Brian Daboll – © USA TODAY Sports
OCTOBER 31, 2022 BRIAN DABOLL PRESS CONFERENCE…
New York Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll addressed the media on Monday to discuss his team’s 27-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks (the VIDEO of the press conference is also available on YouTube):
Q: You’re 6-2 going at the bye week. Do you give yourself a chance to digest where you’re at at this point in time? And how pleased are you (with) where you’re at?
A: Ten hours since we’ve been back. So, we’ll review yesterday’s tape. We have some workdays ahead of us here as a coaching staff to kind of look into some things and then get ready for (the) Houston (Texans). You’re always self-evaluating yourself each week. We have quality control coaches; we have analytics. Then the coaches do it. We try to do it on a week-to-week basis and try to improve on things that maybe we’re not doing as good of a job as we’d like to do and try to build off some of the positive things. So, we’ll always continue to do that. But really, we’re in right now looking at this tape. And the next few days, we’ll have some time to get on to Houston and look at a few other things.
Q: It seems like an ongoing issue, week to week, is the slow start coming out of the gate. I’m just wondering is it because something is conflicting with the scripting – assuming you guys are doing scripting – or what do you think is kind of behind the slow starts that you guys have had?
A: It’s always something a little bit different. Jacksonville, we came out and started fast. I think we threw it eight out of nine times that game. This game we ran some RPOs (run pass options). Production on first down, in this case yesterday, second down, which led to some third-down calls. Converting on those third downs are big because either you continue on in the drive and keep going, or you have to punt. So, converting on those third downs, but really executing on first and second downs, a wide variety of things. As always, it takes 11 guys to execute a play successfully. So, we’ll continue to work on that.
Q: You guys had a lot of success this season, obviously, winning games in the fourth quarter. You’re doing it even without a lot of punch, at times, in your passing game. I’m wondering if, when you look at the big picture, do you think that style is sustainable – kind of living on the edge, waiting for the end of games – or if you think you need to add some pop into the passing game at some point?
A: I’d say most games come down in this league to one-score games – a lot of them, a high percentage of them. So, usually the teams you’re playing are good. It’s a back-and-forth game. A lot of games are won that way. Obviously, you’re always looking to improve; those chunk plays help you in moving the ball and scoring points. We’ll continue to look at that and figure out ways to try to improve that area. But again, most of these, it’s not like you’re used to coaching in some colleges, and it’s over in the first quarter. These games are back and forth, and unfortunately yesterday we left out a few plays that we hadn’t been making those mistakes, we’d given ourselves a chance. Yesterday just got away from us.
Q: When I look at the stats – yards from scrimmage – (running back) Saquon (Barkley) has 900-something (yards), which is towards the top of the league. And then (wide receiver) Darius Slayton has 232 (yards). So, I guess a two-part question is what is Slayton giving you? How far has he come? Especially, that doesn’t include his knack for drawing pass interference penalties, which have given you some chunk plays. How much has Slayton come along? And how much do you need somebody else to step up so there isn’t that huge gap between Saquon and everybody else?
A: I’ve been part of teams where it’s been balanced. I’ve been part of teams where it’s high on one end (or) high on the other. I think everybody needs to continue to improve on their craft. As far as Darius goes, I’ve said this before – a few weeks ago – it started off with (the) Green Bay (Packers), he’s worked hard. He’s kept his head down. He’s been a good teammate. You’re starting to see some of the results. He’s earned the playing time he’s gotten here these last few weeks. And we’ll continue to need him to keep improving and make those plays for us.
Q: You’ve said you’ve been part of teams like this. I don’t know if any come to mind, but I don’t mean to oversimplify it. But I would think you’re going to see a lot of what if looked like you saw yesterday where teams basically say, ‘Okay, we’re going to divert nine, eight, nine, 10 guys to Saquon. And they can beat us any other way.’ Are you expecting to see a lot of that? And is the bye week to come up with an answer for that?
A: We have seen a lot of that from the start of the season. That’s really nothing new than what we’ve been seeing. Obviously, everyone knows we put the ball into Saquon’s hands, and we’ll continue to do that. You’re always trying to evolve and get better in other areas of your game. Like I said yesterday, give (the) Seattle (Seahawks) credit. They did a heck of a job. They did a heck of a job all the way through-and-through, whether it was the pass game, the run game. They did a better job than we did.
Q: One procedural thing – the players are gone today, right, after their meetings today?
A: After today, yep.
Q: And what about you and the coaches?
A: We’ll stay. We’ll stay today. We’ll work through part of the week, and then give those guys off a few days here to recuperate and get back ready to go.
Q: A long weekend or just a weekend?
A: A long weekend.
Q: You’ve been part of the NFL a long time, where the byes come. How do you feel – this is your first time as a head coach – mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually going into this long stretch? Do you feel different than when you were a position coach?
A: No. At this point in time during the season, I think everyone’s tired, coaching-wise. Everybody’s sore, playing-wise. It’s just the nature of this league, and you just keep on pushing through. I think you need to try to take advantage of a little bit of downtime to recuperate, to get some rest and to come back fresh and ready to go for us this last half of the season where we have our bye.
Q: You said you’re going to self-scout everything in this little period that you have here. What about yourself? I’m sure you do that pretty much every week, but do you especially want to kind of maybe delve into how you’ve done and maybe say, ‘This was good. This was good. This, I need to do more. This I need to do less,’ that kind of thing?
A: Yeah. I’d say what we do is we do do that every week. That’s why, this time right there, you kind of look everything holistically. But each week, you’re doing that. And that’s what Mondays are for and part of Tuesdays. I do that every week, whether it’s decisions throughout the game, revisit the game, go onto the next week, look at a ton of different stuff. I think you need to stay on top of that, it’s kind of like a game. You can’t wait ‘til halftime to make some adjustments. You’ve got to keep on doing that throughout the game, and we’ve done a lot of that. I’ve done a lot of that since I started.
Q: Coming out of the bye, do you expect to have any of the guys that have been missing some time back for you? (Wide receiver) Kenny Golladay specifically. I don’t know how close he is or if there is a chance to play out of the bye.
A: I think we’ll see. It’s probably too early right now to give you an answer on that. (I’m) hopeful, but too early.
Q: Over the next few hours, 12 hour or so, what is your involvement going to be with the NFL trade deadline and as a first-year head coach, what has dealing with this been like? Is this something where (general manager) Joe (Schoen) brings you potential options? Is this something where you and Joe are in constant contact, or are you only really privy to it in terms of the specifics of it when there is a potential deal on the line? What has the process been like for you as a first-time coach?
A: I’d say like I’ve said throughout relative to a variety of things here, Joe and I are in constant communication. Lock-step on a lot of things. We talk about pretty much everything there is to talk about in an organization. That’s just how we approach it. That’s really no different to game management or free agency or draft. There’s always communication.
Q: What about (defensive coordinator) Wink (Martindale) gets players to relate to him and play for him in your opinion? How has that helped you as a first-time head coach?
A: Wink’s been a great teammate, whether it’s as a coach or I’d say, for a player. He’s authentic. He has experience. He’s done a really good job for us.
Q: I wanted to ask about (inside linebacker) Micah (McFadden). He got a lot more defensive snaps yesterday than he has since Week 5. What have you seen from him to warrant that?
A: Continual improvement. He’s done the right thing, on and off the field. We use a lot of packages on defense and shuffle a lot of guys in and out, and that was something that we were going to do this week and give him some chances. He made the most of them.
Q: Do you expect here, as the season moves along, to maybe use some of, I shouldn’t say use young in general because I know you’re playing a lot of young guys but, some of the rookies that maybe haven’t played that you’re able to get them in more as you move forward here?
A: I think we’ll play the guys that we think earned it and then for that particular week gives us a chance that we think is best for our team. That’s what we’ve always done, and that’s what we’ll always do.
Q: How active do you expect to be in the next 24-27 hours? Do you guys expect to be active at all in regards to the trade deadline?
A: I’m pretty tired right now, so I’m not going to be too active. I’m not going to be running or jogging or anything like that. You said for the trade deadline?
Q: Yeah. I wasn’t asking about your workout routine.
A: Oh, I thought you said active. Long flight. I don’t know, we’ll see. We’ll see. Those are conversations that I’ll have with Joe and take each of them as they come.
Q: Do you feel like this team needs – you’ve had a lot of injuries at certain positions, you’ve been left shorthanded – do you feel that in order to keep this up or take it to the next level you need to add reinforcements?
A: I think what I always say, we’ll try to do whatever we think is best for the team. Each circumstance that comes up – whether it comes up, whether it doesn’t – we’ll just take it head on.
Q: When you look at the first eight games, do you sit there and say, ‘If you had told me going into the season we’d be 6-2 at the break, I would have jumped and said great?’ Or how do you react to where you are?
A: I just take it day by day. Those are in the past; put money in the bank, so to speak. We’re sitting at 6-2. We have nine games left that are on the schedule, and we got to take them one week at a time. Get a little bit of rest right now. We’ve got a long stretch here. Come back rejuvenated, ready to go and get ready to play Houston. Just take it one week at a time.
THE PLAYERS SPEAK…
Transcripts and video clips of the media sessions with the following players are available in The Corner Forum and on YouTube:
WHAT’S UP NEXT…
General Manager Joe Schoen addresses the media on Tuesday.
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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