QB Eli Manning
October 20, 2014
Q: You guys seem determined to stick to the run even when you’re not having success with it. Is that that the philosophy of the organization?
A: You’ve got to run the ball. It wasn’t like we were running… ‘Hey, we got bad looks and we’re going to throw it.’ If they’re stacking the box, we’ve got to throw it but they’re playing safeties two deep and soft. You’ve got to be able to run the ball versus those looks. They’re good looks to run. We weren’t getting much success with it, that makes it tough. It’s going to be tough to throw against that as well and that’s when you give up sacks or interceptions and bad things happen. The looks, they were dropping people deep and we’ve got to find ways to run the ball and be better in those situations.
Q: So that’s what’s been communicated from that top, the reason for this is that you’re avoiding turnovers, you’re avoiding… that’s the priority?
A: It’s tough. It’s tough in this league if you sit back there and throw it 50 times in a game. That puts a lot of pressure on the offensive line and me and the receivers because you’re going to get a lot of coverages. When you’re running it and you have a commitment to run like we were it’s going to bring a safety in the box, it’s going to give you some better throwing situations. We’re going to be committed to doing it, we just have to get back to where we’re getting successful runs. It’s not like we’ve got to run for 150 yards but on first and second down when they’re giving you the run looks we’ve got to get those four and five yards just to keep the down and distance in shape. We’re just having too many runs where we’re losing, we’re getting negative two yards. We can’t be going backwards. That’s what hurts you.
Q: What about the challenge at hand now? You’re 3-4 with a very tough four-game slate ahead of you. How do you look at things?
A: We just have to come back and everybody’s got to be determined. Everybody’s got to have one focus and be determined to get better, to play at a higher level, to win these games. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be tough but that’s what we want. We want it to be tough. We want to make it possible. We’ll be better for it if we can get through this next stretch and win some of these games.
Q: Is the goal to get away from football maybe and decompress?
A: We’ll get away. I told the guys we’ve had a long stretch with seven games, five preseason games. We’ve played a lot of football, been at it a long time. I think it’s good to get away from it but I just told them ‘Make sure you get away, still get some workouts, still be moving and make sure, when you come back, we know what’s ahead of us. We know what the challenge is ahead of us and get ready to make a big run and to get where we’re playing our best football.’
Q: What gives you the indication that this team can make that run?
A: I see guys, it’s important to them. Guys are playing hard. Defensively, I thought they played hard, offensively guys are competing their tail off. They’re protecting each other and sticking together so those are all things you’ve got to have. That’s automatic and that’s what we have. The effort is there for everybody so now we’ve just got to string some things together, eliminate some of the mistakes, some of the mental mistakes that occurred. They’re not huge ones, we’re playing smart we’ve just got to play that much better to be able to get back in that win department.
Q: Playing hard for each other is great, you also need the talent to do that. Do you see enough talent here or is some of that still developing?
A: No, I think we have the talent, yes. Some of it is developing just because we’ve got some new guys playing at positions. Odell has just been practicing for three or four weeks. Preston Parker’s in the slot now when you lose Victor, he’s still feeling things out there and we’re getting on the same page. Larry Donnell is doing great things but is still a young guy. He had some fumbles and had some bad plays so there’s still some young aspects to it but there is definitely the talent there. When you get through some of the growing pains of these young guys they’re doing a lot of good things. It’s just little mistakes that are keeping us from being very, very good. The more playing experience they get the more practices, the more games… all of a sudden these young guys, they get that experience and they start making those plays and things start coming together. That’s when we’ll be at our best. We have a rookie running back, rookie guard, we’ve got some young people playing at some spots. The good thing about them playing early on is for the second half of the season they know what to expect, they know what’s going on. Now we need them to play not at a rookie level but like they’ve got some experience.
Q: What do you expect from Schwartz and Jennings after the break? What kind of boost will that give the offense?
A: Getting two veteran guys. Rashad’s played well for us, we get him back. Geoff is a veteran guy and a leader of that offensive line group so it will be good to get as many guys back as possible.
Q: With Cruz out and the younger receivers, is this one of the tougher teams that you’ve had to lead as a quarterback?
A: No because they work hard and they want to be good. They’re committed. They have a good feel for what’s going on so it’s fun working with them every day. We’re going to be a good group. I think we can do some good things.
Q: It seemed that the last two weeks one of the big issues is just losing the line of scrimmage, getting beat at the point of attack. Do you see that changing?
A: Well, we were doing well there for a while running the ball and doing some good things. Yeah, we played two kind of physical defensive fronts and we didn’t win the line of scrimmage every time. I thought our pass protection was good and better but we didn’t run the ball as well as we needed to. We’ll get back to doing that and getting some good runs.
DE Jason Pierre-Paul
October 20, 2014
Q: As you go into this break here how do you look at this football team?
A: I think we are fine. It was a tough loss yesterday. As far as the team we know what we can do if we all get on the same path. We spoke to some guys and said do whatever you have to do on your bye week and get away from football. Just focus on something else, but when we come back it is time to turn it on.
Q: Do you know at 3-4 you have a big uphill fight because your schedule is so tough?
A: Not at all. I know it is going to be a fight, but with the guys we have here I know we can get it done.
Q: Have you ever played that many plays in a game?
A: I missed two plays. It goes to show that I am in shape and if it was up to me I am not coming out. The most plays I have played was 100-something plays the year we won the Super Bowl and we played the Jets at home. It is nothing to me. I am in great shape and I felt good.
Q: This defense overall did not play well enough to deserve a win yesterday… What do you guys need to do?
A: Simple mistakes. It all comes down to us doing our jobs. We all can’t do everyone else’s jobs. As an individual you have to do your job and only your job. You can’t jump out of your gap. That is your gap, so you have to be there. [We] have to trust one another and we will get it done. That is the thing we have been lacking. People are trying to do other people’s jobs. I think we will be fine. We will get those mistakes out of there and we have to trust each other and come back as a solid defense. We basically let them win. We made mistakes. It cost us big time. They were the more physical team yesterday. We have to come in here and get our minds right and there is a lot more football in the second half to play. We will be ready.
Q: Do you feel you got worn down yesterday by [the Cowboys] running game?
A: Not at all.
Q: So it was just a matter of assignments?
A: Yes. We were misplaced in our gaps and assignments. Like I said you have to do your job and only your job.
Q: Are you worried about the injuries you guys have had?
A: No. Guys know that they have to be here to get treatments. We will be fine.
Q: Given the fact you guys have lost a couple difficult games… Is the bye good to get away from it?
A: I think the bye is good. Get away from it, regroup and we have nine more games to play. Let’s win all nine games. I think we can do it. We just have to believe.
