Head Coach Pat Shurmur

Opening Statement: If you have any questions regarding any of (the injuries), I'll try to answer them. There's nothing new, other than this is a good first day back. They've been gone for a couple of days. They practiced fast today, which is good. They'll have their normal day off tomorrow, then we go back to work officially getting ready for Chicago on Wednesday. I'll take your questions.

Q: Any of the guys that were in the (concussion) protocol come out of it? Sterling (Shepard) or Jackrabbit (Janoris Jenkins)?

A: No. They're still going through it, so we'll see what the week brings. But we're encouraged that they'll make it through.

Q: Any update on Mike Remmers?

A: He practiced today.

Q: Where's Evan (Engram) at in his process?

A: He's out of the boot and he's trying to get back going again.

Q: Has he been running yet? Is he at that point?

A: A little bit. We'll just have to see what the week brings. I really don't want to try to guess on who's going to be here on some of these guys that are coming back from injury. We'll just have to wait and see.

Q: Obviously, injuries forced some lineup changes on the o-line last game. Any of those potentially permanent, or do you think you'll just go back once everyone's healthy?

A: No, I think if everyone's healthy, they go back to their spots. But until that time, there will be guys in there playing.

Q: Did Nick Gates kind of show you that he could start, and that you can have confidence in him as a starter?

A: Yeah, he did a good job. We anticipated that he would go in and battle. He's played guard and he's played tackle for us in the practice settings and certainly the preseason games, so we felt like if he went in, he would battle like he did.

Q: If Nate (Solder) doesn't clear, does Nick move to the left side or do you put Remmers there or what?

A: Yeah, we'll wait to let that reveal itself. We'll see.

Q: Why not give Nick a shot, though, if he showed you that he could do well? He's a younger player, kind of see where you are moving forward.

A: We'll just see. He may get a shot. Let's just wait and see what the week brings.

Q: Did Daniel (Jones) come back sharp from the bye? Did you put him through anything to check that or to see how he's progressed or what he worked on?

A: Yeah, he was sharp. He did a good job in the meetings. He completed a bunch of passes out here today, checked us in and out of a couple of runs, so yeah, he looked good.

Q: What did you see when you went back and looked at yourself during the bye week?

A: I see what I've been talking about all along. There are stretches of games where there's a lot of really good football that we're playing, and then there are mistakes that we make that for a team like us, mistakes that cost you to lose games. The challenge is to become more consistent in all areas. That's sort of what I saw.

Q: Do you anticipate making any changes? I know the bye week is a chance where you can revisit schemes, personnel, or do you kind of just keep rolling with what you have?

A: Well, you never just keep rolling. You're always trying to do the things your players do well, and do more of that and less of the other. I think that's fair to say. As you watch trends in the league or you're watching opponents against who you're going to play that next week, you can start to see the things that trend that are good against that opponent. Then you just have to try to do the things that your team matches up well with that opponent doing.

Q: What is logistically reasonable to change up, though, on your bye week with regards to scheme and even personnel? Is it possible to make sort of overarching changes or is it sort of like minor tweaks in such a short period of time?

A: Yeah, big time changes… Let's think about it for a minute. What does a bye week entail? You come back from your previous game, you clean that up, you have a couple days of practice and then the league mandates that they're off for four or five days. Then you get ready for your next opponent. The important thing is to go back and look at the things and try to clean up the things that you're not doing well, and keep building on the things that you're good at. I guess my point is there's not as much time as everybody thinks to make these wholesale changes that sometimes people think may happen.

Q: When you say things that you're not doing well that you want to clean up, can you give us an example of one thing that you're looking at? Maybe third down runs or third down whatever.

A: Along the way, you're playing good football and all of a sudden, you give up a third down. Or you're playing good football and you give up a big play. Or all of a sudden, you're moving the ball and somebody misses a block and you have a sack fumble. Those are the kinds of things you have to clean up. That's just doing the same, being consistently good throughout. I think those are the things that when you look back on it, you say, 'Okay, this is the handful of things that created a bad situation for us.' Then you do what you can to eliminate those.

Q: From your experience in the league with bye weeks, have you found that more often than not, the teams are sluggish coming back out of the bye, and if so, how do you guard against it?

A: I don't know that. I think each team is different. I think it depends on the players. We obviously have to start faster in our games. We've had a couple games where we've gotten down in the last month. We can't do that. I don't know if you guard against that. You just have to come out and play better early. I wouldn't say there's any trend after the bye, before the bye or anything like that.

Q: When you're dealing with a quarterback, when does his rookieness end, I guess? Daniel's had eight starts here. Do you consider him a rookie through the next six games?

A: Yeah, I mean he's a rookie. He keeps fighting through it and he keeps improving. I think he's doing a lot of really good things. He's like everybody in that he has to clean up the mistakes. He'll be a rookie throughout the season. I don't think he'll be able to fully internalize what's happening to him until he has time away here in the offseason where he'll look back and say, 'Wow, what was that?' I think all rookies go through that. But at this point, he's in it and he's competing to help us win games. Yeah, I guess chronologically, he's a rookie.

Q: We saw Big George (Asafo-Adjei) out here on the bike. Is there any optimism that he could get snaps later in the season if he progresses well?

A: Yeah, I don't know. It's his first day back. He's making good progress, but we'll just have to see. Put him through the paces here and see how he does.

DL Leonard Williams

!Q: Did you get a chance to catch up with some personal stuff? It was the first time you've had a breather since the trade. A: Yeah, it was my first time having two bye weeks in one year and I definitely had some time off to catch up with everything that's been going on. It's been a fast two weeks. A lot's been going on in the two weeks before the bye week.

Q: You talk about catching up, how's that transition going?
A: Its going well. It's been really well. I've been enjoying my coaches, enjoying my teammates, everyone has been accepting me in pretty well. I feel like I pretty much already know the playbook now at this point. The first week or two weeks, it was like—actually the very first week—I felt like I was a little hesitant on the field just because I was thinking about plays in the back of my head and stuff like that, to where now I'm more fluent with what I'm doing. I know the guys, so I can walk around and joke around with some of the guys, which is important.

Q: What did you see out there today coming back from the bye as far as the energy level and the demeanor? Is everyone just ready to go and get back?
A: Yeah, I think there was a great energy. I was impressed with how the guys came out here ready to go for practice. You could tell guys weren't holding their head down or coming out here lackadaisical or lazy. It seemed like guys were ready to finish the season strong, and they came back with the intention and it showed in practice.

Q: Did you get a chance to watch your old teammates yesterday?
A: The Jets? Yeah, I watched them. I tried to watch a bunch of the games yesterday.

Q: What did you think? They've won a couple in a row.
A: I mean, that's good for them. I mean, that's good for every team that won yesterday. I'm not a part of them, just like any other team that played yesterday. I'm part of the Giants now and focused on what we have to do.

Q: How desperate is this team for a win?
A: I think it's important that we get a win as quickly as possible. As important as it is to get a win as quickly as possible, I think it's important to stack a win as well, like getting two wins back-to-back would be really important and it would be good for the team's morale and going forward for the rest of the season.

TE Evan Engram

!Q: How's your foot? A: I'm feeling really good, progress is going along really well. The trainers are doing a really good job, it's definitely on the upward trend of getting back soon.

Q: How much have you run? What have you been able to do? A: I'm doing a lot of stuff in the pool, taking some weight off. We have a Alter G machine that kind of varies your body weight, I've been running and moving around. I'm gradually working on that and like I said, it's a day by day thing, improving and getting better. Like I said, the trainers are doing a really good job, we are doing everything we can to get back.

Q: Is there a timetable? A: Yeah, this week, towards the end of this week, that's the plan. Just keep building on that.

Q: Has it taken a little longer than you thought? A: No, it was a two to four week diagnosis, so it was kind of in between there. Two weeks is today, I honestly think I am a little bit ahead of schedule. Like I said, I just have to keep building off that and keep building good days.

Q: You like your chances for this week? You think it's possible? A: It's definitely possible, I feel good. We'll see where we're at (in the) middle to the end of this week. I'm staying locked in in meetings, game plans and stuff like that, that's very important as well. I think as long as I stay prepared mentally and continue to do what I do with my foot, I could be ready to go.

Q: When did you come out of the boot? A: Today actually. Today was the first day, I have been doing rehab without it obviously. Today is the full retirement of the boot.

Q: Were you able to get away during the bye or did you have to stay here? A: I stayed here. I had plans to go back to Ole Miss, but the injury happened. I just had to stay up here and do everything I can to get back.

Q: What is the new goal you have set for the final six games of the season? A: Go win this one. I think it was good to get away, reflect and to relax and watch some other guys go out there and play. Our goal is to win this ballgame this week. Take it week by week and keep fighting, keep working and go get a win.

Q: When you get a chance to sit back and see where you are personally and as a team, what did you see? A: Personally, I feel like I did some good things. I put a lot of good things on tape, put some things on tape that I still have to work on. I think the biggest thing is staying sharp on my routes and trying to stay on blocks is something I'm going to try to continue to improve on that I got to reflect on. As a team, we just have to take care of the football on offense, the turnovers are hurting us. We have to keep fighting and playing with strong energy. Throughout the game, there is a lot of ups and downs and sometimes that can get the best of you. I think we have to take care of the football offensively, but as a team I think we just have to continue to play with more positive energy. Believe in each other and go out there and compete for a full 60 minutes.

Q: What would finishing strong mean to you and this team? A: It's huge, it's football, this is what we do. Our record is not where we want it to be. We still have six games left. Six opportunities to go do what we love, go do it at a high level, and go do things that we plan on doing each and every week. Obviously, our record is tough and not where we want it to be, but we have six more opportunities to go play winning football, and we're going to take advantage of that.

WR Golden Tate III!

*Q: How does it feel being back? *A: It's good. I think we all needed to just kind of hit the reset button, refocus, kind of evaluate what we all individually can do better. Just try to go on a run.

*Q: How much does this team need a win to give itself some confidence again? *A: I think we really need a win. For me, I haven't experienced being in a locker room for a win yet, which is unfortunate. Not how I kind of imagined this going. But I think we're all hungry for a win each and every week. We're going to get it.

*Q: What do you do at 2-8? Do you flush it and start over or do you evaluate it? *A: I've never been in this situation, so I don't really know how to answer your question, but I can just imagine that at the end of the day we all have a job to do. No matter what the circumstances are, we're supposed to show up to work and be professionals in what we do, and I can't imagine doing it any other way beside giving it my all and just go 1-0 each week. Besides that, although the record isn't what we want, there are still jobs that are on the line. I'm going to try to set myself up for next year and the year after that. Just continue to show up to work with a positive attitude. I'm excited to play football and see what happens.

*Q: From your experience in the league, do teams that come off of a bye start sluggishly or slowly, and if so, how do they avoid doing that? *A: I haven't really thought about it. There is always, I think years ago, there might have been some weird stat that said teams came off sluggish. But I've been on teams that have come off the bye and kicked butt, and I've been on teams that have lost by six or seven. I think we all relaxed and took care of our bodies and I think we'll be ready to go. We're getting some guys back, which is important. So, let's go.

*Q: How much of a boost would it be to get Evan (Engram) back, whether that's this week or the coming weeks in general? *A: We want all hands on deck. We want everybody out there if possible. I'm not sure about Evan's situation. I want him to come back when he's healthy and ready to go on a run. 

*Q: What did you feel from practice today as far as how players and your teammates came back after the bye? *A: I felt like guys were eager to get back out there. Obviously relaxing is nice, but I think we all love the game of football. We're just excited to get back out and run around and be around each other and get back to work. 

*Q: Going on a run at the end of the season— I know that could do good things for individual players, can it actually have an impact on a team heading into a future here? Can you build momentum for the future in the last few games? *A: I definitely believe so. I think when you look at, I guess, when we go on a run, going into next year you're just kind of building momentum. You can build off of that. The things that you do great, you want to maintain those and be a little bit better at them. The things that you don't do well, going into the offseason, you want to be focused on those things and make sure those things don't role over into next year. I think some good can come from (finishing) strong.

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