Post-Game Press Conference: Head Coach Joe Judge

NYG Postgame (vs. 49ers) Transcripts: Head Coach Joe Judge

September 27, 2020

Opening statement: Real simple, I'll be honest with you up front, I’ll obviously answer your questions, I’m going to reserve a lot of analysis for the game until I have a chance to thoroughly review the tape and go over everything we’re doing. I’m going to work the rest of the night doing that. We’re not going to go ahead and postpone anything we have to go get working on. But, obviously, we all have to do our job better, start with coaching better, and we got to make sure we’re putting the players in the right positions. So, go ahead and any questions you have right now, I can answer, but guys, I’m telling you up front, there’s a lot of things, details on the game, that I’m going to reserve until I watch the tape.

Q: Two more turnovers from Daniel (Jones), you didn’t run a play in the red zone, (Nick) Mullens had a 108.9 Quarterback Rating, where do you guys go from here?

A: We go back to work. I know it’s a simple answer, but that’s really the solution. We go to work, we work on the fundamentals, we improve on what we do situationally, we keep grinding on a daily basis, and we work to see the results. That’s where we go, we go back to work.

Q: Do you think that the offense's early turnovers are putting the defense in a really bad spot? It seemed like your defense, at least early, was holding them to some field goals, but the early game turnovers were putting you guys on your heels, would you agree with that?

A: There’s enough things on all sides of the ball that we need to correct right now. We don’t ever want to have turnovers, we don’t ever want to have penalties, we don’t ever want to have mental errors. Offensively, our job is to execute. Defensively, we don’t choose when we go on the field, our job is to respond whenever we’re put on the field, whatever situation. So, again, there’s enough to go around. Starting with coaching, we’re going to make sure we look at this, we get in depth with it, and we improve everyone across the board.

Q: Do you have any updates on Jabrill (Peppers) or Andrew Thomas?

A: You know, I do not. Andrew (Thomas) was obviously good for the rest of the game, that was obviously real late in the game. We’ll kind of see where he’s at. I don’t have an update on Jabrill (Peppers). That’s all I can tell you right now. Soon as we get something, we’ll give you updates as much as we can.

Q: You’re a team that focuses on day to day improvements, little steps forward, does today seem like a step backwards for the program?

A: I’d just say that I got to watch the tape now and kind of review everything thoroughly, starting with calls we made, our execution on those calls, individual breakdowns, what we got to work on as a unit. Our emphasis is on day to day improvement, we’re focused on coming back in here this week, cleaning up mistakes, pushing forward, and we have a good opponent next week.

Q: On the 4th and 1 with the sneak that didn’t go anywhere, would you rather run a more creative play there, and how close were you to dropping that red flag?

A: Well, I was looking at the replay to see if it was close enough to drop the red flag. The angle we had on the field, and the information I was getting from up top was giving me an indication that it would be a waste of a timeout right there, that’s why I held it. Look, I’m not going to apologize for being aggressive. I challenge these guys to come out and be aggressive and fight. I can self-scout myself and see when it is and isn’t time to go for it. But that moment in the game, I want to be aggressive. You look at me as a coach and say that might not be the best decision at the time, but I’m not going to apologize for being aggressive in that situation. I have confidence in our players, and I want to make sure that we play that confidence by letting them play aggressive.

Q: I was actually asking about the play call, not the decision to go for it. A lot of the time on 4th downs, you’ll pass it or do other things to try and find that yard.

A: Look, we consider all things. At that time, that’s the best call we thought was in our plan right there. So, they made a play, we’ve got to go ahead and make the play.

Q: When you were hired, you talked a lot about how you wanted this to be a tough team that represents this area and be a blue-collar team. How do you explain how this game went in regards to how tough you want your team to be?

A: Yeah, I think about toughness and how you respond to things. Obviously we have some adversity right now that we have to respond to, but when I think about this area, you talk about blue-collar, people that work blue-collar livings, like my family did growing up, you just wake up every day no matter the circumstances and you go back to the grindstone, and that’s what our team is going to do. We’re not looking for excuses, we’re not pointing fingers, we’re not looking for shortcuts, we’re working on building this thing, and building this thing the right way for this area, alright, for the families that this team represents, and we’re going to come back Wednesday, and we’re going to work our butts off and get this thing right moving forward. So, in terms of the people in the area want to know the direction this program is going, I can assure you that I take a great deal of pride, and I put a lot personally into this, to make sure the product they see on this field is something they can be proud of, and although they’re disappointed with some of the things that have happened on the field, I can assure you we’re working the same way they work every day, to get our butts back to work, to get it right, and to get it going forward.

Q: When you see how the 49ers were injured, missing eight starters, and you see how your offense struggled without Saquon (Barkley) and (Sterling) Shep(ard), does that concern you about the lack of depth that your team has on this roster?

A: No. We have players. We have players. Alright, obviously we don’t want any of our players injured. But we have players in a position right now on our roster, on our team, that were on that field today that can help us win games. So, we got to make sure that everyone coaches better, we have to raise our level of play, and we got to take advantage of opportunities and not make mistakes that put us behind.

Q: This 49ers team had, however you want to count, seven, eight starters that weren’t playing today, they obviously beat you by the score they did. What does that say to you about where this program is in your mind, as a whole?

A: I think we’re still in the same point of pushing forward every day. Look, I told the players, regardless of whether you win or lose, there’s always things to work on and improve, you never play a perfect game. We got to focus right now on seeing the things that are putting ourselves behind, we got to push forward and make sure we make these improvements. But we’re still in a phase right here that we would be at any point in this program, of moving forward on a daily basis, making improvements, making sure we give the players the best chance of being successful on Sundays.

Q: I know your defense was on the field a lot, and obviously you guys were in the game for a while, but it seemed like you had a lot of breakdowns in the second half. Wondering if you think they tired out, or if there was some other reason for the mistakes?

A: I got to look at the tape more thoroughly to give you kind of a full answer on that. Look, I think our guys played hard, I’m proud of the way our defense plays in terms of effort and toughness, that’s a trademark these guys come to work with every day. So, there’s some things we obviously have to correct, but let me look at the tape and give you a better answer later on.

Q: What was your message to the team after this one?

A: We got to come back to work. That’s it. We got to come back to work, we got to stick together as a team, we have to coach better. We have to raise our level of execution as players, we’ve got to go ahead and keep pushing forward, improve on a daily basis. There’s no magic formula to this, there’s no magic wand, you don’t go out there and just solve every problem in a day. It’s a day by day process of putting things together.

Q: Can you just talk about the penalties today? The two in particular, on Darnay (Holmes) and the one on Darius (Slayton), the one that would’ve probably gotten you first and goal? The offsetting one.

A: You know what, to be honest with you, I was watching a different part of the field on that. I did not get a clean look at Darius (Slayton) on that one right there. I’ve got to see where his hand placement was on that and what happened specifically on that play. We don't want to have penalties at any time, the one on Darnay (Holmes), we got to play with clean technique to make sure we don’t give an opportunity, in that situation, to extend a drive. So, something we work on on a consistent basis, we got to make sure we do a better job coaching those techniques and execute them on the field.

Q: Is it more frustrating that those happened not at the point of attack of the play?

A: I think anytime you have a penalty it’s frustrating if it costs your team, whether it’s right at the point of attack or if it’s backside. So, to me, you got to play with good technique and awareness the entire time.

Q: You obviously have a young team that really hasn’t experienced winning. Do you begin to worry at some point about these guys losing confidence or beginning to expect things to go wrong at some point?

A: No, I think winning is the result of preparation and then execution, it’s that simple. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. Alright, so our focus has to be on the daily basis of what we need to prepare, put ourselves in position, and then we get into these games, these three hours once a week, that we execute as good as we can. We execute as coaches to put them in the right position, and we raise our level of play as players. But, right now, look, confidence is gained from practice execution, and then it’s affirmed by game execution, so we just have to make sure we come back to work on Wednesday and put it together.