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**D:** Well, first thank you to Steve [Grogan]. One of the most gratifying things in holding this record now is that my name goes above Steve's in the record book. Any time you have your name above a guy like him, it's an honor and a privilege. I'd also like to say thank you to the people from Miller Lite for the Player of the Week honor. It's a nice honor but more importantly we got a win, we got a win in Denver, and it was a desperately needed win.
Q: When you look at the combination of [Peyton] Manning, [Marvin] Harrison, and Edgerrin James are they the best in the league as a combination?
D: Well, them and the five or six guys that St. Louis has are obviously great offensive units. What Peyton has done in the last year and a half, year and a few games, is really pretty amazing that he is playing as well as he is that quickly. Then you add Edgerrin in there and you've got Marvin Harrison and the other weapons that he has. Peyton does a great job of utilizing those guys, getting the ball in there hands, and they are a formidable group.
Q: It wasn't that long ago that you had top guys at those positions around you that could have ranked with anybody in the league?
D: I have still got good guys. I've got Terry Glenn. I've got Troy Brown. I've got Kevin Faulk. J. R. Redmond made some plays for us this week. So we've got our guys too and we can score points. We haven't done so on a consistent basis, but we showed this past week that we are capable of putting some points up on people. This week it becomes very imperative because as good as our defense is and as well as they have played this year, to expect them to hold a prolific unit like Indianapolis down to three or six points is probably not entirely realistic. It's going to be imperative for us to put some points on the board this week as an offense.
Q: Not to dwell on last week, but how desperately was that win needed?
D: You're 0-4, it's been forever since you've won a game, and you hesitate to say it was a must win game when it is the fifth game of the season but when you are 0-4 it really becomes just about that. Now, we haven't really changed our situation all that much. We are still at the bottom of the pile looking up at everybody else but we did get one win. Now we've got to stick to the cliché and take them one game at a time. It's a cliché because it is the truth. Now we are faced with a very tough task this week playing if not the best team in the league then one of the top two teams in the league. We're faced with a tough task, but our task this week is to try and get another win.
Q: You seemed particularly animated in the Denver game. Was that a release of frustration and did you ever start to doubt yourself?
D: I have said before and will continue to say , that I always believe in myself as a player. And that's not a cocky statement, it's just that is matter of fact and something that you have to have if you are going to be successful as an athlete. You have to believe that you can accomplish what you need to accomplish. I think that more than anything else that's why it's so hard for me to take when we lose and when I don't produce at a level that I am accustomed to, because that is not how I see things. I see myself as a player that can produce, that can help our team score touchdowns. When that doesn't happen it can be a very difficult thing for me to deal with because my expectations are fairly high.
Q: How gratifying was it to receive the game ball on Sunday?
D: It was a good feeling but, and I am not trying to say the politically correct thing here, but the gratifying thing was to win. There is no overstating how important that is for this team and in this league, to win football games. When you lose there is just a dark cloud that hangs over everything. I'd like to think that I have always been good at leaving that stuff here when I go home but it is hard for your family to take also when it's depressing. So when you win, then you can look at things in a more positive light and that really was the important thing. To get the game ball and to break the record, those are nice things. When I look back on my career and see my name on the top of the list and above Steve Grogan's until the next guy comes along, that'll be a gratifying thing. But at this point the win was by far the most important thing.
Q: It seemed like the team played with a lot of enthusiasm last Sunday, how difficult is it to keep that momentum going?
D: It's a challenge every week whether you win or you lose to move on to the next one and prepare for the next team. As I said, in prior weeks when we were losing the challenge was to get over the feelings you have from the last and move on to try and win the next one. When you win you are happy about it and then you come back to work today and you move on to the next one. We are playing a better team this week than we played last week. Denver was a good team but Indy is one of the best teams in the league and so we are faced with obviously a great challenge to go and try and win this one.
Q: Is there a better sense emotionally and mentally in the locker room?
D: Yeah, guys are more up beat and guys are happy. When we had lost four in a row the intensity was still there. Never through those four games did I see or I don't think anybody could see a lack of effort or a lack of intensity on the part of our team. But it does make it a little bit easier to maintain and to play with some excitement and enthusiasm when you are scoring points and winning the game.
Q: Is it more critical to move the ball and hold on to the ball against Indy?
D: I think that everybody that plays Indy tries to do the best they can to keep the ball out of their offense's hands as much as they can. But in doing that you also have to put your points up. You can't just come out and say OK we held the ball for nine plays on that drive and we got a field goal out of it. You can't look at it that way because if you're not scoring points then you put yourself in tough shape. Just look at what happened this past week at Buffalo. Buffalo really played well against them. They moved the ball up and down the field but they ended up getting stuck with some field goals and ended up getting beat at the end similar to our game against the Jets. We moved the ball very well against them, settled for field goals, and ended up losing the game.
Q: Are you still getting Sports Illustrated at home?
D: Yeah, I still get Sports Illustrated.
Q: What are your impressions of Kevin Faulk's play and as a teammate?
D: I have really come to appreciate Kevin, his abilities, and his enthusiasm and knowledge for the game. First of all, he is an exciting player that when you get him the ball with some room around him he can make guys miss and make good plays for you. He has proved to be very durable and he is also a very steady and knowledgeable player. He knows what to do. He knows who to block. He knows where to be and can help other guys from that standpoint. To ask him to do that all year, well we don't know if he can hold up to that kind of pounding all year. He has been great to this point, has stayed healthy and continued to produce at a high level. But if we can give him some rest from time to time with J.R. [Redmond] or with Harold Shaw then I think that works to our advantage because he is also a valuable weapon in special teams and we want to get him a lot touches of the ball in the game. But if we can get him some rest from time to time I think that it works to our advantage.
