Giants QB Kyle Lauletta
August 30, 2018
Postgame vs. Patriots
Q: Did they tell you that you were going to start?
A: Yesterday: yesterday in the P.M., in the afternoon.
Q: What was that like for you
A: It was exciting, you know. I’ve been wanting to play a little bit more, so to hear Coach say that I was going to get that opportunity was big. I was very excited last night, for sure.
Q: What is your biggest takeaway going into the regular season
A: Personally? For me? I don’t know. There were a couple of near misses. Nothing really changes when you play really well or play really bad. I know what I have to improve on and work on. A couple of deep balls were just a little bit off today. I think if I had made a couple of those throws, everything would have been different, we might have even won the game. I’m disappointed, but I know what I have to do moving forward.
Q: You said you just found out yesterday about getting the start, what did it mean to you? Did you have any butterflies or nerves? Because we have talked about how cool and poised you are.
A: No, I was very excited. I mean, I have wanted to play more and obviously, I haven’t played a whole lot. Probably the first game was the most that I played, so to say, ‘Hey, you are going to get the start’ was big for me. I don’t think I was nervous. Any time you get out there, you’re a little bit amped up, but I don’t feel nervous. It’s more you just want to do well and you want to throw the balls so good and sometimes when you miss one, you really have to turn the page and move on. Sometimes that will haunt you and will cause you to make more mistakes. I felt comfortable back there; I just missed a couple [of throws], some by a yard or two, but it is what it is. We’ll move on and get ready for the season.
Q: How comfortable were you with command of the offense?
A: Good, really good. We had positive plays; I mean, run-checks and the protection, I felt like I was pretty good. I knew where I was protected and I knew where I was hot from, but like I said, just a couple [of things]. They played a lot of man coverage; anytime a team plays a lot of man coverage, you’re going to have those one-on-one deep balls and those are 50-50 balls, but as an offense, we want to complete more than 50 percent of those. Like I said, we had our chances, but we just missed a couple that I wish I had back. An interception where I should have checked the ball down and just not take that risk. Just little things like that, but we’ll clean it up and ill watch the film and get better and learn from it.
Q: The touchdown pass, what was the play there? It looked like they had a busted coverage on the right side and it was just wide open
A: Yeah, it was just a man-beating concept, a mesh-concept. We had Amba [Etta-Tawo] coming underneath and a guy was trailing him and he has to fight through a bunch of stuff and we popped out wide open on the other side and he caught it. He had a lot of room; anytime on man-coverage, guys are chasing the receiver. He caught it with a lot of space and he made a great move down in the red-zone. To cut back and score the touchdown, that was a big play.
Q: How do you build on this for the next four months, when obviously things are going to change with practice reps and games and everything — how do you go into this season?
A: Just like anybody, I’ll do the same as Eli. You watch the film, and you correct it, and you make the most of the opportunities you get. Obviously, it’s going to be the regular season and I might not be playing in the games, but just in practice, when I get my reps I have to make the most of them — and then afterwards, we have receivers that are always willing to work afterwards, and if there is a throw that I feel like, “Yeah, I haven’t been throwing it real well,” we’ll get it after practice, and that way the next time you are in a game in that situation you feel a little more comfortable making that throw, so that’s all it is.
Q: The 50-50 deep ball, is that one that you’re going to throw most of the time?
A: It depends what the concept is. Sometimes we just call verticals, and you have a one-on-one matchup on the outside and that’s where we’re looking to do is take your best matchup and let it go. I think one of those interceptions, I had a couple misses to Kalif Raymond and I wanted to get a throw back to him, and they kind of bailed on me. The corner kind of bailed and he had good leverage on him. I probably had no business throwing that throw — I probably just should have checked it down to one of the backs that were open — so just simple stuff like that, but Kalif got behind the defense twice. He ran a great route (against) man coverage. The one time it was the free safety who was supposed to be playing deep middle, he cut one of the crossing routes — similar to what Eli had a couple games back, the one to Cody (Latimer), very similar situation — and I just kind of underthrew him. When it left my hand, I honestly thought it was a touchdown, but it kind of hung up in the air. I should have put it two more yards out there and he probably walks in, so it’s just little stuff like that, but I’ll learn from it.
Q: Did you feel you were able to do what you needed to do with the line you had and the receivers you had out there? Were you able to get what you needed to accomplish?
A: Yeah. We knew what we were going to get — the Patriots love to bring five guys, so a lot of one-on-ones on the O-line, and our offensive line battled. I thought they played well. The defense is good too — they are going to every now and then get a good pass rush move and get to you — but we understand that, so you just have to get rid of the ball and, like I said, one-on-one, the one to Amba (Etta-Tawo), he scores from 50 yards out on a simple crossing route, so that’s kind of the way you play if teams play man. You kind of take chances and hope that your guys on the backend can cover, but we should’ve completed a higher percentage of those. Even when Alex (Tanney) came in — he had a beautiful ball on the sideline that we dropped, and just a couple bad passes, a couple drops here and there, and the score is way different.
Q: Assuming that it’s the three of you in the room this season, you could have two backup quarterbacks who have never played in a regular season game. The taste that you’ve gotten from the preseason, do you feel like you’re ready to play?
A: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. As much as we’re in the room studying, and Eli is the guy, but me and Davis or Alex, we’re all hearing the same things that he’s hearing and we’re preparing the same way. We might not get as many reps, but look, this is the NFL and when you go out there, there’s no excuses. You study, you rep the routes and the throws as much as you can, and when your number is called, you have to execute it. So Davis is confident, I’m confident, Alex goes out there and plays extremely well. That’s what we do, so I’m confident, and if I were ever called to come into a game, I would have all the confidence in the world. With this coaching staff and this group of guys around me, (there is) no fear or nothing like that. Just go out and play and help my team win. Tonight, we fell a little bit short, and partly because of me, so it hurts a little bit, but we’ll just learn from it and it will carry into the regular season.
