Head Coach Brian Daboll
On what was more impressive, QB Tommy DeVito’s TD passes or zero turnovers:
“Winning.”
On how DeVito handled Washington’s defensive pressure:
Yeah, I said during the week he’s improving. Doing a lot of good things, did some stuff we’ll correct and gave us a chance.”
On how DeVito grew as a player today:
“Look, there's some good stuff that he did. Made some good plays. Thought [Offensive Coordinator Mike] Kafka called a good game, and some wide open guys. [TE] Daniel Bellinger, [WR] Darius Slayton, third-and-inches call, so those help. He did a good job, and when he got behind the sticks that was when it was tough. Clean up some of those things where we got sacked, maybe we can not get sacked and get the line protected pretty well.”
On how much the team needed a win:
“It's always good to win, yeah. So, preparation normal, practicing normal, I know you asked about that the other day. To be able to put it together, you know defense, special teams, we had six turnovers, capitalized on a few of those. Hit some good, big plays. Good play designs. I thought finishing the game we made it probably tougher than we had to, but it was good to get a win.”
On how this win helps team morale:
“Winning’s good, losing’s not.”
On NT Dexter Lawrence and RUSH Kayvon Thibodeaux’s performances:
“They've been pretty consistent throughout the year. Dexter, you know what you get out of Dexter. He's an exceptional player in this league at his position right at the top and he’s provided that each week. I thought Kayvon did some stuff. You want that play back where we got hands to the face at the end of the game, but again credit to [Defensive Coordinator Don] ‘Wink’ [Martindale] and to the players. They've been putting in a lot of hard work. Coaches have, players have. We just, you know, put it together in the right way today and try to build off it.”
On how they were able to get this type of performance out of DeVito:
“Well, the Jet game was different. We were playing it a certain way. No, look he's made progress. [Quarterbacks Coach] Shea [Tierney] is an exceptional quarterback coach. Tommy’s put the work in, but it takes all 11 guys out there on the field and, you know, he's had some production, I think he's improved. We’ve still got a ways to go here, but he's got the right mindset. I think the players have confidence in him, particularly because he's the 3rd quarterback going in and he's got a little juice about him. But we'll go back and learn from stuff that we could do better and try to put another one together.”
On the change in the running game:
“Blocked them better. I thought the big play that [RB] Saquon [Barkley] had when you go back and watch it, just watch little [WR] Wan’Dale Robinson. He was the guy that kinda spun the whole play.”
On if he changed anything in the run game to get to perimeters:
“Yeah, I mean we ran a couple plays early that were outside plays, not necessarily cross plays that they did a good job defending. We adjusted like we normally do, it's not just at halftime. We talked about it throughout the series. They got two good guys inside. They played good. It's not always gonna be perfect in the run game. It wasn't very good in the first half, but probably try to mix it up and stay with it, and we got a couple plays.”
On if he felt like the nine sacks affected DeVito:
“Yeah, I mean he's tough. He’s a tough guy. Again, when you have that many sacks and they weren't all on the offensive line, I'll tell you that right now. We could have done some things better, but we did a good job of sometimes capitalizing on them. In terms of getting backed up, a lot of times we had to punt the ball because we got behind the sticks, but he's a tough-minded guy. Instinctive. He's an instinctive player, which is hard to coach too. Even like that first third down where he threw to [WR Darius] Slayton, if you go back he just gave a little pump fake to get it open up the window. You know, had another big one. We had an opportunity at the end of the two-minute to keep the drive going that we just didn’t finish, but he did some good stuff.”
On the locker room’s respect for DeVito:
“Yeah, I mean I was asked a fair amount of questions about bringing in some older guys and thought this guy was a good young player to work with. Again, he's played in two and a half games, so there's a lot of work that needs to be done, but he certainly has put the work in. You know, when he was out on the look team at practice, you could see some of his instinctiveness even though he was a show team quarterback in terms of throwing the ball on time, anticipation. And so, thought he'd be a good player to work with and give an opportunity to, you know. There's a lot of things he did good and a lot of things we can help him improve on.”
On if he has an update on WR Darius Slayton:
“I don’t.”
On if he got an explanation on the melee on the sidelines:
“They came over and told me that 4 [Commanders WR Curtis Samuel] and 28 [Giants CB Cor’Dale Flott] are out. They threw punches, they threw punches is what they told me.”
On if DeVito got the game ball:
“No.”
On what he said to DeVito after the game:
“Yeah, I said good job. I said good job. I said good job to the whole team. That was a team win. Six turnovers, didn’t turn the ball over offensively, pretty efficient, effective in the passing game. Obviously, we had the sacks. Stuck with the running game. Thought the coordinators did a good job, got a turnover on special teams, that's included in the six, so a team win and certainly proud of Tommy. That’s a tough position to play, and he's got a really good mindset. Now, we’ll have to go back and fix things like we normally do, whether it's a win or a loss. But I'm proud of him for all the work that he does put into it. He puts a lot of work into it.”
On if the team’s lack of success has affected their pride on the field:
“I don't question our pride. I'm just happy for the players, for the coaches because they do the right stuff during the week. They practice their tails off. They prepare. They study extra. There's extra meetings going on. They come in with a positive attitude when it's not always easy to come in with a positive attitude. They have their next play mentality, so you know, to see them have success, to see the coaches and all the hard work that they put into it. That's why you do this, is to try to win one game each week, so we’ll enjoy this one. I’m proud of the people that are in the building that work hard and now we’ll move on to the next one here pretty shortly.”
On the differences between Week 7 and today’s game:
“Yeah, there's no easy in this league. It's a tough league. It’s a humbling league and they have a team that competes hard with a lot of good players, good coaches, and I thought we competed well. Look there's always little things that you could fix and tweak and gameplan for and you have to, you gotta feel for how the game’s going. Usually takes about a quarter to go ahead and decide exactly what you want to do. There's some plays that we left out there and extended some drives, missed some short fields or shorter fields, but again, I’m just happy for the players and the coaches for their work ethic, their commitment, staying on track, trying not to ride the rollercoaster, and just trying to put one foot in front of the other, and get better everyday, and try to win a game.”
On the defensive’s performance:
“Yeah, got the ball. Get the ball five times and one on special teams. That’s hard to do in this league. They flew around. They played with effort. They made some timely plays too for us. Obviously, like to do a better job at the end there but again, they're tough-minded competitors and I thought this week was not much different than last week. It was a good week last week too but translate it to the on field performance this week. It's what we’re trying to do every week.”
On Thibodeaux’s performance:
“Yeah, I’m glad we have Kayvon. He's a true competitor, great teammate, productive player for us and I’m happy he's on our team.”
