Thursday, September 7, 2000

Q- What do you have to do to go into a tough place to play and win?

KC- First of all when you're on the road and your playing against a good defense, I don't think you can let them get to the quarterback the way they did with the Cowboys. We know they're going to come after us but you can slow a team down by running the ball and blocking them up. Part of that is on my hands to get rid of the ball and not sit back there and take the sack. And not let the momentum get in their favor. We need to be smart and take care of the ball. Their the kind of defense that can make you look bad sometimes and will force turnovers if you're not careful. Tiki and Ron had a great game against the Cardinals.  

Q- How do their styles compliment each other?

KC- Well, I think they compliment each other very well. Obviously very different types of runners. Ron is more of a grind it out, tough sort of big guy. Tiki is a little bit faster and the whole thunder and lightning thing. I think the changeup in their styles can keep defenses off balance and think it did it last week.  

Q- Do you have any other nicknames that come to mind since Sunday?

KC- No, not really. Ron's got a few of them though, D-Train and a couple of others. Tiki, I don't know he's probably got a few for himself.  

Q- Can you talk about your development since you got here?

KC- Yeah, I think it's gone real well. I think I learned a lot of things, you know, I think I approached things differently. It's been a great situation here for me and I feel like I've flourished. I've made a lot of changes in my life and I think it's starting to pay off.  

Q- Can you talk a little bit about the Eagles defense; they had the ability to put a lot of pressure on Troy Aikman. Is that a concern for your offensive line?

KC- Well, certainly when you watch a team do what they against Dallas last week. There's a certain approach you have to take to it because they really disrupted Dallas and did a lot of good things. We worked hard this week. We feel we have a good plan against these guys and we'll see what happens on Sunday.  

Q- Talk about that pumped in crowd noise that you're using?

KC- When you're on the road against a tough team, the place is going to be fired up. Their excited about the team they have. It's their home opener, so you have to prepare accordingly. We have the noise going all week and hopefully it will help us on Sunday.  

Q- You said you feel extra comfortable because you really didn't unveil the passing game yet?

KC- Well, last week was a different kind of game. We were running the ball so well and in those kind of games my job changes a little bit. We don't spread them out; we don't throw the ball down the field as much as we would in other games. But like you said, we've thrown the ball well to this point. We feel that we have a good package and when it comes time to throw the ball downfield we feel confident we can do it.  

Q- Can you talk about that Eagles secondary? Troy Vincent and Brian Dawkins?

KC- Yeah definitely the guy who stands out is Dawkins. He's a real good player, I think he made the Pro Bowl last year. He's got great speed and can really disrupt, blitz him a lot, do different things and he's the kind of guy that can create a lot of havoc. We need to know where he is all the time.  

Q- Kerry can you talk about an Eagle defense that has been known to take away peoples run. If they stuff eight in a box does that play into your hands?

KC- Well, we would like to think so. If they do that hopefully we can win the one-on-one matchups outside. They'll play some coverage; they'll do some different things. They will change it up a lot; they'll blitz you a lot. They'll bring linebackers. They do an assortment of things and when it comes down to crunch time they're going to heat you up and come after you. They got to Dallas last week and hopefully we're at the point where we can counter some things that they do. I think the hones gets put on me to get the ball out and not let them have the big plays. We've got to be careful with it but at the same time be aggressive.  

Q- How important is it that the Giants can go 2-0 in the record and in the NFC East.

KC- Certainly, it's a division game. If you want to be a good football team you have to be able to win on the road. It's certainly going to be tough this weekend. But we've got a lot of confidence and we feel like we're playing well. We feel like things went real well for us last week and we know we're playing a good football team so it will be a big challenge for us but it would be also a big win.  

Q- Do you think Penn State runs to predictable an offense?

KC- Well our offense was pretty predictable in 1994. We just executed. You could make excuses but when it comes down to it, it comes down to execution. If you execute it doesn't matter what you're running.  

Q- When you talk about the Eagles defense, they literally knocked the quarterback out of the game. Does this catch your eye, do you worry about it, and do you think about it.

KC- No, I mean injuries happen and their part of the game. I don't look at it that way. An injury could come an any one particular play and you don't know which it's going to be. They play hard and they get after you and you like to play against defenses like that.  

Q- Is this a really good first early test for the offense?

KC- Definitely, it will be a real good test to see where we're at. They might be as good a defense as were going to face all year. We'll see, we think we're pretty good and we'll see how good we really are.  

Q- That drive in the fourth quarter on Sunday, how important is that to an offense to do that?

KC- those are backbreaking drives really. We'd run the ball well the whole game and theirs a point in the game where one side of the ball is going to win and one side of the ball is going to take over the game. It just happened that Sunday that drive, we were finally able to give them the last straw and punch it in they're in the end. It turned out to be the winning touchdown but also it took a lot of time off the clock and we really executed well. Your going to have those drives sometime, that you got the lead in the fourth quarter. If you can put a drive together like that a lot of times your going to win the ball game.  

Q- What do you call that drive?

KC-Hammer drive. Hammer it out; call it the four-minute series. Hammer it out a little bit.  

Q- The Cardinals do a lot on defense do the Eagles do more?

KC-They did a lot more than Arizona did. Arizona played a lot of coverage against us, last week, more so than we thought. But you look at Philadelphia, they do everything, they'll bring people all the time. When you get into the red zone, when you get into crunch time. They're going to come after you; there is no secret about it. They came after Troy last week, they brought safeties, and they brought linebackers. Last year when we played them they brought eight people sometimes. We have to be ready for it. Sometimes they guess right and they get to you but we have to be prepared for just about anything. Certainly our awareness is higher for the things they do. Because they do so many things and you got to have a plan on every play. They blitz people and you have to know where your hot throws are and you have to know where your quick throws are. Sometimes you just throw it away and tee up again, or we punt. Sometimes that's the best option against these sorts of teams. They do enough blitzing and are trying to create that big play. Last weekend they got a bunch of them. Their fairly deceptive in hiding the things that they do. That's why we're watching films and studying and that's where that sort of thing comes in. And a lot of times they did it on the run and you can't tell beforehand but you still have to be aware of it. That's just part of the game.