NYG Postgame (vs. Cardinals) Transcripts: S Michael Thomas -- October 20, 2019
Q: What do you think has been the issue? with how you guys aren’t mixing things up in the lineup?
A: It’s no excuses there; other components, you can think of them: injuries, young players, stuff like that, but I’m not making any excuses for that. It’s man-up and rally and whoever is in there has to execute and that’s where we are at right now. We are going to find a way to make sure that the people that are out there are doing that from the jump and from the start of the game and it’s not going to be a ‘Oh, we’re down 14 and now let’s play with a sense of urgency’, no. We have to do it from the very beginning.
Q: You played a heck of a game, and then you look up and you are 2-5, how do you not finger-point in the locker room with what’s going on?
A: No, because it’s glaring; it’s glaring and, A) it’s not just one guy, and B) all we have to do is this (talk things out), because as soon as we start doing that, we will start playing well. The guys that are out there have to do that and we just have to make sure that the guys that we put out there are doing that and that they have the mindset to do that. That’s it.
Q: Given Kyler’s [Murray’s] height, is it hard as a defensive back to pick up what he is doing when he ball-fakes out there?
A: No; like I said, this game, especially in the run-game early on, we have to set edges and not get cut. We have to get off our blocks and make tackles. That’s something that you all have heard people say since Pop Warner, right? It’s nothing new; it’s not anything that crazy, it’s just play football and that’s what we have to do
Q: When the blocked punt that you had, was it something that you saw coming into the week?
A: Man, you know what? T-mac [Special Teams Coach Thomas McGaughey] challenged us on Special Teams. We kind of lost our way these last couple of weeks, especially giving up that play in New England, and he was like, ‘You guys aren’t playing physical enough. You guys aren’t making enough plays.’ He challenged me personally and told me that, ‘Word on the street is, number 31 is probably overrated on Special Teams’, so I took that personally, but he put me in a position [to be successful]. He put me in a position to make plays and thank God I was in that position he called when he dialed up that play for me and I was able to execute. That was huge for our play, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough.
Q: Is it hard hearing that [that you were called overrated] when he told you?
A: No, I love that, I welcome that. I want my coaches to coach me up. I love challenges because if people think that I’m overrated, people think that I don’t have it anymore on special teams, then they’ll see. It’s time to start bringing some more young guys with me though and maybe get some more playmakers, so that even if they double-team me, somebody else is there.
Q: I thought you were going to touch the ball there [on the blocked punt in the end zone], when you went out of bounds, right?
A: Well, [Eli] Penny touched it first, so all I had to do was re-establish and then I’m good, so I was hoping that he would let it squirt forward a little bit more so I could get the touchdown.
