Head Coach Brian Daboll

Q: Any changes in guys not going today?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, so, we left some guys home to rehab. Those being (tight end Lawrence) Cager, (wide receiver) Gunner (Olszewski), (cornerback Cor'Dale) Flott, (safety Gervarrius Owens) G.O., (cornerback David) Long (Jr.), (safety Jonathan) Sutherland, (linebacker Matthew) Adams, (inside linebacker Micah) McFadden, (inside linebacker) Johnson, Dyontae, and (guard Jon) Runyan (Jr.). Everybody else will be here doing something.

Q: What (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) does today, does that have any bearing on your decision to see if he's playing this Saturday?

BRIAN DABOLL: No.

Q: Do you have to tell your guys anything specific? What do you tell them going into this practice? Obviously, the last time you did a joint practice with Detroit and you guys ended up getting fined.

BRIAN DABOLL: Let's have a good practice. Let's go out there and do our job and have a good practice. We don't want to fight. I said that the last time.

Q: Maybe you should say something else?

BRIAN DABOLL: Other than let's not fight?

Q: Do you have consequences for it?

BRIAN DABOLL: Looking to have a good practice today is what we're doing.

Q: You talked the other day about (cornerback) Sauce Gardner. What impressed you about him?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, there's not much that doesn't. Really good cover corner. They play man to man. Good eyes, can read the quarterback. He was a hell of a college player and he's turned into a hell of an NFL player. One of the best in the league.

Q: This Jets defense has been in the top five the last few years. When you watch them, what makes them so good?

BRIAN DABOLL: They play fast. They're aggressive. They're assignment sound. (Jets Head) Coach (Robert) Salah does a great job. We've competed plenty of times. When I was at Buffalo, he was at San Francisco. Obviously here, so assignment sound. They kind of do what they do. They do it fast and they have a lot of good players.

Q: Is Runyan a concern for week 1?

BRIAN DABOLL: No.

Q: (Safety Tyler) Nubin has been getting more reps with the 1s. What have you seen from him?

BRIAN DABOLL: He's done a good job. We do it with a lot of guys too. We're in training camp still, so people get opportunities. See them against different players and work with different guys in the back end. Whether it's secondary, offensive line, that's what training camp's for. He's done a nice job. He's a smart, instinctive player. Keep on improving him.

Q: (Quarterback) Tommy (DeVito) he was the second quarterback up when you started the live drills. There was only one snap. Is there anything to that?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, (quarterback) Drew (Lock) wasn't going to make that potential throw yet. There was a potential throw in there that Tommy…

Q: You mean physically?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah. He's still coming back and working his way through things. He'll come out here. He'll do individual today. We'll back off on him in the team drills. Drew.

Q: Your offensive line did nicely on Saturday. Is this a good test for them today against this group?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah. Again, we all know this is practice. It's not live. You can't hit the quarterback and things like that. Certainly, going against another good defensive front is important. Again, practice the right way. Do it the right way. It's good to practice against different players with different skill sets, different schemes. Much like it was against Detroit, it's really no different.

Q: When you study these practice reps, do you judge them the exact same as you would if it's not a joint practice?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah. It's practice. Again, it's against a different team. There's usually a little bit more intensity just because you haven't practiced against them for the last three weeks. Coach Saleh and I have talked. Let's do it the right way. Let's keep people off the ground. Stay away from the quarterback. All the type of things you do with your team, we want to do together with both of our teams.

Q: As far as Gunner, Flott, and McFadden, is there any week 1 concerns?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I'd say they're all week-to-week. Flott's closer, but all the other guys are week-to-week.

Q: Two guys that came back yesterday, the rookies, (cornerback Dru) Phillips and (running back Tyrone) Tracy. Do they get more today or less than yesterday?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah. Tracy's not even on the injury report. Phillips will get more reps.

Q: When we talked to (New York Jets Head) Coach (Robert) Saleh earlier, he was talking about how he's observed over the past couple years a 'country club' sort of mentality that's become pervasive in sports, and not just football, but all sports. And that's one of the reasons he's chosen to try to make training camp and practices harder. Would you say that's something that you've kind of observed as well? And if so, how do you combat it?

BRIAN DABOLL: Well, I was talking about it, with, I can't remember who it was, today. This is almost 24 years. So, when I started in the NFL in 2000, it was a lot different and times change. There's more information, sports science is more involved. There's more people that are talking about practice schedules and making sure you're taking care of the athletes the best you can. So, I think it's just evolved. Players aren't the same as they were in 2000 as they are right now. They grew up different, there's different things around them. So, you have to adapt and adjust as a coach or as an organization. It's not the same as it was, again, back in 2000 as it is in 2024, with really anything.

Q: Yesterday you used (inside linebacker) Darius Muasau, the UCLA rookie, with the ones. Is that just a chance to give him a good look or what?

BRIAN DABOLL: Well, we're down on linebackers too, so we have to continue to get him ready to go. That's what we're trying to do.

Q: How do you plan on handling your wide receiver rotation? With (wide receiver) Darius (Slayton) and (wide receiver) Jalin Hyatt, we've seen them mix in, especially with Darius (Slayton), different spots throughout the summer and even yesterday he was, at least for the day, he was getting more of the reps along with (wide receiver) Malik (Nabers)?

BRIAN DABOLL: I'd say they're all going to get reps, those four guys. You need to do that. We have a lot of different personnel groupings. Sometimes three could be in, two could be in, a different three set could be in, four or a different four. We have a plethora, I would say, of different personnel groupings, how we call it and what we're practicing. All those guys will get reps.

Q: Seems like (wide receiver Jalin) Hyatt did some stuff with the twos and threes yesterday, though, which we really haven't seen…

BRIAN DABOLL: Well, we were doing a two-minute situation, so we used three receivers. We did it a couple weeks back and it was a little bit different. So instead of not practicing the fourth guy, if you will, with putting him off and letting three guys go, we just give them the reps to practice two minutes. It was the exact same situations.

Q: What stands out to you about (New York Jets wide receiver) Garrett Wilson?

BRIAN DABOLL: He's another good selection. (He's) Got quickness, ability to beat man-to-man coverage, good hands, can run a variety of routes, can really affect the game in, I'd say, all three phases, short, intermediate, and deep. Good football player.

Q: With (wide receiver) Malik (Nabers), you guys have talked, going all the way back to the draft, about the competitor he is and you've seen him compete this summer. I'm curious, to come into a situation like this where a competitive energy will be up, what are you watching for him and what he shows today, especially if you're going against matchups that everybody else is talking about?

BRIAN DABOLL: Again, not much different than Detroit. We're practicing against another team. We'll go out there and compete against their players, their different skill sets, and he will.

Q: When you compete in practice and games against the (New York) Jets, they are a team you obviously share the area with, within the state. How much more weight does it hold, do you think with players, the mindset, the rivalry?

BRIAN DABOLL: You asked this question last year, too. Same exact way. But that's okay. Again, we're respectful to…

Q: We ask about the quarterback every day…

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, that's okay. I got a lot of respect for (New York Jets Head) Coach (Robert) Saleh and how he does things. It's good competition. They're obviously in the AFC, but we're in the same state so it's always important when you're practicing against the team that you're right next to one another. They got a lot of good players, they got a good coaching staff and it'll be a good opportunity to get down and practice.

Q: What did you see from (tight end) Theo Johnson that's allowed him to get some reps with the starters?

BRIAN DABOLL: Much like all the rookies, I would say, they're continuing to learn how we do things. They're playing faster. (Safety Tyler) Nubin, somebody asked about (Tyler) Nubin. They're playing faster. When you know what to do, you're allowed to do that. Plus, he's big, he's fast and he hasn't made a lot of mental errors for a rookie. We've lined him up in multiple spots and he's been productive with the opportunities that he's had.

Wide Receiver Malik Nabers

Q. How did it go for you today? How would you assess it?

MALIK NABERS: I had too many drops. I had a lot of catches that could have been made on the field. You know, so that was about me. But it was a great competition day, a great workday.

Q. When you get something like that with drops that you're not happy with, do you just go right back to work tomorrow?

MALIK NABERS: I mean, that's all I can do. Look at the film, see how -- see which better ways I can catch the ball but continue to stay in the books.

Q. Is it how they covered you or do you feel it was something you were doing?

MALIK NABERS: The coverage was pretty good. It's going to be contested. That's what this league is. It's whoever can make those plays, and I think I can make those plays. (I) Just didn't come out with those plays today.

Q. The last one on the deep one, did that bother you maybe?

MALIK NABERS: Yeah, it bothered me pretty bad. If I had to do it again, I would work on something different on catching the ball. I'll just go look at it, see what I can do better, and just practice that. Practice getting my eyes around faster and finding the ball in the air.

Q. Did you have to come back for it a little bit?

MALIK NABERS: No, I didn't have to come back for it. It was just when I had turned my eyes back on the other side of the shoulder that I kind of lost the ball then I found it later. It was just a drop. I just have to try a to catch it better, I guess.

Q. How does it make you feel when Sauce Gardner is waving goodbye on the sideline and...

MALIK NABERS: I mean, they can do that. They won on the day. Their defense came out here and executed well. We beat ourselves today. So, it's about really going back into our playbook, going back into trying to be us, trying to find this team that we trying to look for. It's going back to the preparation.

Q. It seemed that people were expecting you and Sauce to go head-to-head a lot.

MALIK NABERS: Yeah.

Q. Didn't seem to happen that much.

MALIK NABERS: That's a question for Dabs.

Q. You're such a competitor for yourself. When you have a practice, you're working on things you want to work on, and also know it's a competition because you're going against another team and you want to, and I don't want to say show out a little bit, but you guys want to compete. But is there that back and forth, that balance you want to strike?

MALIK NABERS: No, not really. It's about working on myself. The defense is going to give me a look. I just have to play football. It's working on different techniques, whether they're outside of my shoulder or inside of my shoulder or just continuing to win.

Q. Do you think you and the first team offense would benefit from one more look in this Saturday's game? I know it's not up to you, but do you feel like you guys could benefit from that kind of work?

MALIK NABERS: I mean, of course. It's another opportunity to go in there and play a football game, find out what we need to work on and what we need to learn from. Yeah, this opportunity to play another game on Saturday is helpful before the season starts.

Q. Did you learn anything from the time you got to go against Sauce? Maybe tips or tricks of going against a guy considered who is one of the top cornerbacks in football?

MALIK NABERS: I'm not going to share all my key details, what I thought. I'm just going to keep it to myself and continue to work on myself.

Q. What were your impressions of DJ Reed?

MALIK NABERS: He's great. Great competitor. Smooth feet. Plays the ball pretty well when the ball is in the air. (He) Knows formations and concepts, so going against him I kind of had to switch my game up a little bit so he wasn't jumping a lot of the routes. He's a great competitor.

Q. Different style than Sauce though, right?

MALIK NABERS: Different sizes, different lengths. Everybody's game is really going to be different.

Quarterback Daniel Jones

Q. Daniel, could you assess how you feel you did today and how the offense did?

DANIEL JONES: For the most part (I) thought we executed well. Thought throughout the team drills we moved the ball and executed. Obviously, you want to finish a little better with the two-minute there at the end. Overall (I) thought we executed well against a good defense.

Q. Does the feel of the day change a little bit if Malik throws in that deep ball in the two-minute?

DANIEL JONES: Yeah, I mean, I think if we finish that two-minute with a touchdown, we definitely feel different. We all got to make plays. Stuff like that's going to happen. You know, we had a chance to come back and still convert so we got to do that. But, yeah, certainly feels different if we convert that two-minute situation.

Q. Daniel, do you almost feel like you're still trying to find this offense and go kind of play to play, seeing what you are, what you have, where you guys are?

DANIEL JONES: If the question is are we still improving, certainly. I think we're still building and growing. That's the goal always. I think we've made considerable progress and I feel like we are in a good spot. There is a high sense of urgency to continue to improve and get to where we need to be. I feel like we made progress. I think we're working and improving. We're always looking to take the next step.

Q. Would you like to play Saturday night?

DANIEL JONES: I always want to play. As a player, you always want to play. It's a decision Dabs has to make, and I'll be ready for whatever he decides.