Tuesday Media Transcript: QB Davis Webb

Quarterback Davis Webb

November 28, 2017

Q: What is your reaction to Eli Manning not being the starting quarterback for this week’s game?

A: Yeah, it’s tough, especially when you have the best teammate that I’ve ever had in my short football career. That that happens to a guy like that – only six other guys have thrown for 50,000 yards, whatever his [consecutive starts] streak is. He’s been the face of the franchise. If you had a Mount Rushmore of not only New York Giants, but New York athletes, he’d be on it. It doesn’t affect really anything, we’ve just got to keep working and we’re going to be great teammates for Geno [Smith] and we’re excited to watch him play this Sunday against Oakland and this team is too. So, we’ve all got each other’s support and Eli’s the best teammate I’ve ever had and it’s sad, but at the same time we’ve got to regroup and get ready for a win.

Q: What is it like to know that you will play this season?

A: It doesn’t affect my preparation. I’ve said this before, I get up here pretty early and I stay here pretty dang late and I always prepare like if my opportunity came tomorrow, I’d be ready and I approached it that way since the day I got here. It doesn’t really affect much, but right now, I’m going to be the best teammate I can be for E and Geno and we’re going to try help us win our game on Sunday. But, it doesn’t affect anything.

Q: What do you say to Manning today?

A: I told him, I said, ‘You’re the best teammate I’ve ever had in my life and you’re the best quarterback I’ve ever seen in my life. So, being with you every day, it’s been a lot of fun,’ and it’s not like it’s over. We’ve still got practice tomorrow and we’ve got five more games, a month, left. Yeah, it’s sad today, it’s going to be tough today, but at the same time, Eli is an unbelievable football player, he’s done some great things for the New York Giants and it isn’t on him and it never will be. It’s a team game, it’s the ultimate team game, it takes all 11 guys on offense, 11 guys on defense and special teams to win a game. So, he’s been a great teammate, he’s been a heck of a quarterback and, again, he’s the best to ever play at this position for this team.

Q: How did you find out that Manning would no longer be the starter?

A: It was Coach McAdoo. He let us all know.

Q: What was your conversation like with Manning and Smith after McAdoo announced the decision?

A: Again, we said this from the beginning, we’re going to be the best teammates to each other, we’re always going to find ways to help one another. That’s my stuff, I try to do a lot of breakdowns for whoever’s playing that week and Eli does the same thing. We’re just going to try to do the best we can to help that guy who’s going to play on Sunday achieve success, so we can all enjoy success in the locker room afterwards. That’s all we’re here for, we get paid and we get judged off wins and that’s what we’ve been trying to do and we’ve got a chance to do it on Sunday. So, we’re both going to help Geno as much as we can to be great teammates and help him prepare to win a game on Sunday.

Q: Do you anticipate being active for this week’s game against Oakland?

A: Again, that’s a Coach McAdoo question, I can’t answer that. I haven’t been told anything. My job, again, is to be prepared and I go out there every single Sunday thinking I’m going to be activated and if there’s any chance that I play, I want to be ready. So, that doesn’t change and don’t blow that out of proportion, I’ve been doing that since my first preseason action, since my first game against the Steelers, I’ve prepared that way, like, ‘Hey, I’m going to play three quarters,’ I’m getting my mind right. But I played a quarter. So, that’s just how I am and it doesn’t affect anything.

Q: Is there one thing that you will always say, ‘Eli Manning taught me this’?

A: Today, today was pretty big. The way he handled himself, the way he handled himself in front of his teammates, myself and Geno included, he was first class. He was very supportive, he’s ready to help us win a game. There’s so many things that I can talk about and we don’t have enough time for that. I’ve learned something from him every day and I’ve really written them down and I’ve really taken upon myself to kind of – I’ve always kind of idolized Eli and there’s so many quarterbacks I watched growing up, but to kind of be his teammate and see how he does every single day. His routine didn’t change today and he’s a heck of a teammate, he’s the best quarterback in this franchise’s history.

Q: Was Manning emotional speaking to his teammates?

A: I mean, it’s not easy when you start that many games and get told that kind of thing by Coach McAdoo and everybody feels it, in the whole facility, it’s sad. It’s not easy, but again, he was very, very persistent to tell us he was going to do whatever he can to help us prepare to play. If that’s Geno, if I get an opportunity, then he’s going to help and there’s no doubt in my mind he will because he’s the best teammate I’ve ever had in my life.

Q: How big of an opportunity is it going to be to play this season?

A: I’ll be excited. Nothing affects my preparation, just how I always play. I’ve played that way since I was in seventh grade, I was a B-team backup quarterback. I play extremely driven, play competitive and have passion with my teammates. So we’re just looking forward to whoever plays quarterback, to be able to enjoy success with each other and that’s teammates. It’s a team game and that’s what we need to do, enjoy success.

Q: Did you talk to Coach McAdoo separately one-on-on, or did you find out about the decision with the rest of the team?

A: We’ve talked. Again, I’d like to keep those conversations private, it’s a one-on-one conversation. But again, we all knew what was going to happen, we talked about it one-on-one, we talked about it as a group and he handled it very professionally and it wasn’t easy. I’m sure he didn’t want to do it, but no one wanted it to happen. Eli’s the quarterback for this team, he’s the quarterback for this franchise, but again, he handled it professionally. I’m very complimentary of that because it’s not easy and we all handled it pretty well.

Q: Did you mean Manning or McAdoo?

A: Both.

Q: How important was it for Manning to set the tone that he did when the decision was announced?

A: Again, that’s one thing I learned today. When things aren’t going your way, which a lot of things this season sadly have not, he’s been the same person every day, he prepares his butt off, he’s the best teammate I’ve ever had. I’ve said that four or five times now, but I really mean it. I learned a lot from that and I’ve learned a lot this season, especially from him and how to handle himself and that continued today and it won’t stop.