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Friday Media Transcript: Head Coach Ben McAdoo

Eric from BBI : Admin : 9/9/2016 3:10 pm
Head Coach Ben McAdoo

September 9, 2016

Q: I know the players voted, but what are your thoughts on the captains they chose?

A: I think we have three great captains. I’m excited for those guys. They earned it. They’ve been working hard all camp. It’s a great opportunity for them to lead.

Q: What have you seen from Jonathan Casillas as a leader?

A: He’s very motivated to perform at a high level. He’s been very nosey around the football. He finds the ball well and takes advantage of his opportunities when he gets his hands on the ball. He’s a guy that communicates well. The players respond to him.

Q: The players voted or you picked?

A: Players voted.

Q: Will you have individual captains for each game also?

A: Yes.

Q: You’ll pick those?

A: We’ll change those up each week.

Q: Do you know who they’ll be on Sunday?

A: Yes. JPP, Mark Herzlich and Rashad Jennings.

Q: Do you still have a leadership council as well?

A: Not at this point, no.

Q: Do you expect Casillas and Darian Thompson to play on Sunday?

A: Yes. We’ll see how they get through tomorrow, but as of right now, yes.

Q: The expectation is that all 53 guys are available?

A: (Robert) Thomas has an illness, but we’ll have 52-of-the-53 available.

Q: Dwayne Harris is good though after the heat exhaustion?

A: Yes.

Q: Ben, as far as your exterior, you’ve stayed pretty calm. Do you anticipate anything different in your routine on Sunday being a head coach? What are you anticipating?

A: Like I said before, I’m comfortable in my own skin. I’m going to be myself. I’ll be steady.

Q: How ready do you think your team is?

A: We’ll be ready. We’re going to take advantage of the rest of today. It’s Fresh Friday. We’ll take care of today and launch tomorrow. We’re going to use all our time available.

Q: Were you out on the field at all today?

A: Yes.

Q: Are you a guy who plans a theme? Is there a point you want to deliver, a certain speech the night before? Have you worked all that out?

A: Yes, there are a couple of different things. I’m trying to pare it down as best I can. Quick meetings, little shot of energy is always good. I’ll have a message for them tomorrow night.

Q: Have you been working on that for a long time? I know you’ve done your team meetings, but it’s obviously different before a game.

A: It came to me over a long period of time all of a sudden. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag.

Q: You write it down or go off the top of your head?

A: A little bit of both, little bit of both.

Q: Are you sure you don’t want to share it?

A: Absolutely.

Q: Are you looking forward to delivering it?

A: Yes. I’m excited. I enjoy speaking in front of the team.

Q: Do you have a video to go with the verbal?

A: We’ll try and stimulate these guys as many different ways as we can.

Q: Is it a relief that you’re finally going to coach a regular season game?

A: No. It’s just the next step in the process. We’re excited for the opener. You’re only guaranteed 16 of them. We’re fortunate to play one on the road in Dallas. We’re excited for it.

Q: How different is the opener in terms of snaps? Do you have to rotate guys more in the opener? A guy like Victor Cruz has only played 38 snaps in the preseason.

A: There’s no dipping your toe in the water now. We’re going. We’re going down there to win a ballgame. There’s no dipping your toe in. We’re full bore, ready to go.

Q: You don’t worry about your guys being fresh in the fourth quarter?

A: No. We’ll be fresh.

Q: You said early in preseason that the receivers, when we asked about Shepard, Cruz and Odell, have to be interchangeable and know every position. Do you go into this game with complete freedom in regard to how any of them can be used?

A: Yes. There are no limitations there. They can play all three spots. All four spots.

Q: In his career, Jason Witten has had tremendous success against the New York Giants. When you look at Sunday, how do you stop that from happening?

A: Jason has had tremendous success against just about everyone in this league. He’s a tremendous player. One heck of a player. We definitely have some targets that we have to be aware of. At this point in time, it’s all about us. We have to go out and execute the plan. We’re going to put the players in position to be successful. There has to be trust both ways and we need to be able to adjust and improvise along the way. It’s about us. We need to go out, execute and coach and play well.

Q: As far as defense goes, I know there are new pieces and starters, but do you want them to be motivated like they seem to be? Like, ‘hey, we’re not the worst defense and we’re going to show you that’?

A: Last year is in the rear view mirror. No one is thinking about last year. We’re all thinking and looking through the windshield. Everything is out in front of us.

Q: Have you heard from Tom Coughlin at all this week?

A: I keep all my personal business personal.

Q: I think it was you that said the defense is going to take time to come together. It was either you or Steve. Where are you in that progression at this point?

A: You’re going to have it with offense, defense, special teams. Everything is new. It’s a new season. You can’t carry over anything from last year. We’re going to have some things we’re going to have to go through together to get better. We’re going to have to fight through them and improve that way. Time’s up. We’re ready to go.

Q: There was talk when you guys signed Olivier Vernon that he was the guy from last year that you had to game plan against maybe the most. Have you seen everything you thought you were going to get in OV?

A: Everything and more. I think he’s a man of character. He’s a very efficient mover and a smart football player. I’ve said this before and I’ve said it to him, I think he’s a closet pro. He wants to do everything he can to help himself and help the team around him. He doesn’t necessarily want his face on a billboard that way. He’s a quiet leader for us.

Q: Ben, who do you have coming to the game?

A: No one.

Q: Is that by your choice?

A: That’s how we’ve always done it.

Q: You sure you don’t want to tell us who’s going to call the plays on Sunday?

A: Yes.
So we kow Mac and Sully have both called plays...  
Chris684 : 9/9/2016 3:29 pm : link
I'm assuming who the playcaller is can play a huge part in preparation.

Is it fair to say Mac wants Dallas preparing for both he or Sully as playcallers in terms of tendencies, habits, etc?
You guys realize that we've added  
Randy in CT : 9/9/2016 3:41 pm : link
our best defensive player to the team in OV, yes?
Coach Mac is no rookie when it comes to  
mfsd : 9/9/2016 3:47 pm : link
Brushing off silly questions with curt answers.

Are you sure you don't want to tell us who's calling plays?

Good grief
It would have been refreshing  
ChicagoMarty : 9/9/2016 6:18 pm : link
if Coach called out some of those questions as "clown questions"!
If you watch the press conference  
Canton : 9/9/2016 6:21 pm : link
You can tell he's starting to become annoyed with Raanan's line of questioning.
Interesting transcript...  
Dan in the Springs : 9/9/2016 6:24 pm : link
would have liked him to ask about practices and focus - what amount of time is dedicated to the plan, execution of assignments vs. working on fundamentals.

I know what he meant, but thought it looked funny when he was asked about the opener and he responded that "you're only guaranteed 16 of them". What - did he get a 16 year contract or something? ;>
like al davis said  
Vanzetti : 9/9/2016 7:02 pm : link
Just Win, Baby



Nothing else means jack shit
Love the confidence and I'm sure the players do to.  
RDJR : 9/9/2016 7:10 pm : link
A coach I'd want to play for.
Who says things like this:  
Jerry K : 9/9/2016 7:55 pm : link
"It came to me over a long period of time all of a sudden"? Tommy Smothers? Pat Paulsen? Steven Wright? Yoda? Gandhi? Sarah Palin? I got it! Yogi Berra!
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