Monday Media Transcript: WR Sterling Shepard

WR Sterling Shepard -- September 30, 2019


Q: What does it mean to get Golden (Tate) back for you guys?
A: It’s great, we get another playmaker, somebody for Daniel (Jones) to get the ball out to who understands the offense and understands zone coverage as well.

Q: Do you think it helps you too?
A: Yeah, for sure. Like I said, it just gives you another playmaker on the field for defenses to be aware of.

Q: Getting these last two wins to get back to .500, how much does that allow you guys to exhale?
A: I don’t think we can exhale. It’s great that we got two wins in a row, but we have to still come with it every week and prepare the way we have been preparing these last two weeks.

Q: You had a lot of yards after the catch yesterday—obviously that’s a big part of your game, but how much of that is Daniel putting that out in front of you where you can do that?
A: Yeah, it’s great, especially on the slant routes. We ran over those a couple times after practice just so we could get the timing down, and having that ball out in front, like you said, it’s huge. You get a chance to get some YAC yardage off of that.

Q: It seemed like you quickly developed a pretty good rapport with Daniel?
A: Yeah, like I said, we do a great job of just staying after practice and hitting the things we need to hit, some of the things that didn’t work out well in practice, and it goes a long way. You see it show up on film on game day.

Q: Is that something you would do with Eli (Manning)?
A: Yeah, I do it with all my quarterbacks. If there’s something that we needed to hit that we didn’t hit in practice, then yeah, it’s all a benefit for game day.

Q: When you work on stuff after practice with him, is it something you suggest, or he suggests?
A: It’s both of us. We know we need to do it to get it done.

Q: What do these two wins do for morale, confidence, the feeling of hope early in the season?
A: Wins are huge for the team. You find a way to win one and you know that you can do it, and it just helps out the team, just mentally. It’s great for the team.

Q: You mention “find a way” to win—in some ways, does that part seem new because there was a lot of finding a way to lose that you’ve been a part of since you’ve been here?
A: You always try to find a way to win. Sometimes it doesn’t work out in your favor, but guys did a great job fighting two weeks ago against Tampa, and it just shows you what type of team we have and the mentality that we have. This week, we were able to get a pretty good jump on them, I just feel like we needed to finish a little bit stronger than what we did.

Q: Considering you were able to find a way to win without two of your best offensive players, Saquon (Barkley) and Golden Tate, what does that mean as they come back?
A: I feel like the guys that we have, it’s next-man-up mentality, like I’ve always said. Wayne (Gallman) did a great job carrying the load. It just shows that we have guys that are locked in that can be put in those places and still succeed. But yeah, it’ll be great when we can get those guys back. Saquon’s the best running back in the league, so you want to have him on the field with you.

Q: What’s it been like so far to be the number one guy?
A: I have a lot of guys that help me out along the way, so it’s not too much pressure on me. They take the load off of me, Bennie (Fowler), Cody (Latimer), and now we’ve got Golden back, so it was great being in that role, but we’ve got guys that can make plays as well.