Head Coach Pat Shurmur -- August 6, 2019
Opening Statement: We’re two days out from the game, so we had a 10-10-10 practice, which was good. It got them moving around. We focused mainly on the Jets. We had a little period at the end there, 7-on-7, Giants vs. Giants. (It was) designed to give them some scheme that the Jets, what we anticipate they’re going to run. Obviously doing research on Adam (Gase) when he was at the Dolphins, and then Gregg Williams when he was in Cleveland. That’s sort of how we try to plan for that. This is more about the players and less about the scheme. The guys that are playing in this game, we want to see them block, tackle, run, throw, catch, all of the things. It’s going to be less about matchups and more about execution from that standpoint. I’m sure I’m going to get peppered here by questions of who’s playing in the game. I would say this. After this practice, we’re going to reassess where everybody is health wise. But a few guys that are healthy and have been practicing may not play. But then certainly the guys who can’t play at this point in training camp won’t either. I don’t have a final answer on any of that yet, although I do have some strong ideas who may not. I’ll just leave it at that and then we can visit about other stuff.
Q: Is the plan for Eli (to play)?
A: We’ll just leave it. We’ll let that all reveal itself.
Q: How important is it for you to see Daniel (Jones) play extended action here in the preseason?
A: He’s a guy that will play. I can tell you that for sure. Yeah, and it’s good. The preseason games are very important, especially for the quarterback to be able to go out there. It’s the next real step in his process, so to speak. We’re looking forward to seeing him go out and execute.
Q: You want to see him play as much as possible though?
A: Yeah, we want to see him play. We’ll just see how long it takes.
Q: We saw what you did with the quarterbacks last preseason. Is that different from this preseason, because last preseason they were learning your playbook, and this year, Eli (Manning), (Kyle) Lauletta and (Alex) Tanney are familiar with it?
A: Maybe slightly. Maybe slightly.
Q: Has your thinking evolved at all regarding preseason play among veterans particularly?
A: Yeah, I’ve kind of adjusted my thinking over the years. As I mentioned, there are some healthy guys that have been practicing that you may not see Thursday.
Q: This kind of ties into that. What are your thoughts on the proposal out there of 18 regular season games and 2 preseason games?
A: I don’t know. I think we play a lot of football. I’m not involved in those meetings. The players, the owners and the NFLPA, they’ll get that figured out. It’s still 20 games in my mind. I obviously know that it means different things to different people. So we’ll just have to see it how it plays out.
Q: From the coaching standpoint, is two preseason games enough to get your team ready? Would that be okay?
A: If we’re given two preseason games, we’ll get the team ready. That’s what I would say. That’s really, over the years, how we’ve adjusted to the rules. At one point, there wasn’t an offseason that was quite as structured as it is now. Now with all of the structure, we’re still required to do our jobs in the amount of time that’s allotted, and be smart about how we train our guys. That’s really going to be my opinion regardless.
Q: Does it make it particularly challenging for Daniel going against a Gregg Williams defense? He will not be shy about bringing pressure.
A: Yeah, that’s the reputation of it. But you have to see it. He’s going to get pressured during the season. We’ll react to whatever comes.
Q: What are you looking to see from him (Jones) when he does get out there?
A: We want him to play good football and execute well. I think that’s the important thing. Everybody that plays on Thursday is going to play a portion of the game. So, we want to see the guys that are playing make the best of the reps that they get.
Q: With the healthy guys you sit, what will go into that decision?
A: I’ll decide why and why they won’t. I don’t want to go (into it). Like I said, I mentioned that there will be some guys that don’t play. I just have an idea of who I don’t want to see in this first game.
Q: This is usually the third preseason game. Did you have some say in wanting the third game to be against somebody you’re not playing in the regular season this year?
A: I was involved in those conversations. I think it makes sense. We’re going to play the Jets in the regular season. As I mentioned, this is more about the players and trying to decide who our best 53 are, than actually the scheme and the matchups and all that. We’ll get to that later when we play the Jets. But to play them first instead of third, I think it makes sense this year.
Q: Will you talk about Sean Chandler a little bit and how he’s progressing?
A: He’s done a really good job. In fact, he caught my eye a couple times today moving around. Coming back from the back injury, first in my mind, I’m looking at his movement skills, his change of direction, and his twisting and turning. I think he’s done a really good job with all of that. He was tight in coverage in the red zone a couple of times at the end of practice. He’s very tough and very competitive. For him, the next step obviously now will be the preseason.
Q: Is the first preseason game very important for quarterbacks because it’s probably the first time they’re getting real, live pressure and actually getting hit?
A: That’s part of it. There’s no red jerseys in real games, so obviously they’re exposed to hits. Yeah, that’s part of it. It’s understanding the timing. Sometimes the timing changes a little bit. So they get that all calibrated in the preseason games. Just like fending off low blocks. Just like tackling to the ground. There are certain things that you really can’t practice safely that you have to get in the preseason games. That’s probably one of the elements for the quarterbacks.
Q: When Daniel’s in the game, do you want him to stick to the script, whatever you send to the field?
A: We want him to execute the offense. There are some plays that they have flexibility to do what they do. Then there are other things that we have that are what I consider ‘run it’ plays, where you just call it and run it. We want him to execute, and we want him to do it in a way that represents how we run our offense.
Q: Are you going to continue to call plays this year?
A: Yes.
Q: What’s Chad Wheeler’s status? We haven’t seen him in a couple of days.
A: He’s dealing with a back thing that’s… Those are a little bit tricky sometimes. He’s sort of day-to-day.
Q: Do you think you’ll be very aggressive in calling reviews, specifically with pass interference, trying to figure out how they’re going to do it this year?
A: Yeah, I’d like to see how they’re going to do it. I have my opinion of how it’s going to play out, based on what we heard from the officials, based on the training tapes that go around. The replay system works really well, but there’s also an element of it that’s sort of what was called, stays. I’m curious to see if that’s… unless it’s so obvious that we’re going to change it. We’ve seen plays in the past… forget OPI-DPI (offensive pass interference- defensive pass interference). Any type of foul where you would have said, ‘We called a foul here. If I didn’t call the foul, it wouldn’t have been one. But since I did, I see why…’ I think there’s a little bit of that in there, which I think it’s important for us early on in this process to see how it’s going to be done. I really do believe that we all want to get it right. This is going to be talked about a great deal. It’s going to have an effect on some games, so I think in the preseason, it makes sense for all of us to, every once in a while, throw one just to see what the response is.
Q: Were you reasonably comfortable with how it was explained to you?
A: I was. I’m comfortable with how it was explained, and I have my opinions of how I think it’s going to be officiated. I understand where the officials are coming from when they make their decisions. But we all know it happens in real time. As an example, I don’t know if we visited it here, there was a foul the other night where the running back lowered his head. Do we all remember that foul in the first game? The foul was called on the running back, but then when you watch it, the defender came in just as low and used his head. Then were was some discussion, ‘Well should it have been on the defender? Oh by the way, should it be on both of them?’ There’s an example of, that’s obviously not up for review, but the interpretation of something that happens in real time.
Q: Are you looking forward to just getting some clarity on Golden Tate with his appeal today?
A: Yeah, and that should be coming here soon. You noticed he was at practice. He left a little bit early to get to where he needed to be.
