Thursday Media Transcript: Head Coach Pat Shurmur

Head Coach Pat Shurmur -- October 25, 2018 

Q: What do you like about Tony Lippett?  
A: Tony, I know a lot about him. actually. When he came out of Michigan State, he played receiver and corner, he’s got excellent ball skills, he played corner in Miami. As you know, he had an Achilles injury that he’s coming back from. I think he’s back, but we’re going to get a chance to get a good look at him.   

Q: On having taken a look at him before but not signing him: 
A: Yeah, we looked at him awhile back to see where he was at. He had a little bit of time left in his recovery, so he sort of has been on our radar and we had the opportunity to bring him in, so we did.  

Q: How would you describe the plan with Corey Coleman now that he’s up?
A: We’re going to try to get him up to speed. First, obviously, he’ll help on special teams, then try to get him in on our offensive sets as well.  

Q: You have seven receivers on your 53-man roster. Is that something you could go forward with?    
A: We got a couple that are coming back from injury, so we just have to see. It’s good if you have four or five up each week, so we’ll see where it’s at.   

Q: Eli (Manning’s) numbers are representative for his entire career in terms of completion percentage and things like that. Saquon (Barkley), I think, is fourth in the league in rushing, Odell (Beckham) is fourth in receiving yards. The numbers look good. 
A: Yeah, we didn’t score. We’ve said that, and I know I’ve said that all along. We had five trips into the red zone, and we got two touchdowns. If you convert those five trips into the red zone times seven, that’s 35 points. That solves your point problem if we’re better at the end of the drive. I think that’s pretty obvious. We’ve got talented enough players to move the ball, whether we choose to run it or pass it. When we get down there, we’ve got to score points. That’s glaring.  

Q: (Sterling) Shepard had three catches of 38 yards or more – was there a different focus on getting him the ball downfield? They weren’t catch and runs, they were downfield throws to him.  
A: Each game plays out differently. They were matched up on us, and we had an opportunity to get the ball down the field more. Some games, it’s not the case, and so it plays out differently. As a group here as you ask the questions each week about where the production comes, sometimes it has to do with how they’re playing on defense and who we get the ball to to make sure we move the ball. There was a game when Saquon had 200 something yards, it made sense to get him the ball because they were defending the pass. Moving the ball certainly is very important, but we’ve got to get it in.   

Q: On offense clicking late in the games:
A: I think it’s important we get a fast start. We’ve only had a couple games where we got fast starts on both sides of the ball, and that’s something as we get more and more familiar with one another, we’ll do. We just have to make sure we, as coaches, are putting the players in the right spots. 

Q: You guys are going up-tempo in those drives. Is that something maybe you could incorporate more? Is that something Eli thrives in? 
A: When I was with Chip (Kelly), we majored in it, so it’s in our DNA to do it and I think it’s something that Eli is good at. We always have it available. It’s sort of like, get that first first-down to get going, and I think that’s a little bit of what we’ve fallen victim to. 

Q: What do you like about Sean Chandler? 
A: He’s a good player, a young player. We’ve been impressed with him since he got here. He’s tough, he’s competitive, he’s got good instincts. I think, given an opportunity to get in the game, he’s going to do a good job.