Transcript: Safety Jabrill Peppers

Safety Jabrill Peppers

August 11, 2021

Q: There's been outside criticism of (Head Coach) Joe Judge and Joe Judge’s program, and the discipline he instills, obviously, specific to making you guys run laps, cursing you out. As one of the guys who's a team leader, I was just curious about what you think about what's said about your coach and you guys’ program?

A: I mean, the guys here, we love him. We like coaches who coach us hard, going to tell us how it is, and not sugarcoat anything. He's going to push you places that you can't take yourself. I just think if you don't like to be coached hard, then you're not going to like it here.

Q: I have two questions. First of all, you're not going to get in trouble again tonight for taking pictures with your family, are you, like you did in Newark?

A: I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure out the rules and regulations myself.

Q: The second part was you guys have a lot of first round picks on this team, some from the Giants, others, like yourself, from other teams. Is there any sort of brotherhood, or a connection, between fellow first round picks? I know it was all different drafts and all different ages.

A: We don't really care about where guys get picked. If you can play, you can play. But, as far as the connection, definitely knowing those guys, even some of these guys I knew since high school, it's always a connection there when you share similarities with someone.

Q: You've practiced against (Wide Receiver) Kadarius Toney every day since he's been back out there, and he's obviously on special teams with you. What are you seeing from him and what are your first impressions so far?

A: He's a quick, fast, twitchy guy. He has great ball skills, loves to compete, loves to play football. Just like all of us, we have to use this training camp to keep honing on our skills and our skillset and keep getting better day by day.

Q: Being from this area, do you think this game has some extra meaning, even if it's a preseason game, just to have the little bit of bragging rights?

A: Every game has meaning. But I think we play those guys every four years in the regular season, so I would like to think it'll be for bragging rights since we both use the stadium, both New York and New Jersey teams. I definitely would say there’s some bragging rights.

Q: How about your progress thus far through camp? Where are you and how do you feel?

A: I feel good. At this point in camp, everyone is hurting, everyone is tired. But you have a job to do, and you have to keep getting better and better every day, no matter how you are feeling. So, that’s my mindset – be better today than I was yesterday and be better tomorrow than I was today. Hopefully, if I continue to do that, and don't take any steps back, I should be at a good spot.

Q: Being a young veteran, is there something about training camp at some point where it’s like the dog days where you start looking ahead a little bit? You haven’t even played a preseason game yet, I’m not sure how much you will play in those games, but where you start thinking, ‘let’s get to it here’?

A: Man, you know I think Coach (Judge) has done a great job with us letting us compete and pull it back when he needs to pull back, but still making it feel like a training camp. Whether we’re competing against someone else or competing against ourselves, the mantra is still the same – fundamentals, technique and no mental errors. Of course, it’s nice to play against other people in practice, but I think the guys here understand what the main goal is and what we’re trying to build.

Q: I’m not sure if we’re going to talk to you again until we get to Cleveland. I’m just curious from your perspective, I know you played them last year but just the idea of going back to Cleveland and having joint practices, are there going to be any flashbacks for you or any special meaning?

A: You know, not really. It will just be nice to bang and compete against someone other than your own teammates. I think we have those guys and New England, so I’m going into them both the same way, gotta work on my technique, my fundamentals against other good players who are not your teammates. That’ll add to the competition aspect of it, but that’s about it.

Q: It appears the defense is getting the better of the offense in this camp. Are you and your fellow defensive backs the types of guys to remind the offense, (Quarterback Daniel) Jones and the receivers about that during the course of a practice?

A: Of course, there’s always going to be some jawing back and forth. We get the better of them, they get the better of us, that’s what training camp is about. That’s what football is about, but it’s just about how they respond. If we got the better of them yesterday, then how they’re gonna come out the next day. If they got the better of us today, how we’re gonna come out the next day. I think that is the biggest point of it. It’s not about who’s getting the best of who theoretically. Offenses take a little bit more time to gel and mesh a little bit. They have a lot more guys over there who didn’t play here last year, so it’s just all about great competition, practicing the right way, keep getting better.

Q: You are a local guy and I’m sure you grew up knowing about the aura of the old Giants Stadium. The Giants haven’t had really much of a home field advantage in the new place. How do you rectify that? How do you change that?

A: Obviously, we’ve got to come out and play our brand of football, but that starts here in training camp, not looking too far ahead. We get to practice in front of the fans today, give them a preview of the product we hope they can be proud of on Sundays or whenever we play. But that’s where our mind is right now. We take care of what we’ve gotta take care of in training camp and everything else will be fine.