Head Coach Jason Garrett
September 12, 2018
Conference Call
Q: Watching the Giants-Jaguars game, do you still see the same Eli Manning that you’ve seen for a while now?
A: Oh yeah, I just think Eli’s a great player. He has been for a long time, certainly the leader of that football team and still capable of making so many plays. He’s so smart, he knows how to use his weapons, and he’s just been an outstanding player for a long time and a great challenge for us every time we face him.
Q: What did you see from (Odell Beckham Jr.) and his first game back from the injury on Sunday?
A: Obviously very productive. He made a ton of plays for them in the game, and he’s such a dangerous guy. They use him a lot of different ways, he’s so capable of really doing anything, running any kind of route, and obviously he’s dangerous making plays down the field; but he’s equally dangerous catching a short ball and making you miss, and making those dynamic plays when he runs with the ball after he catches it. He, too, challenges in so many different ways.
Q: So much of your offense the last few years had (Jason Witten) and (Dez Bryant) in big roles. Is that an adjustment, and if so, did it manifest itself in the first game of the season?
A: Obviously those guys have been really good players for our team for a long time – Witten for the last 15 years and Dez for the last eight years, very impactful guys. They played so well down and out, and they made these game-changing plays for a number of years. Certainly great players, we were lucky to have them, but we made the decision to move on from Dez and then Witten chose to retire. We feel good about the group that we have right now. They’re some different faces and time on task always helps, the more you do something together, hopefully the better you’ll execute it. I thought the biggest issue in the game the other day for us particularly in the first half was we got behind the chains so much early on, whether it was a penalty or a sack, some kind of a minus play that we were kind of swimming upstream and trying to survive the drive instead of really getting a chance to try to attack the defense and play with some good offensive rhythm. Hopefully we’ll do a better job of that this week and get more and more comfortable with the new guys that we have playing.
Q: How is DeMarcus Lawrence doing?
A: DeMarcus is doing well. He was off to a good start last week, he didn’t practice very much today. He was in a limited role. He’s been dealing with a groin injury, but he was able to really play the whole game the other day in Carolina and was pretty darn productive. He’s a really good player and he is a good leader for us. Hopefully we’ll have him back practicing at some point this week.
Q: Do you see a lot of similarities between (Ezekiel Elliott) and (Saquon Barkley)?
A: I’m not big for comparing players. Obviously they were both the marquis running backs coming out in their draft class. We feel really fortunate that we have Zeke on our team, he’s really a complete back, he’s a very smart guy, and he can do so many different things for you and has had a big impact on our team over the last couple years. Obviously, Saquon Barkley is off to a great start himself. He made the big run in the game the other day and anybody who evaluated him coming out of the draft saw that he has an immense amount of talent, capable of doing anything you’d ask a running back to do, and on top of that, a really great kid. I know the Giants, I’m sure, are happy to have him, and he certainly will challenge opponents for years to come.
Q: What kind of challenges does Pat Shurmur’s offense and system present to a defense?
A: He does a great job. I think there’s a system that they believe in that Pat has been a part of for a lot of years, but I think the next level of that is to take that system and try your best to fit the different pieces you have into that system. He’s done a really good job of that throughout his career and obviously the Giants have a lot of different weapons starting with the quarterback, but big time receivers, tight ends, a running back – they’ve got a lot of great pieces there that every time the ball’s snapped, you have to be ready for. He’s done a great job for a long time, and they certainly have a lot of weapons that can challenge you.
Q: You’ve got two teams at 0-1 playing. You know the deal when it’s 0-2, it’s just not a good start to the season. What added pressure or whatever you want to call it goes into this game?
A: What you try to do is, you try to focus on each day of preparation and go play your best game. If we were 1-0 at this point, we’d want the same thing from our team, we’d expect the same thing from ourselves as coaches, the focus you need to have each day in preparing for the challenge that we have Sunday night against the Giants. Regardless of what’s happened up to this point, you really just try to get everybody to stay locked in and prepare the right way so we can go play our best football.
None.