Brian Daboll sits down in his office with Giants.com for a weekly conversation about the latest at 1925 Giants Drive. We catch up with the head coach as he prepares for a visit from the San Francisco 49ers to begin the November slate of games. Jaxson Dart, meanwhile, has just been named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month for October.

Q: What does the Offensive Rookie of the Month award say about Jaxson so far?

Daboll: "He'd trade it all in for a couple more wins."

Q: What about the recognition and respect he has earned around the league? Tom Brady said leading up to the broadcast last week that he has the traits that he looks for. That's high praise from someone like him.

Daboll: "From the beginning when I started evaluating [Dart], there's a lot of traits that you like, a lot of things that you think you can work with. His personality and his commitment to improving are really good. He is very coachable. He's got good talent. When you have that combination and you're competitive and tough and have leadership, those are the traits that I think are important for a quarterback."

Q: What's one thing that a casual fan – or a writer like me – wouldn't notice or see about Dart?

Daboll: "I know I sound like a broken record. He's just a good, young quarterback. He's just a guy that's improved since he's been here. We've tried to do things throughout his young career to help him, and he does the same thing on his own – study habits, how he practices, extra time he spends."

Q: You have another rookie who is now done for the season. It's easy for me to say, but are there football injuries and then are there life injuries like that with Skatt? Staying for emergency surgery isn't unheard of, but it's not common.

Daboll: "This is the unfortunate part of the business, as you know. Guys get hurt. There's not a whole lot I can [say]. It's terrible when guys get hurt, whether it's – you miss Skatt, you miss [Malik] Nabers, other guys that have been down. Unfortunately, that's part of the business. There's a lot of injuries in this league. And he was having a really good season as a young player. I think he was helping us with his personality, with his toughness, with his leadership. When you lose guys like that, you never replace them. But I have a lot of confidence in Trace (Tyrone Tracy Jr.) and Motor (Devin Singletary). But you feel terrible. You feel helpless when you watch one of your players – whether it's Malik laying down there on the turf after that, Skatt, and you can go on and on and on. When you're a position coach and you're around guys all the time, you form a good bond and then these young guys have really done a nice job for us and give everything they've got. Again, it's not just Skatt. It's not just Malik. It's all the guys that get hurt. You watch them in the offseason program, in the OTAs, and then (Daboll snaps his finger) in a split second, they're out. It's the unfortunate part of the business. It really is."

Q: Everyone has this vision of Skatt in their head that he's just running through brick walls without thinking, which in a way he is. But even Brady was talking on the broadcast that he plays like a veteran. He slipped the defensive end on his touchdown in Philly and then the week before showed incredible patience to set up his blocks on his other touchdown in Denver.

Daboll: "I would say, you asked about Jaxson too, instincts are a hard thing for people to evaluate. You can watch it, and you can see certain things they do on tape and say, boy, he's got some pretty good instincts. But until he's in your system and until you can – guys learn in different ways. You can sit in a meeting room with them and go through a pass installation or you can go through a defensive installation or a kicking game. You can watch it on the board and then go out there, and then when things move and change, they freeze up. Then there's other guys that just play, that – it's hard to explain – they can just see it. 'Well, he's here, so I'm going here, why would I do this?' [Rob] Gronkowski was a perfect example of that just relative to an instinctive player that was smart. I'm not comparing the two guys, but they're tough-minded, hard-nosed, want the ball in their hands, you want to give it to them in critical situations. And it's not too big for them when the picture changes [from the defense] or something's different. They just know what to do. And the more you can have of those guys, the better off you are because the guys that don't have that, it's tough to play in this league. I'd say his is elite relative to that."

Q: I'm sure you're intently following any quarterback injury news that comes from San Fran and they have a three-hour advantage on the west coast. Is it a full double workload to prepare for both Mac Jones and Brock Purdy?

Daboll: "You watch the tape. Coach [Kyle] Shanahan has run his offense for a while. You look at the system and what they do. It's funny, I recruited Purdy and had Mac [at Alabama]. [Purdy] was coming out of Arizona. I liked Purdy in high school quite a bit. Mac, I've known for a long time. Give Mac a lot of credit for sticking things out at Alabama. To me, that shows a lot of resiliency of the young man to do that nowadays. He was the third quarterback in the room with [Jalen] Hurts and Tua [Tagovailoa]. He was a good player, and then obviously when he got his opportunity, he made the most of it down there. He's been on his own journey and he's playing good football right now. Mac has always had a lot of talent. Him and his family, I've got a good relationship. He's playing good football."

Q: And if it's Purdy?

Daboll: "He's a very effective quarterback. He's good in the pocket. He's probably more athletic than you think when you watch him. He can get out of things. He can make plays with his legs, keep his eyes downfield, good in the pocket, good action quarterback, complements Coach Shanahan's offense really well. It seems like he's a master at it. He's an accurate passer. Good player."

Q: What does it say about Shanahan's system that he has had 10 different starting quarterbacks as a head coach?

Daboll: "He's done it for a long time in this league. He's a good football coach. Houston, Washington, obviously has a good pedigree and a good system. I've got a lot of respect for Kyle and what he's done throughout his career and his perseverance and how he has handled things. Just a very aggressive, intelligent play-caller and obviously has been a very good coach for a long time."

Q: You're close with [current 49ers defensive coordinator and former Jets head coach] Robert Saleh…

Daboll: "… All gas, no brakes."

Q: You mentioned both of your Michigan State days.

Daboll: "He was there after me, but if you go back and look at graduate assistants at Michigan State, there's a lot. Josh McDaniels, I was there, Mel Tucker, Saleh. There's quite a bit of them. I met him a few years back. I think he's a great dude, him and his family. The way his defense plays, just how hard they play and how fast and, I'd say, how sound – we got to practice against him a couple times here. I like him and I think he's a good coach."

Q: The challenge for your defense this week is Christian McCaffrey. It all starts with him.

Daboll: "He's a unique player in the fact that when he's playing running back, he's one of the best running backs in the league, and when you spread him out and he plays receiver, he can be one of the best receivers like that. They use him a bunch, rightfully so. I think his talent speaks for itself. When you have a chess piece like that, that you can use in a variety of spots, it's a pretty cool thing."

Q: Your running back, Tyrone Tracy Jr., had the injury, Skattebo takes over, and now Tracy is presumably back to seeing a big workload. How has he handled this season?

Daboll: "He's a pro. He'll be ready to go. He's excited."

Q: What about Motor being a steadying presence?

Daboll: "Pro, man. Pro. True pro. Everything he does is just at a high level of professionalism with his attitude, his commitment to the team. When he gets his opportunities, which haven't been a ton, playing kickoff return, great team player. We're lucky to have him."

Q: How has he helped the young guys in that room?

Daboll: "Any time you can have those veterans in the room, there's good conversation. I think [running backs coach] Ladell [Betts] has done a really good job with these guys as a former player. That room, we'll miss Skatt, but that room will be ready to step up."

Q: Dart seemed pretty excited about Ray-Ray McCloud.

Daboll: "The guy had 62 catches last year [with Atlanta]. He's smart. Ray-Ray is a veteran that's come a long way since we had him in Buffalo early on. He's worked really hard for the short time he's been here to try and pick up our system. We'll keep working with him and see where it goes."

Q: Chad Hall is the Giants' Salute to Service Award nominee. We hear from coordinators, we hear from you, we hear from position coaches. What does he bring to the staff as the assistant quarterbacks coach?

(Each year, the Salute to Service Award recognizes NFL players, coaches, staff and alumni who make exceptional efforts to honor and support military and veteran communities.

A former U.S. Air Force lieutenant, Hall's commitment to military outreach is deeply rooted in his own service. He played collegiate football at the United States Air Force Academy, where he led the nation in all-purpose yards in 2007, earned Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year, and was a Heisman Trophy candidate.

From 2008 to 2009, Hall served as a second lieutenant in the 421st Black Widow F-16 Maintenance Squadron at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, demonstrating leadership and integrity in uniform.

Hall founded Pigskin Patriots, a nonprofit organization that empowers military families by hosting free football and cheerleading camps for their children. Through this initiative, he aims to instill character and values such as leadership, discipline and integrity in the next generation.)

Daboll: "I can't say enough about Chad Hall as a guy, as a dad, as a coach. He was with me in Buffalo. He's an outstanding football coach. He's got a really cool story of being at Air Force and then kind of making his way up as a player. The toughness and grit that he had as a player with the size that he is, he's one of those guys that lays it on the line for the team in his role. I think it says a lot. We're at Buffalo and he's with the receivers, and he just put so much time and effort into it. And what do the receivers do for a Christmas present for him? They buy him a brand-new truck. The guys chipped in, and I think that just says it all about how much his players love him. But his dedication and the leadership that he has, we're lucky to have him."

Q: The football world recently lost Nick Mangold. What do you remember from your time together with the Jets?

Daboll: "I was the quarterbacks coach. It was about 20 years ago. He was in his second year when I first got to the Jets. He was just a salt-of-the-earth kind of a guy. Football-wise, I remember him being incredibly smart. I mean, incredibly smart. That position requires that, but he was off the charts and tough and a great teammate. Then off the field, just as a guy, I know he was someone who loved his family. He was young back then, but he was just an easy guy to talk to. It's life and it's terrible. The older you get, the more this happens, and for it to happen to younger people who have such a full life ahead of them with a great family, it's really a shame. It's awful."