Head Coach Pat Shurmur
August 21, 2018
Opening Remarks: Victor Cruz. He retired today. What a great Giant. I remember playing against him when I was in Philly and we were certainly well aware of the impact he could have on a ball game. I had a chance to meet him and be around him, and he certainly doesn’t need an invite from me, but much like all the ex-Giants, I look forward to seeing him at practice any time he wants to be here. So, congratulations to him. With that, I’ll take your questions.
Q: That’s one the things we read that you did when you first started, you reached out to (Michael) Strahan and Tiki Barber. What is the importance of involving the former players?
A: I think what’s important is they understand what it means to be a Giant from a player’s perspective, and they understand what it takes to win Super Bowls. I talk to everybody, not just players. I called some former (Giants) coaches as well, because I think it’s important to hear their perspective, and I’m always looking for perspective. Maybe there’s something that they say that might help me message the team, or maybe they’ll tell me something that was really special to them as they were building a champion, and so I think it’s important to embrace the great players from the past.
Q: You talked yesterday about moving the offensive linemen’s lockers together. Obviously there were some issues in this locker room in general last year. How big of a believer are you in team chemistry and how are you trying to foster that this year?
A: Yeah, it’s the ultimate team sport and team chemistry is one of the most important things, and that’s why it’s so important. Players can train off on their own and then we could come together and put something together and play, but the ability to train with each other and build that bond that they care about one another and they’re doing what they do for their teammates. I talk about team all the time, and I’m very fortunate here that we’ve got guys that find team things to talk about. Today I showed the team just a quick little blurb on Derek Jeter when he was talking when they had their 20 year reunion of the 1998 team, and he had a little video he showed to his teammates because he didn’t make it to the event because it was his daughter’s first birthday, and it was a great team message. Just an example of how I’m constantly talking about team and I really do believe if we’re going to get where we need to go, we need to be a really galvanized group of guys.
Q: We saw Eli (Manning) and Odell (Beckham) during practice work behind the group. What’s the goal there? What causes them to do that at that time?
A: They just want to get on the same page, and at this point, we’re still practicing with all 90 guys. Some of the general reps together aren’t as many, and I can see right now through the window they’re out there doing it again. But I’m used to that. Typically a quarterback will say, ‘hey, listen, after practice let’s get a stop nine. After practice, let’s get this, let’s get that.’ They’re out there doing it now, which is a good thing.
Q: How vital is it to what you want to do as an offense that come September 9th and moving on from there that Eli and Odell are on that same page?
A: I think it’s very critical. Two of our best players and two guys that are going to hopefully touch the ball a lot, so it’s important that they know what they’re doing.
Q: They go about it in such different ways, but is it possible both are perfectionists?
A: They’re definitely both perfectionists. I think they’re not from the same generation, though. You have Odell and then you have Eli. They give me grief because I talk about his age. It’s real – unless they faked his birth certificate, I think he’s 37. Odell is much younger. Because of that, there’s a difference in how they look at things, but they’re both perfectionists.
Q: You’ve seen obviously situations like Odell’s over the years that have turned into bigger issues than this one has with the contracts. Is that something you’ve done to minimize the distraction, something Odell’s done, or is that just generally not a big deal?
A: I think going back to when I first got here and it’s one of the things on my list I wanted to do this time around from the last time, is just start to build relationships with the players, and the players understand how important team is. They understand how important presence is, how important a good performance in practice is, and so those are things you talk about and hopefully you head off problems because there’s a pre-existing relationship there. If we just go about our business and all show up, and pretend like we’re just going to do our jobs and then move on willy-nilly, well, it doesn’t work that way.
Q: When you do the period with the cards, how does evaluation work? I know you’re in camp mode, but are you only looking at one side of the ball more there?
A: No, we’re looking at the effort on the other side of the ball, but we’re trying to mock up what the other team does. It’s probably hard for you, if so and so made a play on so and so, it probably screws up your calculations, but we’re looking at obviously the execution of the team working against the cards, but it’s also making sure that we get the good effort. And that’s part of it really at this point, because when the season starts, these are drills where they need to be competitive, but it’s for the offense, the ball goes up and we’ve got to make sure the offense makes a play, and when it’s for the defense and the ball goes up, we disrupt it. There’s learning involved so that once we get to the season, we can do that and get as much out of it as possible.
Q: So they’re running until the end of the play, the team that’s on cards?
A: No, they’re going 100 percent, but then the ball in the air, they’ll fight for it to some degree. I’d be careful when you’re clicking off who beat who, I’ve been told that happens once in a while.
Q: Being new to the area, how indoctrinated are you to Jets-Giants – I don’t know if “rivalry” is the right word, but the way the fans feel about each other, the way the franchises feel about each other?
A: I don’t know that. I’ve heard a little bit, but I’m also a guy who thinks you can root for the Yankees and then root for the Mets. But you know I’m a little off center. We’re going to go out and compete with the Jets and try to do what we can to get our team right, and do what we can to try to win the game. That runs parallel, and I’ve heard there’s a little bit of a rivalry here, so we’ll deal with it. I’ve got a lot of respect for Todd Bowles and, certainly, we’ve already talked about one of their players, so we don’t need to go into that anymore. I’ve got a lot of respect for what they are as an organization and I think we’re both going to play this game with the same thing in mind – get our team better, find out what our team is all about.
Q: The play down the left sideline where Odell seemed to have a few steps on Jackrabbit, and then the ball was underthrown and Jackrabbit tipped it away. Is that simply an underthrown ball?
A: We just didn’t connect. It was a good route, good throw, good defense.
Q: Two-part questions. Is Odell going to play on Friday night?
A: We’ll see. It’s good to piggy-back another question because you knew I was going to give you a real short answer on that one.
Q: Is he physically ready to play in a game?
A: He’s doing really well in practice here, so we’ll see where he’s at. Again, coming back from injury, so we’ll try to be smart with him.
Q: How’s Saquon (Barkley)?
A: Coming back. As we all know, he tweaked his hamstring, and he’s training really well and doing more and more each day. We like the path he’s on.
Q: Do you feel like you need to see him in another preseason game or are you going to let it play out the way it has?
A: We’ll see how it plays out.
Q: Is it safe to say you can be more conservative in the preseason than you would be in the regular season when it comes to certain injuries?
A: Conservative? I don’t know about conservative. I think we would want to always try to be smart. I’m not really fond of the word conservative. I just think we want to be smart.
