NYG Postgame (vs. 49ers) Transcripts: LB Blake Martinez
September 27, 2020
Q: Does today feel like a step backwards for this program after the first two losses, when there were some positives to take out of it?
A: I think I can’t really dive into that too much. Obviously, it sucks to lose, but I kind of want to see the tape to see certain moments. I think it’s going to still come down to the same things we’ve been talking about the past two weeks, just fundamentals and making sure we’re in the right spot leverage wise, not making stupid mistakes, and just not hurting ourselves.
Q: Was there any common denominator to those two touchdowns that they scored, the end around and the screen, getting the ball in open space?
A: Yeah, that was just one of those kind of moments working together and being able to see those plays, and I think, once again, I want to look at it on film. But when we see it, it’s just going to be a small, little fundamental thing. Whether it’s being able to tell when you beat a block too cleanly on a screen play, having the forced presence, whatever it ends up being that could’ve went wrong on that play.
Q: You come from a program where there weren’t a lot of three-game losing streaks, how are you handling this?
A: I think any competitor would handle it in a very professional way, is the best way I can put it. Just knowing that...it’s not good enough. And we have to be able to show up every single day and put the work in and keep chopping wood, and knowing that what we’ve been doing isn’t it. And when we come back on Wednesday, we have to kind of step that level up even more, and know that what we’re doing out there, every single person is on the same page, every single person knows what we’re doing, every person understands situations, and just getting everything right.
Q: You guys seemed to be playing well early, but your offense couldn’t stay on the field and you end up playing 40 minutes as a defense. Isn’t it impossible to play well if you’re on the field 40 of 60 minutes?
A: I mean, any competitor would say there’s nothing that’s impossible. I think for us, we work in situations whether it’s sudden change, whether it’s backed up, whatever ends up happening in a game, we’ve worked it. We’ve done the conditioning, we’ve done multiple things throughout training camp, the ramp up period, everything you can think of that has given us the ability to go out there no matter if we play all 60 minutes, or if we play one minute of the game. I think it’s just what it’s going to come down to, once again, all across the board, is making sure we’re in the right positions, we understand what they’re trying to hit on us, we understand what they’ve been doing throughput the game, and just making those adjustments, and then, like I said, not shooting ourselves in the foot when, kind of, big opportunities to switch momentum come to us.
Q: You guys lost 36-9, they were without a bunch of starters, you’re now 0-3. When you look at it, where do you think this program is overall in regards to its progression?
A: I think anybody who looks at it, you know we’re in the position of needing to get better, needing to improve, needing to come together as a unit, not getting in our feelings, and we just need to push each other to that next point to make sure we don’t keep this streak going.
Q: Piggybacking off of that, you’re a captain, you’ve won a lot of games in this league. What do you tell some of the younger guys and how do you keep people invested in this thing at 0-3 and the wheels kind of falling off today?
A: I think every single week is a new week. I think the biggest thing that you can tell the younger guys is that it’s really hard to win in this league. No matter what week it is – you could be playing a team that’s 15-0 – you go out there and play a better game than them, you’re going to beat them no matter what your record is. I know the type of guys that we have in this locker room are the kind of guys that we need to kind of weather this storm. I know that we’re going to come out on top of this. I think, obviously, a lot of people on the outside are going to look at this as a negative, but for all of us, we need to take this as a positive and basically show how we need to go moving forward.
Q: In terms of the defense bouncing back from this, do you have to challenge each other? Is it something you take personally watching a backup quarterback have the kind of day that he had against you guys?
A: I think you go out there and obviously have 36 points given up, you need to take a step back, look and see what needs to change, what needs to improve, what do we need to add in – whether it’s player-wise – to make sure we understand how we can get off the field in two-minute, how we can do things in the red area, what we need to communicate, make sure we just do our 1/11th and have that mental capacity of just making sure I’m focused in every single play no matter if it’s the first play or the 70th play of the game.
Q: [Head Coach] Joe [Judge] talked a lot after the last game about your toughness and resilience as a team. I think fans would look at this game and see you got outscored 20-3 in the second half, so where is the toughness, where is the resilience, how would you answer that?
A: I mean, it’s something that we’ve kind of instilled in ourselves. I think no matter what the score is, what happened throughout the game, I know I can look at every single one of our guys and know that we played extremely tough for all 60 minutes on both sides of the ball. I think people look at it more as a fundamental mistake, as a lack of toughness, and I think at the end of the day, it’s more making sure that we dial in on the little things that are hurting us. That’s the biggest thing I can take from this game.
