NYG Postgame (vs. Vikings) Transcripts: Head Coach Pat Shurmur -- October 6, 2019
Opening Statement: On the injury front, I think the one of note is (Wayne) Gallman, who left the game early with a concussion. Otherwise, we just got banged around so some of the guys are just going to be a little bit sore. The challenge is to get them back going, get their energy level up to play on Thursday. We faced a good football team. There were times in the game when we presented ourselves with opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of them. When that happens against a good team, they take advantage of them. They were able to run the ball on us, at a clip that it’s going to be hard for us. They threw the ball, they did well. They played well, and we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities to give ourselves a chance to win the football game. That’s the message, I just told that to the team. We just have to get back to work. We obviously have a hell of a team to play on Thursday, and that’s that. I’ll take your questions.
Q: Your defense struggled in the first half. What do you think it was?
A: Well I think— they were running the ball, boots and nakeds, and they were able to get into the rhythm that they wanted to get into. They did a good job.
Q: How difficult is it to cover those boots and nakeds when you have new players at linebacker?
A: When you add the, ‘new at linebacker,’ that’s making excuses for the fact that— no, we have to do a better job, everybody on defense. When we have opportunities to score on offense, we have to take advantage of that.
Q: How did Daniel Jones handle going up against a top defense and what are the takeaways from his performance?
A: I think he showed me Week 3 again, his toughness and his poise. He made some good throws under duress at times. Then there were a couple he was just off on. The one that comes to mind is the Shep (Sterling Shepard) throw in the end zone. I think that’s a touch. We talk about making that a facemask throw, it was just a touch high. But there are a lot of things. There are situations where I wish I could’ve given him better plays. But I thought he battled, and that’s why he’s going to be a good player for us for a long time.
Q: After you got the big turnover, that fumble recovery at the goal line and you were at the 1-yard line. Obviously, you wanted to get out of there as fast as you can, so you give it to Hilliman, but you had other options there…
A: Other than run the ball? We could’ve thrown it. I certainly could have thrown it. It was a run play that, in hindsight, we didn’t execute it well enough and we gave up a safety. That’s two points, you move on. That’s that. We got beat by what, what did we get beat by? 18. That was a bad play on our part, we have to clean it up and move on. Good question, though, tough question. Good question.
Q: How would you evaluate the offensive line?
A: I thought they battled hard against a really good front.
Q: What did you think of the unsportsmanlike call against DeAndre (Baker)?
A: I didn’t see the actual call. My understanding is that it happened. I had a conversation with him about why that can’t happen, and we got that cleaned up and we moved on. But I did not see the actual play. It was sort of between plays, or after a play, so I cut my eyes away slightly.
Q: I know you don’t want to use excuses about personnel, but you had to compromise in the second half. It just didn’t seem like you could get the running game going and it seemed like the Vikings could.
A: I thought (Eli) Penny had a couple nice runs in there. If you ask him, he’ll tell you that he’s a converted halfback. Just ask him. He plays fullback, but he’s like, “hey coach, give me the ball.” I thought he stepped in and did some good things. Then we had (Jon) Hilliman in there that was battling, too. So, we move on.
Q: Darius Slayton got his first touchdown. How do you feel he’s progressed?
A: Yeah. Since the day he got here, he has made steady improvements. He was obviously a really good player in college, and we drafted him for a reason. He came here, and ironically, the first practice he couldn’t catch a cold. So we were like, ‘holy smokes, were we looking at the right guy?’ From practice two on, he has made steady improvements. Those types of plays are not surprising for me to see based on what I’ve seen from him.
Q: What was it like getting Golden (Tate) back today?
A: It was good. He’s a veteran presence, he gets in there and battles. We’ll just have to look at it. I think we probably didn’t do enough to get enough guys enough balls. That’s partly because of who we played against, but I thought it was good to have him out there. You can feel his veteran presence on the sideline.
Q: You didn’t shy away from throwing deep down the field against the corners. What were your thoughts on how the receivers competed and how Daniel Jones attacked those guys deep?
A: We felt like, we weren’t just throwing go balls. Some of them were, certainly, but we felt like we needed to make some plays down the field. They didn’t always present us those good clean one on ones. The times that we did have them, I thought Dan did a good job of letting the ball go. Then the other part of it is, the protection element and making sure you have that as well.
Q: You got sacked on 4th and goal. Well, I guess it was 4th and 3.
A: Yeah, we were going for it.
Q: Is there anything Daniel (Jones) could have seen to avoid that?
A: No, we had a three-man concept to the left. They pressured the A-gaps, I thought we did a good job there. Just like anytime you get pressure in the quarterback’s face, it kind of disrupted him some. Then the edge got us some. It was a good rush on their part. I’ll have to look and see how clean we were blocking it. I’ll kick myself in the butt for it, but I wanted to be aggressive there, we were down by two touchdowns. I felt like against a team like this, when you have opportunities, you have to hit on them. That’s why we did it.
Q: You threw the challenge flag on the Shep (Sterling Shepard) play. Did you have any thoughts of throwing it on the fade to (Evan) Engram?
A: Yeah. I told you I was going to go there at some point— but, hold that thought. I thought about it, certainly. But in that situation, I’m surprised sometimes by what I hear and challenge. There was a grab on the left side of our receiver. That was a big play that could’ve put us at the one in a two-score game. That’s why I felt like that one was worth it. You see, typically, on fade balls a lot of the time in the back corner it goes bang, bang. There are a lot of times where the demeanor of the defender is not playing the ball, but kind of goes through the offensive player. You don’t ever get those calls. I made a judgement, and we’ll check it out to see what anybody wants to say about it. I’ll take it to my grave because I can’t tell you guys what happens, but we’ll figure it out.
Q: What do you hope Daniel (Jones) learns from today and what can he learn from going against this defense?
A: I think we played against four really good defenses prior to this, but I think each person that played today— number one, you can’t get discouraged. I’m looking for guys who get discouraged, those are the guys we’re going to get out of here—the ones that get discouraged. You can’t get discouraged. We didn’t make enough plays. So, everybody goes back, and we’ll do it quickly because we’ve got a game on a short horizon here, and make our corrections and move on. I think Daniel’s no different.
Q: Were you upset they didn’t call, to protect Daniel, on that low hit?
A: That was one of a number of things I talked about. Hold that thought. I’m going to get to it at some point. It’s going be to be epic, but not today.
Q: What do you say to the idea that it’s going to be hard for you guys when you go against good offenses when you’re really going to have to stop them?
A: Listen, we have to go out and play against whoever we play against. Every team you play is good. But when we play well, we’re good, too. So that’s what I would say.
Q: Do you feel encouraged at least that you got down into scoring positions at the bottom of these drives? You didn’t finish them, but had chances to make a comeback?
A: No, I’m not encouraged or discouraged by that. When you get down there, you have to score. If we play these guys again, there’s a handful of things I might do differently. It’s not going to change my sleep pattern knowing that we played against a good defense. That’s a bullshit mentality. We’re out there to win games, regardless of how good the team is.
