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Monday Media Transcript: Head Coach Pat Shurmur

Eric from BBI : Admin : 9/3/2018 2:56 pm
Head Coach Pat Shurmur
September 3, 2018
 
Opening Remarks: Monday. Game week. This is always a unique day, you have to tell roughly 40 players they’re no longer on the team. When I think about doing the cuts, we really feel good about the team we put together, but you have guys like Mark Herzlich, who helped this organization win a Super Bowl, played seven years in the league, the things he’s gone through personally -- when you talk to a guy like that, you talk to John Jerry, the veteran players and you let them know they’re not going to be on the initial 53, those are the tough conversations. Then I’m sure you’re going to have a lot of questions about Davis Webb. Talking with Davis, a young player that competed hard that you have the same conversation with, that’s where the human element of this comes in, but we make those decisions and then we move forward. That being said, we are all in on Jacksonville and I’ll try to answer your questions.
 
Q: At what point did you realize that Davis Webb was going to be cut? He was taking second reps all throughout camp, was there a moment where you figured this was move to make?
A: There’s no reason for me to talk about when. He was taking second teams reps. I think I mentioned long ago there was no depth chart behind Eli (Manning). We were trying to figure out who the guys playing quarterback were going to be behind Eli. He got a lot of reps, and I think it was probably that where people start to assume because he’s taking second string reps that he’s a second string quarterback, and it didn’t play out that way. 
 
Q: Was he outplayed by Alex Tanney and Kyle Lauletta?
A: I feel like they are better choices for us now, yes.
 
Q:  Who is your second string quarterback now? 
A: We’ll see and I’ll let you guys know as we go here. I do like having a veteran presence in that group.
 
Q: You said after the Lions game after Davis played pretty well, it was the Davis Webb you were used to seeing. Did something change? 
A: No, I thought he played better than he did in the week previous. Keep in mind Detroit practices, our practices here, we had a lot of opportunity to watch all the players compete. It would be just like me talking in detail about why we didn’t keep the other 39 guys or what not. It is the way it is. There are so many things about him that are good, he’s an outstanding worker, he cares about the game a great deal, and I’m hopeful he’s going to get another opportunity.
 
Q: You mention him getting all those reps. Do you feel like Alex or Kyle would’ve benefitted getting those reps?  
A: No, we wanted to find out who our backup quarterbacks were and we went through the process and we felt like they all got an opportunity to show us what they can do.
 
Q:  What have you seen out of Kyle that you like? Obviously, you saw something before the Draft that you liked that made you take him, you’ve had him now for the spring and summer. What do you like about Kyle Lauletta?   
A:  I like the fact that he’ll decide what he’s looking at, see it and pull the trigger. He’s very decisive in what he does. He’s a gamer of sorts and we’re looking forward to working with that.
 
Q: Do you think it’s important for the franchise to have a plan post-Eli Manning at this point in his career?
A: At this point, we do right now. It’s just not what everybody outside our building had predicted the plan was, and I think that’s where all the questions are stemming from. But we made a decision that we’re going to go with Alex and we’re going to go with Kyle as Eli’s backups, so we move forward.  
 
Q: Whether it’s Davis or Darian Thompson, understanding you weren’t here for those guys’ drafts, how much can it set back or hurt a franchise when you’re getting nothing out of recent draft picks?
A: I don’t know that. Really, at some point, regardless of where you’re drafted, once you’re settled in as a player on the team, that kind of goes away. We’re all out here trying to earn a spot every day, players and coaches. So, at some point, whether you’re drafted in the third round or the fifth round, that sort of goes away at some point and you play it out. 
 
Q:  You say you like having a veteran presence in the QB room, but Alex hasn’t played, maybe one game in his career. How does that translate?
A: Here’s the thing with a veteran backup quarterback. They can go in and function with very few reps and I think that’s an attribute that I look for in a guy that could potentially be a backup to a guy like Eli, because they don’t get that many reps during the training sessions.
 
Q: How comfortable are you that Kyle is ready to play in an NFL game?
A: Very comfortable. 
 
Q: What made Alex the right guy? Even back in May, there were other guys that were free agent veteran quarterbacks who had more game experience?
A: He’s the one we signed and he’s the one that we worked with and he’s the one we liked. That’s what it is.
 
Q:  How did you come to grips with cutting a third round pick quarterback who hasn’t played in a regular season game yet, so you really haven’t been able to see him play regular season NFL football?
A: Let’s forget for a minute he was a third round pick. He was on our team as a Giant and we watched him go through what we do in training camp and what we do in practice and we made a decision to move on and go with the other guys. Let’s forget for a minute that he was a third round pick. I really do mean that. At some point, that all goes away.
 
Q: I didn’t see (Olivier Vernon) out on the practice field.
A: He was in the training room getting treatment.
 
Q: Is he making enough progress where you think you might have him on the practice field (soon)?
A: We’re hopeful, but we’ll just have to see. The fact that he was inside today tells you that he wasn’t out here.
 
Q: Evan (Engram)?
A: Evan was out here working, as you saw.
 
Q: No contact, so still in the (concussion) protocol?
A: Yes, he’s still in the protocol. But we’re hopeful.
 
Q: Follow up to question about Davis Webb being a third round pick – I was more asking about the element of the difficulty of cutting a young quarterback like that who hasn’t played in a regular season game.
A: It’s difficult to cut any player. It really is. It’s harder when you’re talking about older players, veteran players, and certainly younger players who gave it their all. It’s difficult, but you move on. We have to do it.
 
Q: Six guys is a big overhaul for guys that are coming from the outside. How big of a challenge is that for you to get all six guys ready? You have a game in six days.
A: That is part of the challenge and hopefully we won’t have to do this every year, but if you look at the guys we picked up -- three in the secondary, an offensive lineman, we added different guys to the practice squad – we’re going to continue to try to improve all the position groups and if there’s a player that we have evaluated and feel good about taking a look at, we’ll do that. That’s just part of this process.
 
Q: What role do you see Mario Edwards playing up front? Is he more an interior guy?
A: Yes, more of an interior guy, kind of a five technique. As you know, we put Josh Mauro down for a month, so that kind of interior spot.
 
Q: Have you decided on your return specialists?
A: We’re still figuring that out, but we brought in a player, a receiver that played it and we think can do it, so we’ll figure it out from there. We all know we have a really good one just hanging around, number 13 (Odell Beckham Jr.), so we feel really good about the fact if he has to go in there and do it, but we are certainly looking for a guy that can also do it.
 
Q: Do the new kickoff rules kind of nudge you in that direction a little bit? If it’s close late in the game, that you maybe feel a little better about putting Odell back there?
A: I don’t know if the new rules have anything to do with that. I still think it’s a comfortable thing for a coach to just bang it out of the end zone, put the ball down and let’s play. You take the risk of a return out of it. There’s times strategically where it’s going to make sense to pop it up and we’ll be prepared to do both.
 
Q: You mentioned 13 (Odell), is 26 (Saquon Barkley) an option?
A: Sure. I think he returned one to open the game against Ohio State a year ago. So, yeah, he’s capable.
Eric, do you know who was asking the questions?  
baadbill : 9/3/2018 3:43 pm : link
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RE: Eric, do you know who was asking the questions?  
baadbill : 9/3/2018 3:45 pm : link
In comment 14058914 baadbill said:
Quote:
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Duh, just watched the video.
I’m sure this was Pat Leonard  
BBelle21 : 9/3/2018 4:01 pm : link
“How did you come to grips with cutting a third round pick quarterback who hasn’t played in a regular season game yet, so you really haven’t been able to see him play regular season NFL football?”

Shurmur answered this and Leonard’s silly follow up very well, I thought. Goodness Leonard just can’t let Webb go can he lol
Bleh - looks like Vernon not going to be a go on Sunday  
BlackLight : 9/3/2018 4:07 pm : link
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