Head Coach Joe Judge

Opening Statement: It's Wednesday, we've turned the page from last week. We're on to Baltimore today with all of our focus, all of our concentration, going forward. Obviously, this has been a very successful organization. Since John (Harbaugh) got there, they've done a tremendous job. It starts with the defense and the kicking game and the running game, and how they control the pace of the game and the physicality. You have to have a lot of respect for the attitude they play with as a team, and that's really transitioned within the different rosters and coaches that have come on through. But John's really kept that constant with his own mentality and how he's built the team. 

You talk about them on each phase of the game, I think you have to start with John on special teams. Chris (Horton) as the coordinator is doing a phenomenal job for them right now. They have a very explosive core. They have great specialists with (Justin) Tucker and Sam (Koch). I think these guys play on a field that's a little bit shorter than their opponents with the ability that Justin has. When they cross the 50, they have a shot to kick long field goals with his accuracy and leg strength. Obviously, we have to do a good job defending these guys on defense to keep them off those short fields. But they do a tremendous job with it. Their coverage units are top of the league. They do a great job in the return game. (Devin) Duvernay is doing a great job as an explosive returner in the kickoff return game. We're going to have to have a big priority this week on playing with good, physical fundamentals and playing sound and alert in the kicking game.  

Talking about their defense, Wink (Don Martindale) does a great job of really spinning the dial. It's all about the pressure with these guys. He manages to have a lot of combinations of blitzes and pressures throughout the game. Everyone gets a swing of the bat, as we say with them. It's corners, it's safeties, it's nickels, it's linebackers. It's one at a time, it's two at a time, it's all of them coming. They'll play cover zero and then they'll drop into max coverage and change it up on you right there so you have to be alert. But it's all about communicating pre-snap, and you have to go ahead and make sure you're playing on one page as a unit. They do a great job of spinning the dial.

In terms of their offense, when it comes to Greg (Roman), he's going to find a way to scheme you up in the run game and create explosive plays on the ground. This is a physical team. It all obviously starts with the quarterback. This guy is a different type of player in the league. You've asked me a lot the last few weeks about mobile quarterbacks and is there a transition. I think this guy is a unicorn in terms of how he can play and how he really makes explosive plays with his legs, along with the arm strength and the plays down the field he's capable of making right there. You talk about their skill group as well and their backs. Everybody is capable at any point of breaking a huge, explosive play. They play tough, they've been banged up throughout the year, but they're well-coached and their offensive line is playing well right now. You talk about them as a team, they obviously went through that three-week stretch where they played on kind of not normal weeks. Short schedules, long schedules, guys being pulled out for COVID, whatever the reason is. Obviously, they're getting guys back now healthy. They're really hitting their stride. This is a very good team. It's going to take everything we have to prepare for them. We have to have our best on Sunday. With that being said, I'll open it up to any questions you have. 

Q: You and John Harbaugh are two of very few head coaches in the league who have a strict, mainly special teams coordinator background. Do you have any relationship? Have you met John? With the way hiring practices are kind of leaning in the league with offensive coaches, do you find that a lot of special teams coaches may be kind of overlooked for these roles?

A: I don't want to get into too much of the hiring of who's overlooked, whoever it may be. I've always been told if you're good, they'll find you. Obviously, John was a very accomplished coach himself. He coached defensive backs for a year, but he was obviously one of the top special teams coaches for a long time. His units over the last decade have been in the top groups in the entire league. They make explosive game-changing plays. It's blocking kicks, returning kicks. His teams play tough and fundamentally sound. The one thing I think that he does a tremendous job of, and I think it ties into the kicking game background, is when guys come into the program, and you look at the evolution of their roster, you see a lot of younger players who start off in the kicking game and become good core players. You look forward two years from then and the impact they're making on offense or defense, and how they hang around the roster and just keep replacing players who they may have lost through free agency or just aged out. But that's something that always stands out to me about his program and how he's built it. They truly develop their players on the roster. They have a great personnel department. Obviously, Ozzie (Newsome) is not doing it anymore, but they've continued with the same pattern of how they build the team. I think the way they identify guys who are maybe a little bit under the radar and then develop them within their program, this is definitely a team you watch through the preseason. They always have a couple guys that you say, 'ok, they can't keep all these linebackers, surely. Someone is going to be available.' They find a way to keep the guys that are impact players, and it helps them throughout the course of not only their special teams, but it keeps their defense developing over time as well. 

Q: What advice has Bill Belichick given you about being a head coach in the NFL?

A: I think the biggest thing is just be yourself. Trust what you've learned through the process of everywhere you've worked as an assistant. Take what fits your personality and philosophy, and then make it your own. You can't try to be anybody else. I've taken time to talk to him and Coach (Nick) Saban, Coach (Sylvester) Croom, Coach (Jackie) Sherrill and other coaches that I've worked under in the past and picked their brains on it. The one thing that's unanimous is they all come back to be yourself. That's something I think I'm kind of good at doing. I'm not going to try to do anything outside of my own personality, and that's kind of been good enough. We have to make sure we do better in a lot of things, though. 

Q: The Ravens are averaging 40 points a game the last three weeks. What have you seen them do differently these three weeks that maybe they weren't doing before?

A: I think a lot of it ties into the health of the team. They're getting their players back. These guys are very, very talented. They're very physical. With these guys, it all starts up front with the run. You have to stop the run. Now that's a lot easier said than done. When you talk about this quarterback, I'm sure everyone every week says we have to eliminate this guy's plays or limit how he makes plays. The fact is, you just have to tie it back into fundamentals. He's going to have runs. You have to do a good job tackling in space. He's going to throw the ball down the field. You have to play in phase with the receivers and try to eliminate the explosive plays down the field. Greg does a great job of scheming teams up. Like I said initially, it's all going to come through the run game at first. But that's going to tie into the pass game, the play actions. Then if Lamar can extend it with his legs, which he's obviously very, very capable of doing, he can go ahead and really give you headaches, either by pulling it down and running it or throwing the thing over your head down the field. In terms of what they're doing differently, they've obviously had a lot more success with the pass game as of late. But I don't see that as being anything different with what they're doing schematically. I think it's just something that's been a strength for this team all along, and now they're healthy again. 

Q: Where do things stand with Daniel (Jones)? What do you expect to see him do today at practice?

A: We're going to throw him through practice today, tomorrow and see where he's at. Look, in a perfect world, I'd love to have an answer as soon as possible. I'm not going to go ahead and set a time mark on this. But we'll come out of Friday, Friday after practice, with some kind of an answer. But we're just going to throw him out there and let him practice, see how he does. We've gotten good feedback from him and the trainers, but again, we'll have to put him out there and see how he's moving around today.  

Q: Do you have a relationship with John Harbaugh? Did you talk to him at all about going from special teams coordinator to a head coach?

A: I wouldn't say that we're very close. I have a tremendous amount of respect for John. It's a small league, so you know who guys are out there. I've obviously followed his career and studied him from what he's done on special teams. There's some common links. I worked for a guy named Scotty O'Brien, he's actually close with Scotty. There's a lot of similarities in what I've kind of learned special teams wise and what I see his teams do. You kind of watch some schemes sometimes and you say, okay, we called it whatever we may have called it and they may have a different name, but it's the same scheme. There's a lot of concepts within the fundamentals and philosophies and the situational stuff that apply both ways. A ton of respect for him as a coach. He's obviously done a great job building this team in the way he wants to. We talk about building a bully, building a physical team. Starting with the run game, the physical defense and controlling the field position in the kicking game. They've really prioritized what he really learned as being a special teams coach in terms of having lead specialists and good core to help win that field position.  

Q: Are the Ravens the type of franchise you want the Giants to become?

A: I'm not going to compare us to any other type of organization. I think they have demonstrated a level of consistency and excellence in this league and how they've played it. I like the way they have built this team to be a physical team. I like the way they develop their players. I think there's a lot of things you can look around the league and study the different organizations and teams and how they've had success over time. They're far from the only team that I look at in terms of how they manage their roster, develop their players, and they build in terms of how they practice on a weekly basis and how they game plan. You try to study everyone in the league and kind of make sure you're not missing out on anything. I have a tremendous amount of respect for them. That being said, I'm not going to throw anything out there, we want to be like this organization or that organization. We want to be the New York Giants.  

Q: I asked John Harbaugh a few minutes ago if he believes in an ah ha moment when you find your franchise quarterback. He kind of laughed and said he thinks he had it just a couple games into that 2018 season with Lamar (Jackson). Do you believe that you'll have that moment? Do you think you've already had that moment with Daniel Jones?

A: I don't know if there is an ah ha moment. I'm not saying he's wrong to have had his own ah ha moment. To me, it's a string of moments. Watching Daniel work, watching the respect he has in the locker room, watching him improve throughout this season. I think he's demonstrated a level of toughness and leadership and knowledge on the field that gives us confidence to put him out there and build with Daniel. I'm not going to point to one moment, but I can talk about this entire season of this guy has definitely earned my respect. I kind of made it very hard on him from the beginning in a lot of ways and he hasn't blinked. 

Q: He's your guy? If you ever get a second and a half to think about next year, he's your quarterback?

A: Daniel Jones is our quarterback.

Q: You just mentioned Lamar Jackson is a unicorn. There aren't many of those – actually my neighbor has one outside his front steps – but there aren't many of those in the NFL. Because he's a unicorn – you know, the Detroit Pistons had the Jordan rules for Michael Jordan – is Lamar Jackson that special? I mean, you played Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray, but Lamar Jackson seems like a different cat. Do you have to have special rules in place to go against him?

A: I think with any of these quarterbacks, you have to go into the game and find ways of helping your team by trying to find a way to make them play left-handed, if you will. Again, that's easier said than done. I think when it comes down to him, it comes down to being disciplined and fundamentally sound. You have to be able to tackle in space, that's the biggest thing. We played them last year and I told the team this morning, the thing I came away from that game saying was I didn't realize he was that fast. You see him on tape running away from guys, you know he's fast, but when you see guys in person and you watch them athletically up close, that's sometimes when you have to realize that this guy's a lot better than I thought he was on tape and you have a tremendous amount of respect for him on tape. You look at this team of how much they outscore teams in the first quarter, I think a lot of that is teams are not ready to go, not that they weren't prepared, but they're not truly ready to go because they're surprised by the speed or they're not prepared or mentally ready for the schemes they're going to see. When you talk about this offense, you have to be ready to go from the jump. You can't go in there, dip your toe in the water and say, 'Okay, we'll get a feel for how this game is going to go' because by the time you get a feel for it, they've got 21 points on you.

Q: Do you have anybody, a receiver or somebody, who in practice can simulate that?

A: We've got a number of guys we've talked about actually and we'll do our best in practice to try and simulate him running around and create some tackling drills and things of that nature, but there's a difference between someone imitating him and the real thing.

Q: In addition to that, as far as simulation goes, I know the string of quarterbacks that you've faced, but as far as the sudden speed and the way they accelerate, is Lamar similar to what you guys faced in Kyler? And the fact that you've faced Kyler just a couple weeks ago, at least your guys have seen it in a game, that kind of speed. Does that translate at all or is it a completely different animal?

A: I think you can make the common link in that they're both very effective with their legs, they can both extend plays, they can run down the field and they have great vision and instincts, but I think there's a different style with them. We have to talk all the time in evaluating players, what kind of receiver is he? Is he a straight-line, size/speed receiver? Is he a quicker than fast receiver or shifty in space? How they fit those dynamics. To me, when I look at Lamar, he's a tough, tough runner. I'm not saying anything about any other quarterback. When you watch this guy run, he's not looking to slide, he's not looking to get out of bounds, this guy's looking to extend plays. When he gets going, you can tell 'score' is the only thing on his mind. He's got a wiggle to him at full speed that's very rare. It's kind of like trying to tackle Gumby, this guy can just change direction, it's almost like his body moves in ways that you can't simulate in practice. This guy is extremely fast, he hits that top gear in just a couple steps and at the same time he can stop on a dime and change directions. This guy's got great running instincts. You know, you watch tape of all the teams they've played, it's not like those teams haven't watched tape as well and said, 'This guy can really run and this is how he does it.' It's just you're got to prepare as best as you can with your team to simulate those cutbacks and that acceleration. Again, there's not a lot of guys like this. If we had a guy like this on our team, I'm sure we'd find a way to put the ball in his hands, too. So we've got to find a different combination of guys in different parts of practice to simulate different aspects of what he does as a player and then our guys have to do a really good job of watching tape and then understanding it's going to come down to the fundamentals we play with in space on him that will help us make plays.

Quarterback Daniel Jones

Q: How much do you really want to play in this kind of crucial game?

A: Yeah, I'm doing everything I can to get back out there. Every week you want to play. I did all I could last week, and that's certainly my approach this week. I'm working as hard as I can. I really do want to be out there with the guys and go after a win on Sunday. 

Q: Do you feel you're closer in your mind?

A: Yeah, I think I'm closer every day and feeling better every day. I'm just trying to heal up as fast as I can. I am feeling better and need to keep doing what I'm asked to do, doing what I'm supposed to do, working with the trainers and making sure I keep going in that direction. 

Q: Are the injuries limiting you still in any way? What do you need to see from yourself on the field to feel like you really can go out there and be yourself?

A: From my perspective, my approach every day is to do what they're asking me to do. I don't know about evaluating what I can and can't do. I'm going to do everything I can and let people guide me and control the rehab program as far as what I'm allowed to do and how hard I push it. My job is to work as hard as I possibly can, and do everything I feel like I can do. 

Q: Are you pretty certain that if they give you the green light for Sunday, you will be more capable of doing things athletically than you did against the Cardinals?

A: I'm further from that hamstring injury and I've continued to improve every day. I'm feeling better, feeling better this week. Like I said, my focus is to keep improving that way and to continue to progress through the program that the trainers and doctors have laid out for me. 

Q: Is the newer injury, the ankle, is that still a factor?

A: I'm still rehabbing and working through that also, and that's feeling much better, too. Yeah, just need to stay on it, stay on top of it and keep working with those guys.  

Q: How much better do you think your chances are of playing this week with where you're at physically? Last week when we saw you, you weren't taking the first team snaps. This week, it looked like you were kind of back in that position and in a better spot, I should say, to start this week.

A: That's up to Coach Judge and the trainers and the doctors. They'll make that decision this week. Like I said, I feel like I'm improving. Obviously, I wanted to play last week. My job is to focus on my rehab, focus on working with those trainers and letting them make that decision, and obviously being open and honest with how I feel and making sure I'm communicating with them well. That's my job, to take it day by day, and make sure I'm improving. 

Q: In a bigger picture look at things, Joe said today that 'Daniel Jones is our quarterback for next year.' What does it mean to you that the organization still, you had to impress a new regime here this year, that the organization still has that trust in you?

A: I've learned a ton from Coach Judge and enjoyed working with him. My job is to earn it every day, and that's the approach that you have to take in this league. Come in every single day, earn your job, work hard, do what you're asked to do, improve as a player every day, and that's what I'm focused on. I'll continue to do that. My focus is on this week, making sure we are as well prepared we can be for Sunday against Baltimore.  

Q: What has this season been like for you, because obviously last year, you were going through everything for the first time? What have you learned this year and what do you feel like you still need to get better at?

A: I think I've learned a lot. Throughout this year, we've played in a lot of tight games. We haven't finished some and found ways to win some of them also. You look at those games, in the games we've won, we've protected the ball better. I think at times, particularly early in the year, I felt like I was pressing to make a play when it wasn't there. Learning when it's not there, when the best decision is to protect the ball and make sure you're controlling that. I've learned a lot through certain situations and situations we've played in in different games. We're not done. We have two more games guaranteed. Our focus this week is on Baltimore and making sure we take care of business. 

Q: How do you think Andrew Thomas has handled the rollercoaster of his rookie season? You went through it a little bit last year. Obviously, he struggled early, seemed like he got it, then allowed a lot of sacks the last game you played, then handled Myles Garrett. It seems like he's been a little all over the place. Is that common for a rookie? How do you think he's handled it?

A: I've been extremely impressed with how he's handled it. That's a tough position to step in and play in the NFL. You're going up against a lot of the best athletes on the field in those pass rushers. You look at who he's faced through the course of the year, and he's faced a lot of good players. For any rookie, it is a little up and down. I think for any young player, you're always learning and you're always improving. I felt like that's been his approach throughout this whole season. He's learned every week, he's continued to attack the practice, attack meetings. His learning process has been one he's really attacked. He's done a good job with that, and his approach every day has been the same. I've been impressed with him. I think he's going to be a great player.

Cornerback James Bradberry

Q: What was it like watching the game last week? Did you feel any sense of responsibility for the loss?

A: It was definitely weird watching the game from my couch. I was just really disappointed that I wasn't able to go out there. I couldn't really say I blame myself. It's just a predicament because of COVID. It was an uncontrollable accident that happened.  

Q: Talk about when you found out you made the Pro Bowl. You're first one. Talk about your emotions there when you found out.

A: It was surreal, and I was excited of course because this is my first Pro Bowl. But it was just surreal. Going into my fifth year, I didn't really think about making the Pro Bowl honestly. I think I went into my fourth year definitely thinking about the Pro Bowl and it didn't happen, so I was disappointed after the season. This year, I just tried to go in there with an open mind and just try to play the best football I could. 

Q: You've seen Kyler (Murray), you've seen Russell (Wilson). Where does Lamar (Jackson) stack up?

A: He's definitely similar to those quarterbacks. He's able to make plays with his legs and also has a strong arm. He's able to complete several explosive plays down the field because he has Marquise Brown, an explosive receiver on the outside. So, they're very similar in certain ways.  

Q: If I could just go back to that first question, it's been pretty well reported that what happened was you went to see a chiropractor. I'm just curious if you could shed any light. Is that somebody you had worked with previously? Was that a first-time appointment? Had you been led to believe he was tested and he wasn't? How did you get in that, I think you called it an 'unfortunate predicament'? How did that happen?

A: I'll start off by saying football is a physical sport. It takes a toll on your body, so of course, when you come to a new city, you want to get a routine started with people that will help you with your recovery. I was introduced to him. I found out that he was with the Jets, maybe I thought our first or second meeting after we got talking. But I had been working with him since the beginning of training camp. Of course, he got popped with a positive COVID test later in the season. But I knew he was with the Jets, so I knew he was getting tested every day. I didn't really see it as a problem. 

Q: Do you think you're playing better this year or you're just getting more recognition?

A: I think I'm just getting more recognition.  

Q: Do you think you were playing at this level in Carolina?

A: Yeah, definitely my fourth year there. My last year in Carolina, I feel like I played pretty well. I think I'm just keeping it going right now. I think I'm playing as well as I did last year. 

Q: One more about this Ravens matchup. You mentioned their explosive pass plays, but what's it like for a corner when they're going to run the ball a ton, and I guess you kind of can't fall asleep? Is that how you have to approach it, where it's not a team that's going to air it out 50 times?

A: Yeah, definitely. You just want to make sure you're locked in the whole time throughout the game. You have those run plays, especially when they're going away from you, they're running the ball away from you, you can tend to get lackadaisical and lose focus. You definitely want to make sure you stay locked in because you never know when they're going to try to throw the ball deep. 

Q: You mentioned you played against some mobile quarterbacks. Is Lamar different? He's a little bigger. Some people think he's the most difficult guy in the league to tackle. When you look at him, you don't want to get on a highlight film of him going past you. What is the key when it's a one on one matchup with a guy like that?

A: Really just taking the air out of it. Getting close to him as fast as you can, but also, trying to get under control to where you're able to cut left or right when he makes his cut. But like you said, Lamar Jackson, he's an elite runner. He's able to run full speed and make cuts on a dime. That's kind of like Kyler, but Kyler's a smaller quarterback. When you add that skillset to a bigger guy who has a longer stride length, able to cover more ground, it makes it even harder to stop a guy like that. Speed, quickness, all of the above.

Defensive Back Logan Ryan

Q: Hey Logan, what's the pulse of the team right now coming off the two straight losses, but playing a must-win game? Is there still fire, is there still fight?

A: Of course. I mean, what else do we have left, right? There's not much left in this season and you've got to make the most of your opportunity, and I think guys are pissed off, I think guys want to play better and I think we know how. We've played good football here a few weeks ago. We know what it takes, we know what it feels like to win, we know what it feels like to lose. I think we're fired up, I think we're working really hard to be ready to go to really have a good performance here and to play a playoff football game, which with the stakes that we're looking at that's what this is. Honestly, having 15 playoff football games under my belt, being in the Super Bowl and having whatever experience, whatever that's worth at this point, it's all about execution. The weather's cold, most teams are physical this time of year, most teams run the ball, most teams want to stop the run. It's really about executing your details, executing the game, being good situationally and when we tend to do that, we tend to win the game. To us, it's about cleaning up our details and executing and getting ready to play the Ravens.

Q: Hey Logan, I understand if someone's going to roll their eyes and say, 'Well, what the heck is he supposed to say,' but you've been around enough. How close is this team? Do you see areas where you say, 'We're at a level that any team I've played on would be proud of, but there are some other places where we need to catch up'?

A: I think this team is close. 'Close' is a relative term, I just think we need to beat the Ravens. I think that is what needs to happen and I think we saw how we can play against Seattle. Look, I don't know who's played more playoff teams than us. We've played a lot of good opponents this year, our schedule has not been relatively easy with just our matchups and that's no excuse, we've just played them all, we've played all the good teams in my opinion and a lot of them on our schedule, a lot of them are really good. This is a really good one and this is the opportunity to play meaningful football in December like I talk about and we're in the game and we're going in the game to win the game. We don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves and I don't lead like that, I try to preach confidence. The standard is to go out here and win this game. I tell you what, the fans listening or whoever may be listening, I'm preparing to go out there to win the game because that's all that matters to me and that's what's at stake.

Q: [Head Coach] Joe Judge called [Ravens Quarterback] Lamar Jackson a unicorn. Now, he doesn't have to tackle him, you do and he's assigning you guys to tackle him. First of all, do you have enough guys in practice who can simulate him? You know you've got receivers or defensive backs or something who can simulate what he can bring. And from going against him, is he a different kind of athlete than even the really good athletes that you play against?

A: To answer it simply – the first question, do we have anybody? No, we don't. There's nobody that can simulate him and playing against him last year in the playoffs, yes, he's different. He's a world-class athlete, a generational athlete. Not many ball-carriers run like him with the ball in his hands, his speed, his ability to change direction. He's a former MVP for a reason. He's really, really good. You have to play really fundamentally sound. I don't think it's a one-on-one tackling game with him, I don't think you want that, he makes a living on that. But they have tendencies with what they do. It's football, they run plays, there's gaps, there's jobs, we've got to win our jobs, I really like our front, I really like our ability to stop the run and that's what we all have to commit to doing. He makes it difficult because he's that added runner, that extra runner. We have to do that for sure, we have to show up and do that and I think we will, and I think we can. We've just got to do it on Sunday. I think the difference here is go out here and get these turnovers, go out here and be disruptive to give our offense extra possessions, give our offense the ball to get the Ravens behind. The reason why my team had success against the Ravens last year is that we came out, we started fast, we got a lead and I think when you get a lead on the Ravens it makes them play behind, it changes their defense and their offensive schemes a little bit from playing from behind. They're built to play from ahead because they're really good at running the ball, they're really aggressive on defense and you want to get those guys behind on the scoreboard early. So, starting fast is a major point for us and be ready to go on Sunday, believe you can win the game. Be ready to go and start fast is definitely a key point for us. 

Q: You said you don't have anyone to simulate him, but how do you try? Who gives it the best shot out there with you guys?

A: I mean, I don't know. I'm not going to expose that. We'll see what the coaches throw out there, but there's nobody to simulate him and his speed. It's something you have to adjust to, it's something you have to be ready for, but if we had a Lamar Jackson to simulate him we should probably play him on offense in the game because that guy would be really good. I just don't think we've got him and I don't think many people do, and I think that's why they get off to good starts is because he's hard to simulate. He's very, very talented, he's very rare, and we'll throw like bodies out there and have guys – some receivers, some whoever – to go simulate some of his running and put a quarterback to simulate his passing, but there's not one guy who can do that all. We've got to go out there and be ready to go and have our cleats in the ground on Sunday.

Q: Logan, just a minute ago you were asked about the state of the team and you said 'We've been playing good football' and it sounded like you were going to say 'Good football that you've reached back to a couple of weeks' when you were playing good football. What's changed over these last two games and how do you get back to where you were as the team that left the field in Seattle?

A: I compare it to hockey, when you're not winning the game, you're not playing the game on your terms, you pull the goalie to try to get back in the game. So, let's bring it back – and I know Joe's going to kill me for going back anyway – we get to Arizona, we didn't play well. There's no way you can win the game with bad field position, we lost the field position game, we were behind on the scoreboard, we're chasing the score because we came out bad and we did not play well and they have too many good athletes on that team to get behind and not play them well, so that was just a bad game on every front. Last game, we go out there and we're trying to do our best to defend Cleveland's run game and stop [Browns RB Nick] Chubb and their rushing attack, and [Browns QB] Baker Mayfield played a very efficient game. He didn't have many deep plays, he didn't have many explosive plays, we didn't force any turnovers on defense and he did a very good job of taking care of the ball, he did a very good job on third down, he did a very good job in the red area and he slowly beat our team with good execution, long sustained drives, ball control and we were behind. When you get behind by multiple scores in football at this time of the year, there's no learning opportunities, there's no learning games anymore. It's go win the game and we're doing things to go win the game and we end up losing it because we're behind, we're trying to create extra possessions, we're trying to blitz or do something to go out there and create extra possessions. In the Arizona game, we force two fumbles in the fourth quarter, we don't get them. So we've got to find a way to go get these balls, we've got to go find a way to come out and play our brand of football from the start so we can take control of the game and we can our offense, our defense the best way that we can and the best way that we game planned to. Yes, we lost the game. Yes, we didn't play well, but we didn't play our style because of the score. So we have to do a good job on the scoreboard so we can play our New York Giants brand throughout the game and I think starting fast is what I mentioned a couple times so we can go out and run our defense the full game, so we can play on our terms is the best way to put it. 

Q: How much does having a healthy [Quarterback] Daniel Jones play into playing your game?

A: I mean, I don't know who's healthy at this point in the year. Honestly, I can't tell you who's 100 percent healthy, I don't go off percentages. We've got to go out there and play, to suit up to play. You've got to do the best job that you can based on your situation. We need Daniel to play well, the team needs Logan Ryan to play well and I control what Logan Ryan does, so I'm going to do my best to play well. But when you talk about 'healthy' in Week 15 in the NFL and guys can't really get massages or anything because we might get COVID – I mean, I'm 15 weeks no massage, so I don't think anyone's too healthy at this point of the year. It's just go out there and find a way to win. 

Q: In the last three weeks, you guys have scored three points total in the first half. Seeing Daniel in practice, are you encouraged to think that he might be out there this weekend?

A: I am, I am. Like I said, 'healthy' is a relative term again. I am. I think we'll be ready to go. I think we come out here and we're ready to go and we'll write about it on Sunday, but our team's preparing to go win this game. How we feel and how practice has no bearing on what Sunday's going to be for us. At the end of the day, we're going to go out there and put out a product to make the fans proud to win the game just like a playoff game would be. It's honestly win at all costs, win by any means, do your job, execute at a high level. That's the secret I tell these guys of playoff football is you just got to go out there and do your job like you've been doing all 16 weeks and don't make it bigger than it is, and that's what we've got to do. Doesn't matter how you feel on Wednesday practice, how you feel on Thursday. I might not look great all the time on Wednesday, but I'm out there on Sunday giving all I've got for the team.