Transcript: Head Coach Brian Daboll

Head Coach Brian Daboll

September 13, 2023

Q: Any update on (tackle) Andrew (Thomas)?

A: He will not practice today. He’s making progress, I’d put him in day-to-day.

Q: Anyone else?

A: Just going to give (tight end Darren) Waller a vet day. He’s good, but just going to give him a vet day.

Q: What about (tackle) Matt Peart?

A: He’ll practice, everybody else will practice.

Q: How did (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) come out of that game? He took a lot of hits.

A: Every game I think the quarterbacks are fairly sore. He had some running, but he’s good, ready to go.

Q: What’s your thought process if Andrew Thomas isn’t going to be available on Sunday?

A: We will practice some guys out here and we will be ready to go once Sunday rolls around.

Q: Would you consider (tackle) Evan (Neal) on the left?

A: I’d say we consider a lot of stuff, that’s probably not one of them.

Q: What do you consider your options at the left side?

A: I’d say we’ve got enough guys to go out here and get some reps, and we’ll take a look at here the next few days.

Q: You had (offensive lineman) Joshua Ezeudu play left tackle. How did he do?

A: He did good, he’s been practicing there for a while. You guys haven’t seen it, but we practice him, we move guys around. He’s certainly an option at that spot too.

Q: What kind of challenge is it for the team to move on from last week? To purge that?

A: You teach it, you learn from it, and move on. Get ready for next week, or this week I should say.

Q: Does the fact that you have another game so soon after this one affect how you manage, say with Andrew in particular, any injury situation?

A: Yeah, that’s a good question. I’d say we kind of worked back from that and obviously with more injuries there is certainly discussions about that amongst the training staff and the sports science and I’ll let those guys handle that right now, so ours is straight on Arizona, that’s all.

Q: You say Ezeudu has practiced for awhile at left tackle.

A: The last couple of weeks.

Q: It’s Week Two. It’s a vet day for Darren Waller. Why does he need a vet day in Week Two?

A: Well, that’s something we planned all along, even really since we got him with the sports science and the medical staff. Those guys that are over 30 and have had a lot of wear and tear, that have played. We are going to give him a rest day. It’ll probably be once a week.

Q: So, it’s a regular thing?

A: Yeah, it’s a regular thing.

Q: That was before the hamstring?

A: Yeah.

Q: Who else?

A: (Wide receiver Sterling) Shep(ard) will have one, probably tomorrow. There is a few guys that we have talked about, I’d say as training camp is going on, we try to have to a plan here.

Q: With the hamstring, do you have to be more cautious now with Waller beyond the scheduled rest day?

A: I think he’s good to go, but still that was the plan going into it. Whether it was going to be a Wednesday or a Thursday, that’s stuff we discussed probably before the last couple weeks of where we were at. Today, I think he will be listed with his hamstring, but he’s getting a vet day.

Q: What other guys, you mentioned Shep, are there any other players who will have scheduled rest days?

A: Right now? No, those two guys and it will be reserved. We will see how the games go and how many snaps people play. We’ve done it with (defensive lineman) Dexter (Lawrence II) and other people.

Q: But no one else is on like a plan?

A: No, not right now.

Q: What kind of a summer and camp do you think Matt Peart had?

A: Kind of like everybody. I think he has improved in some areas, it’s the early part of the season. He’ll keep on improving and knows what to do, did some good things. Other than that, we will just keep on working with him.

Q: Darren said after the game he’s got a nerve issue in the hamstring and that’s what it’s been all along, same hamstring. How much of a lingering concern is that? You don’t really hear guys talk a lot about it, a nerve issue there.

A: I’d just say he’s done a good job throughout camp. We’ve taken care of him the right way, he’s taken care of himself, so we will do everything we can to keep him as healthy as we can.

Q: Did someone ask about (kicker) Graham Gano?

A: Graham will be out there, he will be limited, but he’ll be fine.

Q: Was it his calf?

A: It was his ankle. Got rolled up on there at the end.

Q: What have you seen from your group in regard to how much they have approached coming back from that kind of loss or watching that film the other day. What was your approach with the film, was it we are going to sit and go over every little thing or was it kind of just let’s jump in?

A: It’s the same thing whether you win or lose. Again, obviously it was a bad lost, we understand that. You teach it, you show the stuff, you see where we could have fixed some things and then you fix them and once you come in on Wednesday, it’s a full head of steam on the team you are playing.

Q: I know you kind of touched on it the other day, the idea that you look at the lineup to make changes between games, that kind of thing. You spend so much time in the summer getting to that point for Week One, does timing in the season play as well? Knowing that it is just Week One going into Week Two.

A: I think what you do, you kind of evaluate the whole body of work. Preseason stuff, training camp and also obviously the first game. You don’t sit and just wait around. If you think you need to do something, that’s the job. You’ve got to do it. And we have those discussions, we will probably have them all the way up until Friday night, which is why it’s an important week of practice for some of these younger guys.

Q: On that first drive of the night, you guys had it rolling pretty good, you got (running back) Saquon (Barkley) involved and Daniel ran a couple of times. Were those designed or scrambles?

A: A couple of scrambles. Yeah, they were scrambles. He did a good job with his legs. He's done that last year for us.

Q: I was just curious if any of that was designed at all.

A: We got down to whatever it was, the 10-yard line, and kind of went backwards and it snowballed. But some of it was designed, some of it was scramble.

Q: Did circumstances prevent you from getting to some of the things you wanted to get to in that game?

A: I'd say every game is different. Obviously that one, we’re putting that one to bed and getting ready for this week.

Q: How do you balance with the offensive line? Obviously, there are things you can do. You can increase max protection, but how do you balance wanting to help them versus wanting to play the game against the defensive opponent?

A: I think that's a really good question. That’s something when you’re game planning, the more guys you have in, the less guys you have out, the more coverage they play. So, I think it's a balance between whether you're helping on a chip, getting five guys out, using a run action, getting the run game going a little bit, I think everything plays into that.

Q: You went against (Cardinals Head Coach) Jonathan Gannon’s defense last year. Is it similar, what they do in Arizona and what he did in Philly?

A: Yeah, there's some similarities. Different players, but I think they got after it pretty good. They had a defensive touchdown, another interception, another fumble recovery. They turned the ball over, they’re fast. (Cardinals safety) Budda (Baker), you’ve got to know where he’s at. He's a really good player. I thought they played a really good game, that first game against Washington. There’s some similarities. I'm sure they're going to add their own touches to it as he runs his own team, but fast defense.

Q: How do you approach this two-game stretch with a guy like (wide receiver) Wan’Dale (Robinson) and him coming back?

A: Again, it’s something we’ve talked about. We’ll see how he does in practice. I thought he looked good at practice last week. We have, I’d say, an initial plan with Wan’Dale, but we’ll take it here day-by-day and see where he’s at.

Q: Is Sunday more likely this week than it was last week?

A: I'd say there's a chance, but it’s something that we’re going to have to see how he does throughout the week and see where we're at.

Q: The workout yesterday, did you like anything from those two guys?

A: Yeah, we had them in. They were returning and stuff like that. But at this point, we’re not going to do anything.

Q: This is a long plane ride you're taking to Arizona. When you have guys with hamstrings and stuff like that, is there any extra treatment they get on the flight to make sure that they don't stiffen up?

A: Yeah, I'd say our training staff, whatever they need, our training staff is going to do for them. Obviously, hydration is important. It's warm, there’s a long plane ride. But I'd say, again, sports science and our training staff do a good job of explaining things and going through whatever our players need to make sure that they can be at their optimal level.

Q: You’ve made a point of saying stick to the process. That, in a sense, takes an emotional component out, but do you also look for that emotion this week to see how the team responds?

A: Yeah, I think you look for emotion every week. But again, we believe in what we do and how we do it. You’ve got to go out there and prepare well and practice well and ultimately play well and coach well on Sunday.

Q: You’ve been asked about what you’ve seen from the team as a whole, but what have you seen from the O-line group and how they’ve processed the game?

A: You try to be as consistent as you can. So, you're not going to ride a roller coaster. Results? Terrible. But you're not going to ride a roller coaster. Not how we do things. We're going to be consistent with how we teach, how we practice, how we prepare and try to do a better job.

Q: With two games in five days, do you try to limit the work guys get on Sunday, or do you say, ‘We win Sunday, and then we worry about Thursday?’

A: Our focus is on Arizona. That’s it.

Q: Have you used Isaiah Simmons’ knowledge of the Cardinals at all?

A: I think anytime you get players that were other places, you ask them stuff. But I've been in the league a long time. You ask them stuff and you don't really—I mean, we’ve got to take care of our business and make sure that we're prepared with what we see. If there's certain things we want to ask him, absolutely. Whether it's a player or a scheme, you try to uncover every stone you can.

Q: When you talk about believing in what you do and how you do it, when something happens like the other night, how difficult is that for the locker room? For some guys, maybe the younger guys, to adhere to that message?

A: I'd say you don't talk about it the day after it happens. You start talking about it in April, in May, in training camp. You’re going to go through stuff. Again, the results were terrible, but you’ve got to move on quick in this business and get ready to play the next game. That’s the one that counts.

Q: Other than hydration, how do you prepare for 100 degrees?

A: You hydrate. We were out here last week and practiced outside, whatever the weather was. Whatever the conditions are, we’ve got to do a good job of being ready and playing in the (conditions). Both teams play in them.