Q: Have you ever been in a situation like this where you're going into a game with only 1 QB?
A: I can't remember going into a game with only one. Technically we'll have two, with Dominic (Randolph) with us now. We also have Antrel limbered up for a few plays, so we'll see what he can do.
Q: So are you thinking about Dominic as more of an emergency guy?
A: I think it hasn't been decided. We'd like to play him in the fourth quarter, we'll see how much he can grasp in such a short amount of time. I think there is some retention with him being in our rookie mini-camp, not much obviously but there's a little. So we'll see how much we feel comfortable with. If it does look good and knock on wood everything's going well, we'll try to play him a little in the fourth.
Q: It looks like Jim Sorgi is done for the preseason…did he get enough the other night?
A: No. You'd like to get more, certainly. I don't know. Someone told me, Pete, that there are some reports that he might be out longer. We have not heard that, and that has not been discussed at all. Just that he's not going to play this week, so hopefully he will play the third week.
Q: What'd you see from him the other night?
A: He's a guy who is still learning with the offense and still going. As the game moved on, he grew more comfortable and as a result of that, he's getting better and better. You'd like to see it, at the next chance, he would be a little quicker where his comfort and confidence grows. He's a competitive guy, a tough guy. He hung in there and took some hellacious hits, which is not a good thing to see overall, but in terms of your evaluation of him, that's certainly an important component of being a successful quarterback and he was willing to stand in and do whatever it took to make a throw. That was great to see.
Q: How much does this cut back what you want to do in this game?
A: A lot, no question. Because of the nature of their defense last week, we were basically practicing our normal installation schedule right up until the very end, we were careful not to turn guys loose and not get anybody injured. So we were limited. We were kind of looking forward to this week to get guys moving and broadening what we're doing. We'll try to do a couple different things, but it's certainly going to curtail some of the things we wanted to do because we want to keep Rhett in a place where he's comfortable.
Q: What is three-four quarters of a Rhett Bomar football game going to look like?
A: Hopefully very efficient, very effective, and a lot of touchdowns. I thought he played terrific last week when he got the chance. I think that he needs to block out that he's not going in third, he's going in first, and just play. Because of the guys around him, he should feel even better about the way he looked last Monday night, which I thought was terrific.
Q: He seems like he has the courage or ignorance to handle this kind of thing:
A: He's a physically tough kid. No question about it. There's a lot of pressure on him because I'm sure he feels the weight of the world. Instead of looking at guys who he has been on the scout team with, he's looking at the starters in the eye and their expecting him to lead and do the things that Eli would do, and its not fair to expect that from him. He's going to have to do enough because he is the leader and he has to direct the things and say it with enough confidence that they feel good about where he is taking them.
Q: What's the difference between his first and second training camp so far?
A: It's his second time going through it. He didn't get a lot of work last year. We had four quarterbacks, and he was getting fourth reps. In many respects, it's kind of like his rookie year, there's no question about that, which is part of why we only brought three quarterbacks in, to give him some work. We think we see a guy who has some physical skills and some potential. We were trying to give him enough work to try and see, never anticipating it would ever be as much work as he got yesterday, or that he's going to get on Saturday night. He can run, as he showed you when he pulled it down. He's got a very strong arm. It's really still growing in confidence, and doing the things we ask of our quarterback, which is substantial. It's significant. Much of our run game is contingent on him taking in and out of one play to another, etc. He also needs to grow with his consistency and his accuracy.
Q: Is there just one Giants offense or are there plays tailored to fit him?
A: We hope that there is enough variety, variation that you can select the things that your player can do. That always enter into the framework. Here is what our offense is doing, so we will eliminate some of the plays that don't fit. Here is some plays that we want to do but our players can't do so we'll focus on those things that have a chance to succeed based on what the defense does.
Q: Are you worried about the wideouts and how the QB injuries will affect their progression?
A: A little bit. I'm not as worried. I'm more worried about them executing the way that they need to. They were not as sharp as they need to be. They showed rust more than anything last week. Hopefully they're going to grow, and some of the things that they'll be confronted with is just technique. Beating press coverage, doing the routes the way they are supposed to be done. The implementation of the offense the way is supposed to be done, that needs to be upgraded.
Q: Did Beatty and Diehl on the left side show you anything?
A: They played well. That's discounting Rich, which I don't think you can you do in the assessment. We felt good about the way they played, and Beatty gave us some leadership from the tackle position. When Richie is in there, he is the one directing traffic, but it was nice to see David comfortable enough playing the position, but clarifying for Beatty while he was doing that. I thought William played well.
Q: Will we see that on Saturday?
A: Mostly. Unless something is different. The more work we can get Beatty at tackle, the better. Not in terms of 'hey, he's the guy", but the more work he can get. He is such a raw guy that he just benefits from being out there.
Q: What do you think of the Victor Cruz show?
A: When we saw him in the spring, we said 'here is a guy who had pretty good quicks, and he looks strong, so he can get in and out of breaks.' I think he'll be able to give us a look. Once camp came, we knew we were right in that assessment. He kept running by our defensive backs, no matter who it was. We thought, was he really that fast? We're not sure, but every day he is getting by somebody. Not only has he looked like an intermediate guy, but he was a guy who could do deep. But then you say, how will he do in the game? He made some great plays, and so now you're hoping that he continues to show what he showed on Monday night, and that he cleans up some of the errors to make. Usual mistakes that rookies make, some of the reads he missed and Tom referred to some of the blocking assignments. Those are things he can clean up so he can upgrade his consistency, and continue to make the plays and hopefully he becomes a factor.
