Oct 122015
 
Odell Beckham, New York Giants (October 11, 2015)

Odell Beckham – © USA TODAY Sports Images

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REPORT: DANIEL FELLS’ NFL CAREER OVER…
According to the BleacherReport.com, TE Daniel Fells’ career is over due to the life-threatening MRSA staph infection. BleacherReport.com is reporting that one of the five surgeries performed on Fells removed part of his foot. The New York Daily News says that while Fells’ foot remains intact, he career is likely over. At one point, there was a fear that the entire foot would need to be amputated in order to save Fells’ life. According to some media reports, Fells contracted the infection after receiving a cortisone shot to treat an ankle injury.

“We dedicated the game to Daniel Fells,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin on Monday afternoon. “On Skype in our team meeting today, we handed or showed him the game ball that he will receive. Everybody was able to cheer him on and try to make him feel better. He was very nice in saying that he watched the game and he was very proud of the way that we finished it.

“I think he’s pretty much having a third day in a row where the progress is being made and he feels better than he has. He’s gotten two or three straight nights of good sleep. I think that’s helped…I don’t believe he’s out of woods. I think these three straight days are really a wonderful sign, but there’s more tests to be done. And again, the response to the antibiotic is critical.”

NEW YORK GIANTS INJURY UPDATE…
Both starting wide receivers Odell Beckham and Rueben Randle injured hamstrings during the game on Sunday night. “Well, we’re going to have to see,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “They’re going to have to treat. They’ve got a couple days when they can be treated as Thursday will be a Wednesday. So we do have a couple of days and we’ll take full advantage of that. I did tell our team that the important thing on a weekly basis, week in and week out, is to play these really tough physical football games and come right back and do it again the next week. We need more of our guys on the practice field, we need some consistency with our weeks. I’m hoping that we can get Odell and Rueben at least on a limited basis for the entire rest of the week. I know that’s (optimistic), but I would hope we could do that…But we’ll see, we’ll see how fast they can respond.”

“It’s fine,” Randle said of his hamstring after the game. “It’s not bad. Actually I was going to come back into the game until Larry (Donnell) scored that touchdown. Just going to take a couple of days and I will be fine.”

Linebacker Jon Beason suffered a concussion in the game. “I think (the extra day off) will (help him),” said Coughlin. “He seemed to be in pretty good spirits and pretty good shape this morning.”

Left guard Justin Pugh missed the final two offensive plays of the game with an ankle injury. “I tweaked my ankle,” said Pugh after the game. “I am going to be fine. I feel good.”

Cornerback Trumaine McBride did not aggravate his previous groin injury. Safety Brandon Meriweather sprained his knee in the game but returned to the contest. There was no word on his status.

HEAD COACH TOM COUGHLIN…
Tom Coughlin addressed the media by conference call on Monday:

Good afternoon. I looked at the tape today, the coaches did, and we got together and talked about it. Just had our meeting, at least I had my meeting with the team, they’re still downstairs looking at the tape. I think the drive at the end of the half, the drive at the end of the halves were just outstanding. The play that gave us the touchdown was obviously something that was extremely exciting. We all went crazy on the sideline. Just to think that we had actually taken the ball and won the game at the end of the game, we had a couple of situations earlier this year where the other guy had the ball and they won the game. So it was really an exciting time for us. The locker room was great. There were very good vibes, very good language coming from the players in terms of what it meant to win a game of that nature. I don’t think it was our best game in many categories. I don’t think we obviously played as well defensively as we’d like to have played. We did not rush the ball the way that I would want to. And I did tell our team that we pretty consistently have this 50 percent thing going in the green zone and it’s not going to improve until we can rush the ball with some degree of confidence. And I do believe that. The numbers, there were lots of numbers—Eli played extremely well. Made a lot of great decisions, got us into a lot of outstanding plays, the exception being the last play before the half where with 11 seconds left we elect to throw the ball into the end zone. If you don’t like it, you throw it away. He had to move a little bit there and therefore I think it took a little something off his throw. If he would have had it higher or further away where Odell would have been the only one that could have got it.

The TV people asked me at halftime and I said, “Look, that’s behind us. We certainly would have liked to scored right there, we didn’t, so we’ve got to move on. That’s all we can do.” And we did. The second half, San Francisco did a good job offensively, without a doubt, against our defense. Put some points on the board, 21 points on the board. But we were able to come up with the key drive at the end of the game to win the game. There were many outstanding players’ performances in the game. There was no doubt that Josh Brown had a big night—three for three field goals, five of six touchbacks. Eli with his numbers and a 110 quarterback rating. Shane Vereen with a big night, eight receptions 86 yards, a touchdown, the big screen at the end of the game there. Odell with seven for 121, 17.3, a long of 49, and a touchdown. And of course the catch by Donnell. I thought, defensively, Damontre Moore had two sacks, three tackles, and a caused fumble. And DRC had a nice game. He was physical on the rocket screen, which we needed to turn away, and he does continue to turn away on his side. Five tackles, two caused fumbles, so he played well. I think for us to win a game of that nature, we knew that the 49ers would play in a very loose fashion, that they would have the attitude that they have nothing to lose. And, of course, the one thing that came out of it was Kaepernick’s game was elevated. Here’s a guy that had a 16 quarterback rating against Arizona, came in here and had a 107, threw the ball well, did not throw an interception. Another disappointing thing for us was on special teams and defense, we did not get a takeaway. We’ve done an outstanding job with takeaways, in terms of converting them to points. Not to have those last night was a real issue. We did have the ball on the ground a couple times, didn’t get it back. The Kaepernick fumble would have been an ideal opportunity for us with DRC knocking it out and us going down and getting the ball would have been denying them points. It didn’t happen. We’re pleased to win, we’re excited about the way we won. It was great for the fans to hang in there with us and be ecstatic at the end of the game.

I really enjoyed the fact that we could come through for four great Giants that were inducted into the Ring of Honor last night. I really wanted to honor those four gentlemen by playing well. Two of them are our own, Chris Snee and Osi Umenyiora, those are our guys. We wanted to be able to do that. I really was pleased to be able to go and give them a hug at halftime. And we also wanted to win the game, and we dedicated the game to Daniel Fells. On Skype in our team meeting today, we handed or showed him the game ball that he will receive. Everybody was able to cheer him on and try to make him feel better. He was very nice in saying that he watched the game and he was very proud of the way that we finished it. Anybody have a question? I doubt if you do, this thing ran on and on.

Q: What was Daniel’s reaction to getting the game ball and how is he feeling?

A: I think he’s pretty much having a third day in a row where the progress is being made and he feels better than he has. He’s gotten two or three straight nights of good sleep. I think that’s helped. As I said, we dedicated the game to him. So in a win, he was very gracious about receiving a game ball, was excited about that happening. Just told his teammates what he felt about them based on their game. It was nice.

Q: What’s the status of the hamstring issues with Beckham and Randle the day after or is it too soon to know?

A: Well, we’re going to have to see. They’re going to have to treat. They’ve got a couple days when they can be treated as Thursday will be a Wednesday. So we do have a couple of days and we’ll take full advantage of that. I did tell our team that the important thing on a weekly basis, week in and week out, is to play these really tough physical football games and come right back and do it again the next week. We need more of our guys on the practice field, we need some consistency with our weeks. I’m hoping that we can get Odell and Rueben at least on a limited basis for the entire rest of the week. I know that’s (optimistic), but I would hope we could do that.

Q: Did they go take MRI’s?

A: Oh yeah, they’ve done it all. But we’ll see, we’ll see how fast they can respond.

Q: Victor Cruz was supposed to meet with the doctors today to go over the progress of the injection last week. Have you heard anything on that?

A: No. No I haven’t heard. You know more than I do, I didn’t know that was happening.

Q: Is it your understanding that if Fells continues to make progress that he’s going to get out and make what is hoped for, a full recovery?

A: Oh absolutely. Yeah, for sure. That’s my understanding, for sure.

Q: There was some speculation that he was facing some pretty grim possibilities there.

A: Well, I don’t believe he’s out of woods, I didn’t say that. I think these three straight days are really a wonderful sign, but there’s more tests to be done. And again, the response to the antibiotic is critical.

Q: I know you mentioned it in the postgame locker room, we saw the video, last year being 3-2 and going to Philadelphia. How is the team handling the situation now from what you’ve seen so far?

A: Well, we finished playing at quarter to twelve, and we brought them in here because we knew that they’d want to have the same kind of schedule basically—we pushed it back an hour. They’re reflecting on last night and listening to the comments and watching the tape of last night’s game. So they haven’t gone much further than just the locker room comment post game to get their minds right and make them understand what’s in front of us. We’ll know more when we see them on Thursday.

Q: What’s different, in your estimation? You won three in a row last year, you were 3-2 also. Going into this game, what’s different for you with this team now?

A: Well, the grit, the way in which we play, the energy that is spent, the scrappiness, the will, the ability seemingly to have people miss games and others kind of step up and help us win. So those would be the things right off the top of my head. Last night, every guy that was dressed had to make a contribution and they did. (Geremy) Davis, look at the catch he made, a 16-yarder on third and one. And that was a critical part. Myles (White) is out there running around and gave a good performance and accounted for himself. Will Tye played well. These guys are coming up with some games that are helping us.

Q: Have you ever had a guy quite like Shane Vereen and what his versatility has meant to your team?

A: Well, this is as we go along and get further into the season, we see and develop more in terms of how we can utilize his talents best. Last night was a great example of some of the things that he can do in certain situations when the defense may in fact think they’ve got you in a position where they have the upper hand. And someone like Shane can determine that might not necessarily be so. Have we ever had a player like this, to be able to utilize his talents? Probably not to this degree. So we’re just looking forward to continuing to utilize his talent and his ability along with the other players that we have offensively.

Q: The running back rotation changed; Shane, obviously, and Rashad Jennings took most of the snaps. How much of that was the game plan and did the situation dictate it? How much of that was a concerted decision to go with those two guys?

A: It was just the way the game unfolded. There’s an order sometimes, but it became more of a zebra game and that’s why you saw it the way it was.

Q: What’s the story with Jon Beason? I know he’s in the concussion protocol. Do you hope the extra day might help him?

A: I think it will. Yeah, I think it will. He seemed to be in pretty good spirits and pretty good shape this morning.

Q: What happened with Jonathan Casillas? He wasn’t able to go yesterday. Was that a decision that was made before warmups or did he go and it wasn’t good enough in warmups so you guys decided to go the other way?

A: Well, the part of the trainers and the medical people and Jon himself, in trying to get ready to go, had limitations. In the final hour, in my opinion, it wasn’t something that was worth a calculated risk, so we just dressed a healthier guy. And then Cooper Taylor, we got a lot of things done on special teams. Cooper took a lot of special teams snaps last night and did a good job. It was unfortunate that Jon wasn’t ready to go, but we did get some good play out of Cooper.

Q: Did Trumaine McBride reinjure his groin?

A: No, I think he came out of it okay.

Q: Why was Trevin Wade in at the end?

A: Because he’s a good football player and we decided to give him an opportunity there.

Q: Is there a scenario for Monday night where you just wouldn’t have enough personnel at receiver and might have to address that this week?

A: Well, we’ll see. I would think if you try to look at the different things that can happen, that certainly would be something that’s within the realm of possibility. I hope it doesn’t, but we’vegot a little bit of time here to see how that’s going to stack up.

Q: He obviously caught the game-winning touchdown, but what did you think of Larry Donnell’s overall performance? Blocking wise and catching?

A: Well, he made a good contribution in terms of receiving. The yards per reception weren’t necessarily great, but the last play was. And as a blocker, he does a good job knowing full well what he does best and trying to ask him to do that. So his contribution, I was just mentioning this morning that he certainly is playing better and he does look like the year’s experience has benefitted him. That was a heck of a play that he made last night.

THE PLAYERS SPEAK…
Transcripts or audio of Monday’s media sessions with the following players:

RING OF HONOR CEREMONY…
A video of Sunday night’s New York Giants “Ring of Honor” ceremony for new inductees trainer John Johnson, end Jack Lumus, offensive guard Chris Snee, and defensive end Osi Umenyiora is available at Giants.com.

ARTICLES…

WHAT’S UP NEXT…
The players are off Tuesday and Wednesday. They return to practice on Thursday to start preparing for Monday’s game against the Eagles in Philadelphia.