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Thursday Media Transcript: Head Coach Pat Shurmur

Eric from BBI : Admin : 10/18/2018 1:32 pm
Head Coach Pat Shurmur
October 18, 2018
 
Q: What are teams doing in the red zone to take Julio Jones away? He has no touchdowns. Is it similar to how teams play Odell?
A: When you get in the red zone, obviously the field compresses. There’s less of an urgency to guard the post, so what happens is you can lean in players toward who you perceive to be your star. That’s one of the areas on the field where you can choose to double one or sometimes two of the players that are involved. Again, the key comes to, you’ve got to have progressions where you try to get the ball to somebody, but the goal is to get it in the end zone. As long as you’re getting it in the end zone, and I think they do a pretty good job down there, the other guys have to do their part.
 
Q: They are being played similarly?
A: It’s similar, it’s not new. It’s just the way the world works and I think the players and the teams change, but sometimes it’s the same narrative. 
 
Q: What have you missed without having Evan Engram in there?
A: Him being out the first few weeks can affect you. He’s got very good speed, he has some traits that a wide out might have, so that’s another guy to throw the ball to. Again, it kind of plays into if you’re going to stop one guy, the other guy has got to make plays. That’s not to say that the guys that filled in for Evan didn’t make plays, it’s just good when he’s out there.
 
Q: What is your assessment of your defense so far? Is it similar to the offense, still trying to find their way a little bit?
A: Yeah, every area of our team, there are stretches in the games where it’s really good, winning football, and then there’s also areas where the execution breaks down and it affects the outcome.
 
Q: Similar to Evan, obviously Olivier (Vernon) has been out most of the time. What will a healthy (OV bring)?
A: We saw his impact on the game last week. He can create a pass rush, and that is one of the things that we could have done better in the first few weeks of the season, but when you have a player that can pass rush like he did, he was disruptive in the game on Thursday night. Hopefully he can build on that.   
 
Q: What went into some of the transaction decisions the other day? (Grant Haley) for (Donte Deayon) and the guys you put on IR – were their injuries that severe?
A: Yeah. There aren’t shenanigans with IR – if a guy can’t go for a long stretch of time, that’s something that we want to do. It’s pretty well-documented that we’ve had a lot of change to the roster as opposed to a year ago, so we’ve got some players that if a guy gets hurt, we want to see what they can do. The reason why we want to see what they can do is we think they’re good enough, so we’re going to give them opportunities.
 
Q: The only linebacker that has played fewer snaps than Lorenzo Carter is Olivier Vernon. At this point in the season, what have you seen out of Lorenzo so far? Do you feel like it’s a priority to get him more snaps and get him on the field?
A: We get him on the field a bit, he’s involved in special teams, so he’s got a pretty solid load for a rookie. I think he’s improving. He’s continuing to improve. We see the reasons why we drafted him, and we anticipate that improvement will continue. 
 
Q: You used Nate (Stupar) at linebacker after Ray-Ray (Armstrong) got hurt. What have you seen from him and did you ever expect to use him there? He’s more of a special teams guy. 
A: Nate is a very instinctive player. Nate understands where he fits in the defense – he’s very smart, he studies, he’s a real pro. He approaches his defensive or scrimmage snaps in the same way he approaches his role on special teams. He’s one of those guys that’s going to be in the right spot. He’s getting more and more comfortable as he goes. As he gets further and further away from that knee surgery he had a year ago, it’s going to be even smoother for him.
 
Q: What’s the plan with (RJ) McIntosh? Can he get up to speed enough to get on the field in these next couple weeks?  
A: He’s going to practice. In theory, we started his clock, which can go for as much as three weeks before we can activate him. He hasn’t had pads on – the last time he had pads on, he was in college. Let’s keep that in mind. It’s important that he gets out there and gets a feel for things, gets banged around a little bit, and kind of goes through some of the season – it’s not the same – that you would in a training camp. That’s going to be moving forward in the next three weeks that we’re trying to get out of it.
 
Q: How far behind is he, because he missed so much time?   
A: That’s a crazy question. He’s obviously way behind. I just said, he hasn’t had pads on since he was in college. It’s not like basketball where you can still shoot. He’s got to learn how to play again, and that’s what we’re going to use this three weeks for. So, yeah, he’s way behind.
 
Q: If you got one (win), would that change the whole season in terms of the overall focus, the overall feeling? Just get that one win to get going?  
A: We got one. To get the next one, and the next one, and the next one, that’s the goal. Teams fight through adversity and it’s in the Giants’ DNA to pull this thing out. I’ve seen it, I’ve studied the history of it, and I like the locker room that we’ve assembled. I’m impressed with the guys that we have in the locker room, and I know they’re going to fight. I watched the games just like you have and coached the games – these guys fight, and these guys have enthusiasm. We just haven’t executed, and I’ll keep saying that until we do. And when we win the game, you know what I’m going to say? We executed better but we still made a lot of mistakes. Just write that down, because that’s what you try to do until you play the perfect game. I haven’t heard any coach take the podium and say their team played the perfect game. That’s the goal, and you really don’t worry about the results. You just try to eliminate those execution errors and then put it out there. It’s a thrill of competition, not to dread. You just go play. That’s what drives players and coaches to do what we do. That was a little bit of a rant, but we’re all friends here.
 
Q: You’ve talked several times about the fight you see in this locker room. You may not show us, you may not show the public, but is there part of you that needs to show to your team or you maybe made a conscious effort to show your team that you’ve got that fight, too?  
A: My team knows my true personality. For me to rant and rave, or say something that can be written and reported about, and me making it about me, I don’t think that makes you strong and I don’t think that makes anybody think that I care anymore than the players in the locker room. They know my true feelings, and that’s what I care about. We’ll take it from there. I’m well aware of competition and how this works. I played in the trenches, I was an overachiever. I get that, but I also know that as an adult sometimes, you don’t just do it and say whatever the heck you want. This is about team-building and trying to do this the right way, and along the way we’ve got to win more games and I am aware of that.
 
Q: Is Russell Shepard coming back this week?
A: We hope. He’s on his way back. We’ll see.
 
Q: If he can’t go, with (Cody) Latimer on IR now, what are you looking at as far as replacing that receiver position? Have you worked out a couple guys – Jawill Davis played a little?
A: Jawill Davis played obviously and then we’ve just got to work with the guys that we have. We brought in Bennie Fowler, so if Russell can’t go, we’ve got four at this point on the active roster, so you can do the math there. Four for four, those four guys.
 
Q: Have you found in your career that difficult times and having to deal with them have been important to you, and kind of defined you as a coach?
A: I think so. I don’t think any coach has ever won every game. We do this because we’re career coaches, we’re educators, and we’re trying to get the best out of our players. Sometimes you start further back and sometimes you start in the front, and sometimes you’ve got further to go when it comes to team building and getting the team ready to win games. We’re all sensible enough to believe that, but the competitor in us and the ‘we don’t want to lose’ and ‘we have the feeling that you get when you lose’, it’s there and we carry it with us. But I do think any adversity you go through helps you in the long run as long as you find your way through it. That’s what we’re facing right now. That’s real, so we just keep fighting our way through it.
 
Q: Status for (Nate) Solder and (Olivier Vernon) today?
A: They were out there today in the walk-thru. They’ll be competing to some degree in practice. I think they’ll be there, but we’ll see.
 
Q: What did you think of Janoris Jenkins’ play last Thursday and how do you feel he’s played this season?
A: I think he’s competed pretty well. He’s had a couple plays a game that you can just fill in the blank on each player, fill in the blank on each coach. The thing about Jackrabbit is that he’s competitive. He’s in there scrapping and he’s like everybody else, he wants to get out there and limit those bad plays.
Talented men of integrity and character  
mattlawson : 10/18/2018 9:15 pm : link
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RE: Talented men of integrity and character  
Joey in VA : 10/18/2018 9:24 pm : link
In comment 14134892 mattlawson said:
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I will punch you right in the Duke!
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