Offensive Coordinator Mike Sullivan
April 1, 2016
Q: They forget all about you in free agency?
A: Hey, there’s no bigger fan of the defense getting the types of players that they got because that means they’re going to take the ball away, they’re going to put us in position to force some punts, force some field goals or not even let them get into field goal range, and that’s going to give us more snaps, more opportunities, more at bats, if you will, so it made our team better and I’m really excited about that.
Q: How’s this new dynamic- you’ve got some new coaches that came in, how’s that been working out so far?
A: It’s been tremendous, I mean the three individuals, you had a chance to visit with them earlier, Frank (Cignetti), Mike (Solari), and Adam (Henry) have just been tremendous. They have a wealth of experience and the personalities, there’s a great chemistry that’s already being established with us who were on the staff last year, really excited about where we’re going to be headed in the future.
Q: Are you anxious to get the whole play calling thing sorted out?
A: Not at all. I think Ben has mentioned we want to take our time. I’ll just say this, Ben and I worked closely together last year, developed a high level of trust and respect, and I talk to him every day, talk to him every day about a wide variety of topics, about the offense, about the team, and you know when the subject of play calling comes about and we’ll handle that the same way we handle every topic, and that’s what’s in the best interest of the New York Giants, what’s going to help us win and that’s how that will be approached and that’s what’s most important.
Q: How confident and capable do you think you are as a play caller?
A: I’m very confident and very capable. I’ve called plays before and had success working closely, as I said, with Ben last year in the implementation and development of the game plan and working closely with Eli. I have a really good feel for this system and if given the opportunity, I’d enjoy it very much, and I feel confident I could call plays in this offense.
Q: As good as this offense was last year, what can the offense do better?
A: Really there are two areas where we took a hard look at ourselves and looking at last season where we can improve, it starts with what we call the green zone- red zone, putting points on the board – we struggled, we were 29th in the league and as we studied ourselves, too many of those mistakes were self-inflicted. We had a lot of turnovers, some penalties that pushed us back, some missed assignments. We’ve got to get better in that area. And secondly, third down – you know third down, we finished 22nd in the league and we’ve got to be able to sustain drives so that if we get down into the green zone, put points on the board, and those are two situations that you know we need to improve upon, and then finally you know we’d like to get that run game going, get it going back to where it needs to be to help us in other areas of the offense, so I’d say those would come to mind.
Q: Do you anticipate using the same four-man committee at running back?
A: Well each of those four individuals, four running backs, has a unique skillset. They bring something to the table. Certainly Rashad did a great job towards the end of the year and you know we’re going to see how it plays out. As I mentioned, we studied ourselves, we had a really good feel for what schemes are best for us and what are the things that we know we want to improve upon and expand – what are the things that we need to add, we have to get better at and we’ll focus on those areas in the spring and through training camp, and then we’ll kind of combine the personnel additions with that and we’ll ultimately see what’s going to be best for us and that’s what I think we’ll work with.
Jennings posted deceptive end-of-season stats for a team that faded from contention. Perusal of game film undoubtedly led the staff to conclude...that the Giants need a better back? We will see, I suppose.