Post-Game Transcript: C Nick Gates

NYG Postgame (at Rams) Transcripts: C Nick Gates

October 4, 2020

Q: Saw you were in the middle of that scrum at the end of the game. What happened there?

A: To be honest with you, I don’t know what happened. I think [Head] Coach [Joe] Judge will figure it out and comment on it later.

Q: You just saw something going on and just got involved?

A: Just trying to protect my teammate.

Q: How do you feel the offensive line played today?

A: We ran the ball better than we have in the past games, but still wasn’t good enough to come away with the win. We’ve got to be better.

Q: The offense has only scored three touchdowns all season and hasn’t scored a touchdown the last two weeks. What makes you think that you guys can bounce back from the way it’s been (the last couple games?

A: Just got to keep fighting, keep going, keep protecting for (Daniel) and running the ball, and just keep moving the ball down the field and giving us an opportunity to score. We shot ourselves in the foot a couple times when we got to the red zone with a couple of penalties, and it kind of hurts you when you’re down there, so we’ve just got to eliminate those and we’ve just got to play better.

Q: There was a lot made of your battle with [Rams DL] Aaron Donald coming into this. We saw you guys kind of jousting there in the middle of the game. Did you get into any kind of comfort zone as far as your physicality playing against a great player like that and did you feel like you guys matched them physically even if you didn’t score?

A: You know, we had a plan for Donald, and I think we executed the plan. We’ve just got to be better. I think we tried to get two guys on him as much as we can and everybody else played pretty well in pass pro, but we’ve got to be better. We gave up what, four, five sacks? That can’t happen.

Q: How about punching him in the head, you think that’s a good idea?

A: Honestly, I don’t know what happened. We just got into it. He’s a good player, I’m a good player. Emotions get high out there.

Q: What’s the feeling in the huddle there when you get the ball back after the defense forced the three-and-out and you’re driving down trying to score a touchdown and two-point conversion to tie it?

A: You know, just trying to stay composed and keep doing what you’re doing all game and try to move the ball down the field. What, we started at the 25 and moved it down to the 20? They knew we were passing and just stuff happens.

Q: Can you guys take something positive as an offensive line as far as just slowing down Aaron Donald?

A: One of the positive things we did was ran the ball. I think we had 130 yards on the ground, so that’s a positive from the last three games before.

Q: Along those lines, you guys seemed to run the ball a lot better in the second half. What went into that and why do you think you had more success today than you had the last couple of weeks running the ball?

A: I just think everybody held their blocks more and finished downfield on their guys. Running backs were hitting holes and just running downhill hard.