Brian Daboll and Saquon Barkley – © USA TODAY Sports
SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 BRIAN DABOLL PRESS CONFERENCE…
New York Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll addressed the media on Tuesday (VIDEO):
Q: Injury updates?
A: Injury. Yeah, that’s okay. That’ll come out on Thursday. I’ll just say everybody has been rehabbing, they’re getting better. I’ll give you an update on Thursday but we’re making progress with everybody who has been on that report or missed, we’re making progress.
Q: Is (guard Ben) Bredeson in protocol still?
A: No, he’ll be good to go. Ben will be good to go.
Q: What is (running back) Saquon (Barkley) able to do today?
A: Well, we’re doing kind of a jog through, so I don’t think he’ll do much today. But he’s really now, I’d say, in the day-to-day category. Feels a lot better today but we’ll kind of take that all the way throughout the week and see how he improves.
Q: (Tackle) Andrew (Thomas) a lot better?
A: He’s better, yep. Again, we’ll get here Thursday, get out here and give them a couple more days but I’d say all of them are making progress.
Q: Nothing from the game is long term?
A: No. Nope.
Q: If Andrew returns, do you have some decisions to make about offensive line and how you want to configure it? I think you’ve had three different configurations in three games.
A: Yeah, I’d say if those guys are back, it’ll look like it looked when Ben and Andrew were out – when they were back playing. But again, we’ll see where they’re at. I don’t want to make a decision right now. We’ll see where we’re at Thursday.
Q: Does that mean you’ll stick with (offensive lineman Marcus) McKethan at that other guard spot?
A: Yeah. Yep.
Q: What has he shown you?
A: I think he’s done a good job. Again, he’s only played a couple games, he was out all last season. Improving. Big body, moves well, so again, the experience that he’s played in the first couple of games will help him.
Q: You guys were, I know it’s a different year but very effective as a running team last year, especially early in the season and it helped you guys a lot. Is there part of you that wants to get back to that this year and obviously it’s difficult to do against a team like Seattle, who is very good at stopping the run.
A: I’d say again, each week we’ll look at the team, we’ll do what we need to do. We really need to improve in every area so that’s certainly one of them.
Q: How do you feel about the way the cornerback configuration has worked out after three games? Moving (cornerback) Adoree’ (Jackson), getting (cornerback) Tre (Hawkins III) in there?
A: I’d say again, much like the run game, everything’s a work in progress. We’ve got to get better in a lot of areas and that’s what we’re going to try to do.
Q: But you’re comfortable with it? Nothing you would change.
A: Yeah. Look, each week we’ll go into it and we’ll look at how guys are doing. They’ve been competing but there are a lot of improvements that need to be made.
Q: When you come back after a little longer break, do you treat it in terms of with the players as a reset a little bit?
A: Not really. They’ve had a couple of days off, been grinding on some things as a coaching staff. Again, this week is its own week, like every NFL week, and we’ve got to do everything we can to get ready to play a really good team that’s won the last two games, scored 37 points in each game, and continue to work on our process, refine things that we need to refine, improve things we need to improve and have a good week.
Q: You obviously embrace the process every week, process over results, but there is also urgency I’d imagine. I know you attack every week with urgency but the next time you take the field for a game, it’s in October already. The season flies by very quickly. How do you in your communication with the team express that on the daily basis?
A: You have to live in the moment in our profession and you have to address the things that need to be addressed each week. Every year is different, every week is different. It’s a week-to-week league so stay in the moment, focus on the things we need to improve on, all of us, and that’s what we try to do every week. There’s urgency every week. This is a one-game season – every game is a one-game season. You just focus on doing the best you can do each week, prepare the right way, and then ultimately go out there and perform the right way.
Q: Seven days between when you’re playing, and you said you’re doing a walkthrough today —
A: Yeah, so we’re going to make it a normal week leading up. We’re going to get an extra day here with our mental reps. The guys have been in working in the weight room, doing their conditioning stuff. We’ve been working on Seattle, so this is a really good day to go ahead and implement the game plan, the first and second down stuff. Come out here and have a good mental day and then we’ll treat it (like) the normal week. So tomorrow will be like a Tuesday and Thursday will be like a Wednesday.
Q: After the game some of the 49er’s players said “yeah, we knew that they were going to blitz, and they were going to keep blitzing.” (49ers quarterback Brock) Purdy ended up saying something like “it’s a four-quarter game” meaning that they were able to adjust. Do you have any concerns about the level of blitzing or the fact that when it doesn’t get home what happens?
A: I think each week you go into a gameplan with the things you need to do and throughout the game you’re always adjusting. So, it’s not just the first quarter, second quarter, maybe it’s a different blitz, maybe it’s not a blitz. Focus on the things we can improve on and keep improving.
Q: Does the CBA allow you to have a practice today or are you only allowed to have like three practices?
A: The way we set this up was come back, have this right here, have this walkthrough/jog through, have some good meetings. Take tomorrow to go ahead and as a coaching staff, kind of adjust things that we’ve talked about and then just have a normal week. That’s the way we’ve planned it out.
Q: Obviously, the tackling has been a problem, right? The missed tackles in the games. What can you do during the season, how much can get guys in pads, how much do you believe in getting guys in pads and working on that throughout the season?
A: Yeah, we’ll be in pads Thursday. And again, you are always focusing on your fundamentals, so we do that every practice, whether that’s press coverage, tackling, ball disruption, shedding blocks. Those are things that you work on. Same thing with the offense, double teams, pass protection, games, pass protection for the backs, press releases, those are things that you constantly evaluate. Leading up to a week and getting ready for, in this case Seattle, you always adjust practice and things individual wise or maybe team wise of things that you are really putting an emphasis on.
Q: So, you plan to do more practicing tackling wise with what you can?
A: We normally, like during the early part of the year, we normally practice once a week in pads and that’s an important day for us.
Q: (Defensive lineman) Leonard Williams said last week before the game, so that with context, but the idea of if you don’t have sacks defensively and you don’t have takeaways, sometimes you chase that and was very conscious of saying we can’t do that. Do you see that a little bit defensively that maybe guys are starting to chase things, that you kind of have to reel them back in again and focus on what you need to focus on?
A: Yeah, I think it’s important that we all do our job. And again, those are points of emphasis every week of creating some negative plays or getting turnovers and we’ve got to continue to work them during the week and ultimately we’ve got to get them done on Sunday. Monday.
Q: Do you think too much pressure can cause a quarterback to see it when it’s not there because it’s just so often happening that they have to get sped up in the process.
A: In the pocket?
Q: Yeah.
A: I think there is always an element to that. When you can affect the quarterback, I think it speeds up things. Again, there is always when you are game planning, shorter routes, get it out quicker, less of the protection. You want to run deep routes, you have some more protection in. So, definitely an area that we’ve got to improve is making sure that we give our quarterback a clean pocket and it’s not just always the line. There is backs involved, there is timing in the passing the game, there is receivers getting open, so it’s really a collective thing when it comes to that.
Q: Is there anything you can glean from last year’s game against Seattle or is it two completely different teams?
A: No, you certainly look at it. They have the same coordinators. That’s something that you go back, like you are playing a team that’s right there in your division. They are in our conference, we played them at their place, hard place to play at, obviously with some noise and things like that, but certainly some matchups and things that they’ve done. (Seahawks head coach) Pete’s (Carroll) done a heck of a job; he’s been there for a long time. Some of the same players, obviously some different players, but yeah that’s definitely a game you watch and evaluate.
Q: Is there anything you can do as a coach to get your team to start faster? I think the number is 77 to 6 or something like that.
A: Yeah, not very good. So, we are working on it, yeah, we are working on it.
Q: Can you open up like in a no-huddle offense or just things to put an offense …
A: Yeah, you can do a lot of different things. Something we need to do better collectively and something that will be, it’s always a point of emphasis, hasn’t shown up, understand that. No excuses for it, so we are working on that.
Q: With Saquon how much do you factor or how much have you talked to him about, he’s had ankle injuries before, right? He’s had that before, he’s come back, hasn’t played at the level that he’s like and then in retrospect has basically said I might’ve come back too early, so how much have you talked to him about that and how much do you factor that in?
A: Yeah, again, to me I think every injury is different, even though it’s the same body part. Let him rehab, let him get with the trainers, get a feel for where he’s at. Let’s talk to the trainers and see where they are at with his injury and then make the decision when it comes time to make the decision, but he’s getting better. We’ll see how it goes.
Q: Do you see (offensive lineman) Josh Ezeudu now as a swing tackle or is he still a reserve guard or a reserve tackle?
A: I think he can play four spots for us. So, both tackle spots and then he can also go inside and play, having done that some, so I think he’s done a good job of filling in, but he has, I’d say, four-position flex for us.
Q: Is there as much value or maybe even more value in Ezeudu playing that role than it is to, you know what we’ve got to get him to as one of our five guys. I mean I know you would play him if he was one of your five, but the value of having a guy like that, that you know if someone goes down you can plug him in four or five spots, I would imagine that’s pretty high in this day and age.
A: That’s why we move guys around a bunch during the preseason and training camp months because you can. If you’re not starting five, you better have some position flexibility to play multiple spots, so certainly an important aspect for us.
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 team on Wednesday as the players have the day off. The Giants practice on Thursday afternoon (12:45-2:45PM) with Head Coach Brian Daboll and select players also addressing the media.
—
