Head Coach Brian Daboll
Q: Opening Comments
A: (New York Giants QB Tommy) DeVito had a concussion; that's why he came out. So, (QB Tim) Boyle had to play the second half there. Played a good team. They played well. We didn't play well enough.
Q: You've been around football, a lot of levels, different levels, you've seen the good and the not so good, what do you tell specifically the younger players who are going through the type of results they're getting right now for them to stay into it?
A: Yeah, be a pro. Control what you can control. Go out there and give effort, prepare, and go out there and play as good as you can play.
Q: Do you know when Tommy got dinged up there, was it during the penalty?
A: No, I don't know if it was the penalty or after that. It was just that he came off, talked to him a little bit and then right before we were going to go out there for that two-minute drive, I went over to him, and I talked about a particular play. We had a couple timeouts and I just saw, I kind of saw his eyes. I asked the trainer to come over, take a look at him, and they took a look at him and so it was right after that touchdown series that we drove down.
Q: What was it about Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson that made him so difficult, I mean we know he's great player obviously—
A: He's difficult to defend every week, against any team he plays. He's a dynamic player. There's a reason why he's a two-time MVP and he's really good.
Q: Even with all your defensive shortcomings, depletions and guys come from the practice squad—
A: With what?
Q: With all the depletions in—
A: The depletions?
Q: In the secondary and things like that, the busts and the wide open coverage, I'm sure you don't want to see that no matter who's back there.
A: Yeah.
Q: I mean, what did you see in so many easy completions?
A: One of them, the guy ran a good route and Lamar found him and another one was third-and-short. Made a great, unbelievable throw and toe-tap catch, and they played well. Give them credit. They're a good football team, we knew that. He's a dynamic player. That number eight, he's dynamic.
Q: On the quarterback sneak that you didn't get in the first half with Tommy, you seemed to be a little upset afterwards. Was it a certain play call, the formation, what was it?
A: Nah, just wanted to get the first down.
Q: It probably goes without saying, but how difficult is this to get administered another loss at home? This one was one-sided, wasn't close.
A: Yeah, I mean these guys are doing everything they can do. Ran into a good football team with a lot of good football players, and they played well, and we didn't play well.
Q: How would you describe where your team is mentally at this point in the season? You've lost nine straight.
A: Yeah, look all we can do is control what we control.
Q: Do you sense that they're down? Do you sense that they're still keeping their head up? What do you see from them?
A: They're competing. We've got a young – look, there's a lot of guys that are in and out and they're competing. I appreciate the way they're competing. Just not getting the results.
Q: What will the message be to the guys at practice this week?
A: Get ready to play a game.
Q: What do you think of the way (Giants WR) Malik (Nabers) battled? He got knocked around, he came in, he came out, made that touchdown at the end.
A: Yeah, it was blitz-zero. It was a good play by (Tim) Boyle. Drifted back, didn't have enough to protect it, but he saw it and laid it up there and Malik made a nice play. He had two big plays that helped us, we had three actually, one to (Giants WR Darius) Slayton, two to Malik on pass interference penalties. Productive.
Q: Do you watch that in a young player, a rookie like that battling down the stretch of a hard season, you see how he's…
A: You watch every player. It's the National Football League. They're all professionals.
Q: When you go with Boyle, do you have to modify the plays because he hasn't been with the team that long and does it limit how you call the plays?
A: No, he knows the plays.
Q: When you've gone through the last four weeks with what you've gone through at quarterback and then you look on the other side and see what (Ravens QB) Lamar (Jackson) is doing, is there an appreciation for as long you've been in this league of how a special player in that spot can make a difference?
A: Yeah, yeah, I mean that's a pretty important position and he's one of the best in the league and you saw that out there today. Again, I've said it all week, he's a fun player to watch, evaluate. No moment too big, makes a variety of throws, can escape, can make plays go 10, 11, 12 seconds. He's a dynamic football player and the leader of that team.
Q: What do you think when there's a plane flying above the stadium again today and this one said 'please fire everybody, Mr. Mara'? I'm paraphrasing.
A: Yeah, just control what we can control.
Q: That doesn't affect you at all to know that that's the sentiment from at least a section of the fanbase?
A: Yeah, just control what we can control. Get ready to play a game this week.
Q: Do you think it's a distraction?
A: No, I didn't know about it until you told me right now. So, control what you can control. Get ready to go ahead and have a good week and whoever's available, get them ready to play.
Q: With (QB) Drew (Lock), what's your optimism level that he can actually get back this week?
A: Don't know. Too early.
Q: It's his heel more than his elbow at this point?
A: Yeah.
Q: You guys have to get it going now to see about bringing in another quarterback?
A: Yeah, fresh, let's see where we're at here tomorrow and go through all the injuries like we normally do and do what we need to do.
Q: What do you think you have to do to prevent change from happening?
A: Yeah, control what we can control. Get ready to play next week.
Quarterback Tim Boyle
Boyle: It's been all hands on deck just from understanding the personnel and guys and trying to earn their respect, so I could step into a position like this and try to command the group. It was fun to get out there and play football again.
Q: At some point, it looks like (you said), 'Let's get the ball to (wide receiver) Malik (Nabers) down the field.' I know there are plays you've got to follow, but is that kind of the emphasis?
A: I think when everything's equal, number one (Malik Nabers) is pretty special. So, always in the back of your mind, as a quarterback at the Giants, you kind of always know where number one is if things go a wire, it's kind of one of those (where you) feel pretty good about your matchup on a 50/50 ball.
Q: When you see (Quarterback Tommy) DeVito go down, what goes through (your mind)? I'm not sure if it was something you were prepared for.
A: I've known Tommy for a few years now, and he's a special player – a special person. It's tough seeing people go down. You never want to see that. I think he played a really good, clean first half. He found a lot of good completions. He was throwing the ball well. He was commanding the group. Hopefully he's going to be alright pretty quick.
Q: You've been on a lot of teams. The Jets have kind of a crazy, rollercoaster quarterback situation. Have you ever seen anything quite like this though? (Former Giants quarterback) Daniel (Jones) started the first ten games. Then it's Tommy. Then it's Drew (Lock). Then it's Tommy. Then it's you.
A: It's December football. And I get that. It's a lot of injuries, unfortunately. But I've been a part of it, so it's not something I'm super foreign to. But it's in the job description of being a quarterback. You've got to be ready to go when your number's called. It's all hands on deck. All three of us are ready to go at that point. The cool part about our room, (Quarterbacks) Coach (Shea) Tierney, he runs a tight ship. We have a really good group. I love Tommy, I love Drew. We're really close. We stick together. And we support each other. Drew was lovely today. Obviously, it was my fourth week being here and first time really operating the offense. Drew was being awesome on the sideline. Tommy's been awesome as well. I'm grateful for those two.
Q: Had you taken a single non-scout-team rep in practice?
A: I have not yet. What you saw today was my first time playing with those guys. So, definitely a cool learning experience. Feeling the speed, the o-line, I think they really did a good job today. The o-line did a good job. The Ravens presented a lot of tough looks, especially on third down. I think our guys up front handled it really well. So, kudos to our guys up front.
Q: I'm sure the wristband is helpful, but reasonably, how much of the playbook did you have a grasp on?
A: I knew all of it. We have a couple code words here and there that I'm still working through, but I'd say 99 percent of the offense is pretty much down for me. I kind of want to learn everything as fast as possible. It's not really one of those things I want to baby myself through. I want to be able to present myself in a game and look at Dabs (Head Coach Brian Daboll) and say, 'Hey, call whatever you want. I'll go run it and run it well.' To answer your question, I'm pretty much caught up on the offense over the past couple weeks and feel pretty comfortable.
Q: As a quarterback, when you throw a deep ball like that to Nabers and he makes the adjustment and makes the play for the touchdown, how does that make you feel?
A: It makes my job a lot easier. He's one of those special players, you kind of just got to throw it up to him and let him do his thing. You always know where number one is on the field. He's in the back of your mind as a quarterback, if stuff is kind of hitting the fence a little bit, you've got to throw it up to number one. I'm glad he made the catch. I threw a couple of balls to him today that kind of got away from me a little bit that he made wonderful adjustments on. Just goes to show how special a player he is. We've got to continue to get him the ball.
Q: What have you seen from Nabers during the week, in practices and stuff, that makes you think he's a special player?
A: It's the way he approaches his work. He's detailed, the whole rookie aspect of his year is kind of behind him. I've only been here for four weeks, but just the way he's carried himself, he's already a great pro. He knows his role in this team, and he knows he's got to play well on Sundays because we need him on this offense. He's one of those standout players that, again, I know where number one is. Drew knows where number one is. Tommy knows where number one is, and if things are kind of running around a little bit, I know where number one is over there. You kind of put his physical skills to the test and see what happens and most of the time, he's going to come down with it. He's a special player. I'm glad I was able to connect with him a few times today. Again, he made me look good on that touchdown pass, because it wasn't a great ball. It was Cover 0, so I had a couple guys in my face. He made an incredible adjustment, got his feet down, and put seven on the board, which was nice.
Q: I know you just got here but how do you see nine straight losses, I guess, weighing on a rookie like that, especially someone coming from LSU?
A: It's frustrating for anyone, especially someone who's coming from a great program like he's come from and expects to win. I understand the frustration, and we all feel it too. That's the part where you have to kind of almost embrace the suck together and fight and claw every day to get out of it. He's a competitor. If we had two wins and he was happy and jolly all the time, I'd have a little bit more of an issue with it. He's a competitor, he wants to win. So, if he wants the ball, I don't blame him. He's a game changer and we've got to find ways to get him the ball. I think Dabs did a really good job of scheming up, trying to get him in that first progression and some concepts. Malik's a special player, we're glad to have him here at the Giants.
Q: You always know you're one player away, but just before halftime are you sitting there going oh my gosh?
A: It's kind of one of those weird things. As a backup, you kind of have to go into the game knowing you're going to play and if you don't play, it's one of those, all right, you came out clean. But I've been around long enough now, kind of back in my Green Bay days where I'd go into a game and it kind of jumped on me a little bit. I wasn't really ready for the moment. But as I kind of progressed as a backup in this league, you kind of have to just be ready to play. I prepared all week knowing that there was a chance for me to go play in this game, and I had to go play well. The moment when it came, there was no heart pounding, there was no dry mouth, I just kind of went out there and played ball and got in the huddle. It was really good to play football again. It's been kind of a weird year for me. I've been on three teams over the past, I don't know, five, six months. So just getting back in the huddle and playing ball, throwing a touchdown pass, it was all very nice for it to come full circle.
Q: You seem to be really aggressive, taking shots down the field. Is that something the defense was showing you and that's why you took those shots? Or something Dabs kind of adjusted?
A: No, I think Dabs called a great game, but I think what the defense gave me, I kind of took. I think the last one there was kind of just like a chuck it up and see if number one can come down with it. I wish I could take it back and do something else with the ball, but late in the game like that, I threw it up. I took what the defense gave us, and there were a couple opportunities for me to put the ball up in the air and we've got to continue to come down with those. I threw a couple balls that got away from me a little bit today that, moving forward, I can tighten up and get better from.
Q: You also have to be happy with some of your ball placement. You were throwing some back shoulders, where only a receiver or a flag could come out of it – which you got, so you have to be happy with that part of your game.
A: That's our standard as a quarterback. We expect to go 100 percent accuracy and try to put the ball exactly where you want. When you don't do it, you remember those a little bit more than the good ones.
Q: You talked about the three teams that you've played on in the last 18 months or so. How do you go about preparing for different playbooks, different schemes and everything?
A: What I've learned is it's just football at the end of the day. It's all the same stuff. It's different terminology, but conceptually, it's a lot of the same stuff. So, me learning this offense really is just understanding names of things and how we get lined up and what we call this route. But I've been around most of these concepts before in my past. So, the actual spacing and the feeling of it from a defensive standpoint and a scheme standpoint, I don't feel like it's too big for me. It's really just learning the terminology so I can read a wristband or hear the call from Dabs and have it click in my mind and visualize it in my mind. Yeah, it's always a challenge. I have a pretty good routine now of what's my priority to learn in a new offense, but grateful that our Assistant Quarterback Coach, Christian Jones, has been incredible, helping me out, staying late with me, going through walkthroughs, just making sure I'm dialed in on the details.
Wide receiver Malik Nabers
Q: They finally let you catch one without pass interference. Tell us about that touchdown.
A: It was a good day to get back in the box.
Q: How hard was it when they were interfering with you on the other ones? Does that still feel like a big play when you draw a pass interference penalty?
A: Anytime you can get another first down, especially down the field, it places the offense in a great position. You want to make the catches, but if you can get a P.I. (pass interference) and make sure we get another down and distance, it's always good.
Q: In a season of nine straight losses, what positives have you been taking from your game?
A: I'm just trying to find different ways to run routes. I've been doing a good job trying to get open, doing my best getting open. But, like I said, just my ability to get open.
Q: Can you tell us how Friday came about? Everybody in the world saw the video of you and (Colorado quarterback) Shedeur (Sanders) playing catch on the street. How did that come about?
A: I want to talk about the game. I want to keep my focus on the game.
Outside linebacker Brian Burns
Q: How are you feeling physically?
A: Beat up a little bit.
Q: That one play where (Ravens quarterback) Lamar (Jackson) like reversed field, (you) kind of got laid out. You didn't see that guy coming?
A: Yeah, he lined me up. I was focused on Lamar as he was trying to get outside. And yeah, he kind of just blindsided me.
Q: Just about the biggest guy in the league. Did anything specific hurt or just like?
A: No, I feel like if he wanted to probably hit me harder because I wasn't looking. But still felt it. Yeah. Football.
Q: Did your ankle get retaped or something during the game?
A: Yeah, my ankle got rolled up pretty bad, but nothing crazy.
Q: What's the feeling in here about nine straight losses of guys, the longest losing streak in the team's history?
A: I don't know. It really wasn't too much talking after this game. Probably get a better feel on Monday.
Wide receiver Darius Slayton
Q: How would you describe the mental state of the team when you lose nine straight?
A: I mean, obviously disappointed. We just lost. Obviously, we knew that they're a good football team [the Baltimore Ravens], but at the end of the day, they put their pants on just like we do, so we obviously expected to play better, and we did not.
Q: You guys also lost nine straight in 2019, your first year, right? And (Vikings quarterback) Daniel's (Jones) first year. Does this feel in any way similar? Obviously, it's different because the quarterback situation is much weirder. How would you compare those two spots, those two situations?
A: I mean from a streak, losing, it's somewhat similar, but I mean, very different team at that time but I would probably say that our roster then isn't what it is now. So, yeah.
Q: Unfortunately, there is a few things that you could probably compare it to, does this feel more like 2021 at all where that season kind of went off the skis at the end of it?
A: No. 2021 was its own beast; that was its own deal but yeah, I wouldn't compare this year to that year.
Q: What do you mean by that 'It was its own deal'?
A: We just had a lot of other stuff going on that year that we don't have necessarily going on now. We're just losing. That is the only real common denominator between the two.
