Injuries: [CB] Troy Vincent will practice today, he’s feeling a little bit better. We’ll see how he does throughout this week. [DE] Brandon Whiting has a slight MCL strain, he will not practice today. He did go through the walkthrough, however.”

Opening remarks: “We look forward to the challenge of playing Carolina, a very good football team. I think all phases of their game are strong. Offensively, they’re explosive and have potential to make very big plays. Defensively, so much is said about their defensive line and it’s all true. They’re as good as there is in the National Football League. They’re very explosive on special teams and really make big plays happen.”

“He’s a good back. You better prepare for a good back, number one, and that’s what we’ll do. If either one of those guys are in there, they’re very good players. He brings, obviously, speed and quickness and strength.”

“[Jerome] McDougle.”

“Troy will practice today. He’ll practice. He’s feeling a little bit better, we’ll just see how he does there. He tweaked it a little during Wednesday’s practice. We’ll see.”

“I think he is.”

“We do what we do. That part won’t change. You do what got you here and focus in. The only difference is there’s a few more distractions with all the hype of the game and so on. The number of media people that are here, that you can see. So you have to deal with that and you get yourself ready. Keep your practices consistent.”

“We don’t try to avoid losing, we try to win. That’s the approach we take. We don’t look at what happened before, we try to look at the present and things we can control and that’s getting ourselves ready to play a heck of a football team. We get ourselves right.”

“You just keep the program the same and you make sure the intensity level is up during practice, concentration is up during meetings and, obviously, you get limited reps as you go through practice. You want to make sure that each rep you’re focused in and concentrated on.”

“You obviously look at the last game and you analyze it and I think they’re looking at the same thing. They’re going to try the things they did well against us and we have to try to do a better job of it.”

“That normally means we’re ahead in the second half and that’s a good thing. Normally, the first half is somewhat balanced and only if you’re ahead in that second half do you run a little bit more. I don’t worry about all of that.”

“I don’t think so. We did throw it a little bit more this past game, I don’t think you could make an argument against that. There’s nothing in my mind that says the running game is not good right now.”

“They’re similar. They’re doing a lot of the same things. He’s doing a lot of the same things he did at New York. He knows all about our offense and how they operate and he’ll have the defense ready to go.”

“I would say that the payoffs in my mind are greater than the anxieties. I know they’re going to be out there to support, that’s the way I look at it. I don’t feel any pressure other than that in a normal game. They do a great job. When you come in here you better be focused in because those fans are going to meet that bus when it comes in. They’re going to start on them there and they won’t quit until they get back on that bus and are on the highway. It’s a challenge.”

“It didn’t look like it slowed down Michael Jordan.”

“It’s great for this football team and Donovan is all about this team. Heck, the players deserve it. They worked very hard to put themselves in this position, along with the coaches and the organization. That’s a nice gesture and I think it’s great for this football team.”

“We didn’t go in saying everything was going to be Donovan McNabb, I don’t want that to be perceived that way. It was the different situations the defense gave us that allowed that to take place. Maybe the situation of the game and the score of the game. Can we survive? Yeah. He can survive doing that. He’s a competitive guy and if it ends up working out that way again, that’s OK. Will we go in feeling that way? No. We’ll go in saying everyone will have an opportunity to make plays.”

“No, other than the steps of having press conferences like this and so in. There’s no other similarities.”

“I do address that [with the players].”

“We’re going to get ourselves ready to play a game just like we do every other week. I think it’s very important that you do that and eliminate any distractions and you get yourselves right. If you change, then you’ve made a mistake the last 16 or 17 games. You better approach it the same way. We wanted to win all of those games just like we want to win this game. That’s the way we’re going to approach this.”

“The place I saw was when Lee Johnson came in. I thought he rose to the occasion at that time. He knew the relationship between Lee and myself [teammates at BYU] and he could have let that bother him. He knew the experience Lee had in the National Football League, what he did for us at the end of last season. He didn’t let any of that bother him. He just worked right through it and didn’t let it phase him. That showed me a little something right there.”

“Their front is very good. We have a very good offensive line. I think it will be a great battle between them. We’re not going in saying Donovan is going to run the ball, that’s not what we do. We go in saying Donovan’s going to run the offense. If that presents itself, that’s fine. If it doesn’t then the ball will come out somewhere else and someone else will have an opportunity to make the play.”

“I think Freddie’s continually gotten better throughout this season. Donovan has a lot of trust in him. Freddie’s made some big catches in tight quarters and has taken some big hits and so on. He kind of comes up ready for the next play. He’s worked very hard at being consistent and he’s done that. He’s really played really well.”

“I’ll tell you after Sunday.”

“I didn’t know he left.”

“Duce will be the first to tell you this. He had to get back into the swing of things. He did. He got himself back into playing shape and game speed and so on. Duce has stepped up and made some big plays for us this year. That’s him. That’s Duce.”

“Sure, that’s a possibility.”

“We were able to work Reno [Mahe] into the passing game a little bit. He’ll continue to work in there. He gives you a little quickness, a little different quickness than [Correll Buckhalter and Duce Staley] give you. The other two I’m very confident in. They do a very nice job. It’s not the way the game played out where they had a lot of touches. When Brian was down before, Buck stepped up and Duce stepped up and put together some pretty good games.”

“I think as a coach and a teacher you try to help them out. If there’s mechanical problems in their play then you address it and then you put them back in there. They’ve done this before. You have the trust factor. You put them out there and let them do it and work themselves through it and get better and get back on track.”

“I think the coaches did a great job of trusting the players. I think that’s very important. We’ve been through it now. The nucleus of this team has been together for a while. You develop a trust. They develop it in you and you develop it in them. That puts you all in the same boat together.”

“We had a couple of them now this year. It seems to happen just before half. It gives you a nice little boost going into that half. The defense, again, they stepped up. It takes a certain mentality down there and our guys have done it a couple of times. They present themselves right when they’re at that 1-yard-line. They get after it and the D-linemen get penetration. I think I said [Darwin] Walker was the one that did it last time, but Corey [Simon] was right there with the penetration also. He really was the primary guy to make that guard bubble. The defensive line has done a nice job in that area.”

“We’re always trying to work to get better at it. That’s the important thing. Our guys are doing the same thing this week. We’re going to try to get better at that. Not to take anything away from the pass defense either. It’s very important you take care of both and don’t slight one over the other. That’s a good goal for us.”

“I think just with Andy being here it shows his determination and hard work, his attitude toward preparation and I think it’s contagious to all of us. Just willing to do whatever it

takes to get better. We continue to improve each week we’ve been out there playing. We’re competing to the best of our ability and from then on it’s just taken a rise. With us holding hands, it looks kind of funny, but it’s the things we’ve been through for our five years and the bond that we had.”

“It was like a magnetic field. I don’t remember”

“Just that with opportunities that are there you have to take full advantage of it. Obviously, eliminating turnovers and mistakes. There were mistakes in that game that obviously we need to continue to eliminate. Watching the film, there were so many plays we should have made in that game that obviously would have eliminated the whole 4^{th-and-26. That’s why you play this game and that’s why you have to just compete sometimes. We put everything forward with getting the first down and winning the game. We’ve been here. We need to take full advantage of it. We’re excited for this opportunity and we will be ready to go.”}

“I feel great. Mentally, pretty much the same as I was last year: Confident we’ll have a great week of practice and go out here and have fun.”

“It’s not all about running. Last year there were opportunities in the pass game we could have taken full advantage of. I could have scrambled in last year’s game. Just from watching that game and knowing the situation, obviously this year is a whole lot different. The team we have, the things we would like to get done and just our game plan. The attitudes are different as well. This will be an exciting game.”

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes in order to win.”

“It’s the same. We know the way they’re going to attack us. We know he’s going to put five, six, seven guys up in the box and try to bring in eight sometimes. When you know what you’re going to be faced with obviously you have to come up with a scheme to answer for it. What we have to do is look at what we did in the first game, look at the mistakes that we made and try to eliminate those mistakes.”

“It’s funny how people get measured just by winning the Super Bowl. Most of the Hall of Fame quarterbacks either never won the Super Bowl or just won one. You do the math on that one. I can’t focus on the way people may feel about me, or any of the other guys who may have been drafted early. I just have to take full advantage of the opportunities I get.”

“As a kid, obviously that’s a dream to look up on Sports Illustrated and see yourself. I’d rather be on the cover of Sports Illustrated when it’s all said and done.”

“Don’t care about it. If there’s a jinx, it’s time to erase it.”

“It was very important. It’s important to know you have the confidence in your coach and your coaching staff that when things aren’t going well they’re not going to sit there and point the fingers toward you in the media. All of us challenge ourselves to step our games up and make sure we’re clicking on all cylinders. As the weeks continued on we continue to get better and better as far as knowing where guys are going to be, the confidence in all of us, and just knowing that we were going to make big plays that could possibly change the course of the game. That’s probably why that magnetic field was there when you saw me holding his [Reid’s] hand.”

“It’s tough to say. It feels like it was years ago. I know that some teams that were hot at that time when we were playing bad aren’t playing any more. We really don’t care what happened early in the year. No one cares what happened during the regular season.”

“Really it doesn’t motivate me. At times it pissed me off. I’m just being a man about it. You go on and prepare and you can’t get it done. Well, you use that as a little fuel to the fire and continue to go out and know what you have to do to take advantage of the things that are given to you. In doing that, making sure you’re confident and the guys see your confidence and you all rally around each other.”

“I’m sure everyone would love to get rid of it. Here’s an opportunity. We’re going to make sure that we’re ready.”

“Just from the last two games the opportunities that were there are so small so you have to be able to click on all cylinders and make sure you’re ready to go. When things are there, take full advantage of it.”

“Anytime you’re in a position like this, the only thing you can do is think positive. We have a positive attitude over here. What happened the past two years is over. There’s nothing we can do. The only thing we can do is focus on what we want to do. We all have high goals and at the top of our list is obviously to win the Super Bowl. In order for us to do that we have to win this game.”

“Sometimes as a quarterback that sort of comes with the territory. Just the confidence that that statement really showed, it does a lot for a team. It doesn’t do a lot for one person, it does a lot for a team. If the team feels that way then every week you’re willing to do whatever it takes. You’re willing to lay down or die for these guys and that’s the way we all feel. I’m going to give all that I have and when it’s all said and done I can be that guy passing out in the end zone because I know I’ve given all that I can to win.”

“The confidence in Freddie is definitely there. I’ve had confidence ever since he got here. Freddie is a guy that’s willing to do whatever it takes in order for us to get first downs, get the ball in the end zone and come out winning. Freddie comes to Arizona and trains with me. Todd [Pinkston also] did it this year. We have that bond with the receiving core. When we see things out there we can try to take advantage of.”

“I definitely think that he’s made his point known of what type of player he is in this offense this year. I think last year Antonio Freeman came over and did a wonderful job for us in the slot. In his first year, he was just learning his position. Now he has that confidence knowing what he can do in that offense and what he can do on that play.”

“I think the experience factor plays a major part. Of just being in that situation and knowing what we have to do in order to get there. And the next year knowing what we need to do to get there. Obviously not coming out on top of those games really does a lot for us mentally. For the leaders on this team., we’ve reached out to the rest of the guys just to let them know the importance of this game and the way of going out attacking it, approaching it, making sure we’re relaxed and confident and knowing what we’re going to see out there. And just go out and have fun.”

“Homefield advantage is big. You have your fans out there, you’re used to your facilities and it’s a whole new game plan when you’re playing at home. I think that attitude is a lot different. I think it’s a plus to have the NFC Championship here in your own stadium. The difference in playing away is sometimes the noise and things that are going on over the course of the game may not work in your favor. Hopefully, we have the positive and can take full advantage of it.”

“All the time.”

“I’m just going to do the same things I’ve been doing every week. And keep it at pretty much the same rhythm. I don’t focus on being on the cover of Sports Illustrated, being on the news or anything like that. I just try to do my job and do it at the best of my ability. When it’s all said and done for people to say, ‘he gave all that he had.’”

“I think we just have to have that same approach, the same approach we had in that game. Just watching that film, there were opportunities in that game that obviously we should have made, plays we should have made. That continues drives on. Convert third downs, convert 2nd-and-7 when you know you may see some blitzes. Knowing what they’re going to do. When you watch that film, there were opportunities in that game when we could have made some big plays. You want to take full advantage of that.”