Ben McAdoo – © USA TODAY Sports Images
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SEPTEMBER 2, 2016 NEW YORK GIANTS INJURY UPDATE…
New York Giants Head Coach Ben McAdoo was asked about the status of fullback/tight end Will Johnson (burner) and safety Darian Thompson (shoulder) during Friday’s media conference call. Johnson missed three preseason games and Thompson two preseason games.
“I don’t have any new information on Will,” said McAdoo.
“Darian is making some progress; we may see him back in a limited role next week,” said McAdoo.
Offensive tackle Jake Rodgers sprained his ankle in the preseason finale against the New England Patriots.
FRIDAY BEN MCADOO CONFERENCE CALL…
New York Giants Head Coach Ben McAdoo addressed the media by conference call on Friday to discuss the team’s 17-9 preseason win over the New England Patriots.
McAdoo: I’d like to open-up by talking about the game last night. A lot of effort and energy on the film, talked about that a little bit last night, and we accomplished what we were looking for from an evaluation perspective. We got a lot of film on these guys, especially players fighting for jobs, and we’re going to have some tough decisions to make.
Q: Did anybody specifically stand out among those fighting for a job?
A: Well, I’m not sure I want to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak. I want to be smart on what I say about players fighting for jobs. We haven’t had an official meeting on that just yet. After the film, meeting with the coaches, getting everyone’s opinions there, and we’ll get together later.
Q: Which positions do you expect will be the toughest to narrow down?
A: We’ve got some tough decisions to make. Probably the receiver group will be a challenge, the running back group will be a challenge, the linebacker group. We’ve got some tough decisions to make.
Q: Do you expect to make some of those decisions and inform those players tomorrow or today?
A: We have to have it done by 4 o’clock tomorrow.
Q: But will you do anything today about informing the players?
A: We haven’t had our meeting yet, so never say never.
Q: How much of the injury situation becomes a factor in determining the final roster?
A: Depends on the severity of injuries, if they’re long term or if they’re short term. If they’re long term, yes, you think about some other possibilities.
Q: How do you evaluate Will Johnson?
A: We feel comfortable that we have a decent body of work on Will. We obviously would have liked to see him play more in the preseason games. We have a good body of work from the offseason and from the camp practices that he participated in.
Q: Do you expect him to be cleared soon?
A: I don’t have any new information on Will.
Q: What are your immediate plans for Will Beatty?
A: We’re going to get him in the mix, play him in a variety of positions and get his legs underneath him, get him into football shape and get him back practicing.
Q: Is there a chance he would be eligible to play opening day?
A: Again, never say never.
Q: How’s Darian Thompson coming along?
A: Darian is making some progress; we may see him back in a limited role next week.
Q: Did you have any injuries that you found out about this morning?
A: Jake Rodgers had an ankle sprain.
Q: You’ve had all summer to see the results of the Strength and Conditioning program. What have you seen?
A: I think with the way we constructed our practices and with the way we trained our players, we built a solid foundation and we built a strong football team.
Q: Are you surprised you were able to make it through the summer without major injuries?
A: We’re confident with the way we that we built these players up and made them stronger as we went through camp. You have to be fortunate in a variety of ways, you have to be lucky a little bit, but we were confident heading into that we could build up a team that was strong.
Q: Now that you get to the regular season, does the approach change?
A: You’re not in training camp mode anymore, you’re in in-season mode, so the practices will reflect that. As far as changing the intensity and the workloads and varying the time on the field, that won’t change.
Q: Was there a player or position that really surprised you this summer?
A: We’ve had a bunch of young guys step up and take advantage of some opportunities. But again, like I said last night, I don’t want to be talking about the roster too much right now. I know there are a lot of questions about the roster, but we’re going to have some tough decisions to make and I want to make sure that I’m being smart and doing what’s best for the organization.
Q: Does your offense need a traditional fullback? You don’t have one on the roster right now.
A: No, I don’t think so. We can get that from other spots, we can get productivity from a fullback-type player from other positions.
Q: Larry Donnell’s wrist is okay?
A: As far as I’m aware, yes.
THE PLAYERS SPEAK…
Transcripts of the media conference calls with the following players are available in The Corner Forum:
ARTICLES…
- Why Giants are confident Victor Cruz can be productive this year by Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com
- What does it mean when an NFL player is waived/injured? by Dan Duggan for NJ.com
WHAT’S UP NEXT…
Teams must cut their rosters to 53 players by 4:00PM on Saturday. Teams may begin establishing their Practice Squads after 1:00PM on Sunday. There is no media availability to the Giants on either day as the players will be off on Saturday and Sunday.
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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