On how he felt physically Monday: "I was sore, both my ankle and my knee. But that's to be expected after any game really, just to be a little bit sore. I was definitely sore."

On whether he was more sore than usual:"No."

* On whether he thinks he could handle a comparable workload throughout the rest of the season:*
"If it came down to that and I was being successful like I was in this past game, then yeah. I still think our team is the strongest when a lot of people touch the ball: receivers, running backs, different things like that, but if it comes down to me carrying the ball or touching the ball that many times, then I'm open to doing that."

On why they finally start running the ball when they get in a situation where they are forced to run it:"I don't call the plays, man. I just run them. You have to ask those questions to the guy that calls the plays."

On what he is looking to do when a play breaks down and he sees QB Donovan McNabb start scrambling: "I think on a cover play, I remember one in particular that we ran, it was a screen, so a lot of the defenders, they were trying to stop the screen. And so Don just scrambled, and I really, at that point when I saw that I wasn't going to be able to cut the screen, I just started blocking for him and he had a clear lane to the sideline. I believe it was in the fourth quarter. Any time a defense has to try and stop the running back, the wide receivers, and try to keep their eye on the quarterback, is very tough to do. They've been kind of forgetting about Don a little bit, so he's been able to get some yards running the ball."

On whether it is good to see McNabb running the ball again:"It is good because it's helping our team. He's a very good player when he does it, and that kind of makes a difference between him and some of the other elite quarterbacks in the league. But that running ability is something special."

* On what difference he has seen in McNabb's game the last couple of weeks:*
"I think probably the biggest thing for me, and I don't think he approaches the game any differently, but I think as a team, we have taken some of the pressure off him. He hasn't had to carry the team every single game, which he is definitely capable of doing, but we have a very good football team and he shouldn't feel like he needs to carry this team every week."

On RB Correll Buckhalter coming back this week:"I'm sure he'll play a lot. I'm sure he'll get some carries too. I'm excited to have him back. [He's] another big time player, another important player that we have to help us win this football game."

On how McNabb has responded to being benched:"He's always been positive. He's remained that way. He still remains as a leader of this team and is a person that everybody on this team really looks at as a leader and goes to for advice and different things. That situation with being benched, of course, I'm sure it was one of those situations that made him sad and depressed or mad or whatever, but he came back to work, worked hard and continues to be that leader and he helped us win those last two games."

On whether he thinks the entire offense took it upon themselves to play better after McNabb was benched:"I think guys started playing better, so I don't know if it was just because Donovan got benched, but those last couple of games guys have played better."

* On whether McNabb's benching affected him personally:*
"I just knew that I needed to take my level of play to another level. I wasn't able to really help him out a lot getting a couple of carries, a couple of yards. I just wasn't helping him enough in order for him to be the effective quarterback that we all know he can be. He needs a running back that is going to help him, and I wasn't doing my job well enough at that time."

On whether it's a coincidence that his numbers have gone up since McNabb was benched: "I don't think so. I think coach is taking some of the pressure off him. He's not throwing 50 passes a game. He's giving us an opportunity to run, and the offensive line is getting into it as well, other receivers and things like that. So, I think that just taking that pressure off him has kind of helped him out."

* On whether he has had to push through more pain than usual lately:*
"I push through pain every day, every game. So, it's really the same things every week of trying to get to the point where you get to the beginning of the game where you get the juices flowing and get ready to play."

On whether he had any idea that he would get as many touches in the game as he did against the Giants: "No. I didn't know. Coach didn't really say anything to me about it. At that time, I think what happened was we were having some success early on, and when you are having success it helps you out a lot to call those plays again."

On how important it was for McNabb to stay positive:"It's very important. Like I said before, he's a team leader. He's a guy that everybody depends on, so to have him down in the dumps and not talking and not helping anybody out, it probably would have hurt the team a lot more than it would have helped the team. He didn't allow that to happen. He came back. He was ready to play. He was ready to lead the team, and he did a good job at it."

On what he remembers about the atmosphere around here in 2006:"A lot of excitement, a lot of confidence with this football team, confidence in things that we could do. We were playing at a high level at that time, and I think that it's similar to where we are playing at now. We still have to continue to prove it every single week, and I think that's the struggle that we are going through now of going out there and playing every single week, not looking past any one team but winning every single week."

On whether his 14 touchdowns so far this season is special to him: "It's special. I think I've had a few games where I've had more than one or two touchdowns, which is good. I'm starting to get more touches in those red zone areas, red zone touches and have some more big plays. And it's been something that I've tried to work on, tried to get better at, and I'm glad that it's paying off."

* On whether the franchise touchdown record would be one that he would like to have:*
"(Jokingly) I'd like to have all the records, so yeah."