Transcript: Head Coach Tom Coughlin

Head Coach Tom Coughlin

November 21, 2014



Q: Is this even more frustrating because of injuries this year and you never had your full complement of players going back to OTAs?

A: Well, you said it. What I always say at the beginning of the year is what you really pray for is that you can play with the team that you have when you come out of camp. It doesn’t last very long, but it is part of the game and it happens to every team.



Q: How is Jacquian [Williams] doing?

A: He has a headache. It really never stopped.



Q: Is this season maybe more frustrating in the fact that going back to OTAs with David Wilson and from there on it was one injury after another?

A: It certainly has been a huge disappointment, but I try not to dwell on it, to be honest with you. You can’t afford to. If you did, you would be a basket case.



Q: How has [Mark] Herzlich’s role changed now?

A: Herzlich is the same as he played last week. Special teams and defense.



Q: How has [Geoff] Schwartz looked this week?

A: Schwartz has practiced and done alright. I haven’t noticed anything other than he has been able to take some reps.



Q: Have you settled on him to replace [Justin] Pugh at right tackle?

A: I haven’t settled on that. I have my thoughts about it, but I am not prepared to share them yet.



Q: 10 years ago today you named Eli [Manning] as your starting quarterback… Any thoughts on that anniversary?

A: It was a heck of a move by me, wasn’t it? I was reminded of that this week. I wasn’t aware of it, but I was reminded of that. I was just reminded of the fact that at that point in time we had Kurt Warner, who was a great pro and a great human being. An excellent, excellent quarterback and I just didn’t see what I wanted to see at that point. We were (5-4) or something of that nature, and I felt that it was time to, for the good of the franchise, to take the franchise quarterback and to put him on the field. So we did. It was an experience for Eli for that second half of the season. It was a good move in the long run because of obviously what happened the next year and years to come.



Q: At the end of last night’s game, the Raiders were on the verge of winning their first game and a couple of players were celebrating and the guy who settles everything is Justin Tuck, who calls a timeout… Is there any satisfaction from that, knowing that whatever he brought to Oakland came from here?

A: Justin Tuck was an excellent football player for us for an awful lot of years. Two rings. I heard of this, but I did not see it, but it is not surprising.



Q: It is also an association of what he learned here so it is a reflection of…?

A: We are a big situation-oriented team and doing things the right way and understanding the circumstances. I remember just mentioning to the Raider people to make sure that Justin’s role was to also help train the young players and share his experience with the young players and obviously that it was he did.



Q: With the game between the Jets and Bills being moved to Detroit… You have been through that.

A: A little bit different, though. We were in the air heading for some place. We don’t have a hotel. We get steered to Kansas City and we were just fortunate to find a hotel, and then we still didn’t know when we were going to play. Then we got the news about the (Metrodome) roof falling in, and then all of that stuff. Finally the decision was made and the thing that was most impressive about that whole circumstance with the players was…it is mid-stream adjust is the phrase we use. They handled it well. They handled it very well, and we ended up playing Monday night.



Q: To go back to the Eli thing for a minute… He has done a lot of impressive things for you. The fact that he started every single one of those games since that point… Where does that rank for you and what does that say about him?

A: That is a most impressive statistic, to be able to line up and play all those games consecutively and to accumulate the number of games he has started in. It is a tribute to his toughness and his will to want to play and his desire to be on the field as the captain of the New York Giants and lead his team. I have seen him – I remember there was a time when the speculation was his shoulder was hurt and he wouldn’t be able to play and he didn’t throw all week, but he took the field and started the game and threw the ball and did well. It is a great testament to his toughness and his desire and the inspiration and the motivation that he has to play the game.



Q: On difference between DeMarco Murray this year and in the past?

A: He is just as fast as he has always been, which is a playmaker. He catches the ball out of the backfield and makes you wonder whether you are ever going to get him down, even on a check down. What I see is the powerful nature and the way he is running the ball this year and the fact that he has over 1,200 yards and he has all those carries and he is still going strong.