NYG Postgame (vs. Cowboys) Transcripts: Head Coach Brian Daboll
September 10, 2023
Opening statement: Obviously, a tough loss, a disappointing loss, got beat all the way around, coaching to playing and I accept that, got a lot to learn from, a lot to work on and that's what we'll do. No excuses, give credit to Dallas. They just did everything better than we did tonight.
Q: On the blocked field goal, you guys seemed to be kind of humming on offense early in the first drive and then some things went wrong. What did that series of events that ended that the possession and the block field, what did that do for the rest of the night for you?
A: You hope you don't have plays like that. You’re gonna have some bad ones throughout the game. You give up seven on special teams and you give up seven on offense and that's 14 points right there and, you know, a field goal, they missed the extra point. It was16 points early, you know, still competing, but just could never really string it together, really, in any area.
Q: Seven sacks, 12 quarterback hits, what was wrong with the protection?
A: Well, we got into one of those games as the game went on where we were throwing the ball and they knew we had to throw the ball, we were down a bunch. Have to look at the tape for some of the stuff. But, you know, obviously it wasn't good enough. No area was good enough tonight, from protection to coaching, to running, to tackling. Whatever it may be, you name it, it wasn't good enough.
Q: Did you ever think about taking (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) out?
A: I was gonna let him see it through there just until that last series.
Q: Why?
A: Try to get something positive going there. We didn't have much going, just wanted to try to get, you know, a positive drive and try to punch the ball into the end zone, but that didn’t happen.
Q: It seemed like kind of a rough night for your rookies tonight for your first timers –
A: I'd have to go back and look at it.
Q: What’s your concern about the offensive line at this point, particularly the right side.
A: I'd say we got a lot of work to do in every area, not just the offensive line, every area on the field, from coaching to offense to defense to the kicking game and that's what we'll do.
Q: There's a lot of talk after last season about bridging the gap between you guys and those other guys in the division. Are you worried at all about what a loss like this could do in the big picture long term?
A: I'm focused on trying to improve and there's a lot to improve on. So, you know, it's one game. It wasn't a good game, don't sugarcoat it. It was a bad game and that's on me and we'll work to get the things we need to get fixed, which is certainly plenty of things.
Q: What was your message to them?
A: Just that.
Q: Do you think any changes need to be made on the offensive line?
A: We just got skunked here, 40 to nothing. When you play a game like that and coach a game like that, there's nothing that's good enough. Our job is to go back and look at it with a critical eye, just like we would do in any game, but 40 to nothing is not a good score, obviously. So, a lot to work on and that's what we'll do.
Q: Is there anything you can take away from Daniel’s play?
A: Yeah, I would just say in every area we weren't good enough and I'll take that.
Q: Did you have any issues with the effort in the second half? It seemed like they came out kind of flat.
A: No, I mean, they went down and drove right down the field. Those guys are competitors. Obviously, the result didn’t show that tonight, but that’s not us. That's not us, just to insinuate that, that someone's not giving effort. Everybody gives balls out effort. We just didn't do a good enough job executing, but I don't question that, not ever.
Q: Did it catch you by surprise how basically all the operations, all three sides, failed?
A: Look, I'd say it again. Tonight wasn't good enough in any area. So, a lot to work on and that's what we'll do.
Q: How did (tight end) Darren (Waller) come through the game? He came out before everyone else did. Was that out of precaution?
A: Yeah, he made it through. He made it through. I think the only thing I got coming in here was (corner Deonte) Banks had cramps.
Q: What about Andrew Thomas?
A: He fought through, I think he had a little bit of a hammy going in there. I gotta go find out what exactly it was but he was fighting through. Again, look, there's no excuses on anything when you lose 40 to nothing. Nothing is good enough and I’ll own that.
Q: Is (kicker Graham) Gano okay?
A: I think he is, but I haven't checked with those guys just yet.
Q: A loss like this can be kind of deflating. How do you keep the guys from getting too down over a loss like this?
A: Well, this league is humbling. It's a humbling league. I've said this many a time, it's the same thing as if you have a big win, not getting too high. This is an emotional game, guys put everything they have into it. They prepared well, we practiced well and we didn't put it together today in every area from, like I said, offense, defense, coaching, special teams, whatever. You name it and you get 40 to nothing, there's a lot of blame to go around and I'll take the head of it.
Q: You said looking at things with a critical eye, would you re-evaluate your processes?
A: Well, you do that every week. That's what you do as a head coach, you evaluate processes every week, whether you have five wins in a row, get blown out 40 to nothing, have an offseason. Every day after every game you sit down and you evaluate processes, that's what you do as a coaching staff. It's been like that ever since I've been in coaching.
Q: What is it about Dallas that's kind of given you guys issues this last year and a half or last year?
A: Last year, I'm not worried about. This year, we had issues with every area we could have issues with tonight.
Q: What did you think when you guys got kind got booed going in at the end of the first half?
A: We weren’t playing well.
Q: In the first quarter you had to burn two timeouts because of substitution problems. How concerning is the whole operation?
A: Like I said before, everything wasn't good enough from the get-go. That's why you get beat 40 to nothing. That's my responsibility.
Q: Did that surprise you that it didn't work like that because this is your second year, there were a decent number of players coming back. It wasn't all brand new with the players?
A: In what regard?
Q: Did it surprise you, some of those operational issues, some of hiccups? Did It surprise you?
A: There was one miscommunication on the offensive side and then they ran people out, we ran people out, didn’t get out in time. So, you know, took a time out. You never want those, that’s on our end. So those are, you know, the multitude of things that we got to clean up.
Q: Did they do anything with their pass rusher Micah Parsons that took you by surprise?
A: They had them inside, they had them outside.
Q: Is that what they usually do?
A: They put them everywhere but, they did a good job, give them credit, we didn’t and that's really what it is.
