Head Coach Ben McAdoo
August 23, 2016
Q: With all the criticism the offensive line has taken, yesterday Weston Richburg said it can take time and regular season snaps. Is it fair to say that because they’ve worked together here and there that they still have not gelled in a game?
A: I think they’re getting there. They had a rough night the other night, but they’ll bounce back. We’ll make progress and give them plenty of opportunities to make progress this week.
Q: Victor Cruz got through yesterday alright and plans to practice today?
A: Yes.
Q: Any limitations?
A: No.
Q: Do you view Randy Bullock being here as the Week 1 kicker or is he competing for the starting job?
A: We’re looking for the best 53 in Week One. If he’s one of them, then we’ll go with it.
Q: Has anything changed with Josh Brown from what you’ve heard over the last week or so that affects his roster status when he comes back?
A: I’ve said everything that I’m going to say about Josh. I respect that you have to ask that question, but my comments stay my comments.
Q: Last time we spoke to you about that, or the first time you spoke about that, the news hadn’t come out yet that there were a lot more accusations against him. Don’t you think it’s fair to give an answer to that?
A: Again, based on the circumstances, I respect your question, but I’ve said everything I want to say at this point.
Q: So you won’t say if you knew about those accusations when you re-signed him?
A: I made my statement.
Q: What did you like about Randy Bullock that made him an option for you guys?
A: The ball jumped off his foot. He had a nice workout yesterday. He has had some experience. He had a good workout.
Q: Sorry, I have to ask one more. By not commenting, people feel like you’re being tolerant of domestic violence. do you see it that way?
A: Based on what I’ve said in the past, I’m going to stick to my comments. That’s what we feel is best for the circumstance at this point in time.
Q: How tough has this week been for you with everything that’s going on?
A: Toughest regarding what?
Q: Just everything that’s going around about your team?
A: We had a tough week on the field. We’re going to bounce back. We have a great day to go out here and get some work done and get better. We’ll respond and get better.
Q: Nat Berhe has an opportunity to step up with Darian Thompson down. Can you talk a little bit about what you’ve seen from him so far?
A: Nat is a guy that is a heat-seeking missile. He plays fast and aggressive. He’s bouncing back from an injury and he’s done a nice job getting in with the scheme. It’s nice to see him out there. He had a good start on it yesterday in our jog through and acclimation practice. I look forward to seeing him out there today and tomorrow in our shells and pads.
Q: What happened with Darian Thompson and what’s the plan with him moving forward?
A: We’ll evaluate him week-to-week. He’s going to be out this week. We’ll look at him again next week. He’s getting the treatment. It’s important to him and he’s going to do everything he can to get back here as quickly as he can.
Q: Is Dwayne Harris practicing today?
A: Yes.
Q: Thompson?
A: Mykkele Thompson will be out today.
Q: Do you have an update on Will Johnson?
A: Same thing. We’re looking at him week-to-week. That’s all I have at this time.
Q: Where is J.T. Thomas? Any closer?
A: You’ll see J.T. soon. He’s very close.
Q: Justin Pugh and Eli Apple came out okay yesterday? Is the plan to have them practice?
A: Yesterday is not a great barometer. With the acclimation, we just had a jog through. They had some conditioning, but we’ll know more tomorrow.
Q: What has Brett Jones shown you? On Saturday he was the second team center.
A: First things first, he’s dedicated. He’s a guy that’s fairly bright. And he gets football. He has a good physical demeanor about him when he’s on the field. He plays behind his pads.
Q: Coming out of the weekend with Victor, do you feel he’s in a different place right now than he has been in the last couple of weeks?
A: We’ll find out more today and tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing him. It was nice to see him in a uniform in pregame the other day.
Q: What led to that decision to have him go through the warmups?
A: It was a team decision. Organizational decision.
Q: Did that help his psyche? Getting back into the game routine?
A: I hope so. I hope so.
Q: When you’re practicing well but it’s not showing up on game film, how do you judge whether you’re having a good practice? Does it make it harder? Do you need it to show up in a game to validate what you’re doing?
A: Yes, you want it to show up in a game. You keep practicing and keep working at it and at some point in time, the light is going to go on. You don’t know when but you just keep working.
Q: With Victor, how important is it for him to get into that preseason game action and be in a live situation like that?
A: It’s important. It’s the game and that’s what he’s looking forward to and that’s what we’re looking forward to seeing him do.
Q: Is the goal this week for him?
A: Yes.
Q: Can you talk about the differences you see in Jonathan Casillas from this year compared to last year?
A: He seems like a guy that’s really taken ownership of the defense and the team. He has some leadership qualities and capabilities to him. He plays with a lot of energy and you look for that in your linebacker group.
Q: What have you seen out of Romeo Okwara? I think he got a couple snaps with the first team on Saturday.
A: He’s definitely flashing. He’s a guy that takes his coaching and his medicine day-by-day.
Q: What went into the whole decision about switching kickers at this point?
A: We saw a guy out there that had some experience. We brought him in for a workout and he did a nice job. We decided to make a switch.
Q: Why was it important to have a guy with some experience?
A: That was just part of the evaluation. It was a factor.
Q: Was Obarski’s missed field goal a factor as well?
A: We thank Tom for everything he’s done for us. He’s come in and worked hard. He was a pro since the day he walked in the door. We just decided to make a change.
A: First things first, he’s dedicated. He’s a guy that’s fairly bright. And he gets football. He has a good physical demeanor about him when he’s on the field. He plays behind his pads.
Fairly bright?
A: First things first, he’s dedicated. He’s a guy that’s fairly bright.
McAdoo felt the need to qualify / soften how bright Jones is?
agreed
Quote:
He's a big boy and makes the big bucks. The media has a right to challenge him after his previous comments.
By saying that if he doesn't comment, he's therefore condoning it? Utter nonsense.
Correct. They can ask him whatever they like, but some questions are clearly dumber than others. If McAdoo hadn't mentioned domestic violence in his intro presser, nobody would suggest that keeping Brown on the team means that he condones d.v. But somehow, because he did mention it, it becomes a reasonable question? He didn't need to mention it at all in his first press conference - nobody would've noticed if he hadn't. It's clear that the issue is pretty important to him.
#1 it is a questionable DV. His wife is just as bad. They are like two drunks. Grabbing a wrist is not smacking somebody around.
#2 those dumb asses asking him the same question over and over are not proving anything. He said no comment about 6 times in the last two days.
#3 ask a relevant football question that the fans want to have an answer for - like what is Newhouse doing to keep his job?
And it's the organization that is not looking too swift here. As I understand it, the background to the JB suspension was known and was being looked into by the time last spring the Giants elected to stick with Brown and cut McManus. McManus has turned out to be a fine kicker with the Broncos.
The NFL has said, in effect, that the only reason JB did not receive a longer, League-mandated suspension for DV is that the wife and certain law enforcement authorities (for whatever reasons) did not cooperate with the NFL in providing further information as to the history between Brown and his ex-wife. But IF the Giants were aware of this at the time of the decision to keep Brown and jettison McManus, it leads to some pretty serious questions as to the wisdom of that decision, even before McManus has gone on to prove himself. He was not too shabby in camp last year.
My point is that the Giants FO may well be looking at this very seriously, less so from the possible personnel mistake, although that is significant, but from the NY Giants as a founding franchise of the NFL and how does it handle this and what message does it send to the League, to the players, to the fans, to the public by sticking with Brown.
This may all be percolating as we speak, McAdoo may be informed that this is a decision in process, and he is not willing to dig the "we support Josh Brown" hole any deeper until the organization resolves the question.