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Transcript: Head Coach Brian Daboll

Eric from BBI : Admin : 8/1/2022 1:24 pm
Head Coach Brian Daboll
August 1, 2022

Daboll: Morning. How’s everybody doing? Good. Hope you guys had a good Sunday. Got a big week ahead of us. Starting today, we’re in full pads and going to be working some normal situations. Heavy emphasis on run game today. So, with that, I’ll open it up.

Q: What do you look for specifically when you go to full pads?
A: It’s all about fundamentals right now: leverage, hand placement, ability to separate when you’re getting grabbed and held. We’re allowing more things at practice: picks and twists up front, power rushes, attacking the defensive linemen when they jump up in the… Different things we’re allowing. So, this is where the game is played. But today we’re looking for good energy. We place, I’d say, rules on practice. We’re not bringing them down to the ground. We got to take care of our guys. But want to be physical. Want to be in good position. Play with good leverage. Play aggressive. Move the line of scrimmage. Stop the line of scrimmage.

Q: Do you ever tackle to the ground in practice?
A: We may. We may with our twos and threes at one point here. Probably maybe in a week we have it scheduled out for that. But we’ll see as we go if we need it.

Q: Brian, do you sense that the players are chomping at the bit to get the pads on?
A: Yeah, this game is – the offensive and the defensive line it’s important position on our team. And we got to get those guys ready to go and learn how to play with our pads on. Quarterbacks throw a little bit differently with the pads. And they’re excited. But you’ve always got to try to talk to them about their expectations and the things we can do and can’t do. We only got a certain amount of guys on our team. We want to keep them as healthy as we can.

Q: Will (Guard) Jon Feliciano be back today?
A: He will not. Day or two away. But he’ll be here this week.

Q: Is this still just like a heat sort of thing?
A: He’s working through some things. So, he’ll be hopefully tomorrow. But maybe the next day.

Q: Is his treatment just intravenous stuff?
A: Yeah, he’s taking care of himself. They’re working with him. He’ll be okay.

Q: You gave (Guard) Shane (Lemieux) a couple of looks at center the other day. How did that go?
A: Yeah, good. It’s a start. We want to try to create position flexibility for our front guys. And obviously with Jon out, you know with (Guard) Ben (Bredeson) and (Guard) Jamil (Douglas), we wanted to add Lemieux inside and get (Guard Joshua) Ezeudu some work inside there with the ones against (Defensive End) Leo (Williams) and (Defensive Tackle) Dexter (Lawrence) and guys like that. He did a good job. We’ll work with him in there today as well.

Q: Is that something you see as a potential long-term migration for him?
A: I haven’t gone down that road far enough. I just think position flexibility is so important, whether it’s for Marcus (McKethan) at guard and tackle. For Jon (Feliciano) at guard and tackle. The more you can do up front, the better off it is for the player. The more opportunities they get.

Q: Coach, are you sensing some of the guys that missed some of the spring practices are maybe pressing a little bit too hard early on to try to catch up and maybe impress?
A: No. Again, it’s just physical, mental. Physical reps where you have to do it over and over and over again, and you get different things. It’s different than watching it on the screen or talking about it. I think it’s good for those guys. I don’t think they’re pressing. I just think it’s early for them.

Q: Coach, we’re used to seeing a lot of 7-on-7 this time of the year. I don’t recall really seeing that very much so far from you guys. Is there a reason you’ve been staying away from it?
A: Yeah, we’ve worked a lot of 7-on-7 in the spring. I like the quarterback to feel the people around him. There’s a time and a place for it. In some of those spots instead of 7-on-7, we’ve worked individual technique whether it’s 1-on-1, 2-on-2s, 3-on-3s. Today, it’ll be a lot of 1-on-1 work toward the end of individual. But I think it’s important for a quarterback to feel the people around him up front in particular.

Q: Brian, when you say that – obviously calling plays dead for what would’ve been a sack – is there a line between like you still want (Quarterback) Daniel (Jones) to get rid of the ball to avoid getting sacked or letting him play though?
A: Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. You want to try to mentally in your head when you’re playing quarterback play the game as best you can. Get the ball out when you need to get the ball out. But there’s other times when I’ll tell him, ‘Look. Hold onto it and spin it.’ Let’s see how it looks downfield. Again, you’re evaluating your roster too during training camp. So, you want to see a defense back – how is he going to be in the deep part of the field? Throw a bunch of gos on some corners, see how they react to it. So, we’re trying to do everything for a reason. And some of that is evaluation purposes too.

Q: Coach, is developing position flexibility in the offensive line one of the bigger challenges of the pros than it is in college?
A: Yeah, I don’t know. Could be. When I was at ‘Bama, we did the same thing. But that’s how (Head) Coach (Nick) Saban wanted to cross train guys and things like hat. I just think it’s important. You only get so many guys to go with. We do the same thing with receivers or secondary guys. You learn the inside; you learn the outside. You learn the Z; you learn the X. There’s injuries all the time. And people have to step up. I was just meeting with (Wide Receiver Kadarius Toney) KT this morning about position flex and saying, ‘Hey, can I add another position for you? I’m moving you around to this spot. And do you feel comfortable with that? Or is it too much and it will make you play slow?’ So, I think you talk to your players and the ones that can handle it, you try to do that with them.

Q: Brian, which KT?
A: The first KT. 89. (Linebacker Kayvon) Thibodeaux don’t have KT yet. KT has got KT.

Q: It looked like you pulled back a little bit on 89 on Saturday...
A: Yeah, that was part of the plan relative to him coming through spring, and he had a good few days. So do some individual work. But he’s fine.

Q: What did he say when you said, ‘Can I add a little something for you?’
A: He said, ‘Oh, yeah.’ And he had that big smile.

Q: Now, are the players honest with you? Sometimes, they say what you want to hear. If you’re saying, ‘Listen, I think this would be good for you.’ And they’re like, ‘Nah, I’m not ready for that.’ …
A: I think that goes back to the relationship part of the business. You want them to tell you the truth. It’s like quarterbacks. You know, ‘Daniel, do you like this play?’ ‘Yeah, it’s great.’ And then two months later it’s like, ‘I didn’t really like that play.’ Because he got more comfortable with you. We’re trying to fast track that with the players. They’re the ones that are out there playing the game. And I want to be able to be able to do things – whether it’s on the kicking game, defense, offense – that the guys feel comfortable with. And if they don’t feel comfortable with it, give it a chance out here and let’s see how it looks after maybe two, three, four times, if it doesn’t look good, throw it out and work on something else.

Q: Do you have less flexibility with regard to a (Wide) receiver like Kenny (Golladay)?
A: No, KG’s… I would say (Wide Receivers Coach Mike) Groh has done a good job with these guys. They have a lot to learn. The receivers in our system, I’d say, have a lot to learn. A lot of different positions to play. And I just think that early on in camp when you’re thinking a little bit, there’s a lot of things going through your head. And maybe you don’t play as fast. I’m not talking about KG in particular. I’m just talking about receivers in general with the way we do things. And then, that’s why we’ll give it another week or two, and things will settle down a little bit. But it helps them learn the whole concept of the play as well, which is important when you’re playing against zone teams with spacing. Where to be. How to be there. You’re always getting looks at different mismatches when you put KT in the slot and you’re looking at (Cornerback) Darnay (Holmes), then you put him outside. You’re trying to get an evaluation of your team right now, too, to make good judgement on that.

Q: Brian, what type of feedback have you gotten from your players about the Guardian Caps?
A: None. Yeah, they’ve all – they’ve worn them. We’ve been out there, and we haven’t had any discussions about them.

Q: How have you seen the rookie class embrace expectations about playing and what’s going to being expected of them?
A: They’ve done a nice job. There’s a lot to learn as a rookie. We’ve talked about this in spring. Just where to go, what to do, expectations off the field. (General Manager) Joe (Schoen) and I have communicated with them several times about expectations, foundational pieces for us. You know, this is our first class that we drafted. They’ve all done a nice job relative to things off the field, how we want to approach things and then taking care of themselves, learning from some veterans. And they’ve done a nice job on the practice field competing. Got a long way to go, but I’ve been pleased with how those guys – all of them – have done. And (Director of Player Engagement) Ashley Lynn has done a really good job with our rookie developmental program. We’ve got to keep grinding. It’s a long season.

Q: What do you think about the fact that you have a chance to probably have five rookies playing almost starting type roles? That’s a lot.
A: Yeah, I’m not that far ahead. I just – we’ll play the best guys, whoever that is. Whether they’re drafted in the first round, whether they’re a 10-year veteran. We’re going to try to put the best guys out there. And if it’s five rookies, if it’s 10 rookies, when you’re a coach, and you’re a position coach, too, the veterans on the team have more experience. They know what to do. You feel comfortable with them. And the older I get, the rookies that maybe don’t know as much about what to do but have some really good talent, you’re going to have to live through some growing pains with them when you’re developing them to get them to where you want to get to. But we’re going to play the best guys that we think give us a chance to win, whether it’s, again, rookie, 10-year veteran, first round pick, free agent. That’s just how we’re going to approach it.

Q: How fine a line is it between a guy having fun out there and doing something stupid? Like (Quarterback) Tyrod (Taylor) runs for a touchdown, dunks over the crossbar and everyone goes, ‘Ooh’ and ‘Ah’. And I’m sitting there going, ‘And if he tore his Achilles or.’
A: Yeah

Q: He got a flag too.
A: Yeah, you hope they don’t get hurt. But they got good juice out there right now. You better not have jinxed us now.
Video...  
Eric from BBI : Admin : 8/1/2022 1:24 pm : link
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWn7cYKRcPc - ( New Window )
LOL  
Gman11 : 8/1/2022 2:06 pm : link
"The first KT. 89. (Linebacker Kayvon) Thibodeaux don’t have KT yet. KT has got KT."
This is important to remember  
Peter from NH (formerly CT) : 8/1/2022 2:48 pm : link
“ would say (Wide Receivers Coach Mike) Groh has done a good job with these guys. They have a lot to learn. The receivers in our system, I’d say, have a lot to learn. A lot of different positions to play. And I just think that early on in camp when you’re thinking a little bit, there’s a lot of things going through your head. And maybe you don’t play as fast.”
...  
SFGFNCGiantsFan : 8/1/2022 7:11 pm : link
Still can't believe a beat hasn't had the balls to ask Daboll why he sans wedding rock.
RE: ...  
Sean : 8/1/2022 7:58 pm : link
In comment 15768561 SFGFNCGiantsFan said:
Quote:
Still can't believe a beat hasn't had the balls to ask Daboll why he sans wedding rock.

He was actually wearing it in the Mic’d up video. I can’t believe I’m even posting that, but what a thread that was.
Sean.  
SFGFNCGiantsFan : 8/1/2022 8:26 pm : link
Thanks for that update. It caused a lot of restless nights in this household, Haha.
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