Daniel Jones – © USA TODAY Sports
CONFIRMED – DANIEL JONES TORE ACL…
It has been confirmed that quarterback Daniel Jones tore the ACL in his right knee in the game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. The injury not only ends the season for Jones but very much puts his long-term future with the franchise into question.
“We got the MRI back; he has a torn ACL,” said Head Coach Brian Daboll. “It’s year-ending.”
NOVEMBER 6, 2023 BRIAN DABOLL PRESS CONFERENCE…
New York Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll addressed the media on Monday (VIDEO):
Q. What’s the status of (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) and the injury?
A: We got the MRI back; he has a torn ACL. That’s all the injury news that I have so far today.
Q. Is that the extent of the damage? Everything else is kind of intact, the MCL and the meniscus, or do they have to go in and figure that out?
A: I have that he underwent an MRI, and he has a torn ACL.
Q: Where do you move forward now at the quarterback position?
A: Well, we have (quarterback Tommy) DeVito. (Quarterback Matt) Barkley’s on the practice squad. We have been back for less than 12 hours, so, I’ll have some meetings today with (General Manager) Joe (Schoen) as the day goes on, and we’ll see where it goes.
Q. Would you expect to stick with Tommy at this point? He’s the next in line, or is that open for consideration also?
A: I think Tommy did a good job, but again I’m not going to give you one thing and it’s a different thing. I have confidence in Tommy. He’s done a good job. But I’ll sit down and talk with Joe and figure out what’s next.
Q. What about (quarterback) Tyrod (Taylor)? We never asked you about him going on IR. Is that a season-long thing? Are you optimistic that he could come back this year?
A: I can’t give you that answer. I can’t tell you how he’s going to heal or things like that. So, we’ll see.
Q. There were obviously two plays on which Daniel got hurt, and with the quarter break in between them. Can you just kind of take us through what happened during that quarter break, and I guess if there was any medical advice to give him a little bit of time to check it out? Did he do any further damage by playing that first snap of the second quarter?
A: No. Same thing I said last night: he came over, started running back and forth, loosening it up, told our guys he was good, and then went back out there and obviously on that drop, went down again. That’s what it was.
Q. (Safety Xavier) McKinney made some comments last night about how he wasn’t sure the leaders are being heard. It seems to be more defensive-minded, I’ve read from the story. Are you worried at all about that aspect of things and how much are you going to lean on your leaders at this time? Obviously, the playoffs don’t seem to be a real vision, so how do you lean on your leaders?
A: We do the same thing every week since we’ve gotten here. We have good communication. We meet every week. Good talks, go through situations, things around the building. So, very comfortable with the leadership that we have, how we communicate with them and how they communicate with us.
Q: Would you disagree with Xavier on that point that leaders aren’t being heard?
A: I’d say the meetings we have every week, which we have every Friday, the captains’ meetings, are good, productive meetings.
Q. (Guard) Justin Pugh made an interesting point last night. He talked about when he was on the Giants and they started 0-6, and you find out about players at times like this. Do you believe in that? He also said that players have to understand that maybe the most important thing is they’re playing for their jobs every week. Is that something you relay to your players?
A: I just focus on each week. I’ve been about in every situation you could be in the NFL. Been in a bunch of championship games, been in some losing seasons. I think that consistency is important. Clear expectations are important. You go out there and you do everything you can do to win a week. Our guys are putting everything they’ve got into it. The coaches are putting everything they’ve got into it. The players are putting everything they’ve got into it. We’re not getting the results we want. Ultimately, it’s a results business. So, those are definitely things that we work on each week, we’ll continue to work on, and focus on doing the best job we can each week.
Q: Were those head-scratching comments to you made by McKinney, or do you, even if you can’t share, have an idea of what he’s talking about, what he’s referencing?
A: I’d say, look, the meetings that we have, we’ve had them for two years, are good, productive meetings. I’d say the communication from myself to the coordinators to the players, and back from the players, I feel very comfortable with those.
Q: We saw it happen here in 2021 before you arrived – like you said, you’ve been everywhere, so, you’ve probably seen it happen too – where the defense – I don’t know if turned is the right word – clearly felt like the offense wasn’t holding its part of the bargain and it created friction. Is that something that is real? Is that a real concern from places you’ve been, and how do you guard against it?
A: No, I think we have good players that are good teammates that support one another, and I’m confident in those guys.
Q: When you’re 2-7, guys are frustrated, and we’ve seen here seasons go off the rails. I’m sure you have in your past. Is that something you have to be more heightened on, making sure you don’t lose the locker room?
A: No, I feel comfortable with my relationship with the players and the communication that we have on a daily basis, the expectations, and we’ve just got to continue to work and get better.
Q: I’m curious about the kicker decision and how that played out. You signed (kicker) Randy (Bullock) to the practice squad, then you signed (kicker) Cade (York), and then you had Randy on game day. I’m just curious how you kind of came to that decision.
A: We thought it was best for the team.
Q: You used a roster spot on Cade. Why? If you thought Randy was best for the team, why even sign Cade?
A: Bring in a young kicker that we thought has some potential off the practice squad, put him on the active. We think he’s got some potential, but we thought going with Randy was the best thing for the team.
Q: With (kicker Graham) Gano, he’s obviously not a young guy. Is there any concern about his future, having an injury like this at this stage?
A: I’m not there. I’m focused on the guys that are here. Graham obviously will have surgery, but hopeful that he’ll be back and good to go.
Q: I’ve been around for a while, and any ACL that I’ve seen is year-ending, but I don’t think you’ve spelled that out. Is this year-ending?
A: Yeah. It’s year-ending.
Q: On the sneak play, did you think of challenging that? Because it seemed it was close.
A: I talked to the guys upstairs, and they had a good look at it. Didn’t think it would get overturned.
Q: Obviously he’s a pro, but do you say anything here to (running back) Saquon (Barkley) about that he’s going to now be—I think you used him in 30 carries the other day in the first game when Tyrod got hurt. His workload is obviously going to be quite magnified here in a contract year. Do you have to say anything to him about shouldering the load here?
A: No. Saquon is a great teammate. He’s a good guy to work with. He’ll do anything to help the team.
Q: Just to clarify, will Daniel be getting surgery, and do you have any details on that?
A: All I know is he’s got a torn ACL right now. So, obviously, surgery will ensue, but I don’t know when that would be.
Q: One of the things that everybody likes about Daniel is how even keeled he is. You can really never tell whether he’s high or low. How has he handled these last 12 hours, however long it’s been since he left the game? Have you had a chance to actually have a good conversation with him about what’s going on?
A: I talked to him obviously on the plane before he got the MRI, and then really, I just saw him for 30 seconds here before I came into this press conference. He was having a meeting with the doctors, just interrupted and told me what it was. I gave him a hug, and that’s my extent of it right now.
Q: Would you describe him as down? I know he’s hard to read.
A: It was 20 seconds. He’s in there having a discussion with the physicians right now.
Q: The repercussions of this is that people are going to talk about the future of your quarterback position moving forward. How much does this change the outlook to you at all?
A: Of the quarterback position?
Q: Of your quarterback position future-wise. The future.
A: My focus is on getting DeVito ready to go, getting Barkley up to speed and doing as good as a job we can do with the guys that we’re going to have out there.
Q: The reason I say that is because Daniel now has a pretty extensive injury history. How much does that concern you that now he has the knee on top of the neck on top of some of the other past things?
A: I understand the question. I just heard he had an ACL here 10 minutes ago, so my focus is on just being there for the young man. I know he’ll do everything he can do to get back ready to play.
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…
The players are off on Tuesday and there is no media availability to the team. The players return to practice on Wednesday.
