SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR CHRIS HORTON
Opening statement:"Good to see everyone. I hope everyone's doing well today. We're out here, we're working. We're focusing on the Cleveland Browns, and we're just getting ready for that game. When you look back at last week, for us, it comes back down to, 'Let's execute every play.' We're not getting a lot of plays while we're out there, so for us our big thing is one-play execution, and when we do that, we'll be fine. Questions?"
How much did the penalties like you had in the Giants game Sunday bother you? _(Jeff Zrebiec) _"A lot. When you play our phase of the game, we talk about negative plays and just having penalties. When you go and you watch the two plays, I don't think they were that foolish of penalties. I looked at Tylan [Wallace]'s play, I looked at it hard. [I'm] still trying to find it, still trying to see it. It's not very clear, but I tell those guys, 'Let's not even put ourselves in those situations. Let's not make it close. Let's not make it gray; just be in the right position.' When you look at the other one with A.J. [Klein], A.J.'s running down the field about as fast as he can, and he's trying to make a play because there aren't a lot of plays to be made. So, he's trying to make a play, and he hits that guy while he's going out of bounds. If there's anyone disappointed, I know A.J. is. He's played a lot of years in this league, and he understands that. He's going to be just fine. I want him to keep the edge."
On the kickoff return that the Giants returned close to the 50-yard line, did you see anything that allowed for that to open up? (Cordell Woodland) "On the sideline, I was looking at that play. I was like, 'Oh man, this is about to be a great play.' Then, we talk about execution. [There was] one guy maybe falling out of his gap, and that play just hitting down the field. It was covered about as well as you can cover it right until the last second. So, we just have to finish the plays. We're going to continue to do what we do; we're going to continue to come out here and work hard, and we're going to continue to give our guys opportunities to cover kicks."
What do you tell K Justin Tucker in a situation like that where he's the last man on a kickoff return with a chance to stop the returner? (Cliff Brown) "Well, first of all, I just tell [Justin] Tucker, 'That ball should never get to you, but in that situation if it does get to you, just try to get him down as best as you can, and we've got the cavalry running,' and we got him down. So, it was good; it was a good job by him."
On the missed field goal attempt, did you see any technical issues or was it just a missed kick? (Kyle Barber) "It was just a missed kick. I thought 'Tuck' [Justin Tucker], he hit a great ball. They had a left to right wind [and], he played that ball pretty straight. It didn't move, and then I thought he thought the ball was going to push itself a little bit further inside. It didn't and hit that left upright, but it was just a good kick. The battery was excellent."
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE MACDONALD
Opening statement:"[I] hope everyone's doing well today, getting a little AFC weather going at the appropriate time as we get ready to play the Cleveland Browns here at 'The Bank' [M&T Bank Stadium]. So, guys are locked in, focused. [The Browns] have a lot of really good players; those two edge guys are really special players in their own ways, and we have our hands full. Everyone is working hard, really focused in. Any questions?"
I know the Giants were loading the box more towards the end of the game, but when you were having such success running the ball, looking back on it do you think there was more opportunity to run the ball on Sunday? _(Jamison Hensley) _"I thought we were throwing the ball really well, too. The problem for us was in the red zone, it got sticky. So, looking back, you definitely think, 'Hey, maybe we could have done that a little bit more' and seen how that worked out. Going into the game, we were pretty confident we could run a bunch of crossing routes which we were hitting in the middle of the field. We got down there, and it just wasn't working for us, but they were loading the box pretty good down in the red zone, as they always do, but you get back to work, you look at it, and you make the necessary adjustments."
You mentioned DE Myles Garrett. How do you prepare for him? _(Melissa Kim) _"Yes, and he's getting better every year [with] the way he plays the game, whatnot. You can see him from his rookie year to now, his move sets, et cetera. So, you have to bring attention to him in various ways; you can't just treat him like everyone else. You have to rob Peter to pay Paul at times to try to account for him from a numerical standpoint. Maybe get two guys on him, chip him... There are various ways and means, but at the same time you can't bring yourself to a halt because all you're worried about is that. You have to trust the players, trust the plan, mix it up on them. You can't let him take over the game."
What are you seeing from RB Gus Edwards in practice, and how much better does he look to you? _(Ryan Mink) _"Gus [Edwards] is looking really good. Gus is looking really good, and I think he's on track. We're really excited about having him back. I think he's getting better every day, and it's visual; I can visually see it. So, [I'm] really excited about that."
I know it wasn't the plan, but T Ronnie Stanley was forced to play every snap after T Morgan Moses' injury. How encouraged were you by that and how he played? _(Luke Jones) _"I think that was really encouraging because his game wasn't going to be like that. Once Morgan [Moses] went down, he made the call that he was going to stay in. We were prepared to remove him from the game, and he said, 'No, I want to play.' He's playing at a high level, and he continues to get better and kind of get his chops back, all the little nuanced things. He's playing well, [and we're] looking forward to what we're doing moving forward with him."
Is this the best football you've seen from G Ben Powers since he's been here? _(Jeff Zrebiec) _"Yes, I just told someone up in the staff room this morning. I said, 'Ben Powers is quietly having a really, really good year.' [He's] very dependable, durable, reliable [and] understands exactly what we want of him. There are always things we can improve on and coach on, but he's doing a great job. He really is. I think that unit's really starting to develop. I like what I'm seeing in a lot of different areas from them. The continuity I think is big with Ronnie [Stanley] back and Ben playing the way he is. We have a young center, so having veteran guys around him like Ben and Ronnie and Kevin [Zeitler] and Morgan [Moses], I think that's really helpful to Tyler [Linderbaum] as well."
WR Devin Duvernay only had one catch on Sunday after being heavily involved the week before. When it comes to the plays he's involved in, especially when he's lined up in the backfield, do you feel like you have to make it a mission to call those plays? Does it take you out of your normal play calling? _(Cordell Woodland) _"It depends on the week. I think last game, we kind of had a plan of how we were going to do things, personnel wise. I think it was working pretty good as far as moving the ball up and down the field; we just have to finish better. Some weeks, it's more than others because there's other things. Maybe the defense lines up a certain way, they're playing a certain coverage. So, some weeks more than others. He had a few more opportunities, [and] unfortunately they didn't work out, but we want to get 'Duv' [Devin Duvernay] involved. That was one of my notes after the game, and I had an exclamation point after it."
You guys are running less RPOs than last year. Where do you see that being helpful for you, and what are the drawbacks to that? _(Jonas Shaffer) _"That really doesn't have a lot to do with it; it's more of a defensive choice. There are some teams that are playing certain coverages to maybe take away RPOs, and that's fine with us. We're fine with that, but it's pretty obvious that that's what they're doing. If that's the case, then we move on to something else. It's really that simple."
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR GREG ROMAN
Opening statement:"[I] hope everyone's doing well today, getting a little AFC weather going at the appropriate time as we get ready to play the Cleveland Browns here at 'The Bank' [M&T Bank Stadium]. So, guys are locked in, focused. [The Browns] have a lot of really good players; those two edge guys are really special players in their own ways, and we have our hands full. Everyone is working hard, really focused in. Any questions?"
I know the Giants were loading the box more towards the end of the game, but when you were having such success running the ball, looking back on it do you think there was more opportunity to run the ball on Sunday? _(Jamison Hensley) _"I thought we were throwing the ball really well, too. The problem for us was in the red zone, it got sticky. So, looking back, you definitely think, 'Hey, maybe we could have done that a little bit more' and seen how that worked out. Going into the game, we were pretty confident we could run a bunch of crossing routes which we were hitting in the middle of the field. We got down there, and it just wasn't working for us, but they were loading the box pretty good down in the red zone, as they always do, but you get back to work, you look at it, and you make the necessary adjustments."
You mentioned DE Myles Garrett. How do you prepare for him? _(Melissa Kim) _"Yes, and he's getting better every year [with] the way he plays the game, whatnot. You can see him from his rookie year to now, his move sets, et cetera. So, you have to bring attention to him in various ways; you can't just treat him like everyone else. You have to rob Peter to pay Paul at times to try to account for him from a numerical standpoint. Maybe get two guys on him, chip him... There are various ways and means, but at the same time you can't bring yourself to a halt because all you're worried about is that. You have to trust the players, trust the plan, mix it up on them. You can't let him take over the game."
What are you seeing from RB Gus Edwards in practice, and how much better does he look to you? _(Ryan Mink) _"Gus [Edwards] is looking really good. Gus is looking really good, and I think he's on track. We're really excited about having him back. I think he's getting better every day, and it's visual; I can visually see it. So, [I'm] really excited about that."
I know it wasn't the plan, but T Ronnie Stanley was forced to play every snap after T Morgan Moses' injury. How encouraged were you by that and how he played? _(Luke Jones) _"I think that was really encouraging because his game wasn't going to be like that. Once Morgan [Moses] went down, he made the call that he was going to stay in. We were prepared to remove him from the game, and he said, 'No, I want to play.' He's playing at a high level, and he continues to get better and kind of get his chops back, all the little nuanced things. He's playing well, [and we're] looking forward to what we're doing moving forward with him."
Is this the best football you've seen from G Ben Powers since he's been here? _(Jeff Zrebiec) _"Yes, I just told someone up in the staff room this morning. I said, 'Ben Powers is quietly having a really, really good year.' [He's] very dependable, durable, reliable [and] understands exactly what we want of him. There are always things we can improve on and coach on, but he's doing a great job. He really is. I think that unit's really starting to develop. I like what I'm seeing in a lot of different areas from them. The continuity I think is big with Ronnie [Stanley] back and Ben playing the way he is. We have a young center, so having veteran guys around him like Ben and Ronnie and Kevin [Zeitler] and Morgan [Moses], I think that's really helpful to Tyler [Linderbaum] as well."
WR Devin Duvernay only had one catch on Sunday after being heavily involved the week before. When it comes to the plays he's involved in, especially when he's lined up in the backfield, do you feel like you have to make it a mission to call those plays? Does it take you out of your normal play calling? _(Cordell Woodland) _"It depends on the week. I think last game, we kind of had a plan of how we were going to do things, personnel wise. I think it was working pretty good as far as moving the ball up and down the field; we just have to finish better. Some weeks, it's more than others because there's other things. Maybe the defense lines up a certain way, they're playing a certain coverage. So, some weeks more than others. He had a few more opportunities, [and] unfortunately they didn't work out, but we want to get 'Duv' [Devin Duvernay] involved. That was one of my notes after the game, and I had an exclamation point after it."
You guys are running less RPOs than last year. Where do you see that being helpful for you, and what are the drawbacks to that? _(Jonas Shaffer) _"That really doesn't have a lot to do with it; it's more of a defensive choice. There are some teams that are playing certain coverages to maybe take away RPOs, and that's fine with us. We're fine with that, but it's pretty obvious that that's what they're doing. If that's the case, then we move on to something else. It's really that simple."
