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Head Coach Tom Coughlin's Conference Call (Transcript)

Eric from BBI : Admin : 9/9/2014 5:23 pm
Head Coach Tom Coughlin
Conference Call - September 9, 2014
Opening Statement:
Well, I’ll just say a couple quick things I think I mentioned last night as well. I tried to be as honest as I could. I mentioned no excuses. I mentioned that the disappointment, particularly, in all areas. The offense, being disappointed in our inability to do some of the things we talked about. Coming in, everyone wanted to know about, “well, coach, you said you were going to run the ball.” Well, we did try to run the ball. I wish we would have had more snaps and I wish we would have tried even more. There were some things that the defense does that doesn’t allow you to run. So you then have to go to what’s next and what is best, so we tried do that as well. Had a couple things at the end of the game that were designed for the ‘all up’ look and they were okay, but it was too little too late. I just think a couple of things, for the most part we did a good job against the run defensively. The final stats were 30 for 76; I think 25 of those yards came at the end.

We still should have been strong but they did make some yards in their four minute offense. I thought we did do a decent job against the run, that is something we can build on. I think a lot of our coverage errors can be improved upon. I think we had some mistakes made back there that you just don’t see. I was disappointed in that, the first play, the long play. We obviously had no idea where the receiver was and knocked our own cover guy down. Made it look pretty easy and we had a chance with a possibility of tackling and sacking the quarterback and he avoided that to make that play. Not taking anything away from them but I think we can improve on some of what is taking place in the secondary and I think we will be able to do that. I thought our punt return game showed a little bit of life, which I was pleased to see, and hopefully Preston Parker, we can continue to improve along those lines. We had just one kickoff returned and really they didn’t have any, which early in the season both teams are kicking the ball out for the most part. I was disappointed in the one return we had because whether we expected it or not, we didn’t do a very good job of blocking it.

We had four penalties, which is definitely an improvement and it would have been nice to say with the four penalties and had we won the turnover battle but we didn’t do that. A disappointment there, of course, being the turnovers and the fact that we were excited to have the ball at the start of the second half of the 14-7 score. Came out and turned the ball over. Our defense did a good job in holding them to a field goal, but nevertheless, it wasn’t the way that we wanted to start the second half. So we do have a lot of work to do. I am hoping that, despite the fact it is a short week, the players will jump right back in here tomorrow and we will get on with it against an Arizona team that is a very good team and a team that has won a key game for them in their debut this year.

Q: Any results from the tests on Steve Weatherford?
A: No, I don’t have anything yet. He is getting the MRI’s, but I haven’t got anything.

Q: How about Jason Pierre-Paul? I know the x-rays were negative, obviously; he came back to the game, but is that neck something that you have to monitor now?
A: Well, I am sure we will monitor it, but he really felt good after the game and this morning, as well. We will list him as limited, but I think the fact he came back and played, played with good energy, finished the game, didn’t seem to have any issues, I think that is a good sign.

Q: Would you consider a lot of those offensive problems a function of confusion? Perhaps terminology or communication?
A: No. I am not going that way. It would be an easy one to say at this point in time, but I don’t see it. I think that a lot of the mistakes that you are seeing are technical things, more than just communication. I don’t see the communication thing being the major problem. Right now I think that it is execution. Whether you are talking about running the ball, whether you are talking about scheme blocking, run blocking schemes, you are talking about pass protection; I thought that last night we anticipated the defensive scheme, for example. I think that they had a couple of wrinkles that we had seen throughout preseason. We just didn’t execute very well into it, they did a better job at it than we did, and that is basically where we are. Again, we had a few things to be excited about and would like to certainly have more. We did convert the fourth down; we did convert some things down in close that gave us opportunities for touchdowns. It wasn’t enough and it wasn’t enough continuity or consistency and we left some plays out on the field. We had some dropped balls, which we cannot have and so I don’t think it’s that…anymore. I think there was one play that the running back didn’t pick up on which left the quarterback exposed and he ended up throwing the ball away, but it was a wasted down, that happened. That was a lack of picking up on an audible that was made at the line of scrimmage.

Q: As you are looking at your offense, since they are learning a new offense, do you have to be patient with the technical issues? Does there come a point where you have to simplify things? Change things a little?
A: It’s difficult. We are doing some subtle things all along as we go forward. Things that you won’t necessarily see unless you can grab ahold of either improvement or lack of. In the real world, we are just getting started here. Progress is going to be continuing to take the basic fundamentals of what we know as a game of football, call it whatever you want to call it, and get better at it.

Q: Do you plan on talking to the team about the feeling of “here we go again” after last year’s 0-6 start to lose the opener? I know you guys invested so much in trying to get off to a fast start this year.
A: There was a thought in my mind as a motivational thing to talk about last year as we got into this week, and I decided it was for the best not to go there. Everybody is aware of what was last year. We showed our team the 10 years of stats and the one stumbling block is the 2013 season from getting off to a good start. We talk about “finish” all the time; we talk about not wasting your opportunities all the time. We deal with these things. Do I have to hit them right between the eyes with last year and what we certainly don’t want to see happen? I don’t think so. Quite frankly, this is a new year, it’s a different team. I think one of the things you are seeing is that all of a sudden last night, in the start of the season, first game, you saw things occur which I think was a result of a lot of new parts. You saw things that you maybe hadn’t seen before or hadn’t seen on the practice field, hadn’t seen on the game field, and some of that was a result of people just new to the program who one time or another had an issue that really confounded the intent. I think that was part of it but I am not going to go in to say that that is a reason we weren’t productive. That is not going to be used as an excuse. It’s perhaps a reality, but we need to perform better, no matter what the new parts are.

Q: You’ve had to make a lot of movement with your offensive line, especially the guards, up to the first game. How do you think the guards played last night and maybe the overall offensive line?
A: I think there is good, there is bad. No one wants to hear that, but that’s what it is. There are some good plays, there are some bad plays. There are plays that I am sure the players would like to have over. I wish there was more continuity and consistency. You’d like to see it played like a veteran line that can look at each other, don’t even have to verbalize and know exactly what the intent is as the guy you are lining up next to, but that is not the case right now. We are going to have to play our way through and there are probably going to be other changes and other things that take place along the way that perhaps even at that point will keep us from having that type of continuity. But it is an effort to get to the best we can be, so that is just way it is.

Q: In your years coaching the Giants, can you kind of recall or think of another year where you are in the regular season already and there is so much…with the offense and with the offensive line that so much change and now the games count already?
A: Do I think I have had that type of circumstance here in the years that I been here. I think it is safe to say no. No is the answer to that.
I Don't Like This Q & A  
Trainmaster : 9/9/2014 5:31 pm : link
Quote:
Q: Would you consider a lot of those offensive problems a function of confusion? Perhaps terminology or communication?
A: No. I am not going that way. It would be an easy one to say at this point in time, but I don’t see it. I think that a lot of the mistakes that you are seeing are technical things, more than just communication. I don’t see the communication thing being the major problem. Right now I think that it is execution
.

Tom tends to throw the players under the bus rather than the game plan, play calling or coaching with his "execution" statement.

Having Randle have to make post snap adjustments clearly doesn't work well. Either stop asking him to make those adjustments or put in a different player.

If you don't have the players who can understand or execute your schemes and plans, don't you have to change your schemes and plans (since your options to change players is limited)?
It's comical at this point to read these Coughlin transcripts  
Jacobs27 : 9/9/2014 6:00 pm : link
Every single one for the past ten years is the same. The coaches did a great job preparing the team but the players didn't "execute". I like Coughlin, but I've never seen a coach who protects his staff and throws his players after the bus after every loss like he does.

The only thing missing from the cut and paste here is the talk about how well the team practiced this week.
Trainmaster,  
Blackbeard : 9/9/2014 6:08 pm : link
who are they going to put in for Randle when he screws up?
Jernigan?
They don't have the WRs to replace those guys.
Trainmaster,  
Blackbeard : 9/9/2014 6:15 pm : link
who are they going to put in for Randle when he screws up?
Who goes in for Jernigan?
They don't have the WRs to replace those guys.
Will the rookies play mistake-free ball?
No one asked him  
NewBlue : 9/9/2014 6:29 pm : link
About all the new (undrafted) DB's Detroit was running with.
Gruden made a point of singling all the young inexperienced guys in the Lions backfield. Wait until we play a good secondary
RE: I Don't Like This Q & A  
HomerJones45 : 9/9/2014 6:34 pm : link
In comment 11852577 Trainmaster said:
Quote:


Quote:


Q: Would you consider a lot of those offensive problems a function of confusion? Perhaps terminology or communication?
A: No. I am not going that way. It would be an easy one to say at this point in time, but I don’t see it. I think that a lot of the mistakes that you are seeing are technical things, more than just communication. I don’t see the communication thing being the major problem. Right now I think that it is execution

.

Tom tends to throw the players under the bus rather than the game plan, play calling or coaching with his "execution" statement.

Having Randle have to make post snap adjustments clearly doesn't work well. Either stop asking him to make those adjustments or put in a different player.

If you don't have the players who can understand or execute your schemes and plans, don't you have to change your schemes and plans (since your options to change players is limited)?
Because it's generally the execution. There is no magic game plan, playcalling or coaching that will overcome bad execution.
RE: No one asked him  
HomerJones45 : 9/9/2014 6:41 pm : link
In comment 11852671 NewBlue said:
Quote:
About all the new (undrafted) DB's Detroit was running with.
Gruden made a point of singling all the young inexperienced guys in the Lions backfield. Wait until we play a good secondary
Fuck Gruden. It's a different game when you can jump out to a 14 point lead and Suh is in beast mode.
RE: It's comical at this point to read these Coughlin transcripts  
BlueHurricane : 9/9/2014 7:07 pm : link
In comment 11852613 Jacobs27 said:
Quote:
Every single one for the past ten years is the same. The coaches did a great job preparing the team but the players didn't "execute". I like Coughlin, but I've never seen a coach who protects his staff and throws his players after the bus after every loss like he does.

The only thing missing from the cut and paste here is the talk about how well the team practiced this week.



So how do you explain Beason saying the exact same thing???

Quote:
Q: When you take a look at the tape what is the first thing that pops out?
A: A lack of collective execution. You play 60 snaps or whatever it was yesterday and if every guy who plays has one or two mental [mistakes], you can’t win a game that way, unfortunately. That is a problem, but it is a problem that we can control. If there is one positive, that’s it. We just need to do our job and trust that the man next to us is going to do their job and try to be consistent at it.
Coughlin has to tell Fewell to scrap his zone defense  
GeofromNJ : 9/9/2014 7:31 pm : link
or he has to replace him. If he doesn't, then Mara has to force Coughlin's hand. Otherwise, the season is lost, regardless of whether Pugh moves to LT and what lineman plays center.
If The Players You Currently Have  
Trainmaster : 9/9/2014 7:48 pm : link
are incapable of executing your plans, for whatever reason, you have to:

1) Train / coach the players to better execute the plan (the preferred option)

2) Change to a less complex plan

3) Change to players that can execute your complex plans (hard to do during the season other than drawing mostly from players already on the roster; that is, current non-starters)

If the plan is too complex or failure prone to execute, at least some responsibilty has to fall on those making the plans that the players can't execute. Coughlin and his staff rarely / never seem to take any responsibility for a bad plan.

I think a plan that is less complex so that the players can execute it better than a complex plan that can't be executed.
There's always an idiot who complains that TC takes no blame  
bignygfan : 9/9/2014 8:19 pm : link
See the 17-16 loss in Philly to 2012 and get back to me on that, moron!
Typical Coughlin riddle here  
mattlawson : 9/9/2014 8:20 pm : link
" I mentioned that the disappointment, particularly, in all areas. "
I think Coughlin accepts responsibility  
IIT : 9/9/2014 9:44 pm : link
From the postgame presser on Manning's interceptions:

Quote:
There’s no one individual, I mean, it’s a team game and it’s a team concept and certainly I don’t want him throwing interceptions. That’s not what I’m saying. He’s no more to blame than anybody else. Blame me.


That's all I need to hear. I don't want him to go on for four hundred words detailing all the ways and means in which he sucks. Who wants that?

I think when he blames execution its on him as much as any of the players. That said, if Coughlin had played guard, tackle or center last night the line wouldn't have looked much worse.
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