Giants Daily Blitz Blog

Locker Room: Preparing for Baltimore

QB Eli Manning
On comparing this team to last year’s…
“I think you have to prepare for this year and understand what our circumstances are and who are players are, we have different teammates and different guys and it’s a new season and we just got our confidence will come from the players that we have in this locker room. Our character, our inspiration, our coaches getting us a great game plan and the fact that we can go out there and play at a high level.”

DE Jason Pierre-Paul
On finishing the season strong…
“This is a playoff game for us, we have to win or otherwise we out. The guys know it, I know it, and I’m going to give it my best shot.”

Inside the Locker Room: Prepping for Redskins

QB Eli Manning
On game plan against Redskins…
“I think we need to protect the football. They do a good job on defense at getting turnovers. They do a good job at getting pressure so we have to protect the ball offensively and be patient. Hopefully we’ll have the right calls at the right times and hit some big plays.”

Safety Antrel Rolle
On Sunday night sparking a run…
“Sunday night was huge for us. It got the bad taste out of our mouth for the last two games. More importantly, it put us on a positive step going into this game. We need this game extremely bad. This is a division opponent. The Washington Redskins always play us extremely tough, and we’re just trying to go out there and get a win any way we can.”

WR Hakeem Nicks
On how he’s feeling…
“I feel like this time of the year, [nobody is] feeling great. It’s football. It’s a contact sport. So we throw our bodies around. I don’t think anybody is going to be feeling great, but I do feel good at this point in the year than I have in the past”

WR Victor Cruz
On WR Nicks’ return…
“Just from an energy standpoint, I mean, you can just feel when he’s out there. There’s a different energy. When he’s talking to us, you know he’s out there on the field and it’s good to have him back…These last couple weeks have been positive even though they weren’t wins…”

Inside the Locker Room: After the Bye

WR Victor Cruz
On playing after the bye week…
“I’m kind of anxious to get back out on that field and play some football again. It feels like forever since we’ve been out there, so we’re excited about it. We know that we’re in a little bit of a funk, but it’s a brand new season, we feel like, and we just want to attack it head on.”

WR Hakeem Nicks
On Packers revenge for last season’s playoff loss…
“We’re not really focused on what they’re trying to do, we’re focused on what we got to do.”

Safety Kenny Phillips
On Giants chemistry in last year’s playoff run…
“We’re definitely trying to get back to that and hopefully it’ll show this week.”

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Inside the Locker Room: Cincinnati Bound

WR Victor Cruz
On today’s practice…
“Practice went well today, had a good rhythm to it…we’re building on the timing aspect of it which I thought we lacked a little bit so today was a good day, it felt good. It felt clean, it felt crisp.”

Safety Antrel Rolle
On Bengals 4-game losing skid…
“I approach every opponent the same way, it’s an NFL team. You’re never guaranteed anything in this league. Anything can happen on any given Sunday…just looking to play ball, get back on track.”

WR Domenik Hixon
On Bengals secondary vets…
“You’re going up against great competition, you know that, they got a lot of first round guys and a lot of vets in their secondary so like I said we’re going to go out there and compete.”

Inside the Locker Room: Prepping for Pittsburgh

The Giants got back to work on Wednesday and began preparing to host the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 9…

QB Eli Manning
On focusing on the upcoming game…
“It was interesting. Obviously a lot of wind and some water coming through, but we made it through safely, the most important thing. Now the focus is obviously getting ready to play a football game. So it’s good to get everybody back in here and get the team together and understand we’ve got to get ready to play a game.”

LB Mark Herzlich
On possibly taking more snaps during the game…
“I am. As I said earlier, it’s a lot of the same preparation  I mean I’m always prepared to go in if need be, but the practice preparation will be a lot different. You know, getting the snaps during practice and getting mentally and physically more prepared to be in the game.”

LB Michael Boley
On spending more time together at the Giants facilities after the storm…
“I think it brings everyone closer together, you see guys come in, checking on each other, seeing if everything is alright, you know ‘How’s your family doing?’. I think stuff like that, brings us closer as a group.”

Inside the Locker Room: Heading to Dallas

DE Jason Pierre Paul
On containing Tony Romo…
“He’s an elusive quarterback, basically. He’s not like a Michael Vick, he’s not like an RGIII. He does have some elusive skills and you have to be careful when you’re rushing him.”

WR Victor Cruz
On Week One performance…
“I don’t really think about that game very much, I just want to continue playing the same way I’ve been playing these past couple of weeks. Put some positive things out there, so that’s what I’m focused on now not Game One.”

WR Hakeem Nicks
On recovery since Week One…
“I look at the San Fran game, then look at the Redskins game, I ran a whole lot better than I did that first game. Each week, I get a lot better.”

Tackle Will Beatty
On traveling to Dallas…
“We play against great teams every week, going down there and their home crowd, you got the noise advantage on their side but it’s still football.”

Inside the Locker Room: Prepping for the Redskins

DE Justin Tuck: 
On a difficult matchup…
“The game is going to come down to the wire, a game we’re going to have to play our best ball to have a chance to win and they’re going to be motivated too…”

Safety Antrel Rolle: 
On containing the Redskins’ offensive weapons…
“You know they’re a great football team. They beat us twice last year and they’ll be a better football team this year, so we definitely have our work cut out for those guys. They bring a lot of things to the offensive board…”

WR Victor Cruz: 
On being motivated after two losses last year… 
“It’s a new year and it’s a new team and you should be motivated to play any division foe so I think that in itself should be motivation for us”

DE Jason Pierre-Paul:
On preventing big plays… 
“We’re going to make the play calls that try and stop everything they’re doing and you know, it’s going to be a hard game, like I said last week, it’s going to be a hard game. Each game that we play is hard so we’re just going to go out there and play our best football.”

Inside the Locker Room: Facing a Physical Team

Safety Antrel Rolle
On if the game will be a tough, physical battle… 
“That’s the way it’s been, that’s the way it’s always going to be. Two physical teams, two physical defenses going about them and that’s the way it always goes down between us.”

RB Ahmad Bradshaw
On how the 49ers defense looks…
“They’re physical, they shed blocks well and they retreat well if the ball gets behind them. They’re physical  and like I said, we’re up for that task.”

LB Mathias Kiwanuka
On what he sees from the 49ers…
“That’s what you see when you watch them on film. Defensively, they’ve got a tendency to get into a mode where they can dominate and their offense is very effective…both sides of the ball, we’ve got to make sure we play our strongest game.”

Inside the Locker Room: Ready for a Tough Matchup

WR Victor Cruz
On Eli’s toughness in the NFC Championship game last year…
“It was inspirational for me, seeing him pick himself up off the ground time and time again and just being strong and going through the game and understanding that it’s going to be a knockdown fight and that we just have to keep pushing and keep going.”

DE Jason Pierre-Paul
On facing the 49ers again….
“You know, they’re motivated to beat us. I know, they’ve got a chip on their shoulders…after all we did beat them in the conference championship game and we’re going to go back there and they’re going to give us their all and we’re going to get ready for it and it’s going to be a fight. [They’re] probably the toughest team we’re going to play this year. It’s going to be a good game.”

Tackle Will Beatty
On being overlooked….
“It happens a lot with us, you see we have injuries, Giants are up and down and it’s like no one really sees it and then we go out there and it’s like we, we know what we got in this locker room and we’re just going out there and playing for each other.”

WR Domenik Hixon
On returning to San Francisco…
“It’s going to be a physical, four quarter game. There’s no doubt about it and we’re coming in with that mindset, that it’s going to be physical for four quarters.”

Inside the Locker Room: Back to San Francisco

LB Chase Blackburn
His thoughts on the last time the Giants played the 49ers…
“Defensive battle, that’s the first thing that comes to my mind. Just the struggle to get any yards or points that game.”

DT Markus Kuhn:
On the Giants never giving up…
“I actually told Kiwi yesterday, it’s really great to be part of a team like this where you’re down 14 points, it’s not like anybody seems to worry. You’re like “okay, we know what we have to do, we just keep calm and play the way we’re playing”, I bet there are a lot of teams out there down 14-0 and they pretty much fold, and just pack it up…”

OG Kevin Boothe
On Eli’s toughness during 2011-12 NFC Championship Game
“We never doubted it, I guess in an ideal world you guys still would be questioning his toughness because he would never have got hit. It’s one of those things, it’s football. He’s a tough guy, we know he’s a tough guy but we’d like for him to hide his toughness. Hopefully, he doesn’t get hit like that ever again.”