NYG Postgame (vs. Buccaneers) Transcripts: TE Evan Engram -- November 18, 2018
Q: What’s the feeling right now following another big win?
A: We played lights out today. We started out fast. We got our playmakers the ball and we did an amazing job blocking up front. The O-Line had control of the game and had control of the line of scrimmage the entire game. Tight ends, we had our blocking packages in. Everybody was just doing their job and so when we start fast and do that, we play complementary football, we score a lot of points and that happened today.
Q: This is the second straight week you’ve made an enormous play on the biggest drive of the game late in the game. Are you putting that on yourself to do it in that moment, trying to make kind of that splash play or how has it happened?
A: I’m just there when my number’s called. It was kind of a slow start for me offensively. Team was playing great, but just kind of took a little bit getting into rhythm. Had one catch in the third quarter, I think. I just keep telling myself that the big play is going to come, my number is going to get called, and I’m just there when it happens. It’s not really playing – I would love to be up 30 at that point and I didn’t have to do that, but just being there when my number’s called, that’s my mindset.
Q: Is that just a good old fashion beating your man one-on-one?
A: No. It was a great play call. They got two shell sometimes and we just hit the seams. Those safeties are too high, the middle’s wide open so when we’re running the ball how we do, those backers have to show respect. They step up one time, I’m able to just use my ability to get past them and Eli (Manning) puts the ball in the perfect spot and I’m just there.
Q: Two weeks in a row you guys have had to close out the game with a game-winning drive or (inaudible) the win to run down the clock today. How much confidence do you as an offense now have in those situations?
A: It definitely builds our confidence and it builds – it raises our expectations for ourselves. We know what we can do, we know what we’re capable of. We’ve been moving the ball, we’ve been almost there all season and these past two weeks we’ve been really going over the top, going over the edge like we know we can. Just doing that and especially us doing that all day today, it just builds confidence, it builds that chemistry, it builds momentum and we’re in the last stretch of the season and it’s definitely good that we’re going now, but there’s no room for complacency, no room for being settled. We still got a lot more work to do and feel like we can be better.
Q: That 54-yard catch had a little extra meaning for you – A, the situation and B, it’s kind of been a quiet game for you leading up to that spot?
A: I was just there to make the play. I just kept telling myself that eventually I’m going to have to make some play, whether it’s a third and two block, whether it’s a little hitch route to move the chains or a big play like that. I just knew something was going to come and I just had to be there and make it. Literally everybody was doing their job. We were running the ball like that all game, it was easy for that play to happen just for all the team effort all game led up to that.
Q: How important is it that this team is actually able to string together victories when it hasn’t been able to do that?
A: It’s important and it’s fun. We put so much work in and we’ve been through so much, especially this year. To come out and start fast and to play a full game – in the league, those rare games where you just win outright and just chill the whole game. We had to work all game and that means a lot to us. Means a lot to the things we’ve been through and the work we’re putting in is finally starting to roll. We just got to keep going and keep building off of it.
Q: How wide did your eyes get on that play you see that linebacker crossing –
A: I saw it from the snap. We worked all week, they gave us two shell, see how the wind passed the linebacker and we run the ball like we did today, those backers got to step up, at least take one step and that’s all we need so I knew it was coming and I just had to be there to finish it.
Q: These last two games your playing time has gone down, but your impact has been big late.
A: It’s an easy position to get frustrated. It’s an easy position to kind of let doubt come in and question when your mind should be on other things. Now I just put that all to the side. I just stay positive. I knew something was going to come, I knew my time was going to come. It’s an NFL football game, it’s very rare that you just can cruise through the finish line, run the clock out. You’re going to have to make plays, finish drives. Just staying positive all game, just support my guys. Rhett (Ellison) and Scott (Simonson) did a hell of a job blocking tonight. That’s the package that we can lean on to get tough yards so anytime they’re coming in, anytime I’m in, we’re doing our job to get – we’re doing it together. It does feel good when those times do come especially in big moments.
Q: Coach (Pat) Shurmur mentioned just before that one of the things that the bye week they thought about was keeping you fresher so you can have more impact later in games. Is that – I mean you probably want to be on the field more.
A: If that’s the plan, if that’s what it’s looked like, it’s been best for the team these past two weeks, that’s just how I am. I’m not going to let it get to me. I’ve been in situations before where I was pissed and frustrated and then I do get my chances and I can’t deliver, so just the mindset, being ready, supporting the guys and making the play when it happens.
Q: Is this the way the offense is supposed to look with Saquon (Barkley) rushing –
A: You look at Saquon and me going crazy. We got Odell (Beckham Jr.) making big contested catches, moving the chains, Eli staying in the pocket, O-Line playing lights out. It’s complementary football. It’s something that we got to keep building on because we honestly, we’re not complacent, we feel like we can do things better. We just got to keep working.
Q: Your quarterback threw one incomplete pass today.
A: That’s 10, man, that’s 10. He hasn’t batted an eye this whole year and it’s really cool to be apart of these last two weeks with him and really excited what we got with him.
Q: How much does all this come back to the improved play of the offensive line last couple of weeks?
A: It’s big. You control the line of scrimmage in a football game, then you’re putting your team in the best position to win. Those guys, two weeks in a row, had a great, great two weeks. You see the chemistry with them, you see the fun they’re having. It’s something that we got to keep building on.
Q: How does that come so fast because even when you’re with guys during training camp it takes a couple games. These guys are coming in on parachutes midseason, but it seems to come along pretty quick.
A: It’s a big part of the chemistry and it’s a big part of gaining that confidence and believing in the guy next to you. I think offensive line is the most connected position room on the field so when you’re able to have success, that confidence builds, that chemistry builds and you get good results that we did today.
Q: You heard something that you haven’t heard much of and that’s cheers from the home crowd. What was that like?
A: Today was an especially good win for the city. Last one we had here was last year – well, last one I was apart of the Redskins win was a good one. I was out, but it felt good to allow them to have fun and take pride in us and for them to enjoy being up and not having to catch up or not having those tough heartbreaks like we’ve had. Today the atmosphere was crazy, it was great, and we just got to keep building on that for ourselves and for the fans.
Q: Did you hear that? Did you recognize the chants in the fourth quarter?
A: Yeah, they show up every week.
Q: Sometimes they go home every week.
A: They go home, too. This was a special day for them and special day for us in general.
Q: I know you guys are always looking forward, but is there any part of you that sits there and say man, if we could’ve just got one or two of those close games in the first half, it’d be a totally different ballgame?
A: It’s easy to look back and think like that, but we are where we are now and it would be nice. It’s definitely easy to think about, but we just got to keep working on what we got.
Q: You mention Eli. Publicly Pat said on the record that his starting job was kind of in the air coming out of that bye. What has he been like these past two weeks? Is he different? What have you seen from him?
A: Like I always say, Eli is always Eli in good times, bad times. There’s been a lot of adversity the first half of the season and he does (inaudible). He shows up to work each and every day, finds a way to get better and we’re riding for him and I’m just glad to be apart of it with him.
