(Injury update)
“From an injury standpoint, we really made it through pretty well.  Jeromey Clary left the game in the third quarter with an ankle sprain.  He looked pretty good this morning and I think there’s a chance that by late in the week he’ll be able to participate and has a chance to play in the game.  We’ll see how he progresses.  Travis Johnson has a shoulder and I think it’s a similar situation.  I think he has a chance to play Sunday against the Broncos.  We’ll see how he progresses during the week.  Everywhere else I think we made it through pretty well.  From a standpoint of the guys who have been out, Tim Dobbins, I think we should get him back and I think that would be a plus for us.  Nick (Hardwick) did have a little bit of a setback Wednesday, Thursday morning after he practiced but he’s doing pretty good and we’ll start the process again.  I’m sure he’ll practice Wednesday or Thursday and we’ll see where he’s at.  (Jyles) Tucker I think would be hard for him to be able to play this week, although he is making progress.”

(Opening statement)
From the standpoint of the game, I think it’s the most complete game we’ve played as a total team.  I think things that are showing up, we made great progress in our coverage teams.  That was as big a challenge as we’ve had.  James Holt had an outstanding game.  Getting some of those young guys in has certainly helped us once they’ve gotten the feel for what we’re doing.  (Mike) Tolbert continues to play well.  Jacob Hester continues to play well on special teams, so it’s a good mix.  I think they rose to the challenge of covering those guys and they’re awfully good returners. 

Offensively I think we got done what we wanted to get done against this group.  We protected Philip. We did a good job protecting Philip. He was very sharp.  Obviously 20 of 25, I think they said that’s his career high percentage for a game.  Obviously we got the running game going at a level we’d like to be.  I thought we had a good mix and good rhythm, which was something we needed to do against this group. 

Defensively I was very pleased with what we did.  They were able to get a lot of yards, but their style of offense is based on getting the ball up the field and I thought we contained that pretty well.  The ones they got up the field, we missed a tackle and they got a big play. They hit a seam against a zone blitz, which is always a scary deal.  That was a big play, but obviously the key to the game was the way we played in the red zone.  Our guys just did a great job preparing in the red zone.  We had a good handle on what they like to do down there and we took away the things they do best.  As I said, I thought it was our most complete performance as a team.

(On running game)
I like the mix.  I think we were 50-50, run-pass.  I like getting the explosive plays and I thought we gave LT a chance to get going.  I thought Philip did a good job getting us in and out of the best plays.  Again, in a game like that when you get 27 rushes and end up with 120 yards, I thought that was good.  I think we’re getting to a level that against another opponent, in a game where they’re not keeping the ball as long and we’re getting them off the field, a game like that can turn into 160, 180-yard rushing game.  Obviously each game is different.

(On his response to those saying LaDainian Tomlinson is nearing the end)
“I tell them the same thing I tell you guys: nothing.  It doesn’t matter what I say, what people say.  He breaks off the run in the red zone.  It’s a 20-yard run.  He looked explosive.  He hit a crease.  He was patient.  He did the things he does.  He did have the ankle injury early.  He missed two games.  I think he’s getting into a good rhythm and we’re getting into a better rhythm blocking for him.”

(On the idea of a ‘bend, don’t break defense’)
“I don’t think anyone ever has that approach, and if you do you’re certainly not going to admit it.  They have very dangerous receivers. When they score a lot of points, it’s when those guys make big plays.  The big plays are what got them into the red zone.  They hit the seam, they hit the crossing route where Eric (Weddle) missed the tackle. Those plays are dangerous.  Their biggest plays were screens and seams and they came all against blitz.  They handled the blitz…I think they handled it like we do.  I like it when people blitz us.  I think it gives us a chance to make big plays.  We had a good mix of pressures up front and we had some success in forcing him off his spot, forcing him out of his rhythm, forcing him to make bad throws.  We didn’t get to him (much).  I don’t think going into the game you expect to get to a guy like McNabb because of their style of offense, how experienced he is.  Three or four of the zone blitzes he got the ball out right as his fifth step hit. He hit the hole that we vacated with the blitz.  I was pleased defensively.  We gave up too much yardage underneath and it wasn’t by design.  We preached so hard on the seams and the ball is up the field a couple times.  We carried them too deep and we gave them too much room underneath.”

(On how he heard the news of the Tomlinsons’ pregnancy)
“I don’t know who was aware and who wasn’t aware.  I was aware.  LT was emotional when he found out.  I went over probably 15, 20 minutes later and told him I knew about it.  I said, ‘This is going to be a special day.’  I told him I had a couple suggestions for names if he needed any.  He said he didn’t need any. (laughter)”

(On what his suggestions were)
“Not mine.  I’m still mad at my mom about that. (laughter)”

(On Ron Rivera’s performance this season)
“Ron does a great job along with our defensive staff.  I think the first thing you do when you get a group together is you learn how to use everyone’s input.  I think Ron has done that.  We’ve got good defensive coaches, guys he’s been with. John Pagano he knows extremely well.  You’ve got to use everyone’s input because no one has all the answers and having good people that help you prepare to make the decisions you have to make is critical.  Then I think as we’ve gone along, we understand what our guys do best.  We had a lot of changes on both sides of the ball but the changes we had defensively were dramatic.  That sets you back.  I think Ron has handled that extremely well.  Having to get new guys in, incorporate them to what we’re doing, make sure we don’t ask them to do too much but give them enough to do that gives you a chance to be successful.  With us it starts with defending the run and we’ve gotten a lot better defending the run.  We want to be a pressure group.  We’ve gotten a lot better pressuring.  When we see a team like Philadelphia, we still have some work to do in our coverage stuff.  I can’t say enough about what Steve Gregory has done playing in the slot, but it’s still new to him and every time you go out you can learn.  There are things you see that you haven’t seen before.”

(On Rivera’s adjustment from a four-man front to a three-man)
“I think that’s the process he went through.  John Pagano and his background in 3-4 defenses helped that a great deal.  We incorporate a lot of the four-man stuff in our 3-4 because of our outside linebackers.  We can bring those and bring them both or bring one and kick the front down.  It ends up being really about using your guys and doing what they do best.”

(On the importance of the team’s last two wins)
“The important thing is obviously to keep improving and win as you’re doing that.  When you looked at our schedule, you knew there were certain stretches in our schedule that would be very demanding.  Having New York and Philadelphia back to back, you knew it was going to be a demanding part of it.  The fact that we go to Denver made the stretch look very demanding.  We’ve gotten ourselves playing the type of football we want to play.  We need to build on it and we need a great week of practice to prepare for this game.”

(On feeling “vindicated” from early criticism)
“No, because I knew what we needed to do as a football team.  I knew where we were as a football team.  What we went through in September, I’ve never been through that with a team in terms of the number of guys that were asked to do things that they hadn’t done before and then put it together being a very beat up team playing a group of very physical teams three weeks in a row in Baltimore, Miami and Pittsburgh.  I thought our guys hung in there pretty darn good.  It was rough in Pittsburgh.  It was rough coming back from that but our guys have responded.”

(On Denver’s recent struggles)
“This is a tough league.  They went through the stretch with playing Baltimore and Pittsburgh back to back.  We had a very similar stretch.  There’s obviously no guarantees and I thought they played well in those games through most of the games.  Playing Baltimore in Baltimore is tough and Pittsburgh we know is a good football team.  Washington is a very talented group that is very capable.  They’ve hit a tough stretch, but I know the team we’re getting ready to play is the same team we played on Monday night a little over a month ago and they’re a very good football team.”

(On how Denver is different since they played in San Diego)
“I don’t see them changing dramatically in what they’ve done.  We haven’t gotten into it like we will over the next couple of days and breaking them down and looking at them.  I’ve been able to see a couple of their games on TV.  They’re very active up front on defense.  They’ve got maybe the best secondary in the NFL.  They’re certainly experienced and very talented.  I know they went through a stretch where they didn’t turn the ball over at all and now they’ve had some turnovers.  Those things take their toll.”

(On his history facing Chris Simms)
“I don’t think I’ve coached in a game going against him.  I’ve seen him a lot and he’s very, very accurate.  Their system is to get the ball out quick, so that certainly will help him.  They have very talented players that he’ll be playing with.”

(On the Chargers’ red zone defense)
“I think it’s gotten better, and it’s game to game.  This team, I don’t think they came in with a mindset that they were going to run the ball or they were going to have success running the ball.  They didn’t run the ball or attempt to run the ball a great deal in the red zone.  If you can get a team one dimensional, it helps you a great deal.  Obviously the physical play of the goal line stand, and that was a big part of getting a lead and a big part of playing the way we did, was impressive.  Our defensive line did an outstanding job and Brandon Siler had a big hit down there.  It was very good.”

(On having all his offensive tools in place)
“I think we got into that where we played awfully well at the end of the first season I was here.  We won (eight) games in a row.  To go into Indy and beat them and play the way we did offensively was big.  Like every team in the league has, we’ve had different situations where we’re not at full speed, but we are healthy.  I think our guys have a great understanding of what we’re doing and confidence in what we’re doing.  I just understand this league and know that there are certain guys that can make it look easier than it is, but there’s nothing easy about this league and there’s nothing easy about playing any week.  I appreciate what our guys do when they go out and play at their best and play at a high level because they know how hard it is to.”

(On the rhythm he found Sunday in calling plays)
“Play calling, I just happen to think it’s so overrated.  We have a plan that we put together during the week and I rely on our coaches.  We’ve got excellent offensive coaches.  They’ve got good ideas.  We try to figure out how we’re going to get each of our best players, our playmakers, involved.  We try to gear it to what is best suited from a protection standpoint, what we can do in the running game that fits us the best so we’re not asking guys to do things that they can’t do.  We put a plan together and have a pretty good idea what we want to do going into the game.  Our plan is always flexible enough that if we’re getting something dramatically different we’re going to change it.  I think during the game and we’re calling plays, I get more caught up in watching guys do what they do and watching Gates play the way he played yesterday.  He’s such a good football player and such a good person and knows how to play that position so well.  I think that’s the thing that you can get caught up in doing.  Malcom going down the sideline and making the catch he did.  Those guys are the guys who are playing.  Those are the guys who are making the plays that decide the games.  We’re just trying to get them in the best position to do that.”

(On how he projected Philip Rivers when he first met him)
“I first met him at the Combine in an interview at the workouts at Indianapolis.  Having been on the East Coast and seeing a lot of (NC State) games live on TV and all that, there wasn’t any question in my mind that he would be as good as you’re allowed to get.  At that position, you don’t play great if you don’t have people playing at a high level around you.  He’s fortunate to have the people playing around him that he does; they’re fortunate to have him.  I think he makes people around him better because of his approach to the game.  He doesn’t have any limitations in terms of playing quarterback.  He doesn’t sometimes run quite as fast as you’d like but I don’t know that that’s going to be the difference for us.”

(On Rivers’ intangibles)
“I think when you sat down and talked to him…his background, his work ethic, talk to him about his father and coaching, how much he appreciates coaching and how he understands how important it is to his livelihood and future.  To me it’s really been forgotten, but the guy had surgery in February and played in August.  He played in the preseason, played 16 games.  He had as dramatic surgery as any of the guys that have come back and played.  Some of them it’s taken longer than others, but for him to do that, it’s really incredible.”