Ben McAdoo – © USA TODAY Sports
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MONDAY BEN MCADOO CONFERENCE CALL…
New York Giants Head Coach Ben McAdoo addressed the media by conference call on Monday to discuss the team’s 51-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams:
Opening Statement: Before I begin, as you all know we lost a great Giant this week. Joan Tisch passed away on Thursday morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Tisch family during this difficult time. Today, there was a wonderful and heartfelt celebration of her life and her legacy at Central Synagogue in the city. Again, our thoughts and prayers are with the Tisch family.
As far as the game yesterday, lost a home game in all three phases in an ugly fashion. A historical loss in many ways. There’s no excuse for it. It falls on my shoulders to hold the coaches and players accountable to get it fixed. We played bad team football in all three phases. We turned it over on offense, didn’t handle the ball well all day. On defense, we missed tackles, gave up explosive plays and didn’t keep them out of the endzone. On special teams, our punt team was poor. We missed hit some balls. The protection wasn’t good enough and we lacked integrity in our coverage lanes. At the end of the day, the players did not quit. They have fight in them and everything we did was fixable. As a team, we’re going to stick together. The coaches need to put a sound plan together this week, teach it and demand it. The players need to study the plan, prepare and perform on Sunday.
We’ll open it up.
Q: You said the players did not quit. What did you see when you looked at the effort in that game?
A: I watched the film. I saw no sign of quit.
Q: On the 52-yard touchdown when CB Eli Apple was involved, did you talk to him on what he was thinking on that play?
A: Which 52-yard? Which play are you referring to?
Q: The screen where Apple was kind of the last guy there.
A: Yeah. The third-and-long was a, you know, there are pre-snap, we could have aligned better. Post-snap, we could have attacked better. Our pursuit and our angles to the ball could have been better and as far as Eli goes, he needs to attack and tackle right there. But, it’s more than just one guy.
Q: As a head coach, what are the signs you would look for if a player had quit?
A: Just giving up on plays. I saw a team that fought to the end. Signs of change in speeds, loafs, something that I wouldn’t recognize from our group. Our guys played hard. They fought until the end.
Q: If you feel the team played hard, is it a reality that the team just isn’t talented enough to compete with other teams in the league?
A: Yeah, we’re only half way through the season. We got a lot of football left to play. Everything is fixable. Everything will be addressed. Coaches, we need to put a good plan together, put players in a position to be successful. Players need to prepare to go out and execute the plan on Sunday.
Q: Why do you think you got that kind of performance coming out of the bye week?
A: I felt – again, I felt we had a good week of preparation. I felt we were ready to play. Again, when you combine the turnovers the way we turned the ball over giving them possession of the ball on average at the 41-yard line, putting your defense in a bad spot, struggling to protect the punter, punting the ball down the middle of the field then struggling to cover on their returns. It makes it real challenging on your football team.
Q: Is there a reason why you didn’t want to share your halftime message yesterday?
A: I thought about it. Obviously. I was trying to figure out where the question was coming from. Then, my thought was some things are better left unsaid.
Q: When you say things are fixable, are you still seeing issues with the fundamentals of the game not being where they need to be at this point of the season?
A: Yeah – fundamentals are always something you’re chasing. You’re always working to get better fundamentally. When we’re on the type of streak that we’re on, we’re not playing great football. Obviously, fundamentals stick out. Poor fundamentals stick out like a sore thumb and that’s something that needs to be addressed and we work on fixing. We need to coach them and we need to demand them and the players need to work at them and they need to prepare and perform.
Q: Did you see Eli Manning’s reaction to you suggesting that you may get a look at younger players down the road, and do you have any reaction that?
A: No, I did not see his reaction.
Q: Manning said he wants to play.
A: What do you expect? I’m glad he said that. He’s a pro football player, that’s what he should be saying. Eli, he’s our quarterback. But that doesn’t mean at some point in time, we won’t throw another guy in there to get a look at him. Every position needs to be held accountable and every position needs to play to a high standard. Same thing with the coaches. And obviously, when you lose in the fashion that we lost yesterday, it’s not good enough. Anywhere. Coaching or playing.
Q: Are you mindful at all of Manning’s consecutive start streak, and will that factor into your thinking?
A: I’m not concerned about streaks. We want to try to do everything we can do to get a win.
Q: Any update on cornerback Janoris Jenkins?
A: No update.
Q: Do you plan to meet with Jenkins tomorrow?
A: I’ll meet with him when I get a minute.
Q: Is Manning going to start this week?
A: I just told you, he’s our quarterback. I have a lot of confidence in Eli. That hasn’t changed.
Q: What went into the decision to put center Weston Richburg on Injured Reserve?
A: That’s a medical question.
Q: How do you get your players to stay engaged this week?
A: Listen, this is pro football, this is our job. We get paid very well to do this job. We only have 16 opportunities to go out and compete and this is one of them. We get to go to the west coast, planning to compete. And I expect the players to be excited.
Q: Even playing against a winless team this week, that doesn’t change anything this week?
A: What does that have to do with anything? Its pro football, we have an opportunity to go out and compete on Sunday afternoon.
Q: Do you expect to get any of your injured players back this week?
A: Again, we’ll have to wait and see how they do on Wednesday.
LANDON COLLINS ON ESPN RADIO…
The audio of Monday’s ESPN Radio interview with New York Giants safety Landon Collins is available at ESPN.com.
ARTICLES…
- Giants QB Eli Manning’s consecutive snaps streak ends at 1,719 | Snap count analysis by Dan Duggan for NJ.com
- Giants’ 51-17 day of infamy will have severe consequences by Bob Glauber of Newsday
WHAT’S UP NEXT…
Select players will be available to the media on Tuesday. The Giants return to practice on Wednesday in preparation of Sunday’s away game against the San Francisco 49ers.
