right after that, I think I’m going to flip the switch and we start practicing and start getting into those meeting rooms. It’s all business after that and we have to go out and prepare to win a game.”

(on what he is expecting to be different with the Patriots from the first time they played earlier this season) “I don’t know. They did a lot of good things. They executed very well on offense. I think they’re going to change some things defensively, mainly because of our three receivers and they’ve struggled a little bit throughout the season in that area. We’ll see what they do. We’ll see how they come out and play us. It should be an interesting matchup.”

(on how he would describe the Giants season) “I would describe it as up and down, a little bit of a roller coaster. When we had to play right and when we had to play the right way, we hit our stride at the right time and we’ve been playing great ever since.”

(on the importance of the slot receiver) “It’s important because it’s just another tool, another tool you can use inside. It causes some matchup problems because when you get a smaller or faster guy in there in the slot, it’s harder for guys like linebackers. You have to bring in another defensive back into the game and typically that’s their third or fourth best guy on defense. It’s just a subtle difference that they have.”

(on similarities between him and Wes Welker) “Yeah, he’s a guy that I’ve looked at growing up. You always watch the best in the League and he’s definitely one of the best at his craft and at his position. He’s definitely a guy that I take a few things from and you add it to your game.”

(on if he gets antsy about the thought of scoring a postseason touchdown as his teammates have scored multiple times) “Of course. You want to go in and score, and you want to get into the end zone one time in the postseason. You understand your role and your role is to catch everything that is thrown to you and make the best play possible. It’s just something that comes with the territory and I’m happy with those guys. When those guys score, I feel like I score. I feel like a part of me scores. Whenever any of them score, I feel like it’s for the good (of the team).”

(on facing the Patriots for the second time this season) “We’re really familiar with them and it’s different because you have to game plan a little differently and understand that they’ve seen a lot of your stuff. You have to come in and try to disguise a few things, and not let them get a good beat on you. It’ll be a challenge for us and coming in, we’ll see how they play us and adjust accordingly.”

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS PRESS CONFERENCE - WR DEION BRANCH - Ingles

Super Bowl XLVI – Monday, January 30, 2012

(on what is different about this team as compared to the beginning of the season) “I just think the work that we’ve been putting in all year long with the fact that we didn’t have a mini-camp, no offseason program, and that we were still able to find a way to get it done with the leadership of our head coach pushing us each and every day. I think guys really started getting the picture, seeing what he was trying to explain and tell us, ‘If we do this, do that, we will be ok.’ I think at first guys saw it, but now guys really start believing it and really have a lot of faith.”

(on his relationship with QB Tom Brady now compared to earlier in their careers) “I think we’re just older. I think when you’re playing this game you develop this friendship. We’re always going to have this bond. We’re always going to be connected to each other for this one special reason, but I think the friendship that we have off the football field, the way we communicate off the football field, is more important than that. I just think that overall, the time and the amount of years that we’ve been playing together.”

(on giving advice to younger players on the team) “I’m the older guy, exactly. It’s crazy. I’m one of the older guys. I was just talking to DP (Former Patriots WR David Patten) about two or three days ago. I was talking to David Patten. He was one of the guys I looked up to and he and (Former Patriots WR) Troy (Brown) showed so much love to me when I was a young guy, and now I have the same opportunity to do the same thing for those young guys.”

(on what WR Wes Welker means to the offense) “He means a lot. I think everybody has - like I’d been saying early on - I think everybody has a role. He has a very important role on the offense as far as with our group, with the offensive side of the ball, and also with the team. (TE) Aaron (Hernandez), myself, (TE Rob) Gronkowski, Tom (Brady) has a role, the front line has a role, just not one particular guy. I think everybody has a certain piece that makes this puzzle the way it is.”

(on if he sees a difference in Welker this year) “No. This guy’s a hard worker, but the same player. Take nothing away from him. This guy, he deserves everything he’s gotten.”

(on if he feels like a forgotten man in the offense among higher profile players) “No, that’s cool. I just do my job. I can’t worry about who is controlling and who’s saying A, B, C, D. I just do my job. I’m not here to be the one that says, ‘Hey I need all the attention.’ That’s not me.”

(on if Head Coach Bill Belichick is joking with the team at all behind the scenes) “No. It’s serious. There’s no jokes going on with us. We just had a great practice. We’re about to get out of here pretty soon to go watch this film, but there’s no joking going on. Everything is serious. Guys are pretty laid back, relaxed, but when taking the field we’re very serious.”

(on if he’s surprised that the team is laid back) “No. That’s how we’ve been all year. The thing is – like I was saying earlier – this is not the year to start coming in here changing the way we’ve been conducting ourselves, just continue doing what we’ve been doing.”

(on if there is anything specifically he can pick out about the Giants defense) “Everything. For them to go into Lambeau (Field), well start off and they beat Atlanta at home, and then for them to go into Lambeau and win the way that they did, they’re playing great ball.”

(on what the Giants defense did well against them the first time they met) “I wouldn’t say what they did. I know what we did wrong. We try to focus on us and aren’t worried about what the Giants are doing. We made a lot of mistakes. We didn’t score in the red area. We didn’t convert on third down. That’s what we didn’t do, and unfortunately they beat us in the red area ratio, they beat us in the third down ratio, and that’s why we lost the game.”

(on the mentality today of getting back to work) “Exactly. Today it was. We felt that early on. It was good. All the guys were very anxious to get in the meeting room, to get our playbook, to listen to coach break down the film, kick the meeting off, and then we just had practice. So everything is pretty much going the way we expected.”

(on if the team has said anything about Super Bowl 42) “No. This team doesn’t talk about the past. Since the day we knew we were going to the Super Bowl, in the locker room nothing was spoken about Super Bowl 42. It’s behind those guys. They lost the game. It is what it is. They didn’t play good football and they lost. This is a different game, different team, different players, and it’s going to be a different game Sunday.”

(on if he’s treating the Super Bowl experience differently now compared to last time) “No. I think overall the only thing I will say that I’m really treating (differently) is I truly enjoy sharing the knowledge with the younger guys in our group and talking to the guys about the experience in the past, but as far as talking about what we did in the Super Bowls in the past, those guys watched the game. I’m pretty sure they’ve seen the highlights that have been shown on the NFL Network and ESPN and all that stuff. I’m not treating it any different. Practicing hard, doing everything we’ve been doing all year long.”

(on how the two tight end sets have evolved) “It’s just based off of game planning, game situations. We try to sit back and take advantage of whatever the defense gives us, and if that comes about, we’re going to take advantage of it.”

(on why the organization has been so successful) “For one, there’s a lot of stability here. You have the same owner, same head coach, same quarterback, so it starts with those guys. There’s a little turnover, but it’s not in the main places. When you have the same head coach, your coaching staff is pretty much the same and your quarterback, your leader. You look at most of the teams that have a lot of the issues, it’s because they have a lot of turnover within the organization…up in the front office, and then your coaches are cycling in and out. If you don’t have any stability within that part, then there’s no way that you’re going to be successful somewhere else.”

(on if this is one of the best franchises in the league) “Yes sir. It’s very evident. There’s a reason, not only with the stability, but the types of guys that the organization brings in to help this team be successful. Guys buy into the program each and every year, and that’s what it’s about.”

(on his transition after being reacquired by the team) “I think it was pretty smooth. There was a lot of different terminology. Some of the terminology was a little different, but there were bits and pieces that I remembered from the past that once I started hearing it, I knew exactly what it was. I would say the transition wasn’t as hard when you’re used to playing with a certain guy, playing with Tom (Brady), and then the things we did off the football field, in the classroom, it just helped out on the football field. The transition was pretty smooth.”

(on his personal feelings on returning to the team) “I was excited, very honored, and blessed to have the opportunity to come back to the same team that drafted me. Guys don’t get the opportunity to go through that phase. I was just very thankful.”

(on what he’s seen from the Giants that’s different from when they played in November) “Those guys are flying around. The defensive line is doing a great job, guys in the secondary are playing great. Most of all, they’re healthy. They’ve got guys like (CB) Prince (Amukamara) who weren’t there, (DE) Osi (Umenyiora) wasn’t there as much, and then on the offensive side of the ball what those guys are doing, (QB) Eli (Manning), I don’t think…(WR Hakeem) Nicks didn’t play did he? So they’re healthy. They’re playing good at the right time.”

(on using the Indianapolis Colts’ practice facility) “It’s a little different, but I thank the Colts for allowing us to come in and use their facility. There’s some nice stuff, man. You can tell it’s a first class organization. From what we’ve seen today, it’s a first class organization.”

NEW YORK GIANTS PRESS CONFERENCE - QB ELI MANNING - Ingles

Super Bowl XLVI – Monday, January 30, 2012

(on what a second Super Bowl Championship would mean to him) “You don’t think about that as a player. You concentrate on the opponent, that’s New England – trying to get ready for them. You try to keep your mind focused on the job and what style of football it’s going to take to win this game. If you get concerned with other things, it takes your focus off what your job has to be for this coming Sunday. That’s the mindset of the players and the coaches – just trying to get ready and focused to go out there and play your best football.”

(on whether the uncertainty with Peyton Manning’s football future causes him to have a deeper appreciation for the game) “If you play this game long enough you realize how precious each season is and how precious these opportunities are. You don’t know if you’re going to get a chance to play in another Super Bowl. You don’t know when a season might be cut short on you. It’s not just reminding me because of what Peyton’s going through. Having had numerous teammates get injured and miss the season or all of a sudden their careers get cut short or they have to retire; those things happen. You’re reminded of that yearly. You understand that in a season when you feel like you have a good team and you have good players and you have an opportunity where you can go win a championship, you don’t want to let those things slip away because you just don’t know if you’re going to get another opportunity.”

(on why he felt it was important to give the team a speech about his last experience at the Super Bowl) “I know everyone is excited. When we had the meeting last week, it was a Tuesday. We had just come off a big win. We were excited about going to the Super Bowl. Our families were excited, there were a lot of things going on. I just wanted to make sure guys knew the importance of the practices last week. That week, when we were back in New Jersey, those practices are the time when we need to have our best practices. The focus has to be there and our preparation has to be at its best because when you get to Indianapolis, your schedule is thrown off. All the things that you might normally do during the week, it might be a little tougher to get the extra work in. So, I just told them to treat this week like you’re playing on Sunday. (I told them to) handle all the business with tickets and family, make sure all that was handled last week, so when we get to Indianapolis your focus is on getting the game plan and having the mindset that this is a business trip and we have to go play our best football.”

(on whether there was a turning point this season for the Giants) “I don’t know if it was one specific time. Obviously, the win at Dallas was a big one. There was a stretch there when we lost four in a row – going to play a division team, a team that was first place in the NFC East at that point. It was going to be tough to make the playoffs if we didn’t win the division at that time. We knew we had to go in and play well against a good team. They were playing good football. We got back on a winning streak – got us back to that winning feeling. It was a big win at the time. The Jets’ game was another big one. Our defense played outstanding. Offensively we didn’t do much, but we didn’t make many mistakes. We were able to rely on the defense and not put them in harm’s way. From then on, our defense has been playing outstanding. Offensively we’ve been playing smart football. We’ve been making plays. If we don’t put our defense in harm’s way, if we don’t make mistakes and make turnovers, we can win games playing great defense and playing smart offensively.”

(on the similarities between the Giants’ Super Bowl run this year compared to four years ago) “As a player, it’s not our job to compare these two seasons. The fact that we’re playing the Patriots in the Super Bowl, that’s the similarity. That’s the only thing that I want to think about. We know that they’re a very talented team. We’re going to have to play great football. They have tremendous players on both sides of the ball. They have a way of making comebacks at the end. They have a quarterback who has been able to do that for a long time. On both sides of the ball, we are going to have to play our best football. We are going to have to play for 60 minutes. You can’t let up or relax or give them any easy field position or easy points because they’ll take advantage of it.”

(on how familiar the Patriots feel as an opponent to the Giants) “It does feel like we’ve played them a decent amount in the last couple of years. We played them in the Super Bowl. We played them in the regular season. We have played them close in all those games. We do understand that they are very talented. They have the ability to score a lot of points. Their defense has the ability to keep you to a minimum of points. It’s going to be a great challenge for both sides of the ball to do our jobs at a high level. It’s also a situation where you’ve seen them play so many times – from a fan or from watching Colts’ games or watching past Super Bowls growing up. You’ve seen them on TV a lot, so you know the players. You know the names. You know the style of football that they play, so it makes it seem like you’ve played them more than you have.”

(on whether he remembers the comments Peyton Manning made about him after Peyton won the Super Bowl) “I think he was just trying to be nice at the time. Seeing Peyton after the game, in the locker room, seeing that smile on his face and then being with him those next couple of months after he won the Super Bowl; it definitely made me jealous. You always want to win a championship, but when you see someone win it, just the relief, the smile that was painted on his face for months – it makes you want to win one even more. It truly gives you a burning desire to get one. That made a bigger impact on me than his comments. There’s not a better feeling from a professional standpoint knowing that you’ve done your job, that season, better than anyone else. That is what we’re fighting for.”

(on an example of when he was little and Peyton Manning “big brothered” him) “I probably have quite a few of them, but to limit it to one – his most popular move, he would pin me down and take his knuckles and knock on my chest and make me name the 12 schools in the SEC (Southeastern Conference). I didn’t know them all at the time, but I quickly learned them. It was a great learning technique. I don’t suggest anyone else try it out, but it definitely made me learn the schools of the SEC. Once I figured those out, he moved on. There were 28 teams in the NFL at that point, so all teams in the NFL. I had to get my studying on for that. Then once I figured that out – the one I never got was the 10 brands of cigarettes. When he really wanted to torture me and knew I had no shot of every\ getting it, that’s when I just started screaming for my mom or dad to come save me, or maybe Cooper. That was his go-to move.”

(on the challenges of developing a rapport with a new receiver) “The timing issue is something you can work on. You can work on it during the offseason. You have training camps and practices. That’s not the biggest issue. The biggest thing that it takes to develop chemistry with (new receivers) is what happens in a game and the things that you prepare for and all of a sudden you get a different technique. Something that maybe hasn’t happened before occurs. Can you tell by their body language or the stem of their route, exactly what they’re going to do? Sometimes you have a scramble drill or you have to move in the pocket and the timing is a little off. How are they going to react in those situations? That’s only something that can really only happen in games. You can try to practice it. You can’t always create those situations. It’s a great learning experience. That’s why I try to talk to them on the sidelines – talk to receivers during the game and after games. They may do everything correctly, but it might be two or three plays where the timing was a little off or you had a different coverage. You have to talk about those things so you can learn from those experiences so the next time it does happen you’re ready for it.”

(on whether this trip to the Super Bowl feels different than his last trip and whether he plans to visit Peyton Manning this week) “It feels very similar. You’re just excited to be here, like the last time. It’s not a situation where you feel more comfortable or you have a better idea of what to expect. You may have a better idea of media day, tomorrow, and what to expect. You don’t want to be so relaxed you have a great feeling that everything is going to work out perfectly. You still want to prepare hard and get all your studying in, and make sure you’re doing everything to get your team ready to play. That’s still the mentality, knowing that we have a lot of work to do. It’s all going to come down to making sure we play our best football on Sunday. That’s the ultimate goal.

“I don’t have any plans, right now, to see Peyton. I know I won’t be going over to his house anytime this week. The last Super Bowl I played in, he was in Arizona starting on Wednesday or Thursday and I never saw him then. I’ll talk to him throughout the week, like I always do. Besides that, I am going to keep my normal routine and probably will not see a whole lot of family throughout the week.”

(on the Giants staying in downtown Indianapolis) “It’s something that we will have to see as the week goes how that affects us and how we have to deal with that. In Arizona we were away from the action. There wasn’t a whole lot going on around us which was nice. Obviously, there will probably be more distractions. Getting around the hotel might be a little more crowded. If you want to go somewhere or go outside for a little bit, there will probably be more fans around. That is something as a team, each individual needs to realize that and understand that you can’t get distracted. You can’t let these things get in the way of our preparation and what we have to do to get ready to play on Sunday.”

(on playing in Peyton Manning’s shadow ) “Peyton has been a great big brother to me and very helpful in my progression as a quarterback whether through college or the NFL. He has supported me and given me any tips he could think of, especially my first couple of years. For a Christmas present, he bought me a computer that stores all our software to watch film at home. He would want to do anything for me to be a better quarterback, to help me play at a high level. He has been very helpful at that. In his case, he’s been the guy who I’ve looked up to. Not just because of what he’s done in the NFL, but since I started watching him play football when he was in the seventh grade and the starting quarterback. I didn’t miss one of his games from the time he was in seventh grade through high school. I saw every one of his games. I tried to see every college game, whether on TV or attending. He is someone who I’ve watched closely, talked to and worked with on drops and different (techniques). When he went off to college he would come back and things his coaches were teaching him in college, he would come back and teach to me when I was in eighth grade or in high school, just so I would have an advantage. We’ve had a very close relationship. I thank him for all that he’s provided me and helping me become a better quarterback.”

(on the possibility of winning a Super Bowl in Peyton Manning’s city) “I really have not thought much about playing in Indianapolis. It’s not really a time to reflect right now on that. It’s just a matter of trying to get ready for the Patriots and get ready to play this game, and get ready for their defense. We’ll look back on the fact of playing in the Super Bowl in the town where he plays for the Colts. We’ll look on that later.”

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS MEDIA SESSION - RB BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS - Ingles

Super Bowl XLVI – Monday, January 30, 2012

(on what lessons he learned from the playoff game against the Ravens) “The main lesson is just the game’s never over until it’s over and you’ve always got to go out there and compete. We’ve moved on from Baltimore and we try to learn from our mistakes in that game and just go on and get ready for the New York Giants.”

(on why the offense wasn’t as explosive in the game versus Baltimore) “It’s around that time. That’s football. There’s only four teams left at that time, but we’re not speaking on that. The thing we’re really focused on is the Giants.”

(on the challenge of the Giants run defense) “Speaking on their run defense, I mean just their defense period, they’ve been a good defense over the playoffs and the last half of the season. I mean really since they’ve played us they’ve really been playing good football over like the last four weeks of the season, five weeks of the season and on into the playoffs they just carried momentum and they picked up momentum and they are playing just about as well as anybody in the league right now.”

(on how social media has changed the way players interact with fans) “I think it’s good. It’s good because you can just reach out and just talk to someone quick and easy and fast. I think social media like the Facebooks and the Twitters and the MySpace, stuff like that is really good because you just really interact with your fans without actually being out in public or whatever.”

(on if he avoids social media after a bad game) No. Whenever you feel like picking that up and being on that is when you’re on that. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to be on that when you’re obviously upset. But, when it comes down to it, it’s not a problem.”

(on if he was surprised by QB Tom Brady’s comments at the pep rally about having a bigger celebration later) “What did he say?...I didn’t really hear what he said, so I don’t want to speak on it. I don’t know if he said hopefully or I don’t know.”

(on if he is surprised that at this point in the season media takes one thing Brady says and turns it into a big deal) “No, I think, you’ve got media from all around the country, all around the world, so everybody’s looking for something to make a story out of. I don’t make a big deal out of it, it’s just the job. That’s you all’s job.”

(on if not turning the ball over will be important in this game)”Yes, you know it’s always important. In any game that you play in, obviously, you want to win the turnover battle. That’s the number one thing that correlates to winning in this league, so that’s the thing we want to try to do.”

(on RB Danny Woodhead) “Woody, you know Woody comes to practice, he works hard. He’s extremely fast, quick. He does good things as a running back. He gets in and out of his cuts and breaks and whatever it is he does. He’s just a hard worker.”

(on how Boston’s sport franchises winning lots of titles in the past decade has brought the city together) “I think the city, not just the city of Boston, but all of the surrounding areas-the New England area-everyone is just excited. We’re always excited when the hockey team’s doing well. We just want to contribute.”

(on if that motivates him to want to win another for the city) “It’s motivation from the fans. You always have a lot of motivation, and we always, the heart is on ourselves, so we always want to go out there and be successful.”

(on if the Giants are a different team from when they last played them due to their injuries) “Yes. Over the last five weeks they’ve been playing extremely well as an offense and as a defense and on special teams. From our last game, that was all in the past. They’re playing well right now and the guys they have out there right now are playing extremely well. ”

(on if TE Aaron Hernandez will continue to line up in the backfield) “I’m not sure, whatever it takes for us to win. We have plans and things like that, but when we come out and we do whatever is working, and whatever it takes to win we’re going to do. Whether we’ve got to punt, kick, throw it or whatever we’ve got to do to come away with a ‘W’, that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

(on coming back to play in Indiana after playing in college here) “It’s important to me because this is where I actually started my career as far as college is concerned. It was the first time I was out of my element. With me being from New Orleans it what the first time I actually was out of New Orleans and out of the state of Louisiana. So coming here and actually getting a chance to come back here for the Super Bowl is great.”

(on how the first practice went today) “It’s always a little different when you’re on the road, but once you step on the field, the field is still 100 yards, 52 yards or 53 yards across. It felt like a practice field. I don’t care if we’re practicing in the back yard or wherever it’s at, I’m just excited to go out there and play ball.”

(on what he is going to do to get the MVP award) “I’m not even…we just want to go out there and perform as a team and win because any type of award you get is only because of the other 10 guys on the field with you at that particular time. It’s an award that whatever it is, it’s a team thing.”

(on why the organization does a good job with undrafted players) “I really can’t speak on any other organization because I haven’t been there, but for our organization I think our guys do a good job. The personnel department and our coaches, they find who they want for whatever they want them to be doing and we get them and we just go to work.”

(on if he had a lot of options as an undrafted free agent) “There were a lot of options out there, but at the time that was something that happened like what, four years ago, five years ago? It’s just kind of how I came to where I am right now. Just making a decision on where I want to go and my agent at the time, Roosevelt Barnes, made a decision and I trusted him and that’s where I ended up.”

(on how his job has changed over the last year with using two tight ends) “It really hasn’t changed too much. You’re asked to do the same things, but some games we might be in one thing more than we are the other, but that’s the way it works. We’re a game plan team. Whatever the game plan is for that week or whatever’s working or however we feel is best, we’re going to win. That’s what we’re going to do.”

(on how he has made it through his career without fumbling) “Just been blessed and fortunate, that’s about it. There’s no science to it because it’s something that happens. It’s a part of the game. You don’t want to have turnovers, but they happen. No one wants to go out there and fumble the ball. It’s something that just happens and I just have been blessed and fortunate. That’s the only thing I can kind of take it up to.”

(on if he feels overlooked because of how much the media makes of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski) “No, not at all. I think we have some of the best players in the league at their positions and I think we utilize them and whatever the best things they can do. They help us win a lot of football games and hopefully they can continue to do those things.”

(on the offensive line) “The offensive line’s been great all year. We’ve had different tackles in there. Guards, centers, all those guys work well together and they are a tight-knit bunch. I think that’s what kind of makes them who they are. They care about each other and they work well together.”

NEW YORK GIANTS PRESS CONFERENCE - HEAD COACH TOM COUGHLIN - Ingles

Super Bowl XLVI – Monday, January 30, 2012

(opening remarks) “Good afternoon. To the very nice people of Indianapolis that welcomed us, we say, ‘Hello from the New York Giants and thank you for the beautiful weather.’ We all packed as if we were coming into snow country, but obviously we didn’t do a very good of anticipating. We’re very happy to be here and it’s an exciting time in all our lives. We look forward to this very historical event today, and I would think that the Indianapolis fans would now become Giants fans and support the Giants as well. We’ve been in anticipation of this, in coming out here to Indianapolis, of getting started on this wonderful Super Bowl week, of conducting our meetings and practices here and acclimating our players to the surroundings and having an opportunity to get over to the stadium tomorrow for media day. We’re excited to get things started.”

(on what P Steve Weatherford has brought to the table for the Giants) “He’s done an outstanding job. We knew him as an excellent athlete and have done our homework on Steve. Obviously, he’s a guy who comes very well prepared, energetic, an exceptional weight room worker, and a good example for a conditioning guy to be honest with you. All you need to do is look outside my office window and there he is; Mondays, Tuesdays he’s out there running and doing extra conditioning. We knew him as a very versatile punter. He’s come on and he’s worked very hard to be the style of punter that we would employ as a Giant punter, and he’s done a good job of that. He’s become proficient as a directional punter, and I think he’s improved as the year has gone along. He adds an element of excitement to our team in that he’s been in four championship games and not advanced to the Super Bowl. He’s very, very excited to be a part of this Super Bowl team.”

(on his relationship with New England head coach Bill Belichick while they coached together with the Giants) “Well documented, but nevertheless Bill and I were assistant coaches together back on the Giants teams. I was not with the ’86 team. I was fortunate enough to come in and be hired by Bill Parcells in 1988, and I was a part of the ‘88, ’89, and ’90 New York Giants, and of course a Super Bowl championship in 1990-91. Bill was the defensive coordinator and the secondary coach while I was the receivers coach. What we did was, early on there was a certain amount of competitiveness about the positions and the interaction of the positions. More than that, there was a spirit of cooperation. We helped each other and would act as each other’s scout squad. We would take advantage during training camp of any opportunity we were given to work against each other, whether it be red zone work, one-on-one, or whatever. We would show him the design that he wanted to see, and he would show us the coverage that he wanted to see. We worked well together, and I think it was a very good thing for our staff to be honest with you because our cooperation was outstanding. Both sides, the secondary and receiving corps, benefitted from it.”

(on what he admires about Belichick’s coaching style and whether it changes how he prepares for the Patriots) “I certainly do admire him, and he’s done an outstanding job. He’s an exceptional football coach, and I’ve said that before. The style and the preparation…Bill is going to work very hard, as we are, at showing you something and it really isn’t what you think it is. You really have to add an element of that into how you prepare. He’s always been an exceptional defensive coach trained by the best, by Parcells. He’s also become an outstanding offensive coach and Tom Brady has helped him to really diversify and get into areas offensively that only lead to the particular strengths of the individuals involved, and he’s done a very good job of that. He’s always been an outstanding special teamer because he was a special teams coach at one time.”

(on what he learned from former Giants head coach Bill Parcells and how his coaching style has evolved to relate with today’s players) “From Parcells, the thing that I admire mostly from Bill Parcells to George Young, Mr. Mara when I had the opportunity to tell him, was the belief in continuity, the stability. There were very few peaks and valleys. There was a feeling of pressure; the finger was always on the coaching staff and how they prepared their team and how the players responded to that. Ultimately, anyone who was around Parcells for any length of time learned how to win. That’s the biggest thing I took away from it. When I left the head coach of the New York Giants and became the head coach at Boston College, it was an ideal time for me because I had just come off a Super Bowl championship. My confidence was very high and I believed in how our system worked and the infinite details that went into coaching assignments and working with players, etc. That’s the way my head coaching opportunities began. I think you always stimulate yourself and you’re always trying to improve. No matter what year it is and what the circumstance is, what I’ve always done is taken an offseason and launched myself into something that I can improve upon that our staff and our players can benefit from. That’s how it’s evolved for me.”

(on what a second championship would do to his and quarterback Eli Manning’s legacy) “I think for Eli it would be a great endorsement for the quality of football player he is, what kind of football season he has had, and what he means to our football team and our franchise. The second part of that is, it’s not about me. That’s the furthest thing from my mind is how this enhances my legacy or whatever term you used. That’s nowhere near anything that I am thinking about right now. What I’m concerned with is the concentration of our players, putting ourselves in the best frame of mind that we can possibly be, preparing our team to the best of our ability, and then playing exceptionally well, as best as we possibly can.”

(on how he is able to set boundaries with players who are outspoken and say things about the team without crossing the line) “I think that, first and foremost, what you want to try and accomplish is that if a player has something he wants to say about the way business is being done, then come in, sit down, and talk to me. That’s the basic bottom line. Players have personalities and they are who they are. You want a certain amount of that on your football team, but you don’t want someone who puts themselves in a position to hurt your team. So, there’s a standard there with how flexible you are. I thought that Michael Strahan, once he got to know us and know what our program was all about, he was a tremendous supporter of it and he did a great job as our defensive captain.”

(on how valuable prior Super Bowl experience is) “I think it’s important. What we have is a nucleus of guys who can relate to the younger players, who can talk to them now and have been talking to them for the last week, about how to conduct themselves in this environment, how to know exactly what’s coming, how to deal with distractions and deal with all of the issues coming up from family and tickets and those type of things, trying to get that taken care of before we even come out here so that the player has no distractions out here whatsoever. The furthermore, the buildup to the football game, no matter how you want to put it, presented is something that these young guys have never, never gone through. Just the day of the Super Bowl and then the time on the field, if you’re not comfortable with your team and making them understand that there is a lot of nervous energy that can be spent without actually accomplishing anything. I think there is any number of ways. Mostly, it’s about attitude. Mostly, it’s about where if you’re in a position that the young player is responsive and he will listen to some of the players that have gone through this before…Eli stood up in the team meeting the other day and said a lot of things that were responded to not only by the young kids, but by the veterans as well. I think that the information gathering and sharing of information from someone who has been there and succeeded, that can be extremely valuable.”

(on why the Giants decided to travel to Indianapolis today rather than yesterday and whether the flight seemed like a normal road trip or a trip to the Super Bowl) “First of all, this is the path that we followed four years ago. I thought it was a very good one and it came from research that I had done prior to setting the exact schedule. I felt that our players, because of arriving here when we do and because of media day tomorrow, have plenty of time to be accumulated to the hotel, to the setting, to the meeting rooms. You see these guys walking around now trying to find their way around. That’ll all be taken care of when we go to work on Wednesday. I just felt like this whole process was very good, and the way in which our schedule was established. I thought it was very good for us the last time we did it. We tinkered with it a little bit here and there, with the circumstances that we have been dealt with meeting rooms and that type of thing, but for the most part, the schedule remains the same. The flight started out like a day in which we were making a normal travel to a game, and you kind of have to catch yourself realizing you have a lot of work to do throughout the course of the week. I think the players were excited. When we got on the plane, it was the video cameras and all of that stuff. They’re excited about it.”

(on how QB Eli Manning has performed this season and proved he is an elite quarterback) “The best thing that I can say to answer that question is his response when he was asked probably about the hundredth time that he was asked about that whole situation is, ‘Look, I’m trying to be the best quarterback that I can possibly be and to help our team win.’ And I thought, ‘Boom, that’s the answer.’ I congratulated him on his response and I told the whole team about it. I think it’s a good one. He’s never ever been anything less than a top one to me, and that’s all I care about. I certainly felt…I don’t know if I got the entire story on it. What I really heard is this business about him being elite, and he is elite, period.”

(on his level of concern of his team being in the middle of the downtown area) “Look, for me to be concerned with something that I didn’t have anything to do with doesn’t make any sense to me. We try to make our team aware of what it means being located in the center of town and what it means to be in a community where no matter where they go and whatever restaurant they’re in, everyone is going to know who they are and that can be a good thing. You just have to make sure that you understand the circumstances and you go forth as a pro.”

(on what has brought slot receivers into the forefront the past couple of seasons) “It certainly is a matchup thing, but obviously the better that you are at that spot, particularly with the underneath routes and the things that you can do to beat the one-on-one coverage and the quickness with which the ball can be released by the quarterback. If you’re good enough and quick enough to get yourself in the middle of the field when the safeties divide, you provide the quarterback with an awful lot of weaponry. With Wes Welker, it certainly seems that the position has been made for his outstanding quickness and his ability to win the matchups and get on top against two-deep. In Victor Cruz, you have the same kind of young guy who has exceptional quickness and is learning as he goes along here and has had an exceptional year as he learns more about how to play at an NFL level.”

(on how Coach Belichick’s diverse strategies with personnel and game planning, and how difficult that is to plan for) “I think that’s what we all try and strive for. There’s always some kind of wrinkle that you have to try and defend and prepare for. Bill does an exceptional job of that. He’s a football coach, and you have to prepare for the whole deal.”

(on the biggest change or adjustment he has made since the Jacksonville era) “Probably patience. Picking my spots better in terms of the spontaneity that perhaps I would utilize in terms of trying to correct something right away. Maybe waiting and picking my spot. Mainly, I think it’s more patience.”

(on beating the Patriots on two last-minute drives the last two times they have met) “If I got the question right, each year is a different year and each team is a different team. Certainly the Patriots have been able to prove that they’ve been able to drive the ball at the end of the game and win, and fortunately so have the Giants.”

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS PRESS CONFERENCE - HEAD COACH BILL BELICHICK - Ingles

Super Bowl XLVI – Monday, January 30, 2012

(Opening statement) “We just got off of the practice field. We were in pads today. We had a good, crisp workout. I think we got a few things done. As I said yesterday, the Giants are a tough team to prepare for. They really do a good job with all of the different schemes they have, and the players they have present a big challenge for us. It’s good to get underway down here. It is a nice facility over there that the Colts have. We will get some film done this afternoon and get back at it on Wednesday.”

(on why the Patriots had a padded practice today) “We felt like it would be the best way for us to prepare for the game.”

(on what he admires about Giants head coach Tom Coughlin and how much of Bill Parcells he sees in Coughlin) “I respect a lot of things about Tom – his evaluation of talent, the way he attacks teams, his consistency, his discipline, his team’s toughness, their resiliency – I would say all of those things. Bill (Parcells) has a lot of those characteristics as a coach. I don’t know who rubs off on whom. That was the way Tom was as an assistant coach. He was very disciplined and very detail-oriented. He demanded a lot from his players. He was fair, but firm, like he is now. Tom is a good guy, and he has a good sense of humor. He is a good guy to be around. On the practice field and the game field, you have a job to do. He was demanding of them in a good way. There is a lot of Bill Parcells in that, too. He is demanding. He can shoot the needle in there to you a little bit, and get a little dig in. He expects a lot. He has high expectations. There is a different style, but some similarities as a coach. I don’t know how much one rubbed off on the other, as much as it’s kind of the way they are.”

(on what has allowed Vince Wilfork to play so much) “Vince is a very good athlete as we can see from all of those interception returns, all of his open-field running and those kinds of plays. I made a big mistake his rookie year when I made a bet with the team about a night off, or not giving them a night off. I put Vince back there to catch a punt. He has soft hands, and you can hear the ball hit his hands. He is a really good athlete. He has the ability to play on all three downs. Last year, we had some injuries, and I’d say he was forced into it a little bit because of our lack of depth on the defensive line. This year, he takes a lot of pride about not coming off the field, which I love in a defensive lineman. I love that they want to be out there on every play. They are not looking to come out. Shaun Ellis is like that. All of those years with the Jets, and a lot of those going back to the Giants, Jim Burt and Leonard (Marshall) didn’t want to come off the field. That’s the way Vince’s attitude is. He is in good condition. Out at practice today during the offensive period, he’s running sprints back and forth across the field, working on his conditioning. There is a week to go in the season, and I think that’s indicative of his competitiveness, his desire to be good and consistently be good week after week during the entire season. You can talk about his appearance. He doesn’t have the classic appearance. He is a good athlete. He is in good shape, and he works really hard. He can play a lot of plays, and he plays them well, too. I think those plays he made at the end of the Baltimore game last week on third and 3, when he made the stop on the trap play. Fourth and 5, he got a hold of (Joe) Flacco, and he threw it away. Those were getting into the 60-play numbers late in the fourth quarter when we had to have it when the whole game was on the line, and he made two critical plays there.”

(on former players’ opinions saying they would use the loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII as revenge) “You can talk to all of those guys. Their opinions are their opinions. But I see this game as this game. There aren’t all that many people who played in the last game four years ago. This team is this team. I think our team is different than what it was at midseason and different from what it was in December. I think the Giants are a different team than when we played them in November, and I think they are a different team than where they were in early December. This game, the elements of it are what we have in front of us, not what happened two months ago or what happened two years ago or four years ago.”

(on OT Sebastian Vollmer, a native of Germany) “Sebastian has gotten a lot better over the last few weeks. He came out of his cast, I’d say, before the Denver game. And then he practiced last week before the Baltimore game, and I would say he was close, but obviously, he wasn’t ready to go, and we didn’t activate him. This week, he is further along than where he was before the Denver game. He practiced today, so we will see how the week goes and see how he holds up. But I think there is definitely a possibility. We will just have to see how he tolerates the added work. If he does well, then I will think you will see him. If not, then it will be where it was in Baltimore. I don’t know if we will know about that until we put him through the full week of practice. He is definitely making progress, so he is getting there.”

(on if there was one thing he learned between his stints as head coach with Cleveland and New England) “I don’t think there was any one thing. To me, I learn something every day, a lot of things. It is a constant process. After the 1995 season in Cleveland, I came to New England and had a great year here in 1996 working defensively with Al (Groh), Romeo (Crennel), Dante (Scarnecchia), coach (Bill) Parcells and our entire offensive staff. I certainly learned a lot that year being around Bill for three years with basically the same staff that had moved down to New York. All of the things that you do as a head coach, when you become an assistant coach again, you understand more what the head coach is going through when you have been a head coach, than when you are an assistant coach and you haven’t had that responsibility. It was a great learning experience for me. Bill was very generous in some of the information and experiences he shared with me during those four years from 1996 to 1999 – the situations he was dealing with, the things that would come up with the team and how you would handle this and how you would handle that. Our relationship is a little bit different because I had been a head coach. He would say, ‘Look, you’ve been a head coach. Here is the situation. How would you handle this or that?’ And I would watch him handle it. I have a little different perspective on it than I had during those years with the Giants when I wasn’t a head coach, and I probably didn’t fully understand some of the dynamics of various decisions, whether it was personnel decisions or – as it was in the 1990s – salary-cap decisions, strategic decisions and logistics and planning. It was certainly a great learning experience for me from a different point of view. I think I knew a lot more then than I knew in the 1980s when I was with with the Giants. Some of the same things came up, but I didn’t have the same perspective. So I wouldn’t say it was one thing, it was a culmination of things. Honestly, as a head coach of a professional football team, you make hundreds of decisions every day. I can’t talk to everyone on the team and sit down to have a long conversation with them. Some guys you talk to, some guys you don’t. You can say things one way, and you can say them a different way. You make decisions on strategy, make decisions on personnel, make decisions on motivation and practice reps – all of those kinds of things. There are a lot of things on a daily basis, that as the head coach, you are involved in. People come to you and say, ‘How do you want to do it? This way, or that way? Do you have a feeling on this?’ You can make a decision to turn it over to them. Whatever you think is best, that’s what you do, or you can say, ‘I prefer A over B, C over D.’ It’s not just one thing. There are a lot of different elements to it.”

(on what Deion Branch has meant to the team) “I can’t speak for anyone else’s recognition, but from my standpoint and the team’s standpoint, I think everyone knows how important Deion is to our to our football team, to our offense and our passing game. He does a lot of things. He handles a lot of different responsibilities as far as where he lines up, his position and his assignments. He has a great route tree in terms of the number and variety of routes that he runs. He has great confidence in his relationship with Tom (Brady) because of their experience together. I couldn’t imagine anybody on the team not thinking that Deion Branch has a tremendous importance to our football team. I don’t care if they play offense, defense or wash towels, I just can’t imagine that anybody would think that. Maybe a lot of people out there do, but I can’t imagine anyone on our football team would feel that way. He does a great job for us. Plays like in the Denver game on the long touchdown play, I don’t know how many guys make that play for us. It was a clear-out route, but it wasn’t a clear-out route. Tom (Brady) saw it and Deion saw it, and it turned into a long touchdown. Deion does a lot of things. Blocking, people don’t give him credit for that. Deion has done a good job blocking for us this year. I look at him and say he looks like a great blocker, but he is an effective blocker. He’s done a great job. The running backs appreciate him.”

(on Rob Gronkowski’s status) “He didn’t practice today.”

(on what he appreciates about this team that gives him confidence going into the Super Bowl) “I would say that one of the good things about this team is their consistency. They come to work every day, they are ready to work. This team overall, they come to work, they are ready to work and they go to work. There is not a lot of ‘We’ve got to get things started, things going. We are just going through the motions.’ There hasn’t been a lot of that. I respect their consistency. I respect their mental toughness, their physical toughness and their ability to put things behind them and move ahead to the next challenge – daily, weekly, after a bad play and moving on to the next play, whether that is in practice or in games. We’ve been behind, we’ve had some bad plays in practice, but they get over it. They move on to the next thing, and try to make the next thing better and don’t get bogged down by something that didn’t go well.”

(on lessons he learned working with the Giants coaching staff) “It was awesome. We had a great staff and great players. One of the biggest things I learned, that I can’t do today, but I know, is how tough those players were. We practiced every day in pads, every single day in pads. There were years that we practiced every single day on the turf before we had the grass practice fields up there on the hill, or it was being rebuilt or something happened. How we did 9-on-7, which is a good-tempo running drill, and how we did that on a regular basis. In training camp, we went out in pads every day. We hit every day. We did 9-on-7 every day. There was no way Bill (Parcells) would go out on the field without doing 9-on-7. We’d skip stretching before we’d skip 9-on-7. Going back to last year, and even this year, going out in pads, working on 9-on-7, having more contact work in practice, we’d get that look a little bit like, ‘I don’t know if the players can do it.’ I’m thinking to myself, ‘Can’t do it?’ We were in pads on Fridays with the Giants, and nobody said anything. That’s the way it was. You went out there and practiced. I know what players are capable of doing because of how demanding we were with them from a physical standpoint, and that certainly didn’t lessen their aggressiveness or their toughness in games. That was a physical defense. That was a physical offensive line. Even getting ready for the Super Bowl against Buffalo, the way we ran the ball in that game. That started on the practice field with the tempo in practice. When you get those guys crashing into each other – Jumbo (Elliott) and Mark Bavaro blocking (Lawrence) Taylor, (Carl) Banks, (Jim) Burt and all them – they just lined up and played football. I know it was a different era, but it will never be like that again. I learned players can be tough, they can be physical, they can do more than they think they can do from that standpoint. Those were valuable lessons, because I can say before I got to New York, and coach (Ray) Perkins was like that, too, we had tough, physical practices, too. He definitely set the tone. When I got there in 1979, relative to what the Giants had done previous to that, it was kind of a country-club atmosphere, from what I understood. I wasn’t there. It was a little bit different than what I had been used to. I learned a lot from the mental and physical toughness standpoint that Ray, and then Bill, built their teams with. Maybe I took it a little too far in Cleveland, I don’t know. It was kind of the same thing when I got there. People said that we were too demanding and we were doing too much. I was thinking to myself, ‘I was with the Giants for 12 years. I saw this every day for 12 years. Don’t tell me we can’t go out there and have 9-on-7 two days in a row. I know we can.’ ”