Sunday, September 20, 2020
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Daniel Jones
Press Conference Bears - 17, Giants - 13
Q. Daniel, obviously without knowing the severity of Saquon's injury, how tough is it to see your teammate go down like that and have you had a chance to see him back in the locker room or anything like that yet?
DANIEL JONES: Yeah. Definitely tough to see anyone go down, especially a guy that works as hard as Saquon does. And, you know, we don't know what it is yet, but certainly keeping our thoughts and prayers with him. He's a guy that comes to work every day. I know he'll attack any challenge, and we're all here to support him. So, yeah, always tough to see a teammate go down.
Q. Daniel, how frustrating was it to turn the ball over early and then conversely, how did you feel about how you guys responded as a team in the second half to your first half?
DANIEL JONES: Yeah. You know, tough first half for us. I'd like to go back and look at the turnovers, and certainly gotta do a better job with that. You know, we came out in the second half and we responded as a team. I thought we were able to play some complementary football with the defense coming up for us and making big plays and the offense able to move the ball and score some points. So ultimately we ran out of time there at the end, but we responded, and we certainly gotta start off better.
Q. What was Judge like at halftime?
DANIEL JONES: You know, he was -- you know, we were all motivated. I think we all know what we're capable of, and he certainly does. And we're capable of much more than what we put out there in the first half. So that was the message, and I think guys heard it and responded there going out in the second half.
Q. Daniel, I know that you don't know the full extent of Saquon's injury yet but it seems possible he'll be out for at least a little while. How do you rally the team
without such an important player, and what did you learn from the brief time you didn't have him last year?
DANIEL JONES: Yeah. You know, we'll look at it. I don't think anyone knows exactly what the injury is or what that sets us up for. So dealing in hypotheticals right now isn't the most productive thing. But whatever it is, we'll respond as a team and do the best we can going forward.
Q. Daniel, on that last drive, obviously it stalled with the penalty but a couple of plays before that, did you guys expect a flag to be thrown? It looked like Evan may have been held at the goal line, and it seemed to kind of throw things off.
DANIEL JONES: Yeah. You know, I'll have to go back and take a look at it on that play. You know, but those are all tough calls, tough situations, and we gotta find a way to execute down the stretch.
Q. The range of emotions when you see the flag down there, did you think that you got a defensive penalty and that you were going to get one more shot from the goal line or was it pretty obvious from field level that it was going to go the other way?
DANIEL JONES: No. I initially thought it was going to be defensive, we were going to get another shot there at the goal line. Like I said, go back and take a look at it, and we'll see. But it's up to us to execute it and find a way to get it in there.
Q. Daniel, what were your options there on that last play? I was calling it the fourth down play, but the last play there with four seconds left.
DANIEL JONES: You know, everyone's getting in the end zone on that play, so they played -- they knew that and played zone in the end zone. So just trying to find a spot, and everyone certainly an option there. Like I said, I'd like to go back and look at the play and learn from it.
Q. Daniel, obviously you guys bounced back there in the second half, but in the second quarter Saquon got hurt on the first play. I'm wondering if that deflated you guys at all. You threw the interception right after. The TV camera showed some guys on the sideline hanging their heads a little after Saquon got hurt. I'm wondering what that did to you guys in the second quarter before you bounced back.
DANIEL JONES: I'd say it's tough to watch a teammate go down, certainly, but that's a situation where we need to take control and respond as a team and I think ultimately we did that. We gotta play a better first half. We all know that, and come out from the opening kick and not hurt ourselves or put us in a hole.
Q. Daniel, this was supposed to be the game. You got all your guys back. The first time you have all your weapons and then Saquon gets injured, Shep gets injured. What do you make of that? It just hasn't worked with you guys getting all those guys on the field at the same time?
DANIEL JONES: Yeah. Certainly a tough break there for us today, but I know those guys will battle and I think they'll attack the challenge and we're excited to support them, and we'll have guys step up. So whatever the situation is, we'll attack it and respond as a team.
Q. How do you move forward if Saquon is not available long-term?
DANIEL JONES: Yeah. Like I said, I think no one really knows what the situation is right now. So we'll understand that as the week goes and respond to move forward as a team.
