Transcript: Quarterback Daniel Jones

Quarterback Daniel Jones

Q: Are you excited to be back?

A: Yeah, I'm excited. Excited to be back in the swing of things and going through the week preparing to play. So yeah, I'm excited to be back.

Q: How do you feel physically?

A: I feel good, I feel good. I feel recovered. I've had a few weeks here not playing, so I used that to stay in shape. But excited to be back.

Q: How much do you want to jumpstart this offense?

A: I think we're all focused on doing that. I think we're all focused on doing what we can to help make plays, score points, and do what we can to put the team in position to win games. That's what we're focused on as a group, and we're excited to do it.

Q: Because of the nature of this injury – it wasn't a knee or an ankle or a shoulder – did you come back feeling incredibly fresh and ready to go?

A: Yeah, I mean, I do feel fresh having not played in a few weeks and trying to do what I can to improve physically in the weight room and on the field and throwing. Obviously, heal the neck up, but made sure my whole body was ready to go.

Q: Given that, you probably would rather feel more (inaudible)?

A: I'd definitely rather be playing. Rather have been on the field and playing, but the situation was what it was, so tried to take advantage of it.

Q: Do you have to do anything differently? Do you maybe have to be more careful running the ball or taking hits maybe than you usually would? How do you approach that coming off this injury?

A: I'm going to continue to be aggressive and look for opportunities to run when they're there, and then be smart, get down and protect myself also. That's something I've always tried to do and try to continue to improve at so, yeah, that won't change.

Q: Are you worried at all? Are you going to be tentative in any way because of this injury?

A: No, I'm not worried.

Q: Is there any concern about the Raiders changing coaches?

A: No. I think we're focused on what's happening here and what we need to do to play our best on Sunday. That's what we're focused on. We're definitely aware of it and we'll see kind of what that could mean from a game-plan standpoint, but as far as what we're focused on, it's ourselves and making sure we're ready to go.

Q: Did you learn anything from watching?

A: You're always trying to learn. You're always trying to grow, and obviously, you want to be on the field doing that, but watching film, watching our guys. I think Tyrod played well. I think you're always trying to learn and grow, but you want to be on the field learning.

Q: Do you think this team can get it together in the weeks ahead and play Giants football, that's winning football?

A: I do. I'm confident in our group. I'm confident in what we're doing, and we've just got to put it together, and we've got the guys to do it. I'm confident. I think we all are. We've got to go out there and show it on Sunday.

Q: You talked about feeling physically refreshed and reset. Is there anything to a reset mentally? It had gotten to be a grind for a couple weeks; you had a tough start. For you mentally, was it a break that you think could be advantageous?

A: I don't think so. I think mentally, you want to be on the field. You want to be playing, you want to be preparing to play. I don't really see it that way. I think physically, obviously you want to be on the field too, but try to take advantage of some of the recovery stuff. But mentally, you want to be there, you want to be on the field. Certainly missed it.

Q: How surprised or not surprised were you that you were actually cleared on Sunday?

A: I had been progressing last week. I felt good about where I was headed. I didn't know exactly how it was going to go Sunday before the game, but I felt good. I felt like I was progressing well.

Q: Did you want a chance to then play in the game? If you were progressing and you thought maybe there was a chance, did you want to have that possibility kept open earlier in the week? Was that something you discussed?

A: I mean, yeah, I tried every day I wasn't playing I was trying to be cleared. I didn't pass during the week. I couldn't pass the test. So, I passed on Sunday for this coming week. That was what the communication was from the doctors. I was trying to pass every day.