Wednesday Media Transcript: Head Coach Ben McAdoo

Head Coach Ben McAdoo

August 2, 2017

Q: What happened to WR Sterling Shepard today?

A: Sterling, at this point, he looks like he has a rolled ankle. A basketball-type ankle, but we’ll see how he responds to treatment and go from there.

Q: Do you know how the injury occurred?

A: He was running a hammer route, put his foot in the ground and rolled his ankle.

Q: A rolled ankle is usually low ankle. Is that better than the alternative?

A: Again, we’ll all know more when I go in and we take a look at it. At this point it just looks like he has a sprained ankle.

Q: Is he (Shepard) going to go through more tests?

A: We just started the process. We’ll know more later.

Q: Was the cart just a precaution?

A: Yes.

Q: When you’re dealing with an injury, how do you react?

A: We have the practice football to get better at football. So when someone goes down, the next man stands up, and we work as hard as we can behind the scenes to get the player healthy.

Q: How do you think WR Darius Powe and WR Tavarres King responded to the extra reps today?

A: I think a handful of guys responded well because of reps. We completed some balls today from an offensive perspective, so that was encouraging.

Q: OL Jessamen Dunker left on a cart, too. What’s his status?

A: They’re in there taking a look at his foot right now.

Q: When guys sit out like DE Jason Pierre-Paul did today, do they understand the process of that or do they challenge you on it?

A: Communication is a two-way street. We make sure we communicate with the player and the player communicates with us. After studying the information and the data and the history of the player, I thought it was best for JPP to take a day to do some rehab to get ready to go tomorrow.

Q: How do you think K Mike Nugent did today?

A: I thought he did a nice job, fit right in.

Q: What have you thought of QB Geno Smith so far?

A: Geno is making progress. Again, it was hard for him in the offseason. Coming in, he didn’t get a ton of reps. He got seven-on-seven reps without any type of rush. Felt some rush in minicamp. So, him being out here with the guys with the line in front of him, that’s a big step for a guy coming off an injury he’s coming off. Now, he’s just working through the fundamentals and learning the system.

Q: After Shepard left practice, Odell got some work inside. Do you try to have your receivers play all positions?

A: We believe in teaching concepts. It’s important philosophically, concept learning and concept teaching is what’s best for today’s player. The more they can learn concepts and how players work with each other and how they fit. In a good offense, a good passing game fits tight together like nuts and bolts. They can learn, they can empathize with what the other guy is going through, and they fit together a little bit better. So, that’s just the natural part of things. Some guys, you have to start a little slower with and others, based on their history, Odell is definitely a guy that has an offensive flexibility that way.

Q: What were some of the concluding factors in giving DE Jason Pierre-Paul the day off?

A: He needed today off.

Q: Will days like today help him later on in the season?

A: Jason wanted to practice today. We sat down and we talked about it. I told him to keep attacking everyday like does and keep attacking it, go out and practice and then play at a high level and it’s our job to make sure we take a look at the big picture.

Q: How are you going to dictate giving the guys days off?

A: Yes. By studying the information and the player.

Q: How do you think the team responded to the weather interruption today?

A: We added a competition period to practice. We had the transition inside and we were only two minutes off of schedule. So, they handled it fairly well.

Q: How often do you anticipate the veterans getting a rest day?

A: Like I said before, we’re going to be very consistent. We’re going to treat every player differently.

Q: What happened to DB Valentino Blake today?

A: He had some lower back tightness.

Q: Is that what he had before camp started?

A: Yes.

Q: Second day of pads, did you like the energy?

A: I think the second day of pads is always a challenge to get them down, and I thought we were off the ground for the most part today. I need to go in and take a look at the tape, but fitting your pads in is a big part of things and the second day guys are sore obviously. They haven’t had those types of collisions in a while. Some guys a year, some guys over half a year. I thought we did a nice job today, especially on two different surfaces.

Q: Can TE Mark Herzlich catch the ball?

A: He’s viable, he’s doing it. He has a lot of flexibility that way. You can have a conversation with him from the locker room to the field, talk to him about the opportunities that he’s going to get for the day and he can digest it and go out and execute.

Q: Is the hardest thing for him to remember to peel off the blue jersey?

A: Anytime you have a defensive guy and you give him an opportunity to put on a white shirt and go catch the ball, they’re pretty excited to do it, and he remembers that.

Q: The only thing better would be a red jersey.

A: Depends on who you’re talking to.

Q: What are your thoughts on the few incidents where guys on offense and defense went after it after the whistle today?

A: I didn’t see much. We had a couple dust-ups, but nothing major. We had it under control. We’re going to have a little bit of that, we have pads on. Guys aren’t going to feel great, especially come the end of the week. That’s healthy.

Q: Is that a sign of discipline?

A: Things happen between the white lines. Things are said, things are done, and afterwards you may not be real happy about, but you have to learn to leave those on the field.