On the special teams play versus the Giants:

"I thought it was a real gutsy effort on our players' part. I'll just give a quick review. One of the things that really stood out in this game, Shaun Suisham (K, #6) makes three field goals up there. He made eight straight. That is hard to do in New York, so we really appreciate that. We won the field position battle there, 32-yard line to the 31. We had a big start to our second half with our kick-off return plus they added a penalty to it. Our punt protection was very good. The things that weren't as good for us on special teams, our tackling. We kicked one ball out of bounds and we had one penalty which really hurts."

On the offensive play versus the Giants:

"Offensively, the thing that stood out the most for us there, and it has kind of been something we have been doing all year, which has been good for us, we have had drives- we had four of them in this game- long drives. We felt like that was a real plus. We had four plays of 30 yards or more. We had 12 plays of 10 yards or more, 7 plays at 15 yards. We made big plays and we rushed for 153 yards, which is a real plus for us. We finished well with our four minute [offense], at the end of the game we took the ball at 3:14 to go and kept it. Negatives, we had two sacks. We had two penalties. We got the quarterback hit. Todd (Collins, QB, #15) is probably sore today. We have to do a much better job on pass protection. We were only 3 for 15 on third downs."

On the defensive play versus the Giants:

"Defensively, we had obviously a very big effort, great effort. We were hard and physical. On the one TD, in our last four games we have given up three TD's which has been excellent for us. Obviously keeping big plays from them getting the ball down field is a big deal for us. We accomplished that. We were good on third down. We put pressure on the quarterback. Andre (Carter, DE, #99) now I think has 10 ½ sacks, which is great for us. They were only 3.7 yards per play and the quarterback rating against us was obviously not very good, which is good for us. We had one penalty and they averaged five yards a carry on their rushing, which is a negative. Part of that was we kind of backed off a little bit. We were trying to play pass coverage at the end because we didn't want to get a big pass, which was smart I thought."

On the injury to Rocky McIntosh (LB, #52):

"Overall for us, it was one of our best efforts. I really felt that. Our guys really took it upon themselves. A real negative is Rocky (McIntosh, LB, #52). The first reports are that he has a knee [injury] and it may require surgery, so that is a real negative for us. We have had quite a few guys injured from time to time and this one adds to it. Rocky was playing great for us. I'm not sure exactly what all it is."

On what it is like to play now knowing that they are still in the playoff hunt:

"I have been amazed in the NFL how well teams play when they don't seem to have a lot on the line. There are some teams yesterday that played extremely well and hard. They have a lot of pride, the guys up here do, but I think it certainly helps. I know it helps me and the coaches and everybody when you come to work and you have something to come to work for. You still have a chance to make the playoffs. It is a big deal. It is motivation. Like any of us, you go to work, if you get a bonus you are excited about going to work. If you don't then you're not that excited. It is a good time of year when you are in this situation, where you played 14 weeks and got a chance the 15th week you are playing for something. That is a big deal. We have a huge challenge in front of us. It is not often you play a team that is number one in rush defense and number one in rush offense. That is what we are facing in Minnesota and in their dome, so that is going to be a tough deal for us. We have already gone to work on that. We got in late last night and the guys will get some rest, come back Wednesday and go to work."

On H.B. Blades (LB, #54) stepping in for Rocky McIntosh (LB, #52):

"He has done extremely well. What has come in to play now is H.B. and Randall (Godfrey, LB, #57) and Khary (Campbell, LB, #50). That is huge for us, having guys that we feel like are real quality guys that can get the job done. That is why we went and got Randall. One of the reasons is [he is] a veteran guy, been around, and is an extremely physical guy. We are going to need some physical guys this week to go against this rushing attack. We haven't talked much about that yet."

On Todd Yoder (TE, #87):

"I think Todd is not nearly as bad. They think it is a pinch or something in the cartilage in his knee. They are hoping he will bounce back from that."

On relying heavily on younger players in the playoff hunt:

"The first part of the year when we made the final roster, I think everybody made the comment, I think you guys pointed it out and all of us did, and I didn't really notice it at first but the roster is younger. We had a lot of younger guys make it. We have a lot of guys in those modes, I mentioned Shaun (Suisham, K, #6), a young guy and Derrick (Frost, P, #4), taking over those spots. They are big deals for us. You have Jason (Campbell, QB, #17), but you have all the other guys that you mentioned. Lorenzo (Alexander, DL/OL, #79) is a great story. I don't know if there is anybody else doing what he is doing. He is playing a lot on offense right now. He is playing a lot on defense. Plays on special teams. We gave him two of the awards. He got two of them, one for special teams, one on offense. Kind of an unusual story of a young guy. I think those are the great stories in sports where somebody comes out of nowhere. A free-agent, you're sitting here last year going and undersized defensive lineman, now he is probably one of our most valuable players. Stories like that are really good for the future because you have young guys there that are playing. That is probably what is going to come out of this. There are going to be some guys that get a lot of experience. You have Reed Doughty (S, #37) starting in the secondary now. You have LaRon (Landry, S, #30) back there. There are two guys running around that are real young. That will bode well for us as we go on down the road. Now, they are going to have to play great here as we come down the stretch. We are going to have to beat some real good people. The last two weeks I felt like was a huge deal for us. Chicago had to have it. That was kind of like a playoff game. The Giants needed it, so that was a big deal too. I'm really proud of our guys. They take a lot upon themselves. It's not the coaches doing it or driving it, it is the players. A lot of things that have happened around here are player driven. That is when you start doing well, when they are the ones making a lot of the decisions, coming in and giving me advice on different things. You can tell they want to try and play great and try and find a way to get this done."

On if he has any time table on Jason Campbell's (QB, #17) injury:

"Right now I think it is a day to day thing. Bubba (Tyer- Director of Sports Medicine) thinks he is definitely making improvement. That will be something we will just have to see how fast they think. They don't think there is any way he can play this week or next week."

On having three straight night games in a row:

"It is a lot. Up here what you learn is that they have Thursday night games, they have Saturday games, because of TV you have all kinds of things going on. That is just part of the NFL. You have to adjust to it. Coaches and players really like being in a groove. They don't particularly like all the change of pace. I always look at it as there are certain things you can't change. There is no sense talking about it or worrying about it. This is part of it, we have to handle it."

On the Vikings being a physical team:

"You have to respect that. I know I do. Like I said, I'm not sure how many times a team leads the League in rushing and leads the League in defense too against the rush. They have done a heck of a job. You watch them each and every week, they gain a lot of respect from a lot of people. That will be a big challenge for us. I know everybody will be watching TV tonight and see what happens. You have to feel like they are kind of on a roll right now. They see it the way we see it."

On his impression of Todd Collins (QB, #15):

"What happened with Todd I felt like [it was] an exceptional effort. I felt like we got off to a slow start for sure. That wind was whipping. What it did was it changed the ball a lot going to the receivers. You saw them drop a bunch and then us have a tough time adjusting to things. What it does, it catches the ball, it doesn't really cut the air and it will take tail spins and dive. We had Chris Cooley (TE, #47) wide open in the end zone and the one Todd threw he kind of lobbed it because he said it was wide open and the ball took a dive at the last second and they got their hand on it. For both quarterbacks it was a tough night, and for the receivers. Todd got off to a tough start and then gradually came and got in a groove and made some big plays for us. Santana (Moss, WR, #89) he has an extra sense and GPS on those deep balls to hunt those things down like that in the blowing win. To get a couple of them like that were great. It was good to see him back playing with a lot of enthusiasm, going after things. Todd, as the game went, got better and better and got more comfortable with it. It is a little bit like your first start after about six or seven years. No matter how much you played it takes a little bit to get into the groove and it was a tough night to get into the groove too."

On Clinton Portis (RB, #26):

"I have to tell you, that game last night, he got an award too. Clinton is a tough dude. That is what he is. He was slamming it. His pass protection and going after things if you watched him in there a lot is usual. Both backs had great efforts there, Ladell (Betts, RB, #46) too when he got a chance. We gave both those guys awards. I think what has happened with Clinton, as the years go along I think now he is probably in the best shape of the year. He has gone further and further, hasn't been hurt. Now he is back playing reckless abandon and he feels good. He certainly made the most of things last night. Again, that was a tough start too. We got off to a kind of slow start running and then started picking up momentum as the game went."

On the late draw plays:

"What happened on that one, the first time you hit one like that you have a tendency to come back. We happened to be in a situation where Al (Saunders, Associate head coach- offense) did a real good job. That play has two parts to it, so it is a little bit whatever they give you and it was very effective. Now, Clinton (Portis, RB, #26) if you ask a play, other than downhill gut, he wants a draw. He will tell you, ?Throw me three nines and give me a draw.' That is what he wants to go on offense. I think he feels like he is going to get open holes there and he is going to have a chance to break it all over the place. Ladell (Betts, RB, #46) ran a nice one too. The draw is just something that evolved in the game. It wasn't something we planned on."

On the big penalty LaRon Landry (S, #30) picked up:

"First of all, you don't want to pull him back, you want him going full board. When he sees he hurts the team, gets a big penalty like that, he made a fantastic play, it took that away. The best way to make a point to somebody is have that happen to them. I think he will probably get smarter and smarter as that goes. I like the fact that he does not size stuff up. He is not playing like a rookie, he plays like I'm going after it. He is very, very aggressive. He is a lot like Sean (Taylor) from that standpoint. That is an example of a guy that started out as strong safety as a rookie and now he had to be switched into a very important role for us at free safety. We have stories like that going all the way across the team. Certainly he and Reed (Doughty, S, #37) are two of those stories."