Head Coach Brian Daboll

Q: Do you have any update on (quarterback) Tyrod (Taylor) to get out of the hospital or anything like that?

A: He's still there and he has ribs. He's pretty sore today.

Q: Are the ribs broken? Or why are they keeping him there, I guess? Just to keep him stabilized.

A: Yeah, I'm not going to get into – he's got ribs. I'm not going to get into what they are. He's pretty sore right now so assuming he'll be out here – I can't tell you when, but he's got sore ribs right now.

Q: It sounds like it's just a matter of discomfort, he's not in any danger or anything.

A: No, no, no. He's okay in that regard, yeah.

Q: Can you take us through the timeline with (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) here? It sounds like he's been cleared for contact.

A: He met with the doctor pregame, so he did his tests. The week before he did it on Friday, so he did his tests and they told me he'd be ready to go next week.

Q: So that means that Daniel will be on the practice field and should be good to go full on Wednesday. Is that correct?

A: Correct.

Q: Did you think about in overtime – obviously, most of the time in overtime the team that wins the toss wants the ball in overtime but given the strange nature of this game and the way you were leaning on defense and special teams and field position, was that a debate? Was that something you were thinking about?

A: Yeah, it was discussed. It was definitely discussed but decided to take it.

Q: What was the main reason to decide to take it there?

A: I mean, they'd driven down there in (regulation), had some stuff that we liked so decided to take it and try to go down there and score.

Q: Just a followup, so why the appointment on Sunday morning? Like why couldn't it have been Saturday because conceivably he could've played yesterday.

A: That's when it was so those guys told me after – actually, they told me after the game so that's when it was.

Q: What do you mean? Like scheduling purposes? I think it's --

A: No, no, no. That's when it was. He was in the training room before the game and they told me about it after.

Q: Yesterday you said it was going to be a run heavy game plan regardless, so just curious why seven wide receivers and only two tight ends? Because obviously losing (tight end) Darren (Waller) impacted what you could do there.

A: Again, we had a back up plan and I'd say the weather, I mean, we were going to run the ball, too, the weather played – you never know what the weather's going to be, we figured it'd be rainy, played an important part of it. But we had a back up tackle ready to go in that regard that we felt – was (guard Marcus) McKethan in the blocking aspect of it.

Q: Obviously, you ran the ball a ton there in the second half. Why not just more creativity? You didn't do any two running back sets, you only had one wildcat snap, you didn't get (wide receiver) Parris (Campbell) involved in end arounds. Whatever it may have been, it seemed like it was pretty vanilla.

A: I mean, got (wide receiver) Wan'Dale (Robinson) involved. The schemes, not sure if you looked at the schemes, the schemes were a variety of schemes that we had. Different types of traps, tackle traps, guard traps, toss cracks, speed sweeps, inside zones, zone reads, a wildcat play, I wouldn't just say it was one run. I'd say it was, schematically, a variety of runs.

Q: With Tyrod, are you hopeful that he's going to get released today? Or is he going to have to stay there a little while in the hospital?

A: I don't know that yet. I'm hopeful it'll be here soon but it's sore ribs, so.

Q: With Daniel, I know you said that's just when the appointment was but why was he not a possibility then to at least be the backup?

A: I told you when they told me he was going to be out. They told me he was out, so he was out, and they told me after the game that they looked at him he'd be ready to go.

Q: And you had an opportunity to go back, I'm sure you watched the game at this point, the whole way the end of the game unfolded, kicking the field goal, the offsides, the spotting of the ball, getting the ball to start overtime, is there anything that you look back on and you were unsure about now that you had more time? What did you think when you went back and watched that last five minutes of game action?

A: We had some chances there. We had some chances to – probably about a handful of plays that if we make one of them, probably get a different result. You look at a lot, obviously, but going for the field goal, I'm secure with what we did there.

Q: What about the (running back) Saquon (Barkley) play? The first down. It was almost like – did he think that you didn't want to score? Did he think they were letting him score? Did you talk to him about that?

A: Yeah, I did. No, he made a cut and he kind of bounced it back, then he was so conscious of the ball, he was squeezing on the ball, he slipped a little bit.

Q: So, you didn't tell Saquon to get down in that situation?

A: No.

Q: On Daniel, why was he listed questionable last week for Washington but ruled out for the Jets game?

A: He got looked at on Friday, so I was waiting until – it was Friday at 3:30, I believe, his appointment to see where he was at. That was the – whatever it was two Friday's ago and then he didn't have one this week. So, like I said, when they told me he was out, that's when I told you guys he was out.

Q: As far as his actual injury and being cleared, apparently, it's a disk issue and he had a disk issue two years ago. What does the training staff tell you about why he's safe enough to handle contact? Because that's obviously a very serious thing and a serious part of the body.

A: I'd say that he met with the spine surgeon, the doctor, and the doctor cleared him. I sat down with them, that's what they've told me, so he's cleared from that doctor.

Q: Why on Friday did you kind of go out of your way to almost lead us to believe that Daniel would be awhile or perhaps even if we wanted to extrapolate, which we shouldn't I guess, but maybe that he even had a setback?

A: All I said was he's getting better, and we'll see what happens next week. I think I said it a few times. Which he's getting better, and we'll see where we're at next week. That's what they told me.

Q: You're getting a lot of questions about Daniel and perhaps being active on Sunday. Can you just clarify the rule on that? Once you list him out on Friday, can you change that on Sunday morning?

A: No, he's out.

Q: So, there was no possibility even if you would have known Sunday morning?

A: Again, I go by the doctors. When they tell me he's out, he's out.

Q: Considering Tyrod's situation, do you guys need to work out quarterbacks and look at adding a quarterback this week?

A: Yeah, (Senior Vice President/General Manager) Joe (Schoen) and I will – I'll go back upstairs, and I'll have a meeting here with Joe shortly.

Q: Anything on (kicker) Graham (Gano)? You said yesterday he's fine but is there any concern about his health at all?

A: No, he'll be okay.

Q: A lot has been made about the gameplan in the second half and running the football and going through Saquon. How much of that was the gameplan and how much of it was (quarterback Tommy) DeVito being in there? There's this feeling that you guys didn't trust DeVito to throw the football and if that was the case then why would he be your backup quarterback on gameday?

A: I think there's always adjustments but the way our defense was playing, we were going to make sure we took care of the ball, end every drive with a kick, have good ball security and again, a few plays here and there, we make one of them, we probably get a different result. That was the plan going in after halftime.

Q: Was it a statement about DeVito?

A: I think there's a lot of things that played into it. The weather, it's a heck of a defense, making sure we're doing what we need to do in terms of staying on track and if we have to punt, we have to punt. The way our defense was playing against their offense, felt good about that. Try to play a field position game and that's what we were going to try to do.

Q: Just curious, do you guys need to bring in a quarterback given Tyrod's situation this week?

A: Yeah, somebody asked that.

Q: Sorry. Got cut off for a second.

A: No, that's okay. I'm going to go back up there and meet with Joe here, so we'll talk about that. It's definitely a possibility.

Q: There's obviously a lot of questions about the timing of these appointments or these checkups. Are you at all frustrated by them or confused about the timing of them? If he'd been cleared sooner, there could've been some adjustments made.

A: I'd say whenever they tell me he's ready, that's when he's ready. So, when they tell me he's not ready, he's not ready. When they did, he's ready, so whenever they give me the information.

Q: Just the big picture. What does it mean to a team to get its quarterback back?

A: Yeah, it's good. Again, whether it's the quarterback, the left tackle, the right tackle, the running back – I mean, any time you can get good players, it certainly helps.

Q: The left tackle and right tackle are probably making progress too towards Sunday?

A: Making progress, but we'll see where we're at Wednesday here.

Center John Michael Schmitz Jr.

Q: How are you feeling after getting out there for the first time in a little bit yesterday?

A: Obviously, it was a tough loss for everyone. Just everyone's effort out there, I mean, everyone played their tails off. So, you do everything you can, and just got to be a little bit better in execution, a little here and there, a little detail. But yeah, it's a tough loss. That's all I would say. The mindset this week is just we've got to move on. We've got to learn from what we learned from last week and go 1-0 against the Raiders.

Q: Physically, how are you doing coming back?

A: Doing good. Obviously, every NFL game is tough on your body, so just getting the right treatment and rehab in and getting ready to go next week.

Q: (Quarterback) Tommy (DeVito) said he was really turning to you, obviously, and your center relationship. What did you see from him yesterday?

A: I saw growth. I saw a quarterback that has developed, and I just saw the leadership he had coming up to us after that big score that we needed to come out of the half. I just saw him kind of take control. So, yeah, I was proud of him.

Q: At halftime, (Head Coach) Brian Daboll made it clear to us that the ball was going to go through (running back) Saquon (Barkley) pretty much every play. As an offensive lineman and a center, what did you think of that when you heard that after halftime, you were going to run the ball virtually every play?

A: You've got the best back in the National Football League. That's an offensive lineman's dream, to go run the ball. I'd say we were ready for it, we were ready for the opportunity, and whatever it took at the end of the day. Obviously, fell a little bit short.

Q: What is the challenge of going against a defensive front like that? I mean, they knew you were running the ball. Let's face it, it was obvious. What is that challenge? You guys like to run the ball, but they know it's coming. What was that challenge like?

A: They're a really good defense. They're really good. They've got a really good D-line. Linebackers were very instinctive and very fast making us get off the double teams. I would just say I wasn't really worried about them. I was worried about us. The main focus was on us. No matter if they knew we were running the ball or we were going to pass the ball, we needed to do it, and we needed an accomplishment.

Q: For you, coming back and being healthy, what's the difference in this offensive line that you've kind of rejoined, because obviously, some of the parts have changed?

A: Honestly, I just saw the growth. Especially the couple of weeks I've been out, I saw the growth of the O-line and kind of just the camaraderie coming together, guys being way more focused and locked in. I would just say the intent to detail each and every week, coming in with the mindset that we can do it.

Q: Some of us in the media remember Justin Pugh because we were there when he was drafted. You were not, of course. What impact or what first impression have you had about him in particular?

A: Yeah, I mean, he's been a tremendous addition to the room. Not only with just helping us out with being in the league for so long, just the way he goes through the week, his routines. If it's kind of just a little advice, it doesn't even have to be on the field, but off the field. I think he's been a tremendous addition to the room. That's all I have to say.

Q: When you guys are whole again with the starters – that's not to just disrespect anyone playing now – are you kind of excited to see what this line can do?

A: I said it from the start: I believe we can have one of the best lines in the National Football League. At the end of the day, it's just a mindset. We've just got to be confident. We've got to believe. Like I've said before, I'm excited. So, we'll see, but this addition to the room, they've been tremendous for us. Just the effort.

Inside Linebacker Micah McFadden

Q: When you look back at the defensive performance yesterday, is it kind of like a TV show or a movie where you love everything about it but the ending? Is that the way you looked at what happened yesterday?

A: I mean obviously it was a tough way to lose yesterday. I think there are a lot of things that we could've done better defensively, little things. I think we played a good game, but a few little plays here that kind of came back to hurt us. Yeah, it's a tough way to lose.

Q: Anything in particular about the last series in regulation that sticks with you?

A: We've just got to find a way to get off the field. They made some good plays, give credit to them, good players over there. We've just got to find a way to get off the field.

Q: Would you have like to see more bodies on top of the receiver on that last offensive play of regulation and kind of slowed him down from getting up?

A: Yeah, I mean that's always kind of a thought process in that moment. Obviously, you don't want to draw a penalty, so it's kind of like that balance in between trying to fight for the ball a little bit and get a few more seconds off the clock but give credit to them. They got down there, spiked the ball, and made the field goal, so, just kind of is what it is.

Q: On the other side ball, it sounds like you are going to have (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) back there this week. What does that mean to the team to have its quarterback back on the field?

A: Yeah, I think it's huge. It'll be great to have DJ back. Huge player for us, brings a lot of confidence to the offense I think and throughout the whole team. Having a captain and a leader back, I think that's huge.

Q: Is there a way that you could describe to those of us who have never played football, what it's like to be in a game like that and play as hard as it appeared as you guys did and come out on the losing end?

A: Yeah, I mean it's devastating. The games not over until it's over, but you are pretty sure you are going to win a game and then it turns pretty quick like that. They make a few plays and then right into overtime, it just seems so quick. It just seems like one second you are about to win a game and the next second, it's over and you lost. It's kind of hard to process. Obviously not a whole lot of words in the locker room after, but yeah, it's just a real tough way to lose. It's devastating for sure.

Q: How does a team come back from that? Obviously, when the quarterback goes out, you've had a couple now, that impacts a defense in a way. Obviously, when you're on the field and not coming through with a winning effort yesterday impacts a defense. How do you guys among yourselves say 'the seasons not over, we've got to stay together' that kind of a thing?

A: I think we've said it all year long, regardless win or lose we take it one week at a time. Like you said, it's a long season. Still got nine more games left and there's a lot of football to play. We won't count ourselves out ever. Just continue to work hard, prepare every week for the next opponent, and try to find a way to win a football game.

Q: I don't know when you meet with (defensive coordinator) Wink (Martindale), so that's my ignorance, but if you have, did he have a message for the defense after yesterday's game?

A: We have not yet. I'm sure when we come back on Wednesday, we will kind of go over a little bit of corrections and things like that over the game and he'll have some words for us. But nothing yet.

Q: I'm curious, at 2-6, pretty much the midpoint of the season, how do you view where this team is at?

A: I think we've got a group of fighters, dudes who are determined to go out and win a football game. Obviously, we've been in a few close games the last few weeks. Mentally, it's difficult to come back after a game like that, but like I said earlier, we've just got to take it one week at a time, continue to battle, find a way to win a few games and string some together here.

Q: The trade deadline is tomorrow, not saying you personally, but do guys talk about it and about the possibility of 'hey, who knows, I could get traded here' what's that like for you as a player in the locker room?

A: I'm sure it's in the back of a few people's minds and guys who potentially could be in that position, but I think as a group and personally, I think we are just focused on football and practice and taking it one day a time. Whatever happens with that, happens. As players, we don't have a whole lot of control over that. I think we are just kind of focused on football right now.