Defensive Back Logan Ryan
Opening Statement:Hey guys, I'm just going to start by clearing it up. I want to apologize to (Dolphins Quarterback) Tua (Tagovailoa). I didn't mean any disrespect. I made a light-hearted comment about me playing quarterback. I think he's a good player. He's humble. He approaches the game the right way and he made game-winning plays to beat us, and they won the game. I'm not a sore loser. I don't hate on players in the league. I have a lot of respect for players in this league. I've been in this league and he's doing it the right way. I wish him the best and I want him to know there's no disrespect there or any bad beef there. Just a comment that went the wrong way and I was trying to be funny, and it wasn't funny, and I don't want to disrespect him.
Q:*Congrats*on the nomination, what does that (NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year) award mean to you?
A: The nomination is awesome. I've been doing work for a lot of years and I wasn't doing it for the nomination. I just kind of was working in my own circles with people and trying to make a difference and trying to make the world a better place and to be noticed for that and recognized for that, not trying to get it, I think is the coolest feeling, so I'm proud. I'm honored to be the nominee for the Giants. I really want to win it and I really want to win it for the animal people out there. I mentioned there are a lot of people that do shelter work, volunteer, dedicate their life to that, don't make a lot of money, pet owners. There are a lot of good people out there that love animals and I'm not sure, but I think I would be the first person with an animal cause as his main cause to win that award. I do work with kids and police reform as well, but to highlight the animal people, I really want to win it for them and support them and give them notice.
Q: How has this trip been going?
A: It's been going well. I think it was good to get away, reset our minds a little bit. I think we had a really spirited practice today – two hours in the pads getting after it, having some of their team out here watching us play at the highest level and having some kids warm up with us. It's really cool, there are Giants fans all over the place. We've got a great fan base. But it's been a really good week. Kind of training camp mentality of just hanging out in the hotel room, watching film, going to the basketball game together, going to dinners together. It's been really good just to get around the guys and support our guys.
Q: How is (Quarterback) Daniel (Jones) at throwing interceptions?
A: Not too good. They're hard to get off him. That's DJ, man. DJ is the ultimate teammate, the ultimate competitor, doing what he can do and if that's what he can do right now, he throws a great deep ball and we're going to have to go track it. (Chargers Quarterback) Justin Herbert has one of the strongest arms I've seen on tape. His arm talent is ridiculous. He makes field outs, field corner routes, he rolls to the right and throws the ball all the way across the field. Not too many quarterbacks in the league do that and we don't see that week in and week out, so we definitely need to get the work, and Daniel did a good job of giving us that. Daniel has that type of arm, so we did a good job of getting a look. But I think Daniel's servicing his teammates. I think a great teammate is the way to describe Daniel Jones.
Q: Is it hard to kind of reconcile that he's able to basically physically do everything, but he's still not cleared?
A: I mean, a lot of people can do a lot of things, but if the doctors say you can't take a hit, that's what the doctors say. You've got to protect and you've got to do what's best for him. I'm not a doctor or anything, but I'm sure when he's cleared for contact, he'll be cleared to go. If there's harm there, you're talking about a neck, a brain, those type of injuries, those aren't things to play with.
Q: What do you think when you hear that you're playing this team and you know the kind of passing attack they are and (Chargers Wide Receiver) Keenan Allen might not play? (Chargers Wide Receiver) Mike Williams, who knows how that goes. What goes through your head? How do you approach that?
A: We have to prepare for Keenan Allen to play. I know Keenan. I've been playing against him for years. My second year in the league as a Patriot, we put (Former NFL Cornerback) Darrelle Revis on Keenan Allen and that was eight years ago, and he's still been that guy for that many years. I think he's one of the best receivers in the league. It drastically changes whether he plays or not. We're definitely going to – we have packages to prepare for Keenan Allen and we'll prepare for that and if he's not there, that's good news and we'll do the best we can. But they have other guys, close contacts – we've got to assume Mike Williams is going to play and (Chargers Cornerback) Chris Harris (Jr.) is going to play. For Keenan, I've had COVID, I wish him the best. It's nothing to joke about or play about, so I just wish him the best in his recovery and whether he plays or not, that's just the protocols and how he's feeling. To say that doesn't impact things would be an understatement. He's a very impactful receiver and he's the most targeted receiver on third down in the NFL for a reason.
Q: What were you told about the chances of testing out? I saw (Steelers Linebacker) T.J. Watt did it this week, but it seems like it is so rare. What were you kind of told on that? (Head Coach) Joe (Judge) kept saying maybe you'll test out.
A: I think it's everything we're all learning about. It's something that we're all learning about, nothing I can prepare for in my career. If you have COVID, I think it's not too likely, but you have a viral load when you test, they show you your viral load. The lower the number is the more you have it, so it's actually backwards. The higher that number is, the closer you get to testing out. I felt like the last couple days I was close to testing out and I did get two negative tests in time for the game, but they were worried about – and there's a whole other thing of whether you're asymptomatic or symptomatic. So, because I had symptoms, I then had to do a three-day ramp up which I didn't know about. It's only reported that you have two negative tests and you're back to playing. So, I had two negative tests, I was ready to get back to play and then we ran until a whole, was he asymptomatic? Was he symptomatic? I don't know what these guys are, symptomatic, asymptomatic, viral loads, it was all news to me.
Q: I was just talking about your situation.
A: Yeah, so, I feel like it's hard to test out honestly in 10 days, especially if you have to do a ramp up.
Q: When you talked about kind of training camp vibe a little bit – basketball games, dinners. You said you had a good two-hour practice. This is unusual the way this is so late in the season. Are you kind of concerned or interested about that quick pivot out of this beautiful thing and then you have to play a really hot team in L.A.?
A: No, I think this gives us the best chance of preparation to beat L.A. We get out, we're not practicing in the snow in 33 degrees and then going into SoFi, it's a warmer place, I played there last year. It's a greenhouse. It's really hot on that field, believe it or not in there. I think this gives us the best for good weather and just the time to really adjust to things we need to adjust and make the improvements you need to improve to win the games down the stretch. I'm familiar with it, the Patriots have done this for years. I've done it all four years with the Patriots, taking a trip out west if you have those types of games and the schedule allows. It just gives you the best preparation in the weather that we can potentially play in these last few games.
Q: What do you think are the best signs of progress in your team and organization, if the wins aren't coming regularly? But what are you seeing as a team leader that things are going in the right direction and you guys are making progress and making strides, like as a defense, as a team?
A: Yeah, I mean look, it's all judged on the scoreboard. But at the end of the day, people's attitudes and mindsets at practice every day, you look guys in the eyes every day. As a leader, it's my job to inspire and rally guys and encourage guys to do it the right way and tell them some stories of what I've learned and what helped for me and leaders I've learned from, from the past. We talk about this league, it's a player's league and the locker rooms dictate a lot of things in this league. We just don't have a locker room that's given up. We don't have a locker room who's splintered. We don't have a locker room that's saying, 'Man, what's the point?' We've got a locker room that's fighting and scratching and clawing and obviously you want the results on Sundays and that's what we're judged on in this league. Progress is based on the results, honestly, but there's also a process to get those results and you can't win a game if you don't go through the process the right way. You have no chance of being a team that's a championship team or playoff team if you don't go through a certain way you practice, a certain way you carry yourself, a certain way you have accountability. I just don't feel like those are the issues that we have on the team right now. So, I think it's execution and you've got to work on execution in practice.
