NYG Postgame (vs. Panthers) Transcripts: Head Coach Brian Daboll
August 18, 2023
Q: (Did you) like what you saw from (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) in the first series?
A: Yeah, it was one series. Drove down and scored.
Q: Was the plan one series or depending on the series?
A: There’s a plan to play and then we adjust as the game goes. So, when you all ask how long they're playing, when they're playing, I really can't tell you until during the game. So, it was a good series. (Tight end) Darren (Waller) had a few catches, efficient. It was one series.
Q: Obviously, it was one series but you have to be pretty happy with the execution.
A: Execution was good. Yeah, it was good.
Q: What did you think of the penalties on your defense in the first quarter?
A: Yeah, not good. Penalties usually continue drives.
Q: Was It just like the nature of the penalties?
A: Yeah, I mean, those pre-snap and post-snap ones are the ones you want to try to avoid. You're going to have penalties in this game. You're going to have physical penalties where things happen with a hold or something like that. But any pre-snap stuff where you can control it or post-snap stuff, those are the ones you try to fix. I think we had quite a bit of penalties today. Usually that's what it is early on, but you still certainly don't want those.
Q: Darren Waller was obviously a big offseason acquisition. What do you make of them being able to sort of instantly have chemistry, him and Daniel (Jones)?
A: Yeah, they work at it. They work at it, they work hard at it, probably got a long way to go still with it, but the offseason stuff, OTA’s, we give them a lot of reps together. In the passing game, that's really what it's about as much chemistry as you can get. Still a way to go with it.
Q: When you got Darren (Waller), I remember everyone was sort of asking you about what can he do. What are you expecting from him and you just wanted to get him in the building, get your hands on him, put him in the offense and then you decide what you could do once you actually saw him. Now that you've had him in camp, you have seen him out here in the game, has anything specifically surprised you with him?
A: No, I think we've made progress from where we started to where we're at now, he's been out there, he's been dependable, he's been available. We got a lot of work with Daniel (Jones), with Darren (Waller). We'll just try to keep on grinding away with that.
Q: (Wide receiver Jalin) Hyatt had a couple of catches that went for negative yards, had the drop and then caught the touchdown. What does that tell you about him and what did you like on that play?
A: I like when he had that drop and (offensive coordinator Mike) Kafka dialed it up the very next play where we thought the ball would go, so good next play mentality, positive approach. Again, much like all the other rookies, we’re still chopping the wood here.
Q: How important was it to get that next play right to him?
A: It was good.
Q: It worked.
A: Yeah, that's what you want to try to do, particularly with young guys. You know there's going to be bad plays. So to kind of encourage that next-play mentality, it's particularly, I would say in these preseasons games, it's good if you can go right back to them if the coverage is what it is and the quarterback is supposed to throw it there, you don't want to force it, but that was planned, you know, he had that drop and then we went right back to him and he made a nice play.
Q: How much is that what he can bring to this offense? From our perspective, he's just like a big play waiting to happen.
A: Well, look, I mean, we ran him on a bunch of short routes, we got him on that big route and we're just trying to help him be a better receiver. So, you know, we ask him to do quite a bit of stuff. He runs a variety of routes: short, intermediate, deep. But again, he's a young player like the other rookies we have that we just try to bring them along and try to put them in good positions.
Q: I know you got to watch tape, but was there anything about (defensive lineman Jordan) Riley's game out here today that was good?
A: Yeah, I don't know, I saw him break through the one line, but he played about 40 snaps, somewhere around there, a little bit more last week, so he's played a lot of football here in two games and he needs it.
Q: Nice to see (wide receiver Sterling) Shep(ard) get a catch?
A: Yeah. I kept asking him how he's doing because I think he was at about 12 snaps right before the two minute, so I wanted to be around 15 with him. But he's such a good teammate and such a competitor. I'm always checking with him, how's he doing on the sideline, are you good to go and he’s competitive as always.
Q: Did he say anything when he came off the field after that catch?
A: No.
Q: Business as usual?
A: Yeah, business as usual.
Q: He got a little hit after that catch, which was probably good for him?
A: It’s good when you are coming back from that, you know, the history that he's had the last couple of years. It was good for him.
Q: How impressive is what he's kind of done? Those are really serious injuries back-to-back for a skill position player to come back the way he has.
A: You have such empathy for the players in this game because there's always nicks and bruises, but then there's injuries and some of them are bad. Some of them have long recovering injuries and you don't really get to see behind the scenes of the work ethic that they put in, the grind, how hard it is to come back from one of those and then another one and you're out there by yourself, you meet with the trainers and you’re kind of away from the team and then you come back and you start slowly integrating. It would be a great question, obviously, for him coming back from stuff like that and having to play again. There's probably some mental block.
Q: He seems really shifty and explosive for a guy that’s had those injuries.
A: Yeah, he has looked good. The credit is to him. But I’d say the credit is to our medical department, Ronnie Barnes and Leigh Weiss and all of our trainers, our sports science because he is a guy that wants to just go, go, go and as a coach, you always want the guys to go. But I think that our medical team from the physicians to the trainers to the sports science, they've done a fantastic job all camp of really managing the players the way they think each player needed to be managed and each of them were, I'd say, individual cases. It's not just one size fits all with that stuff.
Q: Did you ask for or get any feedback on the turf? This was the first game on the new surface here.
A: I didn't. No, I didn't.
Q: What do you think of it?
A: It’s fine. I’m just standing on it. (laughs) I'm not running around and cutting and doing all those things. It's a little softer on my lower back, which is always good.
