G Justin Pugh
August 3, 2017
Q: What were the dustups between the offense and defense today like?
A: That’s football, that’s August camp. It happens every year. You go into the locker room, you shake that guy’s hand, you move on from it. It’s part of it. Nine-on-seven, three days in pads we’ve been, so it was bound to happen. We’ve just got to make sure we protect each other because we’re family. At the end of the day, come September, whenever we play Dallas, we’re all on the same team, we’re wearing the same jersey. So, that’s the thing we have to keep in mind.
Q: Do you see the see the cohesion of the offensive line coming along?
A: Definitely, I think we put some good things on tape. But, it’s stringing together multiple good days. Keep doing the right things consistently. So, that’s the thing that we’re working on right now. Just keep building that consistency. I like where we started, I like it a lot. Guys are communicating, guys are getting along. We’re getting things done. Continue to build off that, never let [ourselves have] good day and digress and go back the other way.
Q: Do you see a difference in left tackle Ereck Flowers, after the work he put in during the offseason?
A: Definitely. I think that’s one thing he’s definitely [improved] and there’s competition in the room. There’s guys that are not starting right now that have gone out there and have played well. So, that’s going to make guys better, that pushes everybody.
Q: Who has caught your eye on the offensive line?
A: [D.J.] Fluker – obviously you put pads on, he’s the biggest human being I’ve ever seen. Brett Jones, probably one of the smaller guys I’ve seen in the NFL, but both of those guys are going out there and putting on a good show. Adam Gettis is just a veteran that’s consistently just always doing good work. Those are a couple of names that come to mind as of right now. But all of the guys, even the young guys who are coming up. [Adam] Bisnowaty’s a tough guy, Chad Wheeler, a kid that we brought in, has done some good things, moves his feet well. So, I’m excited about this group as a whole.
Q: What would you say to a guy like Adam Bisnowaty, who was engaged in extracurricular stuff today at practice?
A: I would tell him to grab the facemask and go upper cuts – don’t throw straights because then you hurt your hand – but, that’s me [laughs]. No, no, no, all jokes aside, at the end of the day, we’ve got to protect each other and be safe. You don’t want to end up hurting yourself and knocking yourself out of camp and then hurting yourself on making this team because of something silly like getting in a fight with a guy that you know, it really doesn’t matter that you’re fighting. It’s not going to prove anything within the team.
Q: Are you too old to fight at practice now?
A: No, I got in a couple of scuffles yesterday. I love to find out where I’m at, you know what I mean? I love to find out, like, where I’m at in the pecking order. But like, to a degree. If you ask anyone in that locker room, I’m going to face up somebody and they’re going to know I’m coming. That’s where we’ve got to make sure we don’t do anything cheap, don’t do anything to hurt somebody because that’s not fun. I mean, getting out there and getting in some scuffles, we’ve been talking so much, it’s fun to kind of throw each other around and wrestle a little bit, that’s what we’re here to do. After we execute the play to perfection and do exactly what Coach McAdoo wants us to do, then after that.
Q: Have any young players stood out to you on the defensive line?
A: Yeah, you look at [Dalvin] Tomlinson, d-tackle we brought in, he’s fit right in with that group. There’s no drop-off from when the ones go out and he comes in. Obviously, I know he’s got to learn the scheme and learn his role within the scheme, but he plays at a great pad level, impressed with him. I haven’t gone against many other [young defensive linemen] besides Tomlinson, so I’ll leave it at that.
Q: What about rookies Avery Moss and Evan Schwan?
A: I haven’t seen them as much because I’m at guard, so I don’t see those guys as much. But Romeo Okwara, another guy that just keeps getting better and better. A young guy from last year, still a young guy. So, I expect a lot of more great things out of him.
Q: What does running back Orleans Darkwa bring to the offense?
A: A toughness. He’s going to run downhill, he’s a straight line runner, one cut and go. No dancing in the hole and as an offensive lineman, you appreciate that because you’re straining your butt off to hold that defender off as long as possible. And you know Orleans is going to hit hard and that’s someone that you enjoy blocking for.
Q: How often do you and Ereck Flowers go off to the side and talk?
A: If there’s ever a tough look where we’re seeing something else, it’s finding that common ground where like, ‘Why are you seeing it this way and how am I seeing it,’ to make sure that we’re both seeing it the same way. I need to know where he’s going to be at and he needs to know where I’m going to be at. So, that’s the biggest thing and there’s so many different looks in football. Any particular play, you can get 10 different looks, so being able to communicate with that guy next to me is huge. So, every play we’re always kind of talking to each other, making sure we’re seeing the same thing.
Q: Is training camp starting to feel like a grind?
A: I don’t have a chance to even think about that. Because I’m here from eight in the morning until nine-thirty at night. You go home, you fall asleep, you get back up. It’s kind of like you’re in the twilight zone, it’s just like you don’t know where you’re at. But, it’s nice. You always look for that, like in the o-line room, we’re always looking for that little glimmer of hope. So, tomorrow is a jog-through day. So, today, we’re like, ‘Alright, give it everything you’ve got because tomorrow we’ve got a lighter day.’ And then you gear it back up, we’ve got an off day on Sunday. So, that’s kind of what you look for. You set, like, landmarks in camp to get to.
Q: So you had to get the fights in today?
A: The fights can happen at any point. But, like I said, in all seriousness with the fights, we’re a team here, we’re the New York Giants, we do things a certain way. So, it’s going to happen. We’ve got to make sure we respect the guy across from us and make sure that we’re doing the right things to represent each other, the team, and not put ourselves in a bad position. Because the worst thing that can happen, we lose a guy for an extended period of time. So, I do like to joke around with it. I did do some of the MMA, the wrestling and the fighting stuff, but there’s a time and place for it and as of right now, we’ve got to make sure we hone it in and we’re getting better at football and not just wrestling with each other. So make sure [if] you quote me, quote that one, don’t quote the other one and misquote me, alright?
