Interim Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo
December 21, 2017
Opening Statement: Alright, had a pretty good practice inside here today. Got some bumps and bruises, but it’s that time of year. We’ll work through that. Hopefully, we’ll get some guys back tomorrow and see where we’re at and go try to win a football game in Arizona. Having said that, I’ll open it up.
Q: Any level of concern with Jason Pierre-Paul?
A: Little bit. He’s got some bumps and bruises. We’re trying to be smart with him. He’s one of the guys hopefully we get him out here tomorrow, get him moving around and feel good about playing him on Sunday.
Q: How much has the club and the hand injury in general affected him?
A: I don’t know that. It’s an interesting question. Really, the only one that can answer that is Jason because he’s the one that knows whether he feels – I mean, I would think it would be tougher to play with a club because you can’t grab, so you lose one tool, so to speak, in the pass rush or even in the run game.
Q: Have you seen specific examples of that?
A: We’ve tried to put him on certain sides to help that. Now I will say this – he can stick that club in there and do some things with it and play football. So, that’s what we’re hoping. I don’t know whether he’ll choose to put the club on this week or not. I haven’t asked him that question.
Q: Is the hand something he has to worry about long term?
A: I don’t know that. I don’t know that I can answer that.
Q: Have you talked to him about that?
A: I have not and I haven’t asked. I haven’t asked that question of the training staff. I really don’t know that.
Q: Are there technique changes you can make with him to nullify that club?
A: He’s adjusted to it. Usually, you want to place your hands inside. The inside guy wins. We always talk about that. There’s probably something to be said for and you’d have to ask offensive linemen if dealing with a club in the pass rush is tougher or easier. I don’t know. You’d have to ask the guys that.
Q: Mike Sullivan said Davis Webb got six snaps with the first group again today.
A: Yeah. Today was the same. It was the same formula. We had eight competitive snaps. Four in the redzone. Four were all third down, which is a key down for the both those situational football are really important for us to win games and he had six of them. After watching the film I thought he did a pretty good job yesterday. There were a couple things in there that need to be ironed out. I’d have to see the film on it today.
Q: Are you progressing to the point where you’re going to put him in a game?
A: Well, we’ll see. We’ll find out as we go. It’s a day-to-day thing. We only know if we can get him in there and get him some work and go from there. The last thing you want to do is put somebody in a game when they haven’t had enough work. I don’t think that would be fair either.
Q: Does Davis Webb need to have a sufficient workload in your mind?
A: A little bit. That’s why we began this process right now to find out. So, we’ll see.
Q: Do you think he can get enough work in before Dec. 31?
A: I don’t know that. I don’t know. I don’t know. We’ll see.
Q: Would it be disappointing if two years pass and he doesn’t get a snap and you don’t have a good idea?
A: Two years pass? I guess. I’m not trying to avoid. We’re taking it one day at a time, one step at a time. The focus is to beat Arizona. Eli Manning is the quarterback. I understand all the questions about Davis Webb and I think all that stuff will work itself out and we have to decide, too, if doing anything actually gives you what you want to know. A quarterback goes out there and gets a false sense of what he can and can’t do. I don’t know if that would be fair either. So, we’re assessing all of it.
Q: Has that been a tough balance for you?
A: Yeah. Yeah. It has.
Q: How do you achieve…
A: I take it day-to-day. Use the input. Use the resources. Ask the offensive coaches and that’s how we’ve gone about it to this point. That’s what got us to trying to get these 12 reps. The speed reps are against the defense. So, it’s good stuff. It’s good work.
Q: Have you had any discussions with Kevin Abrams or John Mara about…
A: No. No. We’ve just been functioning as a normal – the coaches are coaching the football team and trying to win games.
Q: Why not get Davis Webb those six snaps earlier?
A: You mean these last two weeks?
Q: Yeah.
A: Really, everybody understands what we went through. So, the first week, just focus on gathering up. There was a lot going on. Let’s get the quarterback in there that’s going to play. Let’s get him all the reps. I can’t even remember in that first week if we did the competitive periods or not. I don’t know that. I know we did them last week and that wasn’t something…neither, I hadn’t thought about or we hadn’t talked about and we didn’t do it. So, we got to this week and decided to do it.
Q: Did you do the competitive periods under Ben McAdoo during the season?
A: Earlier in the year, I believe. I’m almost certain we did them earlier and then at some point to try to cut practice down with reps and getting into the middle of the season, I think we backed off.
Q: Why did you bring them back?
A: Just to spruce it up a little bit, I think. We all know what we were dealing with. Little change. That’s pretty much it.
Q: Where do you stand on your injuries on defense?
A: We just would like to get Landon back, but not sure there. I mean, OV (Olivier Vernon) is dealing with, most of the guys up front are dealing with something. Guys are fighting through it and we’re trying to be smart. Protect them from themselves. Give some guys some reps off here and there and try to get ourselves to a game.
Q: Olivier Vernon was limited today?
A: Yeah. It was a little bit of everything. He’s one of those guys you want to make sure that he’s fresh on Sunday. We’re just being smart.
