Head Coach Brian Daboll
Q: After watching the film, are you still planning to stick with (quarterback) Daniel Jones this week as the starter?
BRIAN DABOLL: I am.
Q: What goes into that decision and what did the film show when you rewatched the game?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, well I think he gives us the best chance, number one. I thought there were a lot of plays that he did exactly what he needed to do and then look, there were some plays where it wasn't just on Daniel, it was a collection of things. It wasn't just one person, protection, or a route. It was a collective deal, and we'll sit here, we'll watch the tape. We'll do everything we can do to be better this week.
Q: What have the conversations with him been like today and last night when you kind of make that decision to create a spark?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I'm very transparent. It was 11 minutes left, we were down 28-3, we didn't have a lot of stuff going. So, we're going to go with (quarterback) Drew (Lock), try to put a spark into the offense a little bit. And that was it. So, we just met for a while today, had a good meeting like we normally do. We'll meet here after this press conference, go through all the tape and get ready for Pittsburgh.
Q: This is your first year with the Giants calling the plays, obviously many other times. Is there anything you have to look at now or you do look at now as the play caller that can help Daniel and help this offense? In other years you were the head coach, very involved. Now you're the play caller.
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I think this was similar to the question from last week. We meet all the time. We try to put together a really good plan, as good as we can. And then ultimately go out there and operate and execute it and make adjustments as we go. That won't change. We'll continue to do that. Obviously, the results aren't what we want them to be. But we're working hard to fix the things we need to fix to get different results.
Q: The points just aren't there. And it seems to be going downward with the yards and the points and the explosive plays. Is this at a level that is very difficult for you to even accept?
BRIAN DABOLL: Well, yeah, you never accept where we're at. Whether you're on top or obviously where we're at right now, which is not good enough. I've clearly stated that. We'll do everything we can do to improve the things we need to improve on to correct some of those issues that we're having and ultimately score points. That's the job. And we're not getting that done, again, two of the big things we need to keep working on to correct to help those things are explosives and third down. And going back and evaluating those things. We're just off a little bit here.
Q: You're staying with (offensive lineman Joshua Ezeudu) Josh as the left tackle?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, we'll have that discussion here. We've watched the tape. We're not there yet. I thought that early on there was a couple plays in there. One off of a jam and another one that could have been better. I think he settled in. It was his first time playing. So, there's some things he did better as the game went on and made some improvements. And we'll see where we're at here.
Q: I missed the start. You said you're sticking with D.J. as the starter?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah
Q: Will you give Drew any first team reps or do anything different in that regard?
BRIAN DABOLL: No, Daniel, again, I made that change when it was 28 to 3, 11 minutes left in the fourth to try to create some type of spark. Obviously, it wasn't going great. That's not all on Daniel, trust me. So, again, I told him right after the game that he's, what I told you guys. He's the starter, and we'll work on improving the things we need to improve.
Q: At the end of the game, you did sub some guys out. Why not give (tackle) Evan Neal a series or two or three in the fourth quarter there just to give him some live reps after such a long layoff?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I just wanted to go with the guys that we had.
Q: And then with (cornerback) Deonte Banks, did you see that play live, or were you over with the quarterbacks at that time?
BRIAN DABOLL: No, I kind of saw (Eagles quarterback) Jalen (Hurts) scramble. Then I saw (Defensive Passing Game Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach) Jerome (Henderson) right away on the sideline, and I know they talked about it in between series. So, it's something that yesterday I said had been addressed. We'll address that privately and get that better.
Q: I understand you keep things in-house, but for fans, they see that. That's obviously unacceptable. You don't feel you owe them to say anything about how you feel about that type of effort on a play?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, obviously we want maximum effort on every play. So, again, we've addressed that. We'll continue to address it, and we'll make sure it's better.
Q: I know you're looking for explosive plays, but also a balanced offense. So, I'm just curious why you decided to give only three carries to running backs in the first half yesterday when the score was close, especially since you're having to chip more in pass protection? And it didn't look like Philly was loading the box or anything…
BRIAN DABOLL: We thought we could gain some yards and stay on track on early downs and, again, skip some of those third downs that we're trying to skip. I thought first down and second down was not as effective as it's been throwing the football. It wasn't terrible. It wasn't great. It was somewhere in the middle. That was part of the plan that we went into to try to move the ball and to try to create a little bit more explosive plays. Then you adjust as you go.
Q: We're never in the meetings that you have with the coaches. Is it like a no holds barred meeting that they look at the film and say, 'Brian, are you thinking about this?' Or do you ask for their opinion and they respond?
BRIAN DABOLL: What we do is we go into the meeting room, we sit down and watch the tape together. We go over it with a fine toothed comb. Every position, every technique, every call, and you discuss those things and you make sure everybody's on the same page. We do that for all three phases and then you meet with the players so that everybody's aligned in what we're saying.
Q: So, nobody's holding back, like (Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator) Mike (Kafka) isn't coming up to you saying, 'Look, you got to do this more,' or is that already open in the conversation?
BRIAN DABOLL: You talk about everything. At least the last 25 years that I've done it. You go through the tape, you see the corrections you need to make, whether it's schematically, whether it's timing, whether it's personnel, whether it's technique, whether it's fundamental, whether it's situation. You go through everything. It's good, productive meetings. We got a good staff. Good conversations all the way through and you try to be better the next time around.
Q: Did you have any problem with (wide receiver) Malik (Nabers) expressing some frustration last night, saying that he was open a lot more often than he got the ball?
BRIAN DABOLL: When you when you lose a game like that, I hope people are frustrated.
Q: You've been very complimentary toward Daniel (Jones) this year in terms of his decision making and where the ball has gone. Did you feel the same way last night that he made mostly good decisions?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah and took care of it. There's always a few in there where the defense might get you, or there's a disguise and it looks like something and there's a reason behind why we do what we do. But he's taking care of the ball. He's made the right decisions, for the most part. We'll go ahead and work hard to get ready for a great Pittsburgh Steelers team.
Q: When you went back and watched the rest of the film alongside (offensive lineman) Josh (Ezeudu) on the (offensive) line, what stood out as maybe a glaring issue or what do you want to kind of see from that rest of that group into this week?
BRIAN DABOLL: Are you talking about as a team?
Q: As the offensive line…
BRIAN DABOLL: We had one person in that that hasn't been in. I'd say the communication process was good. They (the Philadelphia Eagles) didn't do a whole lot defensively. But the techniques and things like that, it wasn't just one person or two people. It was kind of spread out and everybody had their hand in it. There were some good things. At the end of the day, our job is to score points. We've got to work to continue to do that.
Q: What did (President and Chief Executive Officer) John Mara and (Chairman and Executive Vice President) Steve Tisch have to say about yesterday's game, if anything?
BRIAN DABOLL: We have conversations. I know you asked this a bunch. Respect it. We have conversations after every game. I'll keep those conversations private.
Q: On the Malik (Nabers) question that was asked. I think the question would not be, 'Are you happy that he's frustrated?' But it seemed like he was intimating, basically, 'It wasn't me.' Do you have a problem with that attitude? When the team loses, a player saying, 'Well, I did my job. I don't know about everybody else.'
BRIAN DABOLL: Did he say it like that?
Q: He said, 'I was open.'
BRIAN DABOLL: He was open a lot.
Q: He was asked about the lack of balance impacting the passing game. And he said that's not his job. His job is to get open and he was open.
BRIAN DABOLL: I don't want to imply what he was or what he wasn't saying. I have good conversation with all our guys. We'll have one right here in a minute. I respect Malik (Nabers). I respect all our guys. Again, I don't want to imply as to what he said or what he didn't say. If he said he was open, he was open quite a bit.
