Q: What is this final week of the preseason like for you in terms of getting ready and are you where you need to be?
JG: Yeah, we're just going about it the same as always, taking it one day at a time, and just trying to get better each and every day. There are little goals that we set every day and we're trying to reach those.
Q: Can you assess your performance in Carolina?
JG: We've got to move on from that. We're moving on to the Giants week, getting ready for those guys. We've just got to get ready for them.
Q: Everybody wants to play, but do you need to play this upcoming week?
JG: It's really not my call. You always want to be out there with your guys. It's just the nature of the beast; you're a competitor, you want to be out there, but whatever Coach [Bill Belichick] asks me to do, I'll do.
Q: Do guys itch more to play and you just wait for the coaches to tell you what to do?
JG: Naturally in all of us, we're all competitors, so we all want to be out there playing. At the end of the day, it's not our call. You can't worry about things you can't control.
Q: When you consider the amount of time between the last preseason game and the regular season opener, wouldn't it be beneficial to play this week?
JG: Yeah, I mean that's just not my call. I really don't even think about it like that, to be honest. Whatever they ask me to do, they ask me to do.
Q: Do you feel comfortable enough right now to be the opening day starter in 13 days?
JG: Yeah, it's been a good training camp so far for sure. We've made a ton of progress as an offense and as a team. We've just got to keep moving in the right direction. We're worried about the Giants right now, we're not worried about opening day yet, so we'll get there when it comes.
Q: Based on the last couple of weeks, when do you anticipate finding out if you're going to play and how long you're going to play for?
JG: The Bears game, I found out like an hour before, and this past week, not very much more than that. You kind of have to stay on your toes; you never know what's going to happen.
Q: What are some of the things that you learned in the Carolina game that you can take forward?
JG: They're a good defense, so you've got to tip your hat to them on some of those plays. It's just little things here, little things there that you learn. Experience obviously helps, but it's just something you have to learn from and move on.
Q: How has not knowing very far in advance whether or not you will start a game kept you sharp and on your toes?
JG: Just that in itself, you never know. You don't know if you're going to start, you don't know if you're going to come off the bench. At first it was a weird - I can remember back in my rookie year it was a weird thing not knowing. You just get used to it after a while, mixing and matching with all the different guys, knowing guys' tendencies and how they play, and you just react to it, really.
Q: Did you see some good things when watching back the Carolina film?
JG: Yeah, there was good and bad, obviously. We didn't score as many points as we'd want to, but we started off the first drive with points. That was something that we were looking to do the last couple of weeks and we finally got that done. There were obviously some positives, but there are negatives, too, that you have to come away with.
Q: Are there any specific things this preseason that you set out to work on and think you've improved upon?
JG: Yeah, there are some things here and there, but I don't think anything's perfect yet. We're still trying to make improvements and get ready for this upcoming game.
Q: At certain points over the last few preseason games you've had periods where you've really gotten things going. What is it about that pace that you've developed a comfort level with?
JG: A big part of that is getting it going, getting a rhythm from the get-go. The Bears game started with a little gain, this past week, same way. Just the initial play, getting the play started and getting the drive started, it just gets the offense into a rhythm and gets the defense on their heels a little bit.
Q: Were you surprised at how much the intensity and pace increased when Tom Brady went in the game last week?
JG: I thought our offense as a whole did a good job throughout the whole game. The pace into the huddle, out of the huddle, all that stuff, the substitutions; it was a pretty clean game overall as far as that goes.
