Richie James – © USA TODAY Sports
NOVEMBER 22, 2022 NEW YORK GIANTS INJURY REPORT…
Since the Giants only held a walk-thru on Tuesday, the following is projection:
TE Daniel Bellinger (eye), OG Josh Ezeudu (neck), OC Jon Feliciano (neck), OG Shane Lemieux (toe), OT Andrew Thomas (illness), CB Adoree’ Jackson (knee), and CB Fabiran Moreau (oblique) did not practice.
WR Richie James (knee), OT Evan Neal (knee), OT Tyre Phillips (neck), S Dane Belton (clavicle), and S Jason Pinnock (jaw) were limited in practice.
ROSTER MOVES…
The Giants have signed tight end Lawrence Cager to the 53-man roster from the Practice Squad. The 6’5”, 220-pound Cager was originally signed as an undrafted rookie free agent by the New York Jets after the 2020 NFL Draft. He has spent time with the Jets (2020-2021, 2022) and Cleveland Browns (2021). The Giants signed Cager to the Practice Squad in October 2022 after he was cut by the Jets. He has appeared in three games for the Giants this season.
The Giants also signed tight end Nick Vannett to the Practice Squad. The 29-year old, 6’6”, 261-pound Vannett was originally drafted in the 3rd round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. He has spent time with the Seahawks (2016-2019), Pittsburgh Steelers (2019), Denver Broncos (2020), and New Orleans Saints (2021-2022). The Saints cut him last Saturday. Vannett has played in 80 regular-season games with 35 starts, accruing 86 catches for 832 yards and six touchdowns.
NOVEMBER 22, 2022 BRIAN DABOLL PRESS CONFERENCE…
New York Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll addressed the media on Tuesday (VIDEO):
Daboll: Just had a walkthrough. Got another walkthrough. In terms of the injuries, which I know there will be a lot of questions about, here’s where we’re at with that. Belly (tight end Daniel Bellinger) won’t make it. (Cornerback) Adoree’ (Jackson) won’t make it. And everybody else is going to come right up to the last second what we decide to do – treatment, talk to the doctors, the athletic trainers. So, relative to where everybody else is at, it’s going to be a last second decision that we make.
Q: If that’s the case with all the other guys you’re talking about, that sounds like relatively good news with all these other guys if it’s a possibility.
A: It’s a possibility, but it’s also not a possibility. That’s what I’m saying. It’s going to go right to the end. We’ll see who we have healthy.
Q: Did you sign (tight end) Nick Vannett?
A: Practice squad.
Q: What’s your message to the guys with this situation being what it is as the injuries have piled up?
A: Prepare to play a game. It’s really that simple: prepare to play a game. (It’s) a short week; everybody plays them. So, do a good job in the walk throughs. Do a good job on studying the team that we’re playing, and make sure that we’re ready to go. Take care of our bodies and get ready to go to Dallas.
Q: Do you feel snake bitten, or do you feel like this is the league and this is what it is?
A: It’s the NFL; every team deals with injuries. So, next guy up. And let’s get ready to play.
Q: Have you sensed anything from (tackle) Evan (Neal) this week in terms of wanting to get back on the field? Not just to get back on the field, but to play the Cowboys again. He had kind of a clunker there.
A: Of course, he wants to get back on the field. I’d say what’s tough is just how we’re getting ready to play this game. Of course, he wants to be out there. We’ll see. Again, it’s more. It’s not necessarily, ‘Go out there and run around.’ It’s really treatment, talk to the trainers, talk to the player. And then we’ll make our decision. We’ll try to take it as long as we can. And if obviously someone says they just can’t go, then they can’t go. But all these other guys, we’re going to hold out hope to see who can make it.
Q: Is (outside linebacker) Azeez in that group? (Azeez) Ojulari – is he in that group?
A: No. He won’t go.
Q: (Cornerback Fabian) Moreau is in that group, right?
A: He is. Yep.
Q: Assuming the worst and he can’t, how do you feel about (defensive back Cor’Dale) Flott, (cornerback Nick) McCloud, (cornerback) Rodarius (Williams)?
A: Yeah, all those guys. All those guys are.
Q: How ready are they for the challenge of the Cowboys?
A: They’re preparing to be ready to play. That’s why they’re on the roster.
Q: How much do you have to change your defensive approach a little bit with so many guys possibly down in the secondary?
A: I think we do that a little bit each week. So, it’s really no different this week. Obviously, you try to do what you can do for the guys that are out there. You put them in the best positions. That’s really no different than any other week.
Q: Will you put Adoree’ on IR?
A: Not right now. He’s a lot better today.
Q: With the Cowboys, they kind of look a little bit different than the last time you played them with (Cowboys quarterback) Dak (Prescott) back. It seems like (running back Tony) Pollard is a lot more involved in the backfield than he was. How much has that offense changed in just the few weeks since you last saw them?
A: I think they’ve always been a good offense. They have a lot of good skill players. I think their roster construction has been really good with really offense, defense and the kicking game. This is a dynamic team, I’d say, in every area. They’ve got great skill players. When I say skill players, I also include defensive ends, who are skill players. Explosive – scored a lot of points, obviously, last week. (They had) seven sacks, 40 points against an 8-1 team at their place. It will be a huge challenge.
Q: I know you always want to run the ball, but with that pass rush and their defense in particular, how much maybe more important does that even become this week for you guys?
A: Really, I think it’s execution. If you get into passing situations against this team, I mean put on the tape, there’s a bunch of negative plays. So, if you’re playing the game in third-and-long or second-and-long, or if you get behind and you got to try to make up ground, that’s a bad spot to be in against this team.
Q: There’s an old axiom that the season really starts after Thanksgiving. Do you subscribe to that?
A: Yeah, all the places I’ve been. Again, you put yourself in a position at this time of year. Every game matters – the games we play in the beginning. As it gets closer to the end, you got to treat it the same as you treat every other game. And we have a division game that we’re playing a team that’s really good.
Q: What happened with (wide receiver) Richie James? He’s listed on the injury report.
A: His knee was bothering him. So, he’s kind of another guy in that boat. We’ll see where he’s at.
Q: Did he hurt it making the tackle on that interception?
A: I don’t know exactly when it happened. I think he’ll be fine. Again, we’ll take it all the way to the end. I think he’ll be fine. I think he will be ready to go. I just don’t want to say one hundred percent.
Q: If he’s not ready to go, I guess the punt returner situation kind of keeps going in flux?
A: Yeah, we’ll have the next guy ready to go.
Q: What do you see from your guys? I think you’ll probably agree that was your worst game of the year against Detroit. You have an opportunity now, they have an opportunity – everybody watches pretty much on Thanksgiving, everyone will be sitting there watching – big opportunity for you guys?
A: Yeah. I mean look, every week is a new week. Whether you win or whether you lose, you try not to focus on results – you focus on the things you can do to get better whether you win or lose. I’ve said that from the get-go and that’s been our approach. That’ll always be our approach.
Q: With Dallas’ ability to rush the passer and make negative plays on defense – how much is (quarterback) Daniel’s (Jones) mobility and ability to get out of there an asset?
A: Yeah, I think any time you have an athletic quarterback… Look, they’re very athletic, they’ve created a bunch of them, they get after the quarterback. Again, I think it’s more about the situation and they force them. They’re really good in those situations and, unfortunately, they’re really good on early downs, too. Being able to produce positive plays is going to be a key thing for us. We get into those situations, they’ve done it to everybody – they did it to us the first game, they did it last week. They’ve done it to everybody. They have dynamic players, and they get after the passer. To have a guy that can use his legs to get out of it, it’s certainly a little bit different than just a guy that stands back there.
Q: When you went back and looked at (running back) Saquon’s (Barkley) day, was there anything that you didn’t know before watching that you do now?
A: Which one?
Q: This last game.
A: No. Pretty much what I said. It takes everybody.
Q: Will the result of this game, after your conversations with (general manager) Joe Schoen and throughout this week, will the result of this game impact how aggressive you would or wouldn’t be in adding players?
A: No, I think we’d do the same stuff every week – try to be consistent regardless of results and do what’s best for our team.
Q: You’ve talked all year about you just never know in this league because any week you can be humbled. Do you feel like this team was humbled a bit on Sunday?
A: No, we lost the game. We were 3-0 on turnover ratio. Teams that do that this year are 1-18. There are some certain things we could have coached better, played better. We want to win every game; we didn’t do enough to win that game and you got to move on quickly – particularly when you got a short week.
Q: Do you like your team, the way you’ve built it, to respond on a short week with all the circumstances that you’ve had?
A: I’ve liked everything about the guys since I got here. They work hard, they’re humble guys, they do everything we ask them to do. They go out there, they play as hard as they can play. Again, we don’t always like the results, but these guys are putting everything they’ve got into it – everybody is putting everything they got into it, and we’ll always do that.
Q: What does it mean to you and your team to have this opportunity to play on Thanksgiving?
A: This is the sixth time that I’ve been part of this game, not necessarily against Dallas – third time against Dallas, I think. It’s great, it’s a great tribute – you know? You remember when you’re a kid, sitting down and watching television and the games and Madden and turducken and all those type of things. Again, we got a big challenge ahead of us in Dallas and that’s where we got to keep it.
Q: With that time slot, everybody on Thanksgiving seems to watch that game. Do you talk to your players about this is an opportunity as a showcase to show the country how good you are?
A: I don’t. I don’t because we play Sunday nights, Monday nights. I think you got to keep the focus the focus and, again, with the short week, there’s not a lot of time so we got to do everything we can do to get ready.
Q: Have you had a turducken before?
A: I have not. Might look like I did, but I didn’t.
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…
There is no media availability to the Giants on Wednesday as the team travels to Texas. The Giants play the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving.
