Injuries: "On the injury front, (G) Shawn Andrews is back in town. He's working with (head athletic trainer) Rick (Burkholder). I have not put him on IR. He's still rehabbing and we're just going to see how he does here over the next bit. We can always make that decision later. I want to see how he reacts to the rehab here. (RB) Correll Buckhalter will not practice today with a MCL sprain. He has run the last couple of days, however, he's not ready to go at this time. Everyone else will go at practice and looks pretty good."
Opening remarks: "We look forward to the challenge of playing the Giants. We understand how good of a football team they are. We respect them. It's important that we take care of business here and that, for whatever's happening there, we don't worry about that. We worry about getting ourselves right and making sure that we play the best possible game that we can play."
On whether the team has made a roster move regarding G Max Jean-Gilles' injury: "Yeah, (T) Chris Patrick is going to move up with the varsity team. We've signed a fellow, (G Tala) Esera, to the practice squad; another offensive lineman."
On what Patrick has shown while he was on the practice squad: "I haven't seen him play any games here, but in practice, he seems to be a tough kid. It looks like he has a feel for the pass game, the pass blocking. He looks to be strong in the run game, from what I've seen. I haven't seen much, but those are his high points."
On the situation regarding New York WR Plaxico Burress: "I'm not going to get into all that. I have no time to think about that 'if.' You have to take care of business here in all areas."
On how much the long week has helped players like RB Brian Westbrook: "I think it helped him. I think it helped a whole group of guys. Brian will practice today and feels pretty good. I think, from that standpoint, it's helped him. It's important that we keep the swelling down and manage it, but it's good to have him out there practicing."
On QB Donovan McNabb and his wife having kids and whether he will practice: "Yeah, Donovan's here. Don had twins, a boy and a girl, and everybody's doing well. I don't worry as much about Donovan as I do about his wife. (Jokingly) Don had the easy job."
On whether McNabb said that he would like to talk about his benching at Baltimore: "I didn't hear that. We've talked, since then. I didn't know anything about that."
On whether he has talked to McNabb since the game at Baltimore: "I talk to him every day."
On whether he has talked with McNabb about his decision to take McNabb out at Baltimore: "I talk to him every day. Nothing's come up about that."
On whether he thinks it's important to talk with McNabb about his decision at Baltimore: "I'll deal with that with Donovan. I don't know anything about that part."
On whether this game at New York is important because of its potential playoff implications: "I know I've repeated this, but I look at every game during the season as a playoff game. I think they're all important. This one, obviously, you have a rival. You have two good football teams playing each other, NFC East opponents, and I think it's important. We need to concentrate on playing good football, not everything else. Concentrate on what we can control, and that's being the best football team we can be on Sunday."
On whether it's a common thread that his teams usually finish a season strong: "I guess there is. I can't tell you why, but yeah, there is. I can't tell you why, though."
On what New York is missing with Plaxico Burress suspended for four games: "Plaxico is a good football player. You're talking about a Pro Bowl player, but they have other guys who are also good football players. That's how it works. It looks like the other guy stepped in, (WR Domenik) Hixon, the guy stepped in and played well. Every time he's down, the other guys do a good job."
On how difficult it is to follow a Super Bowl appearance with another good season and what qualities the Giants have that they are able to do that: "They've done a great job of marinating that momentum. It started with the Super Bowl win and they've worked through injuries, and so on, and have done a nice job with it. It probably starts with the head coach (Tom Coughlin) and the leaders on that football team. They've stepped up and kept it going."
On how hard it is to do that: "It's not easy. By record, it's not easy, of the different teams that haven't done well. For the most part, they've kept the controversy out and their players playing."
On playing a team twice in one season and how much he tweaks the gameplan from the first game: "You evaluate the film and you're, obviously, not going to show them the same things. Those are the things that teams normally work on. They've changed up some things over the last three games, and we have too, so we'll try to cover those and cover the things that we think they do best, on both sides of the ball and special teams."
On whether he gets caught up in negativity from the public and the media: "I don't even go there, that's why I answer the questions the way I do. I try to stay as focused as I can on the things that I can control and that our players can control. Whatever outside distractions you have, you have to narrow it down and focus on the plays. That's really what it comes down to, your performance on each play and, really, nothing else matters after that when you really break it down."
On whether it's possible to keep everyone on the same page when there is that negativity: "People are people. No matter how you look at it, everybody complains about the officials, everybody complains about the broadcasters, and this and that. There's a human error in anything that you're dealing with humans on. Sometimes there are going to be things that happen and you just deal with it and stay as focused as you can."
On the Eagles' (0-5) record in replay challenges this year: "(Jokingly) I appreciate you reminding me about that. It's not very good. Obviously, we're not doing very well with it. I have looked at it and I really don't like being (0-5), so we'll see if we can't do better here."
On whether he thinks the replay system is flawed: "I'm not going to get into all that. We can do better. We can do better and I'm responsible for all of them. Some of them, I don't listen as well as I should and, other ones, we think we see something and it's not quite it. Sometimes, according to the situation, if it's that close, you take that risk of doing it."
On whether he understands how some people view Sunday's game as a watershed game for the franchise: "I don't go there. We have to prepare ourselves. All that stuff, why worry about that? You can't worry about that. You have to worry about that football team that you're playing and you have to worry that you have your assignments right and make sure you're in the best physical shape you can be in, and so on. That's where your energy goes. It's not about the other things that you can't control."
On the close score vs. the Giants on November 9th and whether that gives him confidence going into this game: "We had an opportunity to win, I will say that. We had the ball in our hands on the last drive and we didn't get it done."
On how much of a difference he's seen in the defense since LB Akeem Jordan began starting: "He's done a nice job. He's played well. I'm not going to sit up here and bash (LB) Omar (Gaither). Omar's a good football player, but Akeem's done a nice job over there."
On what Jordan's strengths are: "He has a great feel for the game and has very good instincts for where the ball is going in the run game and the pass game. He has a nice feel for the game."
On whether Jordan will start again this week: "Yeah, he'll start."
On C/G Nick Cole's fitness level: "I think he'll be fine. He's always had pretty good endurance when it comes to the tests that we do before we start camp. He's always right up there in the front of the pack and he's able to handle his weight pretty well. I wouldn't expect anything different."
On how important the trench battle is in the upcoming game: "I've said this before, I probably say it every week, it all starts up front. I would probably say that every week, that it starts up front. This is no different. We've got a very good defensive line and we've got a good offensive line. We have to do a good job there."
On whether the trenches is where the first game against New York was lost: "Normally, if you come up short or one phase of the game isn't working, you go back and you're either not putting the guys in the right position or they're getting overpowered in one phase or the other. I thought they played fairly well the last time we played them and it's important that they play well again."
On what makes New York's offensive line so good: "I think they have good players and I think they have great communication. It's not a complex scheme, but what they do, they do well; and the run game part of it. I think they're coached very well and they function very well together in all their combination blocks and power blocks. I think they do a nice job."
On whether New York's offensive line is as good as any in the league: "I think they're right up there with the top offensive lines, yeah."
