The Giants meet the media following Thursday's matchup with the Redskins:
GIANTS HEAD COACH BEN McADOO
Opening statement:
"I thought we played hard. We had plenty of opportunities, especially in the first half. On offense, we didn't capitalize on the opportunities. Give Washington credit, credit they beat us today."
On the offense overall:
"It wasn't very good."
On the decision to make CB Eli Apple inactive:
"Eli missed a lot of time last week with practice and the ballgame. It was a short week without any speed. That was the reason for it."
On if making Apple inactive was a disciplinary measure:
"I just gave you my reason."
On the offensive line taking a step backwards in production:
"I think early in the ball game we had some opportunities where we dropped some balls. It could have been a play to make a first down. It could have completed the ball. We missed the throw early. I think all that stuff catches up with you when you have to drop back and you don't get to drop back on your own terms. There were some times where we were physical in the ballgame running the football. But certainly too many hits on the quarterback, but there's plenty to go around."
On TE Evan Engram's poor performance in light of the team's injuries:
"Yeah, our margin for error is small with the way things are right now. We know that going in, but it doesn't mean we can't go out there and press. And he looked like we played on a short week tonight. He needs to get that out of his system. He needs to learn from it and I'm confident he will learn from it and move on."
On if any conversation with Engram took place following the dropped passes:
"We had a couple of conversations."
On what was said during the conversations concerning Engram:
"Especially after the first one, you have to flush it and move on, because at a certain point of time you have to reset mentally. That's the big part of it."
On the performance of the new pairing of T Chad Wheeler and OL Jon Halapio:
"Again, our offense has a long way to go. We didn't play well tonight and need to go look at the film."
On the team's defensive penalties, specifically concerning CB Ross Cockrell:
"Again, I have to go look at the tape. I know a couple of times we got beat inside, which we had inside leverage. I thought he was in decent position on a go-route and got the P.I. penalty. I think he needs to stay the course there instead of reaching out and grabbing the receiver, but again, I need to look the tape before I make any comments."
On QB Eli Manning missing the throw to RB Shane Vereen in the red zone:
"Yeah, it's a throw and catch we have to have. It should've been a touchdown. Are you talking about the one in the red zone? Got to have it."
On not wanting the team to get numb after losses:
"I think we played the game hard and physical today. That was a hard-fought football game. It was close. We had our opportunities and didn't come through in the end."
On guys stepping up due to linebacker injuries:
"I thought that we communicated well. We got lined up well. We had some DBs in and out. We had some linebackers in and out. They didn't blink on defense. Kept playing hard, kept playing physical. Need to do a better job against the run and the end of the ball game, but we'll clean that up."
On how frustrating the offense is as a whole:
"Well, we were making progress in the run game. I'm not frustrated. We were making progress in the run game up until this week. We need to run the ball better. That's where it starts and we didn't do that tonight."
On the issue with the run game tonight:
"I'm going to have to go back and look at the film."
GIANTS QB ELI MANNING
On how frustrating tonight was:
"They did a good job. They did a good job on third down. We just couldn't get things going. We were backed up a bunch. We didn't make plays. We missed some plays that we needed to make and just couldn't get much going."
On what happened with the pass to RB Shane Vereen:
"I have got to hit Shane on that. It was a screen trying to pop him out of the backfield. I thought I had to throw it a little sooner than I wanted to – kind of float it up there for him where maybe he can adjust and get to it, but I just put a little bit too much on it and we got to hit that one."
On offensive linemen T Chad Wheeler and OL Jon Halapio:
"I think they competed and were going against some good players. They hung in there and competed and they did fine."
On being under pressure more than usual:
"We just never got into a great rhythm. We needed to have some longer drives. It was just first down, second down, third down. We weren't about to get some drives and slow down that pass rush. They did a good job. They've got some good players. We had to hold it a little bit sometimes when they've got some pressure. We just need to do a better job of a combination of everything. I had to hit some throws and guys had to make some catches. Each play kind of had its own reason for not being successful."
On what he told TE Evan Engram after a tough couple of games:
"Well, you just have to keep fighting. You get to the second half of the season and these rookies, it can get long for them. So you just have to keep grinding and make sure you're focused, and we're going to need him to make some plays for us."
On playing without WR Sterling Shepard:
"Yeah, you miss him. He's one of our go-to guys. He has some experience and he's a playmaker. So, I thought he was going to give it a shot today. He kind of went through some chair drills this morning and was there and then we got word he wasn't going to go. So, obviously we have to get him healthy and make sure he's fine. Anything dealing with the head is scary, but we definitely miss him."
On if he thought offense would average 16 points this season:
"No, I didn't think that."
On why he thinks offense is struggling:
"Well, we've lost a lot of players. We're missing our three starting receivers for a lot of the season. We're getting some new guys in and they're doing some good things. We're missing some lineman. We're missing some key players on offense and it's just tough to catch up and make up some of those plays from the playmakers that we lost."
On the margin for error with injuries:
"We've done a pretty good job of not making the big mistakes like turning the ball over, but we can't afford to have missed throws on third, have drops or have miscommunication. We only get so many opportunities to makes some plays and we have to make them. We need to play better than how we're playing."
On the team being demoralized:
"It's been a tough stretch most of the season so we're going to keep fighting. We fought hard today and we have to find a way to make some plays in the fourth quarter and win some football games."
On confidence in the offense:
"Every time you get the ball, you can get something going. You can make some plays, get a pass or get a play-action. You just have to get one first down to get a little bit of momentum and we just weren't getting those first downs very often."
On lack of plays down the field:
"I thought we hit Evan [Engram] on a deep cross for a big play. We just didn't complete the ball enough so we didn't throw too many shots down the field. We didn't have the ball enough to convert on third down to give us an opportunity to take those shots."
On the reason why RB Wayne Gallman Jr. played more later in the game:
"I don't have the reason for that. That's coach's decision."
On if losing tires him out emotionally:
"Yeah. Yeah, it definitely does. It's no fun losing. It's no fun not scoring. Not enough points offensively. Yeah, it can wear you out. It can test you, but you've got to keep going to the drawing board and find ways to play better and move the ball and score some points."
On if he takes the loss personally:
"I think everyone takes it personally. When you lose a football game, you feel bad. You always think about plays you could have made, made a difference. It's tough."
GIANTS TE EVAN ENGRAM
On his performance tonight:
"I don't know. I just got to be better. There's no excuses for it. I just got to make some plays, just got to be better."
On if his drops tonight are a concern:
"Are they a concern? Tonight, yeah. A big concern."
On what Head Coach Ben McAdoo said to him about his drop early in the game:
"Stay in it. Just keep going and it will come back to you."
GIANTS CB JANORIS JENKINS
On the offense:
"You got to understand, it's football. Offenses do what they do. We can't worry about what they do. We just got to come out as a defense and do what we do. Coach tells us all the time, 'Don't look at the scoreboard. Don't focus on the scoreboard. Just come out and play hard nose football and just move forward.'"
On the defense:
"We never go into the game knowing we have to put up points. It's all about doing what we have to do on the defensive end – the defensive side of the ball and maintaining it."
GIANTS RB ORLEANS DARKWA
On the run game in the second half:
"It's frustrating. We weren't doing what we wanted. At first, we were able to move the ball. We just weren't able to do it with some consistency. It's frustrating, but we just have to figure out how to get the offense going. We got to get some points on the board. We can't expect the defense to do it for us all the time. So, we just got to get it going. We will get it right."
On not being able to carry the momentum from last Sunday:
"It's unusual. Nobody likes to lose. We prepared well. With the circumstances, we prepared well. But we just didn't go out there and execute, so we got to take some time, get our bodies right, get some people back on the field and get ready for the next opponent."
On if the team is getting numb to their frustrating record:
"At the end of the day, we know what we are capable of. So, it's frustrating because we know we can play better than we have played and we can produce more than we have. It's frustrating and we are not getting used to that at all. We just got to get better and that's what we plan on doing."
GIANTS T CHAD WHEELER
On if the early struggles shook his confidence:
"No. We have a [one] play mentality that we preach all the time."
On the overall performance of the offense:
"We just didn't play up to standard. Our defense played their tails off. They expect more from us and we've got to give them more."
On why the running game seemed to take a step back this week:
"Give credit to them. They had an excellent game plan and they made plays. So, we just didn't make plays."
GIANTS CB LANDON COLLINS
On the short week:
"We had a good mindset. I think everybody was positive. They were excited. I think the thing everybody was worried about was how sore they are, but when you get on the field all that goes out the window. I'm out there playing ball, so most of the guys were ready to play. The mindset was to come in here, play our best game and try and get this W."
On struggling the week after a win:
"It hurt. We know we're going to have tough games. We're going to have difficult games. We have to fight our hardest, and in doing so, we can try to get better each and every week."
On overcoming injuries:
"It's very hard. But at the same time, you just got to play with your instincts. You got to play detailed. You have to play with your eyes and your technique and you got to be basic 100 percent each and every time we come into this game, because it relies on us to do that."
On penalties:
"We said, 'We got your back, man.' It happens. It's the game of football. Refs are going to call bad calls. I'm going to have to go back and look at the film and I think the deep one – some of those holding penalties are iffy. I don't think it should have been holding. The ball wasn't even going his way, so it's iffy."
GIANTS DE JASON PIERRE-PAUL
On close games:
"We've had a lot of close games this year. It is what it is."
On his frustration with the loss:
"I'm pretty sure everyone is frustrated right now, but it's football. You win some, you lose some."
On the pass rush:
"We didn't get the job done."
On the run defense:
"What was wrong with our run defense? It's football. People make mistakes."
On CB Janoris Jenkins' interception:
"He gave us a chance to win the game. That was a pretty awesome play, taking it back for a touchdown. He's an awesome player so that gave us a chance to win the game, but we didn't. He gave us that spark that we needed. That was basically it."
