Head Coach Tom Coughlin
October 25, 2015
Q: What’s going on with Larry Donnell beyond his short-term prognosis? Is there concern beyond that?
A: There’s concern or else he’d be able to play. The fact is he’s not where they want him to be when they would give him the green light, so he’s not ready to go.
Q: He said he had a test Tuesday that turned up something new.
A: Well, he gets a test pretty much every week. So we’re in a holding pattern there.
Q: What did you say to your players given what happened yesterday in your division? Really, what has happened in the division since you last played.
A: Take care of your own business. That’s basically what it is. We’re all aware. It’s as interesting to the Redskins as it is to us, no doubt, so it put things into perspective. You’ve got to take care of your own business and we know that, we’ve been down that road before so hopefully we’ll be able to do that.
Q: This is a team that, even in the leaner years here, you’ve had success with. Do you think for a moment your group could overlook Washington?
A: No. Not at all. I don’t see that as—Washington plays so well at home. I mean, they’ve done an exceptional job. Their finest output of the year offensively was at home against New Orleans. They ran into a very, very good football in Carolina last weekend and a couple weeks prior they played New England, there’s two undefeated teams. They battled and so on and so forth. We have great respect for them and when you see how well the quarterback has played, Cousins had played at home, they’ve done an outstanding job.
Q: What kind of challenge and how much does it hurt to be without possibly two of your starting offensive linemen?
A: Anytime your starters are out, but we try to be in a position where guys come along and play and play well. That’s what we need again, we’re going to need that to happen.
Q: What did you see from John Jerry last week that gives you confidence that…
A: John’s played a lot of football. John has been a starter here, he’s played in the backup capacity. We’ve always been fortunate to be able to call on him and here we go again.
Q: Was Weston Richburg not practicing yesterday an issue of just not seeing what you needed to see out of him Wednesday or was there any re-injury?
A: There was no re-injury, but he was—obviously he had a few snaps the day before and it didn’t work out.
Q: Would you need to make a roster move for a second center if he can’t go?
A: We’ll see. We’ll see.
Q: Back to Larry Donnell for one second, is putting him on injured reserve an option at this point?
A: That’s something that would be determined as we go along.
Q: What about Hakeem Nicks? What have you seen…
A: He had a good week of practice, caught the ball well, seemed to pick up with the signals and with the offense. So to what extent is he really prepared? Not going to give you percentages, but I think he’s done a good job. He’s worked hard, he’s studied, he’s had extra time with coaches. So I feel confident that the experience will kick in as well and, if called upon, he’d be able to go.
Q: He’ll be up Sunday?
A: We’ll see.
Q: How much does special teams play into that?
A: Always. Always plays into it.
Q: Does he play special teams or is that unrealistic at this point?
A: He could play some. He’s never done that here. He’s always wanted to be a kickoff returner and that kind of thing. We’ve had him back with the punt return unit, but we’ve never really had him involved in the special teams. We’ll see.
Q: With the production you’ve received from Odell, do you see things right now in his game that he can do better and add to that production?
A: You’re either going to get better or going to get worse and there’s no question what he can do. He will be better and he’ll continue to grow and develop and know more about the opposition, know more about who he’s playing against, know more about what’s expected when someone does something defensively to try to adjust to what you’re doing. He’s going to do nothing but get better.
Q: Do you see Odell as a player who can give you even more than the production he has already provided?
A: I think that happens with everybody. Everybody better be prepared in these next six games to give us more than what we’ve gotten to this day if we’re going to be a team that can be talked about here in a few weeks.
It seems the question has hit on something that Coughlin isn't willing to share, regarding availability or strategy etc.
That's a wrap folks...