Head Coach Brian Daboll

Q: How is (center) John Michael Schmitz (Jr.)? How much of a concern is that for you?

BRIAN DABOLL: I would say I don't know how anybody is, other than he had an ankle and he'll get an MRI and look at it tomorrow like we do normally. We'll find out more later in the day tomorrow. There was a long list of people that got injured or had some type of injury. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. (That's) a lot of people.

Q: With (tackle) Evan (Neal) is it the same ankle…

BRIAN DABOLL: Ankle.

Q: But is it the same one?

BRIAN DABOLL: In terms of the injuries, I don't know. I just got ankle, ankle, hamstring, achilles, hamstring, lower leg, ankle, neck. So, we'll see. I'll give you answers when I get the answers.

Q: You obviously had the choice with (center) John Michael (Schmitz Jr.) as far as playing him or not. Did he get the start because he didn't have a lot of time…

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, he didn't play much in training camp. That's why he played. He needed it.

Q: You were waiting for (guard) Jon Runyan to get back anyways to try and get your (offensive) line on the field together. Now you're kind of…

BRIAN DABOLL: Well, we'll see. Maybe it's just… I mean, we don't know what it is yet. We'll see how it goes.

Q: Big picture, how important is it for you to get those guys, as a group, on the field at least once, right? But you haven't had them…

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, haven't had them yet. It would be nice to.

Q: What went into not playing any of the draft picks…

BRIAN DABOLL: One, I think we've practiced the right way. We had 140 or 140 plus snaps of more team reps in pads than we did the year before. We had over 500 more team reps when you include OTAs and training camp than we did the year before. In terms of the planning and the preparation, plus we practiced against two teams. So that was the reasoning.

Q: What did you see from (quarterback) Tommy DeVito today?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, (we'll) go back and watch it. He's a competitor.

Q: Did a guy like (inside linebacker K.J.) Cloyd do anything for himself with 16 tackles or is that…

BRIAN DABOLL: He was active. Again, there's a lot of discussions we need to have tonight and over the next couple of days, we've had a bunch of them. But certainly when guys play well, you go ahead and re-evaluate and make sure you're doing the right thing. Whether that's the active roster or practice squad, all those decisions will be made.

Q: I know (center) John Michael (Schmitz Jr.) hadn't played a lot because of his shoulder, but why did you feel like he needed it?

BRIAN DABOLL: Because he's a lineman and he needs it. He needs it. Offensive linemen need to lean on people, need to pass block, need to run block, they need to be in the trenches. He's a second year guy that we're counting on being a starter for us and he hasn't been out there. The guys up front that have been out there, they've had a lot of reps and he needed to get them. (Tackle) Evan (Neal) needed to get them. Guys that aren't out there need them. Availability is important.

Q: In the past you've kept two quarterbacks, but how much more likely would you be hoping to keep a third knowing that (quarterback) Drew (Lock) is already banged up, right? (Quarterback) Daniel (Jones) does have an injury history. He's coming off a major injury…

BRIAN DABOLL: We've discussed that. We'll discuss it here over the next couple of days and, again, try to do what we think is best for the team.

Q: Would you expect to keep three quarterbacks?

BRIAN DABOLL: I'd say roster decisions right now at 11 o'clock on Saturday night, whatever it is. We'll talk about that tomorrow as a staff (and) the next day, make our decisions. We could release some people tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

Q: Does that mean you're still up in the air about whether (quarterback) Tommy (DeVito) has earned a roster spot?

BRIAN DABOLL: I have confidence in Tommy (DeVito), but I'm not going to get into roster decisions right now, right after this game.

Q: Do you have any sense with (quarterback) Drew (Lock) that you have no limitations or some limitations for Week 1?

BRIAN DABOLL: Not right now.

Q: You said there was some discussion about the roster, how many spots were up for grabs in your eyes tonight?

BRIAN DABOLL: I respect the question. I'm not going to get into particulars of roster decisions or anything like that. These guys just played hard, the guys that played. I respect what they did. A lot of them competed (for) 60 minutes. Some played a ton of plays and I appreciate those guys' effort.

Q: You mentioned the change in practice from a year ago. Do you see any differences in your team based on practice and training camp?

BRIAN DABOLL: Time will tell. I like where we're at. I think we have good toughness, mental and physical toughness. We still have a week left to go in training camp. I told those guys in there we're still focused on the New York Giants and we'll have a bunch of good-on-good periods. We'll have another day in pads this upcoming week. The first day back will only be the 53 guys because you can't have the practice squad guys out there, so that'll be geared down. But there'll be pads and there'll be competitive periods and still things we need to clean up. But, I like the direction we're going.

Q: With (tackle) Evan Neal, this was obviously his first game action. What was your plan for him? How much did you want to have him in the game?

BRIAN DABOLL: It was 20 to 25 plays. He had 21, I believe.

Q: So, him coming out was more than…?

BRIAN DABOLL: He was already going to be out. When I asked, he was at 21 plays is what I was told. So, he was right in that sweet spot of what we talked about leading into the game.

Q: So, it was more that than the ankle?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, he was out there before the ankle. I just had ankle on here, but he was going to be out regardless.

Quarterback Tommy DeVito

Q: I'm sure going in you kind of thought you might play the whole game. How well do you think it went? You know, ups and downs through it all.

TOMMY DEVITO: Obviously, I wish we finished out the two-minute drive, you know, with the W. Could have had a chance to win the game there.

But there were a lot of good things, a lot of growing that could be made from this. You know, there's a lot of guys in and out, all of them together at all times. So, you know, just getting a rhythm, getting a feel for everybody and then continue to build off it.

Q: I'm sure that's a difficult spot because you're playing with a lot of guys on the back end of the depth chart. They may not know the plays as well as you do and there's a lot of disjointed situations that you have to overcome. What is that challenge like?

TOMMY DEVITO: Yeah, it's a lot, but ultimately it's up to the quarterback to get it set.

You know, whether it's getting people in right formation, right routes, and then ultimately just going out and shooting them. A lot of that is on my plate. I could have definitely done a little bit of a better job with that, especially on the back end of there, but, you know, room to grow.

Q: People have been talking to you about compare last year to this year. Now you've gone through a full preseason and gotten a ton more snaps in addition to what happened last season. So as you go into this regular season, how much better do you feel about your game?

TOMMY DEVITO: 100%.

I think more of it, like I said before many times, it's all mental. Between the ears, just learning as much as I can because I've taken so many reps since I was a little kid throwing the ball. Obviously it's very different at this level, but, you know, everything is between the ears.

The more you watch film, the more you get in the room with Dabs and Shea (Tierney) and Kaf (Mike Kafka) and DJ (Daniel Jones ) and Drew (Lock) and all the other guys and really just pick each other's brains, the more that you'll grow. So I'm looking forward to it.

Q: Where would you still like to get better as an NFL quarterback? What area?

TOMMY DEVITO: Definitely not taking any negative plays.

Today we had a lot of them, a lot of sacks. Some of them I could have probably avoided. Got the ball out, just throw it away.

Just to help the play callers just be in better situations.

Offensive Tackle Evan Neal

Q: Is it the same ankle? Can you tell us what happened?

EVAN NEAL: First of all, I wasn't out with an ankle injury. I was only supposed to play 20 to 25 reps, and I came out on the 21st play that I was in. It just so happened that I got rolled up on that last play.

But I got up, I was fine. I took a couple hops around, and I just kind of felt the doctor wanted to look at it, just to make sure I was fine. Probably won't get a scan tomorrow, but as far as how I'm feeling, I feel okay.

So I don't think there's anything going on.

Q: You're not worried about it?

EVAN NEAL: No.

Q: How would you assess how you played while you were out there?

EVAN NEAL: I feel like I played decent.

I mean, obviously, it wasn't ultimately up to my standard, but I mean, for my first game back in about a year, I feel like I did well in the run game. Pass protection. I was okay. I gave up the one sack, took a bad set angle.

But I haven't had the opportunity to take many live reps up to this point, so just kind of like getting back into the game.

Q: What did it mean to get back out there?

EVAN NEAL: It was great. You know what I'm saying? It was just fun to go out there and play football with the guys.

It was fun.

Q: It was the same ankle, though, that has been bothering you?

EVAN NEAL: Yeah.

Q: Brian Daboll said the plan was for you to play 20 to 25 snaps and you were at like 21. So was it coming out more about the snap count at that point anyway, or was there something you felt in the ankle?

EVAN NEAL: I mean, 20 to 25, I was 21. That's right at kind of the sweet spot. So I feel like I just kind of want to be precautionary. They saw me get rolled up on, so they just want to just kind of be smart. But I was right at that threshold anyway in terms of my rep count.

Q: How nice was it just getting back out there?

EVAN NEAL: It was great. Just go out there and play football. You know, play with the guys.

It felt good being out there and just going out there and being able to hit somebody else. You know, play physical. And obviously, I still have things to clean up.

Still knocking rust off. You know, hadn't had the opportunity to take many live reps. So it was great.

Great opportunity to go out there and play ball.