Ben McAdoo – © USA TODAY Sports
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TUESDAY BEN MCADOO CONFERENCE CALL…
New York Giants Head Coach Ben McAdoo addressed the media by conference call on Tuesday to discuss the team’s 24-10 loss to the Detroit Lions:
McAdoo: Got a chance to look at the film from last night’s ballgame. We got to learn to get out of our own way. That’s the biggest thing that came to mind after watching the game. It’s my responsibility. We had some failures last night and failures aren’t fatal, but failure to learn from it might be. So, we need to make sure we learn and grow from this ballgame and find a way to improve and play complete team football and we have a lot of work to do and we have a short week to get it done. Let’s open it up.
Q: How much did you think the problems on offense were an extension of the previous week? Was it the same kind of things or did you see different things?
A: No, it was a completely different defensive opponent we were playing. Dallas has a quicker defensive line. They played a lot of line stunts, played aggressively there. And this week it was more of big-bodied wide nine front and they played the run on the way to the quarterback. So, it was a different approach defensively.
Q: How do you balance making changes this early versus remaining staying patient?
A: Yeah, we are not going to panic. We are not the first good team to start 0-2. When we first got together in April and talked about how we weren’t going to sneak up on anybody this year. We were going to get everybody’s best shot. This is New York. We had two primetime football games versus two pretty good opponents and it’s no excuses, but we got to find a way to get better and we are not going to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Q: Why didn’t you call a timeout at the end of the first half before Detroit attempted the field goal?
A: Just wanted to make sure that they were going to go for the field goal.
Q: You didn’t think it was more important to use your timeout to give your offense a chance to score?
A: Yeah, it was more about us and not about them.
Q: How did Odell (Beckham) come out of the game and how is he doing today?
A: He got some treatment this morning. He’s still working hard to get back to his full self, but he made some progress last night getting some game snaps.
Q: Are you sure you’re a good team?
A: Yes. I am confident in this group of men. I am confident in the group of coaches. We have a lot of work to do. We are not happy with the way the game went last night. There are a lot of things we can do better, not just playing the game, but how we approach the game and we got to learn from it.
Q: What makes you sure about being a good offense?
A: We don’t have much rhythm right now on the offense and that’s something we have to work through and make some progress there. We have to complete the ball at a high percentage, we have to protect better, we have to get the run game going. We just lack rhythm right now.
Q: Will you be the play caller on Sunday?
A: We are going to take each and every day and evaluate things as we go each and every day.
Q: Do you still believe that Ereck Flowers will be your left tackle going forward?
A: Yes, absolutely. Ereck is a young player, he did some good things in the ballgame yesterday. He gets singled out and that’s the way it goes in this league. Again, the breakdowns are spread out. It’s not just one player making breakdowns. The breakdowns are spread out and I am included. Throw me in there.
Q: The breakdowns seem to stand out because he is at such a crucial position. How do you compensate for that?
A: Again, I thought Ereck did some good things in the ballgame last night and he gave up a couple sacks, had some pressures in there, but again it’s not all Ereck. You can’t point all at one guy. We need to play better as an offensive unit.
Q: Are you at the point with this offense that you have to do something drastic? Such as changing personnel? Giving up play calling duties? Because what you have been doing hasn’t been working.
A: Yeah, we can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again. That’s insanity. It’s not working. So, we are going to look to make some changes this week, like we did last week. Maybe it will be a little more drastic this week to use your word. If that means me giving up play calling duties, that’s something we will look at, that we’ll talk about. For personnel, jobs are won in this league, they are not given away. So, somebody’s got to win a job or take a job to get a job.
Q: Who would those discussions involve?
A: As an offensive staff.
Q: When you look at the running game, what is it about Orleans Darkwa that he is able to do a little bit more than Paul Perkins? Would you consider making a change?
A: We made a change in the normal down and distance flow of the game yesterday. We evened out the reps and we have confidence in Paul, we have confidence in Orleans. Orleans had a couple cleaner looks in the ballgame yesterday, but again, we have a ways to go in running the football.
Q: What’s the answer on so many of those third down balls being completed in front of the sticks?
A: It just depends on the call, the progression and the time in the pocket.
Q: Two years ago, when you were the play caller, this offense scored 26.5 points per game. Why can’t this offense score?
A: It’s not that we can’t score, it’s that we haven’t scored. That’s what we go to work for every day. We have to go out and we have to find a way to put points on the board, move the chains and possess the ball. We have enough talent in the building to do it. It’s my job to make sure it gets done. Right now, it is a confidence thing. We need to go out and play with confidence. We have to play with more rhythm and again, we are looking forward to a short week to go out and get it done.
Q: How do you think Justin Pugh played at right tackle?
A: I think he went out there and competed his tail off.
Q: Are you comfortable with him if Bobby (Hart) is out and he has to stay there?
A: Yes, I am confident in Pugh, yes.
Q: In the past, you have spread around the blame when it comes to criticizing players, but you came out very quickly yesterday saying Eli (Manning) was to blame in regard to the delay of game penalty. Looking back, do you think you kind of singled him out there?
A: Did I single him out? Well, we needed to get the ball snapped there. So, I thought that the quarterback and the center need to find a way to get the ball snapped before the clock hit zero. I’m not sure what you mean by calling him out, we need to get the ball snapped.
Q: Do you have any concerns about how the players are going to react about singling one guy out, but you won’t single out a guy like Flowers?
A: No.
Q: Did you get a chance to look back at the (Evan) Engram penalty and was it a penalty?
A: Yeah, we can’t have that. We don’t need to be kicking off from the 20-yard line. We don’t need to kick the ball out of bounds after that. It just puts the team in a bad spot. I am not sure that it was something that he intended to do, but again we can’t have that. That was a poor judgment on his part. He’ll learn from it, he’ll grow from it. He’s a high character young man and I don’t anticipate that will happen again.
Q: What went into the decision to put Pugh at right tackle? Obviously, you had both Chad Wheeler and D.J. Fluker who played tackle up.
A: We felt that putting (Brett) Jones in there was the direction that we wanted to go.
Q: Any update on (B.J) Goodson or (Janoris) Jenkins?
A: They both got treatment today. They are both making progress, but it’s too early to say at this point during the week.
Q: It doesn’t always look like Eli has confidence in his offensive line, how do you fix that?
A: Well, I think we need to block better up front and we need to get some rhythm going in our pass game. I just don’t think we have confidence and rhythm right now and I think once we have a little bit of success, that will take care of itself.
LANDON COLLINS ON ESPN RADIO…
The audio of Tuesday’s ESPN Radio interview with New York Giants safety Landon Collins is available at ESPN.com.
POST-GAME NOTES…
The Giants are 0-2 for the fourth time in five seasons.
The Giants are 24-38-1 on Monday night, including 9-10 at home.
ARTICLES…
- Giants abandon heavy offensive personnel in loss to Lions | Snap count analysis by Dan Duggan for NJ.com
- It wasn’t a fluke: Giants’ offense wasn’t ready for 2017 by Ian O’Connor of ESPN.com
- Why would Ben McAdoo call out Eli Manning like that? by Bob Glauber of Newsday
- Giants standing behind struggling left tackle Ereck Flowers by Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com
WHAT’S UP NEXT…
The Giants hold a jog-thru practice at 4:00PM on Wednesday. Head Coach Ben McAdoo and select players will address the media after practice.
Eric Kennedy
Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.
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