T-Rock's Take on the Giants

(Paul and the CBS Orchestra play “Dream the Impossible Dream” when Eli walks out; audience wildly applauds and gives Eli a standing ovation; Eli greets Dave and sits down)

Dave: “How about that?”

Eli: “That was nice.”

Dave: “Very, very nice. And now, the nice thing about it, as you probably know, you’re going to get that kind of response for the rest of your life.” (audience applauds)

Eli: “I’ll take it, I’ll take it, every time.”

Dave: “Absolutely, well, well deserved. It’s so exciting. It was such a tremendous game. It was such an exciting game and it was such a wonderful, popular victory. I can’t thank you enough, nice going.”

Eli: “Thank you.” (audience applauds)

Dave: “Let’s talk about that game in Green Bay.” (audience laughs)

Eli: “It was cold.”

Dave: “Oh, brother. I mean, it wasn’t cold, it was like minus zero. It was like three or four degrees minus, and then with the wind chill it was like 900 degrees below zero.” (audience laughs) “But I’m watching the game and I was prepared for – you know, I thought guys actually would be – like arms would be snapping off.” (audience laughs) “But it didn’t look to me like the cold was that much of a factor. Was it?”

Eli: “Well, Coach Coughlin’s face froze.” (audience, Dave laugh)

Dave (laughing): “Yeah, solid. Yeah, but other than that – “

Eli: “Other than that, it was fine. You know, we had everything to prepare us. You know, when I walked to the sideline, I had these huge gloves that came up to my elbow. I had hand warmer, I had heat packets in there, so I put those on. I stood by a heater the whole time. I never took my helmet off, and you just, you tried to stay warm any way you could.”

Dave: ““But in terms of your game, other than some problems with kicking,” (audience laughs; Eli laughs) “In terms of your game, it really didn’t seem to be that much of a hindrance.”

Eli: “No, it wasn’t real windy and, you know, we kind of said we were going to go in with our regular game plan. If it becomes too hard to throw, we’ll make adjustments, but we were able to throw it pretty well.”

Dave: “Now let’s take a look at the games. The Tampa game – how was that? Was it a tough game?”

Eli: “It was tough. They’re a very good defense. It was hot. You know, we’d been playing in cold weather for the last five weeks, all of a sudden, we get there, it’s 80 degrees, a lot of guys cramping up and hydrating. But a very tough game.”

Dave: “And what about the Dallas game – tough game?”

Eli: “Very tough game again.”

Dave: “Which is the tougher of the two?”

Eli: “Um, Dallas.”

Dave: “Dallas was tougher?”

Eli: “They’d beaten us before, twice before.”

Dave: “And now you go to Green Bay – is that the toughest of the three?”

Eli: “I’d say with the weather and playing in Green Bay, yeah.”

Dave: “And nobody really expected you to get that far, did they?”

Eli: “No.”

Dave: “I mean, first round of the playoffs, yeah!” (audience laughs) “Boy, you know, we had a strike here, a writer’s strike, and we were out of work for two minutes – two months.” (audience laughs; Dave laughs) “That’s right. ‘Oh, it was ugly, you wouldn’t have believed it, lasted 120 seconds.’” (audience, Eli laugh) “So every day I’d listen to WFAN, and I don’t know if you know this or not, but people in New York City have opinions about their sports teams.” (audience laugh)

Eli: “Yeah.”

Dave: “And every day I would think, I’d say, ‘I wouldn’t give Eli’s troubles to a monkey on a rock.’ And they were unpleased with you, with the team, with everybody. And you must have had a sense of this unrest at some point in your four years here in the city.”

Eli: “Yeah, well, I knew you were always on my side.” (audience applauds)

Dave: “That’s right, that’s right.” (audience applauds)

Eli: “You never doubted me. (audience applauds) “No doubts, right?”

Dave: “No doubts. And you know, I’ve given up on your brother.” (audience laughs)

Eli: “That’s your hometown, though. That’s your guy.”

Dave: “No, you’re my hometown now.” (audience laughs, applauds) “But it’s an amazing, it’s a great bit of personal fortitude and I heard somebody describe it this way: in life, there are many circumstances that you just have to go through. You can’t go around them, you go through them, and, by god, you did and look what happened. Man, it’s an amazing achievement. Did you ever feel like, ‘I think I’ll just go home.’” (audience laughs)

Eli (laughs): “Uh, no. I think, you know, when you go through those tough times, you learn from it. It makes you a stronger person. You know, you deal with those things, you know, there’s going to be highs, there’s going to be lows, but you know, going through those lows has made this all more special, made it a great thing.”

Dave: “And now, look at you, by god. All right, now let’s talk about the New England game. Now, they’re 18-and-0, and people are just praying that something happens, that the bus explodes or something.” (audience laughs) “Do you think, if you had not played them the way you played them at the end of the regular season the way you played them – say you rested, played a quarter, rested the starters – if you had played them differently than you did, do you think you could have won the game Sunday?”

Eli: “No, I don’t know. I think they way that we played them – you know, Coach Coughlin said, hey, we’re already in the playoffs, so the game didn’t matter. You know, they were going for the undefeated season. He said, ‘We’re going to play. We’re going to play our starters, we’re going to play to win,’ and I think that got the message across that we’re going to try to win this game. And we played them tough, they beat us and after the game, I was thinking about it – you ever seen the movie, ‘Miracle’?”

Dave: “Oh, it’s a great movie.”

Eli: “Yeah, it’s a great movie.”

Dave: “Great story in sports.”

Eli: “But I kind of thought about that same situation. I said, you know, this is a team, if we make our run and get to do what we’re supposed to do and get to the Super Bowl, this is the team we’ll probably be playing. I think it’s kind of good that way – you play the best team, you see where you stand, you see where you fit in, and we lost by three points. We were thinking, ‘You know, we’re a pretty good team, we can make this run.’ So when we got to the Super Bowl and faced them again, you know, it was just like the Americans when they, you know, played the Russians and the Soviet Union.”

Dave: “Yeah, early on, working their way toward the Olympics, the American team was annihilated by the Russians.”

Eli: “Right, they played them early on. The coach wanted to schedule that game and they lost…but then they kind of learned.”

Dave: “But learned quite a bit and ended up defeating them and went on to win the gold medal. Well, it was just – it was such a fun game to watch. Was it fun to play? Now like, you’ve got like two minutes and something to go. You’re down, you don’t need a field goal. A field goal won’t get you anything. So what do you think, are you thinking, ‘Oh, could we get a four-point field goal?’” (audience laughs)

Eli: “I was talking to Peyton a few months before, and when we talk, we do talk some football. We talk about situations, and one of the things we kind of, we talked about was, at the end of the game, you’d rather be down four points than three points.”

Dave: “Really? And what is the feeling about that?”

Eli: “I think just because if you’re down three, in that situation, once you kind of get in field goal range, you get real conservative. You’re kind of, ‘Hey, we’re in field goal range, don’t make a mistake, don’t throw an interception, we’ve kind of got the game tied.’ Where, if you’re down four, you know, you play to win. You’ve got to score a touchdown, you’re more aggressive. And, it’s kind of a weird theory because, you know, technically, if you don’t – you have to score a touchdown, which is more difficult than field goal, but it makes you play to win.”

Dave: “Do you, do the team or does the team get it from you, is there a tendency to tighten up in that situation? You’ve got to be loose, but how do you not get tight?”

Eli: “I think just because you always practice that two-minute situation, it’s something we’re very good at. A lot of people say why don’t you do more of that type of playing during the whole game, just that no-huddle because we’re good at it, and, you know, but it’s kind of – you don’t want do it because when you get it that situation you want – “

Dave: “That’s right, it wouldn’t be unique, absolutely.”

Eli: “Yeah, you want to save it for the end, kind of save it when you need it.”

Dave: “And, my God, the pass to Dave Tyree, who I believe just – “ (audience, Eli applauds)

Eli: “He caught it with his helmet.”

Dave: “Caught it with his helmet, and I had to look in the bylaws of the NFL and it is legal to catch a ball with your…” (audience, Eli laugh) “But he had never played football – his first game, wasn’t it? I’d never heard of him.” (audience, Eli laugh)

Eli (laughs): “No, he played.”

Dave: “Played before. Let’s take a look at that. And, how did you get out of the defenders here. Tell us what we’re looking at, Eli, watch this.” (rolls tape of Eli’s pass to David Tyree)

Eli: “All right.”

Dave: “There you go – everything looks – uh oh, it’s closing in.

Eli: “Bad, very bad.”

Dave: “Very, very bad. Guys hammering you, pawing at you.”

Eli: “I thought about throwing it to my offensive lineman right there.”

Dave: “Really?”

Eli: “That would have been bad.”

Dave: “Oh, that’s – wouldn’t have been legal, would it?”

Eli: “Right, no.”

Dave: “Okay, now, look at this. You’re dancing, you’re dancing. They’ve got you, you’re down – no, is he?”

Eli: “I’m free.

Dave: “Is he?”

Eli: “I’m free.”

Dave: “I had another heart attack at this moment.” (audience laughs)

Eli: “I see David Tyree’s helmet.”

Dave: “I blew a bypass.” (audience laughs) “But, look at this. Now watch this catch, this is just crazy. Cause he nearly gets sawed in half, doesn’t he?”

Eli: “Yeah.”

Dave: “Bang, right on the helmet.” (audience applauds; videotape of pass ends) “Oh my God. There’s so many – I don’t like those third down, third and long situations, but you guys seem to thrive in that, don’t you?”

Eli: “I think, for whatever, this team, when we’re up against the wall, when the circumstances are tough, that’s when you get our best play. That’s why I think we were able to win on the road. We won 11 games in a row on the road and that’s tough to do."

Dave: “The touchdown was so pretty and it looked so easy. Was that the play you were hoping to get to call?”

Eli: “Yeah, you know, they’d been playing conservative defense that whole drive. You know, two safeties back, this real – kind of let you throw underneath. And finally they came out with an all-out blitz. They’re saying, ‘We’re bringing everybody,’ see if they can get a sack or a play and that’s really what we were hoping for. That’s when you have Plaxico Burress one-on-one versus the cornerback. He’s 6’5”, the cornerback is 5’10.”

Dave: “But it really looked so easy, and it was so beautiful, and during the coverage, Fox had I think the same play you guys had done in your walk-through before the game. And there it was right there and then there it was in the game. And what a pretty ball that was…”

Eli: “A spiral, that’s rare for me.” (audience, Dave laugh)

Dave (laughs): “Oh my God. But, I mean, there’s so many ways, the multi-facted enjoyment of this game. I mean, the personal victory, the team victory, the fact that you defeated the New England Patriots, 18-and-nothing and favored two touchdowns to win. And then the poor behavior, and I know you can’t comment on this because you’ll play these guys again, but Bill Belichick – I thought, here’s a guy who had a chance to rise to the occasion and show people, really, what the sport is all about, and he didn’t avail himself of that opportunity. What did you feel when you saw him sneaking off the field?” (audience laughs)

Eli: “Trying to beat traffic, I guess.” (audience laughs)

Dave: “Trying to beat traffic, that’s right.” (audience applauds, Dave laughing) “…Yeah, I never thought of that.”

Eli: “Trying to get out.”

Dave (laughing): “That’s why he’s a professional. It never occurred to me that the coach was trying to beat traffic.” (audience laughs) “Must have been murder that day in Arizona, for God’s sakes, yeah. Well, I don’t know, it was such a thrill last year when you’re brother won the ball game – for me, it was a great thrill – and it’s an equal thrill for me and this city this year. Congratulations, Eli.”

Eli: “Thank you, Dave.”

Dave: “Have a great off-season.” (audience applauds; Dave and Eli shake hands)