NYG Transcriptions: Head Coach Pat Shurmur -- October 24, 2018
Q: Did you address the trades with the team?
A: I did talk to them, yes.
Q: What is the message you want to give?
A: We were presented with some deals. We made a couple trades and we’re moving on. For the guys that play those positions, it gives them the opportunity to get more reps and show us what they can do, so I’m looking forward to seeing what our guys can do. We’re always looking for ways to improve the roster. My concern obviously is getting the team ready to play this week and beyond, but we all know there are short-term and long-term things that go on.
Q: You say you’re looking to improve the roster, but you traded away two of your defensive starters. How do you prevent them…
A: We’ve got guys that we feel like can fill in and play well. I don’t worry about losing these guys.
Q: Do you think they understand?
A: I told them and they listened and they nodded, and I watch the way they work. If you work hard and you’ll be tough and you care about the guy next to you, this thing will work out.
Q: Was Snacks (Damon Harrison) playing up to his reputation this season?
A: I thought Snacks had some really good reps in the games and just like everybody, there are things in each game that he could’ve been better.
Q: What do you lose by trading him?
A: We traded two players, and we’re moving on. In our mind, we’ve got some guys that we feel like can step in and fill in.
Q: Did any of the players have questions, though, like why are we doing this? Are we giving up on the season?
A: No, and I think that the ‘giving up on the season’ narrative, I think, is disrespectful to the guys in the locker room, and this is an ultimate team sport and teams have ways of dealing with things. No, they didn’t have any questions.
Q: These were two guys that started every game and were healthy. Does this force adjustments on defense?
A: We are going to put guys in there and they’re going to play well. And we expect them to. I guess I can understand the questions, but this is the ultimate team game and we need to play better as a team, and we’re going to put guys in there and we expect that they’re going to do a good job.
Q: It seems like Dalvin Tomlinson is going to be one of the guys in line up to get more reps. What did you see out of him that might make you comfortable with making the Snacks trade?
A: He’s probably a natural nose guard, so this would put him back in that position full time. We’re looking forward to seeing him do good things.
Q: As a coach, do you welcome this opportunity to not only try to win each week but also get these extra reps and evaluate these younger guys?
A: Yeah, I think it’s about winning. We talk about that all the time, evaluating, but we’ve got to put guys on the field to try to win the game. We’ve been close in a lot of games, we’ve won one, and we’ve got to do a better job there. We’re making improvements. Unfortunately they haven’t shown up on the scoreboard yet.
Q: For these young guys, do you want them to look at this as a nine-week tryout?
A: No, it’s not a nine-week tryout. We’ve got nine games left, playing one game at a time. Those are all things for people to talk about. We’re moving forward, getting ready to play the Redskins. Sometimes I find these little gatherings interesting. We’ve got an opponent on the horizon and we don’t even talk about the opponent, which I think is interesting. But that’s what we’re doing, we’re getting ready to play the Redskins.
Q: What do you say to the idea that these trades were necessary because there was a misevaluation of the roster this offseason?
A: I don’t believe in that. I think we’re constantly evaluating, constantly looking for ways to get better. There’s a new coach and a new GM because they were 3-13 and so we’re trying to do what we can do to build a winner and a winner that can sustain. That’s what we’re trying to do. That’s that.
Q: Do you guard against the idea at all that some of the veterans in the locker room that are still here that with the trade deadline on Tuesday that they’re not looking over their shoulder?
A: No, I don’t feel like we need to guard against that. We’ve got professionals in that locker room, changes happen throughout the season for a lot of reasons for a lot of people. We all need to perform better and win, so I don’t worry about that.
Q: What do you see from Adrian Peterson and is he still as dangerous?
A: Adrian, oh yeah. Having been with him, he is an explosive downhill runner, although I have seen watching the tape that they’re doing some flat path-type stuff where he’s running around the perimeter. He’s a violent runner and there’s a reason he’s one of the best of all time. It looks to me like he’s playing at a high level.
Q: Are you surprised when people are looking at this division, Redskins didn’t get much publicity, that after this many games the Redskins are standing in first place?
A: I don’t pay much attention to that. I am more concerned about our team.
Q: When you look at Nate Solder, he admitted he struggled early in the game the other day. Why do you think it’s been such an adjustment for him this year?
A: I don’t know, you talked to him and he said he struggled a little bit. Nate’s been battling through it and he’s done a lot of good things. Like every player, he’s had some things he’d like to do better, and we’re just playing through it.
Q: How much is Alex Smith different than the one before the Redskins got? Are they doing the same stuff with him that he had done previously in his career?
A: No, I think they’re running their offense. He’s running the plays that Jay Gruden has run and he certainly can execute them in a way that Kirk Cousins did. He’s a very good quarterback and the thing about him is he’s kind of a gritty, tough guy, so in the case of a throw, you think you have it defended or maybe you got him hemmed in, and he will run for yardage. I’ve always admired his style of play, and he’s doing a good job for them.
Q: Is Alec Ogletree’s injury something that could force him to miss time?
A: We’ll have to see. It’s been reported, right? Hamstring. We’ll just have to see. Hard to say right now.
Q: Are you going to stick with the offensive line you had in the last game?
A: Same line up, yes.
Even something as harmless as asking how you communicate trading away your best players to the rest of the roster there's nothing of any substance or interesting thought.
Agreed.
Just want it to end
Why would they tell the public absolutely anything important?
He doesn't seem to be handling the losses very well and the
fact that the Offense can't score TD's is troubling ...
Trying to attach a player's value to "wins they bring" is nonsense. It literally means nothing. A good player is a good player. Collect enough of them and you win. When you don't have enough of them, you lose. But shipping them out of town just to shuffle deck chairs on a sunken ship does nothing.
And shipping them out of town under the umbrella of saving salary cap is amateur hour when this regime spent like drunken sailors this offseason on a collection of free agents that gave this team absolutely nothing this year.
Quote:
There’s a new coach and a new GM because they were 3-13 and so we’re trying to do what we can do to build a winner and a winner that can sustain. That’s what we’re trying to do. That’s that.
That doesn't say much - is there a team in the NFL that's not trying to build a sustainable winner? Forget that it comes in response to a question about a trade, which arguably would make the team worse in the short term.
Granted, it's coach speak so you're not expecting anything useful, but let's not pretend like they're giving us anything here. It's a non-answer to a fair question.
The "narrative" the team is tanking is disrespectful to the players? Oh shut up. Every single person in and out of that organization knows what's happening. You don't need revel in it or even acknowledge it. But don't be a dick and insult everyone, including the player's intelligence.
"there are things in each game that he could’ve been better."
Couple that with Snacks "I am not a leader" comments earlier in the year, and maybe they didn't see him as the guy that most of us see. I loved Snacks on the Giants, but maybe he wasn't what we'd like to think he was in the locker room. Even his goodbye tweet )the only one I saw) was pretty lukewarm to NYG. All that aside, he is a beast in the middle, and we will miss him.
Even something as harmless as asking how you communicate trading away your best players to the rest of the roster there's nothing of any substance or interesting thought.
its a requirement from the league