Post-Game Transcript: WR Golden Tate

NYG Postgame (vs. Cardinals) Transcripts: WR Golden Tate -- October 20, 2019

Q: How disappointing is this loss for you guys?
A: Very disappointing. People spend their hard-earned money to sit in the rain and watch us do that; it’s just unacceptable. I think, from top to bottom, we’ve got to be better. I thought we had a really good week at practice, but we just gotta do the simple things right, man. So, we just gotta do better. It’s tough.

Q: Where does it start? How do you guys get better?
A: I think it starts at practice, for sure, and we just gotta pay attention to the details, the small things. Just do the little things right. You know, just limit penalties, be efficient on third down, hold onto the ball, catch the ball, block your guy. Just the simple things, I think. We’ll be in a better place, but when we show up at MetLife, we expect to win. That’s our home. We just did not perform today, in my opinion. I haven’t seen the film. I’m sure there’s a lot of good things we did. We were playing from behind early, fast, and we fought back, so we definitely did some good things, so, overall, we gotta … the details, man.

Q: You’ve said this a few times, what do you mean by ‘details’?
A: I just explained it: catch the ball, third down, run the ball, the simple, fundamental things of football.

Q: Was this a step back for the Giants’ offense today?
A: (long pause) I mean, we didn’t perform like we wanted to, but I don’t want to say we’ve taken steps back. We just didn’t get it done today and I know we’re capable and I know it’s important to every person in this organization. We are going to stay focused, we’ve got another opportunity next week and, by no means are we out of this. We’re not going to tank. We’re going to show up tomorrow and we’re going to be very critical of this film, we’re going to fix this crap, and we’re going to be ready to go on Wednesday. That’s the only thing we can do.

Q: Where are you guys after seven games, you said you’re ‘not going to give up’, you’re ‘not going to tank’, but how do you view the situation at 2-5?
A: I think we’re getting more people back, we should get more people back next week and the week after. We’re going to keep grinding, we’re going to get this fixed.

Q: Are some of the mistakes that Daniel had just part of the growing process for a young QB?
A: Yeah, I mean he’s definitely learning. He’s learning and we’ve got to help him out. The receivers, we gotta get open, we gotta catch the balls that come to us. We gotta run the routes the way they’re designed, we gotta block- we gotta hold up on our blocks. When we run the ball, we gotta always get positive plays. [Fix] those things, and we’re going to be fine. I do not think we are a bad team, by any means. I think we have a lot of talent, we have a great scheme, but we just gotta do things right.

Q: On the most frustrating part of today…
A: You know, just, there’s times where we get something going and we have a penalty or we would drop the ball or we would get sacked or something like that and I only can speak on the offense, because that’s what I work with directly. I thought special teams came up and made a big play for us, Rhett made a big play for us and put us back in the game and we gotta ride that momentum. We come back out after halftime and we’re getting the ball and I think we were, what? Three-and-out, three-and-out? Is that right? You can’t do that.

Q: Surprised that Pat Shurmur went for it on 4th and 15 from deep in your own territory?
A: Look, that’s the leader of this organization and I’m not going to question anything he does. He had his reasons and my job is to run the plays that he calls. I’m not the head coach- maybe one day I might be one, but it’s his decision. That’s the decision he thought that was going to give us a chance and we ran it.

Q: What do you guys think in the huddle about running the ball on 3rd and 20?
A: You’re trying to take me to dangerous waters. Look, I have complete trust in this organization and when they call plays, my job is to run them.

Q: You, personally, made quite a few plays, did you feel like you’re kind of getting your legs under you in this offense?
A: Yeah, it feels good to just be out there running around, playing, and trying to help this team as much as I can, but I look at this game- there are some plays that I’ve got to make. I gotta make a few more plays. When they come to me late in the game, there’s one, you know I don’t know what would happen after that, I gotta make, I’ve got to find a way to catch that ball, to come back to it. So, I can’t get caught up on what I did because we lost, so my individual effort means nothing because we lost. I just want to keep working, keep showing up to work every single week, every single day, because I believe we can win and we will win.

Q: Their defense had really struggled- to put up only 14 points against a defense that had been as bad as this group, bottom line, how unacceptable is that for you guys?
A: That’s very frustrating. I mean, we made those guys look like the ’85 Bears. We had a great scheme, we just did not execute, we had opportunities, but I feel like a lot of the time we were kind of playing behind the sticks, where we take a sack, we have a penalty, we drop it, whatever it may be. We just gotta be better with the details and I’m going to probably say it for the rest of the year and my entire time, we don’t need to be the best team in the league, we just need to be better than the team we were going against and today we just absolutely weren’t.

Q: With the return of Patrick Peterson, did they show any different looks defensively? Did anything come out that you didn’t see on film?
A: No, they were who we thought they were. You know, their pass rush did a great job. I thought the DBs did enough. I don’t know how many explosive plays we had or you know, I don’t know the stats of the game, but they just, you know, they did a good job of taking advantage of the weather, I think, against us and keeping everything in front of us and the times that we did get behind them, we scored.

Q: Could you still feel Saquon’s impact on the game?
A: Absolutely. It’s great to have him back out there. No one cares about the game more than him. He’s a huge asset to this team, this organization, [and] this city. There’s only so much he can do. We know he’s going to come out there and give his best effort, but it’s going to be all of us. The other 10 guys got to do their job in order for him to do well and he has to do his job in order for us to do well. It’s not fair just to put it all on him and expect him to carry us to victory because good teams are going to figure out what they need to do.