Q: Talk about the decision
you made in the off-season to bring in a veteran like Jeff Garcia
as opposed to Mike McMahon last year?
A: Well, Mike was a veteran,
too, just on a little bit of a different scale. Jeff had been in
three Pro Bowls, had been in the league a number of years and had
had a lot of success as a starter, so that was the biggest
difference. I don’t want to slam Mike McMahon, because he did a
pretty good job for us here.
Q: How are you divvying up
the play-calling with Marty Mornhinweg?
A: I let Marty do the majority
of the play-calling.
Q: And you’re comfortable
with that?
A: Yeah. He and Jeff – they
had some of his best years together, and I trusted Marty anyway,
even if it wasn’t Jeff. I’ve been around Marty a lot of years
here, so I know what he’s thinking and doing and so-on.
Q: How long did that first
game against the Giants stick with your team?
A: It was tough. It’s a
rivalry and it was a little different circumstance during the
game. We had the lead and they came back and got it, and that’s
always tough. However, the guys bounced back and went out and
played halfway decent the next week. And then it continued on for
a few weeks after that.
Q: Do you think it has any
impact on this game coming up?
A: No, I don’t think so. It’s
not…That’s not the way it is. It’s just a great rivalry. You go
play, you play your heart out, just like they’re going to play
their heart out. It should be a great atmosphere for a game.
Q: Do you worry at all
about, let’s say you have a second-half lead, the Giants score and
the momentum swings, your team thinking, ‘Here we go again?’
A: We’re coming off a game
which was similar to that – we had a big lead and then the other
team came back and our guys did what they can do. I’m not worried
about that, no. I think they learn from it and they move on.
Q: What have you done to
tailor your offense to help Jeff Garcia succeed to the extent that
he has, especially in limiting his mistakes?
A: You kind of answered that
right there. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes and as you know,
in this game, in the NFL, turnovers are costly and mistakes are
costly – especially if it’s two good teams playing each other.
You can’t afford a lot of mistakes or your chances of winning the
game go down.
Q: What was your perspective
about his last two years in Cleveland and Detroit and how did you
evaluate what he had done in those two years when you were
deciding on him as an Eagle?
A: In Cleveland it was a little
bit of a different system. He was in and it was a group that was
trying to get things going. Detroit got banged up up there and
so-on and it didn’t quite work for him there. (It’s) a little bit
of a different situation than here, from that standpoint. And
then the fact that Marty is here I think helped the situation –
helped me make the decision.
Q: Guys who have played for
Mornhinweg say he really has a knack for calling a good game. Do
you feel the same way, and do you see things that he does that
help?
A: I think he calls a heck of a
game or I wouldn’t have turned things over to him. I have a lot of
confidence in him and the people that are saying that are right.
Q: Is it a feel that he has
for calling plays that you might not call in a certain situation?
How would you describe his calling a game?
A: I just told you – he calls a
good game.
Q: Why has the run defense
been so lax the last couple of weeks?
A: We need to do a better job
of gap responsibilities and (if) everybody does their job a little
bit better, we’ll be all right.
Q: So it’s more mental than
physical?
A: Yeah. As a matter of fact,
it’s a matter of doing your job. Now, the guys have been trying
hard. (It’s) just, sometimes they try too hard and get themselves
out of a gap. At this level, if you get yourself out of a gap,
then the running backs are good enough where they’re going to find
and exploit that. It’s important that we tighten that up a little
bit.