Transcripts

Quotes: Coach Brian Daboll recaps preseason opener

Aug 12, 2023 at 09:00 AM

Giants.com

Head Coach Brian Daboll

Q: I guess the place to start is going over the injuries from last night. What can you tell us about wide receiver Collin Johnson, cornerback Cor'Dale Flott, punter Jamie Gillan and everybody else?

A: It's probably better the next time I talk to you. There are still people getting looked at. We got in pretty late – after three o'clock last night. I'd say those are all kind of all up in the air, they're getting looked at by the doctors now. Relative to where we are with all those, I'll have better clarity for you guys on Monday.

Q: What about tackle Evan Neal and some of those guys?

A: Yeah, I'd say the same thing right now with all those guys. Monday morning when we talk, I'll have better answers for you.

Q: After looking at the tape, what did you come away with?

A: I'd say there was a lot of good examples of how we want to play – physically, communication wise, team wise and then for the first preseason game, there's always a lot to clean up. That's where the coaches are right now is – to meet with their respective sides. Again, I know it was askedyesterday but I thought our young guys, our corners (Deonte Banks and Tre Hawkins III) and our center (John Michael Schmitz Jr.), I thought they showed well in the game for us. Played with confidence, did their job, so it was good to see those young guys out there playing. They played at a fairly high level.

Q: What did you see on tape from defensive tackle Jordon Riley, outside linebacker Tomon Fox, outside linebacker Habakkuk Baldonado and some of those young guys that look like they had really good games?

A: Again, probably a little bit of what I said before. There was some good plays in there, Jordon played quite a bit. He made some nice plays in the interior, certainly had some plays that could've been better. I'd say the same with Habs (outside linebacker Habakkuk Baldonado) and Fox. Fox obviously got off to a fast start on that first rush and contributed to that turnover that JP (safety Jason Pinnock) had. I thought they flew around, they played hard, they played physical, they ran to the ball on defense. Certainly some things to clean up but there's a lot of good clips to show these guys of some of the stuff they're doing in practice really translated to some of the game.

Q: What did you see from running back Eric Gray yesterday in the return game?

A: Fielded the ball well. We'll try again, like I told you guys before, try to get him as many reps back there as we can. That was a controlled environment but made good decisions. Had the good long one, we got a holding penalty on it that took us back, we lost 25 yards of field position on that one which would have been a good start off the return. But, try to get him as much work as we can back there through these next couple preseason games to give him as many reps as he can get.

Q: Just a quick follow-up to that, what did you see then? Because we also saw him run the ball quite a few times and I guess catch too, he had a couple receptions.

A: Yeah, he caught a screen. Had a couple runs. Again, I think he is a rookie that needs to play and get experience playing. This was his first game. It would probably be a good question for all the rookies, I'm sure there was, like their always has been since I've been in the league, there is a little bit of anxiety. They are anxious to get out there and play in their first game but did some good things and some things we definitely have to work on. Not just him but I'd say the rest of the young players too.

Q: You mentioned last night about the little bit of rust with the coaches as well. Now this is not a normal game, in a normal game you are not trying to get everybody in and juggle things like that but what did you mean by the rust? Did you feel that actually?

A: Yeah, I mean I haven't coached a game since January, coaches haven't. Preseason is always a little different, there is a lot of players on your roster, there is a lot of shuffling. They come out on defense doesn't mean they are out on kicking game or offense. It requires a great attention to detail. Look, any game is a competitive game if you are a competitor so I would say I think we have a bunch of competitors, but we have got to build on some of the good stuff that we did and correct some of the mistakes. As always, that will start with me.

Q: Does it ever happen where you have a plan for every player, right? How much you want them to play, and does it always fall that way?

A: I mean we try; we try to stay the course. We map it out. We have discussions that Friday or whatever it is, a couple of days before, after you go through the week of practice, particularly in the preseason and where they are at with the GPS numbers, what they run, the load they have and then we sit down and talk about it with the training staff and the sports science people and then get the coaches input. We try. Is it always perfect, do we stay exactly on line? No, but I'd say we are pretty close to it with the amount of reps that we anticipate each guy getting.

Q: Last year I guess your starters played a quarter, right? The first team guys I think in the first game played a quarter or so. Was the difference this year mainly because it's the second year and you know more about those guys?

A: It's just a different year. We sit down, we discuss it with the appropriate people that I talk to you guys about and make the decision that we thought was best. I'd say there is some good competitive situations right now going on, on our team and some young guys that we want to take a look at. Now what we do next week, that will be determined throughout the week. We will see where we are at with all those numbers and sit down at the end of the week and make a decision that we feel is best.

Q: What did you see from the guards, specifically (Joshua) Ezeudu and (Ben) Bredeson playing the first half there?

A: I thought for the most part they did a good job. They protected inside out. I thought (center) John Michael (Schmitz Jr.) did as well. The three of them communicated well with one another. They got some movement at the line of scrimmage inside there. It was a first game, a typical first game, but those guys worked well together.

Q. Why play Ben? I know you didn't play most of your veteran starters. He's not a first or second-year guy; he's had some experience in the league.

A: We thought it was best for us. Wanted to see him out there communicating with those guys at that spot, and we'll see how we do it this week.

Q. The camera caught you sort of glaring at T-Mac (special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey) after the punt return. What do you make of that? It's going to be assumed that you were not happy with him specifically on that play or with the job that he's doing. That's sort of the inference that's made out there, and I'm wondering what you think of that.

A: Non-issue. I'm a competitive guy, we're all competitive, we're in a competitive environment. I hold everybody, not just T-Mac, myself, and everybody else, to a high standard. Love T-Mac.

Q. I wanted to ask you about how players handle speed. It looked like some of the guys last night struggled against speed. Is that something you can teach, or is that just a matter of getting used to the speed of the game?

A: I wish you could teach speed. I wish you could teach speed. Again, for a lot of these young players, it's their first time playing in an NFL game. And again, just like things ramp up from practices to joint practices, they ramp up from joint practices to the game and the preseason, and then they ramp up from a preseason game to a regular season game, and if you're fortunate to go on, it even ramps up more. There's a lot of fast people in this league that play fast, and speed usually kills.

Q. How much can technique help?

A: That can help. Technique helps with a lot of stuff. If you're a fundamentally sound player and maybe have a little bit less long speed or short-space quickness, but you excel in your technique and you know where your help is and you play the right leverage, run the right stems, certainly, that all plays into factor. But you can't teach speed, so the faster the better.

Q: I just wanted to follow up on something John Michael. He had mentioned just working on being loud in the communication. What did you see from him in his first kind of NFL-game atmosphere, how that's progressing?

A: Yeah, he did a good job of communicating with his linemates and down the line of scrimmage, and with the snap, it was good. It was actually pretty loud at times in there. So, for his first outing at center for us, I was pleased with the progress that he's made throughout camp, and I was pleased with his first game, and we've got to build on from that.

Q: (Quarterback) Daniel (Jones) has reached a point in his career where you see him every day, you know him. There are a lot of other veterans on this team. Have you ever gotten to the point where you say he doesn't need to play in the preseason?

A: No.

Q: So, he'll get in at some point then?

A: We'll talk about that at the end of the week. Again, these decisions really are made towards the end of the week like I've told you guys. There's a lot of research and communication that goes into it, but I'd anticipate him playing.

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