What does it mean to beat the defending Super Bowl Champs and share first place in the division?"I don't think it's only that they're the Super Bowl Champs. They're a good football team this year and it was a big game. For us at home, I think a chance to get that seventh win, get that momentum going vs. a really good football team. It was kind of a little bit of a you can see where you're at and I think we, as a group, collectively answered that a little bit at least this week."
When did you know Denver lost? "You see it out there during the TV timeouts and things like that when they're showing it. You're not thinking about that though. You've got time for that after the game so you're focused in, but obviously when it went final there at the end we saw it."
What kind of difference does Coach Andy Reid make as a head coach here? "It's tough for me to say, I wasn't here before."
But, you've been with this team. "Yeah, it's tough to answer in one question. There's so many things I think that head coach does and gets his hands on. I think a couple of things, he's just so consistent every single day. It's an emotional game, long years, a lot of ups and downs and to have a head coach that every single day you come in, he does such a great job of balancing us, steadying us from the top down and he's just really a good football coach. I think it comes down to that. He's a really good teacher. He leads the locker room well; knows the body language of the guys. He knows when to spell guys, when to push guys. There's so many things that go into that."
Last week you talked about the way you guys won. It gave you guys a different kind of confidence. What about this game and the way you guys had to make some plays in the fourth quarter? "We talked about it all week. The two things we talked about, physical and four quarters. It was going to be a four quarter game, and we knew that. You never know how they're going to come, who's going to come, who's going to get called upon. Offense, defense, special teams and you don't know who's going to have the shot there. I thought on defense the two fourth down stops were huge. Special teams, I thought on the punt there at the end, we didn't punt the ball too many times, I think only a couple, but there at the end to pin them down like that was a big, big play."
How was it you did so well running the football?"You know, I think it was a great plan the coaches put together and then we executed well. The guys up front, started off and I thought played really physical versus a physical front. They did a great job giving Jamaal some holes and when you give a guy like that any kind of daylight, you see what he does. I think the other guys complemented him well, Knile (Davis), De'Anthony (Thomas), those guys when they touched the football were good. We were very efficient today in yards-per-rush and even yards-per-play. Funny games there, just going in long stretches without touching the football on both sides."
Were you concerned about not having (Anthony) Fasano?"Yeah, it was tough signing a guy this week and Phil (Phillip Supernaw) and playing. I thought he did a great job. We mixed Donald (Stephenson) in as well for a little extra tight end there. So I thought it was a good mix. Coaches, like I said, I thought put a really good plan together and then the guys up front really started it off and Jamaal (Charles) ran it, obviously, pretty well."
So much of the talk this week was "Beast mode," how did Jamaal (Charles) one-up them today?"Yeah, I mean I think the only thing Jamaal (Charles) cared about was that we won and we beat them, however we did it. Jamaal, I think, obviously has such a big-play potential and has the highlight plays. I think the thing that is so under-valued about him is the guy can run so tough. He's so hard to hit and he never seems to take a big shot. He's always falling forward, glancing blows, falling forward. You can do so much with him, you know? We got a little option play down there near the line that was nice. It was third down and he got us the score to start the game." What about his bouncing back after that fumble?"It's just the type of competitor he is. You know it was eating him up on the sideline, you could hear him, he was talking about it. After that, when he got his next chance, he was going to try to get it back."