On making it into the playoffs:
"First of all, to think four weeks ago where we were and where we are tonight it is a great experience and a great ride those four weeks. I just appreciate our players so much. I want to start by saying that, like I said greatest fans in the world, greatest sports franchise in the world. I really appreciate each and every one of them. The way they get us going, bad weather and everything, packed house and the way they are behind our football team is just- and to say four weeks ago they were still there sending us off a bunch of them out at Redskins Park sending us off when we went on our road trips and welcoming us back home at four o'clock in the morning. I just really want to say a big thanks to our fans. To our players I think it was really a testimony these four weeks of really just great character. The Lord has blessed us with a great group of guys. When you think about what they have gone through this year to get in the playoffs was a dream of ours and four weeks ago obviously everybody would have said it looks next to impossible. I just really appreciate everybody- Dan (Snyder, Redskins Owner) on down, everybody in the front part of the organization, all of our players. It was just a great four weeks. It was guys just playing their heart out. We couldn't have been prouder. That is a real good football team tonight, we know that. They didn't have to have this, but we sure did and it meant a lot to us."
On playing Jason Campbell (QB, #17) in the playoffs if his knee is better:
"That is not something we even talk about or think about now. That is guessing what is going to happen in the future. We don't have to decide that until we get to that point and right now we are not at that point. It is going to take Jason awhile and so we will let him continue to heal up."
On Todd Collins' (QB, #15) performance over the past four weeks:
"I have to tell you, I said when he came off the bench against Chicago that that was the best outing I have had with a quarterback that is thrown into a tough situation where you have to win the football game. I mean it is the NFC and it was the Bears and obviously we know what kind of football team they are. They proved it the last couple of weeks. For him to come off the bench and play like that and then to lead us these last three weeks- that is an extremely tough defense out there tonight, put pressure on us and everything. I have to tell you, Todd has just been a great performer. I don't know what his quarterback rating is, but it has to be just phenomenal. Think about it, we were playing four NFC teams and they all, with the exception of tonight Dallas didn't have to have it, but I felt like they still played hard and the other three games we had to have and so the pressure was on. He didn't have something where he could get ready in the preseason or something. He was thrown right into the battle. The things that I admire most about him is what makes most quarterbacks up here when they get to this point, if they are exceptional, after character, and he has great character but that is always first, but then toughness. I think he is extremely tough. If you watch him in the pocket the only thing he is doing is that head is up and he is looking trying to find things to hit. He is oblivious to the rush and I think he is a tough guy. That carries over to our team and then he is very, very bright and he makes good decisions. There are lots of times when you call a particular pass, you are looking for a certain coverage and all of a sudden it is a surprise, it's not the coverage you were expecting and you just have a real confidence with him that he is going to take it and do smart things with it, check it down. I think it is a great story for me personally to watch Todd, to be a part of this. Somebody who spent 10 years waiting to get a chance and now having a chance and doing this and making the most of it--I know our team appreciates it and I think his leadership shows. Quarterbacks lead by getting it done and certainly Todd has got it done."
On if he was concerned after Todd Collins (QB, #15) had two turnovers:
"I really have great confidence in him. In both of those it was great pass rushing, it was from his back side. Obviously it concerned me because you don't want to turn the ball over. You can't turn the ball over against good teams. One thing we have done in the three weeks prior to this, we kind of flipped over that giveaway- takeaway ratio whereas the four losses we had previous to that we were minus eight. I think we were one of the best in the League that we had won up until tonight. If you turn the ball over you get in trouble. That concerned me a lot when you turn the ball over. Our defense, I don't know what you can say about our defense other than if you go somewhere in the playoffs or if you get to the playoffs chances are your defense leads you. I mean that is just a fact up here. Every real good football team I have been a part of up here has been defense leads. Our defense has certainly done that. Coaches have great game plans and the players just played their heart out. Obviously special teams has done their part and then you always picture the offense finishing things off and trying to get their job done. Certainly our defense tonight that was an outstanding performance. We have to play on a short work week. My understanding is we play Saturday and we have to travel a long ways. That will be a huge challenge for us, so we will have to see. Get our guys a couple days rest and we have to get ready to go to work and have to work hard here."
On saying after the Bills game that that was the worst moment of his career until now:
"I would say this, that that was the worst moment of my career. Sometimes in life maybe some of the best things happen to you after you have been kind of crushed. I certainly felt that, in my professional life, not other things. Other things are more important. The Lord and having a right relationship with Him, obviously family and loved ones and the influence we have on others, but certainly our profession is extremely important to all of us third most important thing in our life and for me to stand here four weeks ago I really felt that. Sometimes in life I think the Lord maybe does some of the best things after a moment like that. I think for me personally there were some things that I needed to go through there. Having the right priorities was a big deal. There comes a point in life when you have to say, hey I want what the Lord wants, not what I want. I felt like that was really a defining moment for me four weeks ago. I get kind of emotional talking about it, but that is the truth."
On if he asked the team to not look at the scoreboard in order to say focused:
"I asked for everybody, locker room wise, I didn't want any scores posted because whether they hear or not, we didn't really want to know. They only thing I said to Chris Helein (Redskins Vice President of Public Relations), I said look the only thing I want to know is for some reason if we have it, if we are in, I want you to tell me. Don't come and tell me and I'll know we're not in and we have to earn it. I said to our players you don't want to ever try and hope on something. You have to earn it and I felt like our players they made up their mind. They were going to try and earn it on our own and we didn't want to get in any other way other than earn it tonight. I felt like they did that."
On what does the presence of Sean Taylor mean to this team:
"I felt several times after some of those games, and that is just emotionally things that you feel, I saw players in there tonight emotional and I think it was because of everything we have experienced this year and certainly Sean. They were all saying coming off the field, hey we won by 21 points. I think for all of us, from Dan (Snyder, Redskins Owner) on down that was an emotional thing that is hard to ever get over, but I do feel like, for me personally, our guys, we didn't think it was by accident we won by 21, I'll put it that way. In the prayer we all felt that way. A lot of those guys are real emotional, mainly because of that, all the things this team has gone through."
On Clinton Portis (RB, #26):
"I would certainly think anybody that has watched him play down the stretch -- tonight you watch him, he is after it. Some of those things, like checking the ball down, I think I am correct in this, that defense it has been 19 weeks since anybody has rushed for 100 yards against that defense. They are very, very good. They are very, very strong. I think Clinton, like a lot of those guys in the locker room, I'm not just picking on Clinton, but there were a lot of them that played their heart out and I think he is one of them. He also emotionally has gone through a lot and he is laying it on the line."
On if they have made more of an effort to get the ball to Clinton Portis (RB, #26) in the passing game:
"Clinton, he loves to be a pass receiver. He has told me before, 'I ought to catch 100 balls.' We're not going to do that. What Todd (Collins, QB, #15) is good at, those things are devastating. If they are back covering deep and they are worried about our receivers and Santana (Moss, WR, #89) and the depth and El (Antwaan Randle El, WR, #82) and people like that, just those check downs. If you get those things in there sometimes a good runner if he gets it in space and Clinton for all of his joking around and everything is a real smart football guy. He wants to run draws because he knows he gets his space. He likes to catch check downs because he goes and gets space. He is smart enough to figure that out. He will coach you up on a few things too if he lets you. He said to me, I'm only three yards short now, I'm going to get this and he was suggesting a few plays."
On Santana Moss (WR, #89):
"When we make big plays Santana normally is a big part of that. I go all the way back to '05, I think we had 45 plays of over 20 yards that year and he had 26 of them. He is a big play guy. Right now he is back healthy, thank goodness down the stretch here. He has played extremely well. He is explosive. I don't know of anybody that is better adjusting to a deep ball. I said that he has GPS. He can find it when other people can't find it. He is not tall in stature but what he can do is go up and he is so much better than most people at locating the ball. He is an excellent deep threat and he is a big play guy for us. The other thing about him, when he hits the ground, man he is going. He is a real good runner when hits the ground. As a consequence you have somebody capable of making big plays for us. When we do get plays of over 20 chances are he is a guy who is going to get a bunch of them."
