Thursday Media Transcript: Head Coach Tom Coughlin

Head Coach Tom Coughlin

October 22, 2015

Q: Do you have an update on Victor Cruz? Obviously he was out there yesterday.

A: He’s going to be out there, but he’s not cleared to go.

Q: What’s he cleared to do? What’s he allowed to do?

A: He’s with the trainers. He’s with the trainers.

Q: Is it just a strained calf, is that what it has been all this time?

A: That’s what it is.

Q: What about Odell Beckham?

A: He’s not going to work today.

Q: Are you likely to go the same route you did last week with him and see where he is the day before the game?

A: Probably, unless I get clearance to do something before.

Q: Is his condition the same as it was last week or did something happen to make it worse?

A: No, no. It’s sore.

Q: You’ve done this with players from time to time, you kind of have to manage things. Is this the case with him?

A: This is where we are right now. It may be that way for a while, I hope not. Obviously, you practice, you get better.

Q: I think he played all but two snaps on Monday; essentially is the trade-off worth it if you don’t have him during the week?

A: Oh, no question, yeah. He plays the whole game and then they deal with whatever he comes out of the game with and get him ready for the next one.

Q: Eli said Dallas showed a little different on defense against the Patriots. Do you prepare more for that or what they normally do?

A: Normal. It’s part of the scheme, but it was a little bit different and they played it a different way for the Patriots offensive scheme. So we’ll prepare for what we expect, including what we saw.

Q: How did Devon Kennard come out yesterday?

A: He did well. Yeah, he moved well.

Q: He’ll do more today?

A: He’s limited, so he’ll stay right in that category. But what he does, he did well.

Q: I’m probably playing catch up on Victor, so I apologize, but did he have the MRI?

A: He gets an MRI every week.

Q: And it just didn’t allow him to be cleared again? He was hoping he’d be cleared.

A: We all were. He still has a little bit of an injury there.

Q: The last game Rashad Jennings seemed to run well.

A: He did.

Q: I’m sure you didn’t like the fumble, but he ran well. Moving forward, do you think maybe you need to pick a bell cow? I know you want to use all three, but if one guy is doing better than the others, do you want to keep him--?

A: Well, that sort of prevails and it did prevail a little bit last week, so it works itself out. We have four of them active; (Orleans) Darkwa is obviously a special teamer, but also ran the ball well in preseason. The more and more we use the three wide receiver set, the more 34 (Shane Vereen) gets involved, too.

Q: Is it hard for those running backs to get in a groove though?

A: For Rashad, it doesn’t seem to be. For Shane, it doesn’t seem to be. I do think that, quite frankly, Williams probably needs more carries. But under the present system, it’s something that we have to deal with.

Q: There’s a significant disparity between the success Andre is having and maybe Rashad is having in regards to yards per carry, and even Shane. What is not working for him at this point?

A: For who?

Q: Andre.

A: I don’t know that it’s not working, he doesn’t have a lot of carries. He hits the holes, he does whatever we ask him to do there. Perhaps it’s the defense, perhaps it’s whatever. I don’t think it really has anything to do with what he’s not been able to do.

Q: How do you balance getting Odell probably the proper number of targets given his role on this team versus the fact that defenses do pay a lot of attention to him?

A: Well, you saw what happened the other day, first half-second half was quite a disparity. But on the other hand, we have other people that if the coverage is strictly dealing with 13, then people have to be able to come through for us. And that’s what we’re counting on.

Q: Doesn’t talent sometimes trump coverage?

A: Sometimes. It can, it certainly can. Even the other day, it wasn’t something that couldn’t have been dealt with on a one-on-one concept. There was a guy over the top, but underneath he was able to work.

Q: Will Trumaine McBride or Trevin Wade practice today?

A: They will both practice, yup. Limited, in a limited fashion. Wade can’t have contact, but he’ll practice, he’ll be able to be out there in off-coverage and do those kinds of things.

Q: How’s Robert Ayers?

A: He seems to be doing well, but again, it’s going to be the course of the week.

Q: Does he look better than last week though? Last week he worked also.

A: He’s rested.

Q: When you were talking about Rashad and Andre, you said “That works itself out.” Were you referring to game by game or were you referring to over the course of the season?

A: Over the course of the season, it does, but sometimes the game circumstances, somebody is having the hot hand. So I mean, it would go that way.

Q: Monday night you said you had to pick your chins up off the floor. Have they?

A: I think today is going to be better. They’re better this morning.

Q: How much of what happened in the first is a source of getting them up?

A: It’s not something we dwell on, but obviously it’s there.

Q: Couple of players mentioned it.

A: Couple of plays, period. But you go on, you move on. It’s a new game.

Q: Do you have any update on whether you expect JPP here this week?

A: I don’t, no.