Wide Receiver Sterling Shepard
Q: Sterling, how did Daniel [Jones] play today? I know he went through the concussion protocol during the week and may not have had as many reps as he normally would have. What was your assessment of him today?
A: I thought Daniel played well. I think it's on the surrounding cast to do a better job to help him out, and I don't think we did that today as a unit. We have to play better.
Q: On that interception in the second-half, what happened there?
A: I lost my footing on that; that can't happen, and I put that on me. That was on me and there were a couple of other things that happened throughout the game. We could all say that we had a "My bad" play and that just cannot happen; not in this league, or the score will turn out like that.
Q: Sterling, as a leader on this team, how do you keep that room together? You're 1-5 and obviously this was not the way you wanted to show out there today, how do you keep everyone together in the locker room?
A: It just starts with communicating to the guys that we cannot give up on each other and we cannot start pointing the finger at each other and saying, "It was this guy's fault or that guy's fault", or this thing can really go downhill. I've been on teams where that has happened and you can really start to see it snowball. We have to keep each other's heads up and keep the energy high throughout the week.
Q: Sterling, on the sidelines, what were you saying to the offense and the offensive line?
A: Just that we have to play with heart. I think that's the main thing; when you look up at the scoreboard, you can tend to get down. People's heads start to drop, but one thing that we talk about a lot through the week and what we've talked about since we've gotten together as a team is fight; no matter what the situation is, we have to fight. That was my message to the guys.
Q: Sterling, what did you take out of Joe's halftime challenge to the team?
A: It was what I just said. We're going to see who has heart, who is going to try to finish the game and make something happen.
Q: To lose Toney [Giants WR Kadarius Toney] that early, what impact did it have emotionally and also just in football terms?
A: You don't want to see anybody go down. It's going to affect the team in some way, especially a guy like him who is electric with the ball. You don't want to see C.J. [Board] go down; I'm not sure what happened just yet and we're missing Kenny [Golladay], but none of that matters. We have to have the "next-guy-up" mentality and we have to get the job done.
Q: Sterling, you didn't have Saquon [Barkley], you didn't have Kenny, you didn't have KT, you didn't have Andrew Thomas, you didn't have Darrius Slayton, what do you say to the idea that you guys just got out-manned at some point today?
A: No. I think it's the "next-man-up" mentality. That's what I just said and that's what I wholeheartedly believe. We have guys that can go and they can make plays for us. We have to figure out a way to execute better.
Q: Sterling, you've been in that locker room in the past, and you've been in there where the coach's message kind of rings hollow where he says something, walks out and the guys kind of look around and wonder what he's actually saying. Is the message from Coach Judge and his assistants getting through to this team?
A: Yes. If you look at what he said at halftime, I saw guys come out and fight, especially from an offensive standpoint. I saw guys come out and fight and didn't give up. That's encouraging to see.
Q: Is this locker room angry? You're 1 – 5, you just got spanked here at home.
A: I mean, yeah. We're all competitors; we don't practice every week to come out and lose. That's not what we work so hard for, so yes we're pissed off about it, but we're the only ones that can change it. We have to go back to work and try to change this thing around.
Q: Coach Judge talked about how C.J. [Giants WR C.J. Board] broke his arm and Toney is dealing with his ankle, have you had a chance to talk to either one of them yet?
A: No. I got to talk to C.J. right before he got carted off, but I haven't really been able to have a conversation with those guys yet. That's something that I'll try to do tonight and reach out to them and see how they're doing.
