Wide Receivers Coach Sean Ryan
November 16, 2015
Q: How much do you feel for Victor Cruz with all the work he has put in?
A: I feel awful for him, to be honest with you. I had a chance to see him yesterday before the game quickly and we just talked about it. Obviously he is a little down about it, which I understand, but like we talked about. It is not always going to go to your plan and he knows that and I think he understands it. It is not his plan but now there is a new plan. He will attack it, he will go back to work and I don’t have any doubt in that and as long as you have that mentality, you will be all right coming back from it.
Q: Did he assure you that he would be back?
A: Yeah, his mindset was good, it was positive, it was kind of like, alright here are the cards that have been dealt and here is how I want to do it. We are going to see a couple more doctors and then go from there. [We] want to see what they want to do and how they want to handle it, but his mindset was positive and it was pretty much whatever they throw at me, I’m going to take on and get this thing right.
Q: Have you ever worked with a receiver who has missed as much time as Victor? How do you approach a guy like that? How hard is that?
A: I think the good part about it is that in terms of football, he has been in all of our meetings, he has been watching practice for the most part, involved in the play calls, so from a mental standpoint, that part of it has been there for him. There is no question that the move back on to the field is --- you have to get used to playing at that speed and doing that thing so I think the key is when we work closely and communicate with your training staff as to what you can handle and how much of it and kind of implement him that way and get him going and get his feet underneath him and build as you go. The football part of it will be a little bit better because he has been in meetings, he has been locked in and has done a good job of that and that will help him.
Q: Back in August, had you guys ever gotten to point where you kind of took the kid gloves off and kind of unleashed him? It seemed like it never got that far.
A: No, it didn’t really. There was a play or two here or there when we went out to Cincinnati, but it wasn’t much. I think we split two reps out of two, so we never really got going with the whole thing. It never really got to that, so certainly not to the extent that we had hoped for.
Q: How about the job that Dwayne Harris has done stepping in? What kind of progress and play have you seen from him?
A: The more he plays, the more comfortable he gets in the role. Especially inside in the slot, it takes a little bit just kind of seeing things because they happen a little bit quicker for you inside there. The more you play, the more comfortable you get --- I think that is very evident with him. He does a good job, he has good ball skills catching the ball in terms of that and the little nuances of playing in there. I think he is coming along nicely, so he is a veteran, he knows what he is doing, I don’t think bigger stages affect him whatsoever, so I have been happy with what he has done so far.
Q: He helps in the running game out there, too, right?
A: He is a physical player and he was coming out of college. Nothing has changed about that. When he came out of ECU, he was the same way, he would get after people in the run game, you could tell he took a lot of pride in it and still does and he plays the game with a physical aspect and that is why he is such a good special teams player, too.
Q: What were your thoughts on Odell with that touchdown catch yesterday?
A: Finish the play with the ball in your hands and it is never an issue, so the ball is caught at the highest point, brought down to your body, keep it within the framework of your body against your stomach using the third hand protecting it from the defender and it is a non-issue.
Q: Tom Coughlin said that the fact that he put it out there contributed. Is that a habit that he is starting to develop?
A: No, he felt that the defender was behind him and in his mind he was bringing it down and then had to get it farther away from [Butler]. [Butler] reached around this side and got his hand on it. At the end of the day, just bring it down, put it in the third hand, keep it within the framework of your body and it is protected and we will be good. He knows it, we talked about it. He came off the sideline and acknowledged the fact that the ball should have ended up in his hands and it would not have been an issue.
Q: It seemed like going into the last series I had not seen Dwayne Harris out there that much because it seemed like you had Myles White out there. Was that just a planned thing or was he hurt?
A: No. If Dwayne needed a blow because he does obviously handle a lot for us on special teams, and if he needed a blow, then we do that. At the end of the day, Dwayne ended up with 51 snaps and Myles ended up with 14, so it really wasn’t as much as it seemed but when Dwayne needed a blow, we got him out and put Myles in. We trust Myles and it is the next man up type of mentality and we went with it.
