GIANTS HEAD COACH TOM COUGHLIN
"The best part of it for me is the idea that this group of young men, who came together and believed in themselves, bought the team concept completely, took the names off the back of the jerseys, checked the egos at the door. The reinforcement for team is the greatest source of satisfaction for me. I told the players last night – and I had stayed away from any personal refrain because I didn't think it was proper timing, but last night it was. I told them about my experience in 1990, when you realize that you are the World Champion, other than your family and your children and those type of things professionally, there is no comparison to the feeling. You could walk around six feet high and it would be appropriate, for our players. When you stop and think about Michael Strahan, when you stop and think about Jeff Feagles, Jeff in his 20th year and only six times in the playoffs. You start to think about all our veteran guys who now are World Champions and are experiencing that feeling for the first time, reinforcing the concept of team, that's the greatest thing for me."
(on final TD drive)
"It was an amazing drive in that we'd make a first down and then we'd stall for a few plays. And then we'd make another one and obviously I'm trying to conserve my timeouts. But there's a couple situations I can't – a sack the clock would have run forever and you've got to use them, now we have no timeouts. But before I say anything about that, the escape by Eli and the throw that is caught by David Tyree, that ball was challenged. That wasn't like he just jumped up in the air and caught the ball. That was challenged, you had two people, ripping for the ball and he brings it down. That might be one of the great plays of all time in the Super Bowl."
"And then when you're out of timeouts and Steve Smith's tight in was a big one, getting that first down was a big one there. And then they came with the blitz, which we knew would come eventually, and he went on the fade to Plaxico. I couldn't tell if he was in or out. I didn't know where the ball was until the reaction of the crowd. It was amazing to me, and I looked and I said, 'Holy cow there's still 35 seconds left here.'"
*(on his team's resilience)
*"That was the best example of all because our defense played so well. I mean so well. And the Patriots are a great football team and a great offensive team, and their defensive team and their special teams, their leadership. Any time you have a team that's 18-0, stop and think about that, in this league. That's just an incredible accomplishment for them. But our team, we've been building momentum and building momentum. If you're going to have a chance to win, you're going to have to play great defense, and we certainly did really throughout the entire playoffs and certainly tonight was a great example of it. It was a tremendous team effort all the way around, all the way through the playoffs, and just a wonderful way to end this thing."
"Every team is beatable, you never know. The right moment, the right time, every team is beatable. That's why it's so difficult and you have to guard against so many different things, emotions, etc., etc. There's no taking anything away from them now."
"I thought that our preparation was good and I also thought that we had so many young guys who were hyped up about playing in this thing. But we talked an awful lot in the last couple days about controlled emotion, and quite frankly, we did do a couple of dumb things in the first half. But fortunately we practiced well. You never have enough time, I don't care whether you have two weeks or whatever, you're always saying to yourself, 'gosh I wish I had a little bit more time, I wish I had time for this or that. But we were prepared and we were excited about playing and these guys have had great energy, right down through the stretch from the time we played the Patriots in week 17. We just bridged right into the playoffs and were refreshed and renewed and I give an awful lot of credit to our team, to our leaders, to the guys who make the difference all year long. And I'm really happy for our veteran players to get the win."
*(on how Eli Manning played)
*"He played super. He did the things in the second half, the fourth quarter, that you have to do to win the Super Bowl. He brought us down the field, he got the ball in the end zone twice, you'd have to throw the script away. We had three time outs, we're sitting there in the green zone with no timeouts. So you know you've got to make a play and you've got to make a play to the end zone. So he played very, very well and very cool very calm."
*(on winning streak on the road)
*"That was a record in the National Football League, to win 11 straight road games. But more than that, it's the way in which we went about our work. The road signified for us, the coming together of team – the only people that cared about us were the guys standing there on our sideline. So we rode that emotion all the way through."
*(on what he said to Cory Webster after late Patriots TV)
*"I didn't say anything to Cory. He's played so well down the stretch. It looked as is he might have slipped, or got pushed and slipped, but that was one play. He's played very, very well down the stretch."
*(on Plaxico Burress playing hurt)
*"It bothered him, and I could see it on his face. But fortunately game day came along and he set himself again and decided what he was going to go out and do, and he did it. The catch at the end there, he and Eli (Manning) have done that many times now. In a young career by Eli, they've done that many times."
*(on winning the Super Bowl)
*"The New England Patriots are a great football team, they really are. We came in here and we knew what we had to do. We had to get after the quarterback, and the response we got out of our team was unbelievable. These guys play with great heart. They're tough-minded. They never say die. They just keep coming. It wasn't all pretty out there tonight, now. We had to battle hard to get this thing. But I told them last night, 'Other than family, the greatest feeling in the world is when all of a sudden you realize you're the World champion.'"
GIANTS QB ELI MANNING
*(on the win)
*"The guys on this team and the run we've made, it's hard to believe—it really is. We had a great fight and the defense played outstanding. The drive at the end there were so many clutch plays by so many guys. It is an unbelievable game and an unbelievable feeling.
*(game-winner to Burress)
*"It was just a fade route and they came with an all out blitz. They had been playing zone coverage. They came with an all out blitz and the corner sat because he thought we might run something short. He ran right by him and made a great catch to win the game."
*(ever dreamt of Manning brothers winning back-to-back Super Bowls)
*"It's been a fun year, I would say. Watching Peyton win last year and then the Giants winning this year, it's just unbelievable. I'm so proud of the guys on this team. We never had doubt. We had total faith in ourselves and we believed we could win and we earned it."
*(scramble play on the game-winning drive)
*"It was just a great catch by David Tyree. I found a way to get loose, and just really threw it up. He made an unbelievable catch and saved the game."
*(on if he had any doubts when the Patriots scored to go up 14-10)
*"No, we believed in ourselves all year. That's the position you want to be in. You want to have the ball in your hands, four minutes left – go down, you've got to score a touchdown. That's where you want to be, a chance to win the game, and so many big plays on that drive. David Tyree man, that's all you've got to say. David Tyree – huge catch, Plaxico (Burress) on the touchdown. Everybody stepped up and made huge plays. What a great win."
*(on how it feels winning the Super Bowl)
*"It feels great. It's unbelievable. It's the fight on this team. I'm so proud of our players, our coaches, everybody. We're always believing and having faith in each other and having faith on our team. It don't matter (because) we find a way to win. We had no doubt. We believed the whole time and we made it happen.'
*(on the long pass to David Tyree and the touchdown to Plaxico Burress)
*"The third and five. It felt like I was being grabbed a little bit. (I) got out of it. Saw (David) Tyree in the middle of the field. I tried to get the ball to him and it just floated. He just made an unbelievable catch, jumping up, holding up to that ball. Guys hanging all over him and then later on with Plaxico. They came out with a blitz. We had one on one coverage. He ran a fade route. Ran right by his guy. Hauled it in for the win."
*(on if he felt that he would win a Super Bowl this soon)
*"I did not know when it would happen. You have to be patient with these things. All (of) the pieces. You got to be in the right spot. This year it all came together and with so many clutch players on this team and big wins throughout the whole season to get us to this point. Again the same thing tonight. (We made) a lot of big plays to win the game."
*(on the Patriots)
*"I have to give credit to New England. They played a great game. We weren't able to run the ball real well and make enough plays. We finally got some big plays in the fourth quarter with (TE) Kevin Boss on a seam route down the middle of the field for a big play and finally got David Tyree and the touchdown catch. We finally got something going with the big drive to get some momentum and our defense just played outstanding.
*(on advice from his brother Peyton)
*"I talked to Peyton and he just said to go out and have fun and maybe you'll could do it."
*(on how his dad Archie is feeling about Manning brothers winning back to back Super Bowls)
*"My dad (is) excited no matter what we (he and Peyton) do. I know (that) he is excited. I haven't had the chance to see him yet but I'm sure he is very excited (about) the way that we conduct ourselves in what we do, and I know that he is excited right now."
*(on if he talked to Giants head coach Tom Coughlin after the game)
*"Yes I talked to Tom and we talked about it last night-the feeling of winning a championship. He wanted us to have that feeling. He had it before when he was (an assistant coach) with the Giants and he wanted us to get that feeling. I talked to him afterward (the game) and he said' It feels pretty good (doesn't) it?' And I said, 'You can't beat it. You're right' So it was fun.
*(on the scramble and pass to David Tyree)
*"I was just trying to make a play (by) trying to get out (and) trying to avoid a sack. I saw him in the middle of the field, the ball just hung up there in to the lights and it was just an unbelievable catch. It was a big time play."
*(on what he told his guys after they scored late)
*"I said (that) this is where you want to be. I talked about it before with Peyton. What situation would you want to be in? You would want to be down (by) four at the end of the game where you kind of have to score a touchdown. (If) you're down (by) three, you might just settle for a field goal. You're better off (being) down by four where you have to score (a touchdown) to win the game in the Super Bowl. To go and do it is an unbelievable feeling."
*(on if he knew by looking into his teammates eyes in the huddle that they were going to win)
*"They knew. They knew (that) we've been good in the two minute drive all season. We've made big time wins and been in these situations before as well as in practice. We knew (that) we could make it happen. We saw that we had to do it. Those guys did everything (that) we expected for us."
*(on beating a dominating team like the Patriots in the Super Bowl)
*"Going up against a team that's unbeaten that's won 18 games in a row, they were the best team at the time and we beat them. We played better than they did. Our guys played a great game and we believed the whole time. We knew if we played our best and if we played smart. We did not know what kind of game (that) it would be. I figured that we would have to score more points than we did but the defense did an outstanding job. We stayed patient and we made enough plays to win the game."