Post-Game Transcript: Head Coach Brian Daboll

New York Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll

Postgame Press Conference

New York Giants 27, Green Bay Packers 22

BRIAN DABOLL:

You know, good, hard-fought win. Again, it came down to the end. Our guys competed for 60 minutes. Made a few more plays than Green Bay. They are a good football team. We got things to work on. Obviously, some knicks, some bumps, some bruises. Long trip back. So, get at it and go next week.

Q. You were pretty fired up as you were leaving the field. Can you talk about the emotions of this game and the victory?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I just appreciate all the support, the crowd support here. It was obviously a lot of Packers fans, it felt like an away game. Which I know was their home game but at the end of the game it felt like a home game. So when it feels like that, you put a lot into it each week - players, staff, coaches, so you get that win and immediately after you’re pretty excited. Go to the locker room, drink a water and come out and do a press conference.

Q. How would you describe what you've seen from your team in the first five weeks?

BRIAN DABOLL: I think they play hard. They do what we ask them to do. They trust in the things we ask them to do. They work extremely, extremely hard. These guys, we practice hard. Practice really hard but we try to practice smart. They played good situational football. You know, it's really not, whatever, five games. It's just this game. We were 3-of-4 I think in the red zone to their 2 and 3 - what were we on third down, 6-of-10 or something like that, 6-of-11, which was much improved. I thought we were very efficient.

I thought the quarterback (Daniel Jones) had an excellent game and he's had a few of those. Maybe his stats don't reflect it, but he's led his team down to wins. He's played good at crunch time coming back from a little bit of an ankle. I give credit to all the guys and all the coaches. Just a good group to work with.

Q. Can you talk about (running back) Saquon (Barkley), had to go in, came out, came back it in. What happened in that whole sequence there?

BRIAN DABOLL: He went in and he came back out and he went in and then he was - you know, and he said he was good. They looked at him. He felt - I kept asking him on the sideline, "Are you good to go?" He was good to go. We'll see where he's at but you know, hopefully he'll be ready to go next week.

He's a competitor. That's what I say about Saquon. He competes, but I've seen that in OTAs.

Q. Is this a statement for your team, considering the opponent and quarterback on the other sideline?

BRIAN DABOLL: No. I think of it as the next game. That’s all these games. You give credit to all the teams you play. They are all good. Obviously, (Green Bay quarterback) Aaron Rodgers is an exceptional quarterback but again, it's a team game. We have to play well to put ourselves in position. I thought the coordinators did a fantastic job, (defensive coordinator)Wink (Martindale), (offensive coordinator Mike) Kafka, (special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey) ‘T-Mac’ all week, leading up to it, being prepared, getting their stuff done ahead of time, coming out here, adjustments at halftime. Those three guys did a great job and the players followed their lead.

Q. When you lose a player, why is everyone playing their roles so well? Like (running back Gary) Brightwell for Saquon. The corners come in, why is it just --

BRIAN DABOLL: Well, I give credit to the players first because they have to prepare like they are starting. You know, everybody talks like it but we do things during the week where we put guys in. We did seven-on-seven week with some of our practice squad players along with our regular squad players. I think our coaches do a great job of getting them ready to go. (General manager) Joe (Schoen) and I talk about it all the time - your number can be called at any time; can be brought up any time. Maybe it's two weeks. Let's make sure that you're in the playbook, that you understand your responsibilities as a professional. Be a pro, and when you're ready to go, again, every player on this roster is here for a reason. We expect whoever it is to get ready. There's no excuses in the National Football League. Everybody goes through it. Everybody goes through injuries. Everybody goes down times. Everybody goes through a couple losses. If you can't handle that, you're probably not made to be in the National Football League. We have a long way to go still. It's a good win but there's a lot of things we have to clean up and we'll try to do that.

Q. Did (tight end Daniel) Bellinger have the option to throw that pass on the touchdown?

BRIAN DABOLL: He did, yeah.

Q. What did he see that made him not do that?

BRIAN DABOLL: He just thought he could run it in. It's a play we've run in the past. We threw it for a touchdown, it was on a two-point play. This one, I just told him, “If you can run it in, I trust your legs a little bit more than your arm. I still think you can do it, but if you can do it, go ahead and do it. But if you think there's – whatsoever – anything that it might get knocked on or a might bad play happen, we have got another down, let’s just line up and go again”

Q. Going into the second half, 17-0. What changed in the second half to be able to switch on offense and defense?

BRIAN DABOLL: I thought the coaches were doing a good job in the first half. They made a few plays that they drove down on. They are a good football team. They had a big run on a pass interference penalty and they got a little pick on us. They had some good plays that they made and we started off a little slow offensively. So they got the ball, they got some momentum but it's a long game. You can start fast and fade out. You can start fast and end fast. There's a lot of different things that can happen. I think what we have preached is, “Let's not worry about the scoreboard. Let's not worry about the results. Let's just focus on the next play and whoever is in there, let's do your job to the best of your ability.” Whether it's a coach, whether it's a coordinator, assistant coach, player, support staff. Those trainers are doing a great job. Daniel had a cut on his hand getting ready to go out. Saquon, going in and out. It's a collective team effort, football. Our building, it takes everybody not just a couple people.

Q. What is the biggest step you've seen (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) this season from training camp? What is the biggest you’ve seen in his play? We saw this drive in the second half, he was really confident. For you as a coach what is the biggest step you saw?

BRIAN DABOLL: I just say that he comes in ready to go each week. He's very humble. I think it's very, very important to him. He has very good leadership amongst the team. Players got a lot of respect for him and I know the coaches do too. We have confidence in him. He's done a really good job for our football team and the things that we have asked him to do, he's done them well. I'm glad he's our quarterback.

Q. In that situation, with a goal to go, they have the ball with that quarterback trying to tie you up. You guys made a decision to play it out. Defensively you were not necessarily clocking your time-outs. What was your mentality and philosophy there and your guys come up with play after play three different guys?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I'd say we discuss a lot of strategy. I'm back on the defense and I click over to the offense and I have a private line with a couple of guys, (Director of Football Data & Innovation) Ty (Siam) and (offensive assistant/game manager) Cade Knox and then I go to special teams and talk to ‘T-Mac.’ We just formulated a plan. Obviously Wink - again, Wink, Kafka and ‘T-Mac’ did a fantastic job of leading their units. And the players - give the players, again, the players get the credit. They are the ones that made the plays in crunch time and fortunately we got this one.

Q. Specifically at halftime with the defense, what adjustments did you make because (Green Bay quarterback) Aaron (Rodgers) really didn’t do anything? Aside from the drop, you still stopped them.

BRIAN DABOLL: There's always things you talk about as a coaching staff. Again, we were trying to make those throughout the series. In the first half, they got down there, big DPI and scored on one. I think it was on the eight or something where they got down and had the little play to (Green Bay tight end) Marcedes (Lewis). They made a couple good plays. I don't think you panic and make wholesale adjustments. There's certain things you talk about. Again, I think Wink did a great job of that along with the rest of the coaches.

Q. This is obviously not a normal situation here.

BRIAN DABOLL: Playing in London?

Q. Yeah and had such a big-event feel to it. What does it say that your team is able to withstand, not a normal-type game and the way you guys handled it?

BRIAN DABOLL: I just think the guys just keep playing. You know, again, we put them in as many stressful situations as we could in OTAs, in training camp and don't flinch when something bad happens. There might be other - we just don't want to flinch. We just want to keep playing. It's easy to say, I think it's hard to do but our guys do a good job with it. It's what we try to do every game. Sometimes the outcome is when what we want and sometimes it's not. I give credit to our guys, they compete like heck for 60 minutes.

Q. Thoughts on (wide receiver Darius) Slayton today? He was a little limited in the offense for the first couple of weeks of the season, he stepped up with some big plays today.

BRIAN DABOLL: Slayton, did you say? Again, mental toughness. It's not perfect. It's easy when everything is going great for people, everyone is saying good things about them. This kid had a good mindset -- I shouldn't say kid - young man and made the most of his opportunities when he had an opportunity to. When you make plays, you get more opportunities and he did that.