Head Coach John Harbaugh
JOHN HARBAUGH: I appreciate you guys all being here. Tough loss, obviously. Credit the Commanders.
They played a very good football game. We played a pretty good football game, too, just not good enough to win the game. We're pointing toward our next opportunity. I think our guys are tough. We have a good spirit. It's not one of fear. It's one of power and courage. We will continue fighting. So, what questions do you have?
Q: Can you explain the last two throws?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Zero blitzes, zero blitzes, and those are the routes that end up getting open.
Q: How seriously did you think about going for the line?
JOHN HARBAUGH: I thought about it. If we had been four or less, I think I would have gone for it. Losing the two yards was disappointing. Llinebacker Sonny) Styles made a great play.
Q: I'm talking about the fourth down at your own 10-yard line.
JOHN HARBAUGH: No, I wasn't seriously thinking about going for it there. I thought maybe we could draw them offsides and try to get them to jump. You know, take a shot at it. But they played with good discipline there.
Q: Did you happen to hear that (quarterback) Jameis (Winston) said who let the dogs out? That's what he was saying at the line of scrimmage?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah.
Q: Is that, like, a thing you guys practice?
JOHN HARBAUGH: It's part of the cadence, yeah. It's part of the cadence. You know, teams do jump in those situations sometimes. So, that was the idea.
Q: On the play you were talking about, what's the thinking there? He's empty, so you have the (quarterback) J.J. (McCarthy) power there. I'm just curious what the thought was at that point in the ball.
JOHN HARBAUGH: It's a quarterback crack sweep. So, usually you have an extra blocker on that. That's the idea. You pick up an extra blocker with the quarterback running on that. So, I mean, I thought it had a chance. I have to see the tape to see how Styles got through there. (?) the block, but I'm not exactly sure what the front was.
Q: How much of a missed opportunity do you view this? Grabbing sort of a stranglehold on the division?
JOHN HARBAUGH: It's a missed opportunity, but like I told the guys, it would have been great to win the game, but it doesn't change our goals or our opportunity going forward. So, it's a tough loss.
It's the National Football League. You're going to lose some games. And everybody in this league is good.
The Commanders are good. Everybody's good. So, I mean, we have a really good team coming in here next Sunday. A team that we can beat, so, we've just got to get back to work.
Q: What did you think of the way J.J. played in this game in general then?
JOHN HARBAUGH: I thought he played very well. I mean, there were some plays made, he made some throws, scrambled. I thought J.J. played very well. I thought everybody played well. We just didn't play quite well enough. We had a false start in a critical situation. We didn't finish on plays. We didn't always tackle. There were some leaky yards in tackling. Although, there were good tacklers, too. There was a couple of runs that got a little more than they needed to. They got in the third and short too often. And they weren't in the third and long enough. So, credit them for that.
Q: There was another missed kick. Can you just talk about that? The confidence level in the kicker has been a topic for the last couple of weeks.
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah, we're confident. You can't, as soon as a guy doesn't make a play, start firing people left and right. Especially your kicker who's a rookie. So, I'm confident he's going to become a good kicker. I mean, at some point in time, if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. But I'm not going to panic halfway through the season when a guy's made a bunch of kicks, if that's what you're inferring we should be doing. So, you know, I mean, we're just not going to knee jerk it like that.
He's going to make kicks. He's going to make a lot of kicks. I believe in him. I think he's really good and really talented. We're going to give him an opportunity to do it, and it's up to him to do it.
Q: You've won most games like this this year. What's your sense of the response from tonight?
JOHN HARBAUGH: I think they're good. They're down. They're disappointed. I think they felt right to the end they were going to find a way to win the game. I mean, (safety) Jevón (Holland) makes an interception there. We think we got a shot. It'd be great to close that thing out on offense. We weren't able to do it. That's disappointing. You know, when you get into a blitz and you get beat on an inside breaking route, you don't really want that to happen. It happened. I mean, that's football. It happens. So we can be better in so many ways, but there's a lot of plays that, that's how football goes. There's a lot of plays that they didn't make either that we made. So I think it's just you keep chasing improvement, keep chasing all the little details of the game and try to improve as the course of the season goes along. And then hopefully we'll win these games going forward.
Q: What was the problem not closing out on offense at the end?
JOHN HARBAUGH: They stopped our run play at the end. What was it, third and four. It was a TFL (tackle for loss). That was the key to the stop.
Q: And then on that quarterback sneak with Jameis, it seemed like (running back Cam) Skattebo stayed in his stance a little bit.
JOHN HARBAUGH: I'd have to see the tape. I'm not sure about that. I didn't probably have as good a view as you did. Yeah, I don't really have a comment until I see it on tape.
Q: Your fullback was not in the game on that sneak, was he?
JOHN HARBAUGH : You know what? I'm not sure. Ee have like four sneaks that we call. So you've got to give me more than five minutes after the game to answer these kind of questions.
Q: The opportunity to separate was massive tonight. How difficult is it not to have seized that? Just in terms of the division, just separating, you kind of separated yourself from Philly (Philadelphia Eagles) on Sunday. You had a huge chance to separate yourself from Washington tonight. How difficult is that not to have seized that opportunity?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Difficult? Oh, no, it's disappointing, yeah. I mean, I think that's the best word. It's just disappointing. We worked hard for this, and we put a hard week in. And we were prepared. The guys came out with, I thought, tremendous energy. We played very hard. Plays were made. Plays were missed. But it wasn't good enough to win the game. And that's the disappointment of it. So it's disappointing, but you can't let it bring you down. That's why I said what I said about our spirit. Our spirit's going to be fine. We're going to be good. We're not going to curl up. We're going to come out fighting.
Q: You said they were down in the locker room and disappointed. What was your message to them right after the game?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Just the same I gave you in terms of what our opportunity is to do the things that we want to do. I don't really remember the exact words, but it was an excellent message, I can tell you that. It was a very good message. (laughter) It's a message of common sense. It would have been nice to open up a lead in the division. We didn't open it up as much as we could have if we had got the win. We've got a lot of tough games. What do we have, seven games left? So it's going to be seven dogfights. That's what it's going to be. It's National Football League. I'd like to say we're going to win all seven of them. But it's probably not very likely. You're probably not going to be putting any money down on that. So we've got to win enough. And this was one that got away. We've got to find a way to get the next one. And the next one after that. And the next one after that. And get as many as we need to win the division. That's what we've got to find a way to do. So just try to keep it in perspective is very important.
Q: Why do you think you weren't able to get consistent pressure on (quarterback) Jayden (Daniels) tonight? wh long very much, did we? I mean, when you get them in third and one, third and two, there's probably not going to be much pressure. First down especially is tougher because it's mostly play action. And they're running the ball, too. So there's just not a lot of pressure.
Q: What did you think of your run game tonight? Cam's two touchdowns. How did you assess it?
JOHN HARBAUGH: Yeah, I thought it was good. I mean, Cam played really well. Cam ran hard.
He played really well. I thought it was an excellent game for him. And I thought our offensive line was much better. More of what was at Houston. It was good to see. Guys made plays downfield at times. It was good to see a lot of good things. We just didn't do what we needed to do to win. And that's the bottom line.
Q: J.J. McCarthy had a career high in passing yards. What are you seeing in his development right now?
JOHN HARBAUGH: I thought he played really well. He made plays with his legs. And I didn't know about the career yards passing yards. That's interesting. A lot of chunk passes. He threw some dimes out there. He made some great throws. The throw to (tight end) Isaiah Likley with the blitz. I mean, the touchdown pass was just crazy good. Isaiah obviously housed it. But that's probably as good a play as you're going to see in the National Football League all season, honestly. So I'm just not too disappointed. I feel bad about the loss. It's going to be a long weekend. It's going to be tough to watch all these games without the win. But you can't overthink it. You've got to just play for play. We'll go to work tomorrow afternoon. We'll study the plays. We'll look at all the things that we can do. That's always going to be an ongoing process. It's never going to stop. It's just the way it works. It's kind of an ongoing deal throughout the course of the season.
Quarterback J.J. McCarthy
It absolutely sucks. No matter what, you gotta find a way to get the win. Credit them, they made more plays than we did. At the end of the day, it's the National Football League, it's gonna be tight games all the way down to the wire, and we just got to learn from this, find a way to get better, and keep progressing through this loss, and make sure it doesn't happen again in those critical situations. Yeah, thought the boys battled, just didn't get what we wanted and we've got to make more plays.
Q: JJ, can you just talk about kind of the emotional rollercoaster of this one from, you know, you guys are behind, you fight back, looks like it's yours, the interception, unable to close it out and then you kind of lose it at the end. Just how do you guys work through this one?
A: I was really proud of the guys just staying kind of steady throughout everything. In terms of the offense, just being around them I felt like they were being very even-keeled. And at the end of the day this is the National Football League like I said, there's going to be a lot of games where it's up and down emotionally, it's going to be the teams that pursue through that with a level-headedness and emotional steadiness. This is going to be data that we can collect in the future and help us be better.
Q: The thought process on those final two throws. John [Harbaugh] was saying it was a cover zero, basically that they brought everything. We haven't seen the replays too extensively yet, but is your thought there, if they're blitzing, I'm going deep or is there an intermediate route you could have hit, or just kind of those final two plays what were you thinking, what happened, what maybe could've gone different?
A: Yeah, I'm sure you could look at the tape, and we're gonna be sitting there disappointed. What if, could've done this, but my thought process was pop it up to my playmakers. Have them go make a play. Could have bought more time with a little bit more depth. But at the end of the day the thought process was, give it to one of my guys and have him go make a play.
Q: Do you think this one stings more because the defense gave you two turnovers to try to close it out?
A: Definitely does. As an offense, we want to be the ones that finish the game and we put them in a bad spot a couple times. We just gotta be better, but it's gonna come down to the wire in a lot of games, the rest of November, going into December and January. This is something that, it would be foolish to not take advantage of, learn from this, and continue to grow and stick together as a unit.
Q: What's your immediate takeaway and what do you want to learn from this?
A: For me a takeaway is just do whatever you can to get a fast start, not hurt ourselves in whatever moment it is. We just gotta be so crisp, detailed, and execute on every single play like it's the last play from snap one to the last snap. We just got to do a better job of tightening things up, be consistently on the same page, all 11, and do whatever we can, find a way to get a win in those critical situations. There's things I could've done better, there's things a lot of guys could have done better, but at the end of the day you got to give credit to another team that's in the National Football League. They made more plays than us, and we gotta find a way to make more next time.
Q: JJ, can you describe what you saw on the [tight end Isaiah] Likely touchdown, given the fact that you had a blitzer in your face, is that as good a throw as you've made at this level?
A: I tried to get the protection right on that passing touchdown. Our offensive line is so smart that they already had it and I kind of confused them a little bit. But at the end of the day, it's just letting Zay go be Zay and finding a way to buy enough time and knowing that the guy that I had to beat was coming from depth and just make sure I get the ball out on time. Just the reps, the communication off the field, and that timing, anticipation, it all comes down to the preparation going into it. That was obviously huge for our team, but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter unless we get the win, so we gotta find a way to get the win next time.
Q: Was the anticipation of the weather part of what seemed to be conservative in the first half as opposed to the second half? Did you guys open it up in the second half because the weather was truly wasn't a factor tonight?
A: We didn't expect them [the Washington Commanders Defense] to play as soft as they did; obviously, our explosive pass-rate is up there, but being able to really adapt to what they're doing, that's something that I felt we were going into it with. Once we saw how much soft-shell [defensive scheme] they were playing, it was kind of just like, 'Let's pick them apart' underneath. Malik [Giants WR Malik Nabers] is somebody we've got to find every which way to get him the ball, no matter what it is, no matter what they're doing to defend us, if they are doubling him. It's just one of those games where we kind of took too long as an offense to really get going. At the end of the day, I take the full blame for that and I know most of the guys are going to take the blame for that. We just adapted to their scheme.
Q: JJ, it wasn't the end result that you wanted, obviously, but it was a career-high in passing yards, there was the touch down to Likely [Giants TE Isaish Likely], the completion percentage was up there over 65%, close to 70%. Big picture: what is it about this team and this offense and the weapons around you that just seems to have things clicking for you?
A: I just feel really good in terms of my preparation going into every week. They are very detailed in terms of what they want me, what the intent is every single play. There is no grey-area going into each play and I just really appreciate the heck out of that. It is all about building, constantly growing, and that is what we are focused on. Being in the League for a little over two years now, seeing defenses that I have seen before and running concepts that I have run before, everything seems to be slowing down for me. Just being able to keep stacking and keep growing one percent every single day and I am just so blessed to be in this offense and so blessed to be a part of this organization. This football team is going to get better from this, I know that.
Q: What are your impressions of Skattebo [Giants RB Cam Skattebo]?
A: He is so awesome. The juice. He is a force multiplier in terms of his energy, the way he runs the ball, he runs so hard. We have to find a way to get him the rock in those critical situations. I was just so blessed to have him back in a New York Giants football uniform.
Q: Harbaugh [Giants Head Coach John Harbaugh] told us that these two games [last week against Philadelphia and tonight against Washington] are some of the most critical football games for you guys this season. Now that you have split those games, what do you take away from these last two games now looking forward to what lies ahead for you?
A: This was a huge one, obviously for me. I had to find a way to get it done, but we didn't, so now it's 'What's next?' and 'How can we prepare for Jacksonville?'. And use this time to really go out there and execute and take advantage of the time off to recover, heal our bodies and get a jump start on the mental side of what they're going to do on defense and vise-versa on our defense. We just need to find a way to get that next win. That is really the main focus.
Q: On that final 3rd & 4 QB-Sweep that did not work out, do you know what happened there? Coach [Harbaugh] said that maybe Styles [Commanders LB Sonny Styles] got through the block or that someone missed their blocking assignment. Do you know what happened exactly? Or not yet?
A: I really don't. Obviously, Sonny [Commanders LB Sonny Styles] made a great play and at the end of the day, I have to protect the football and make sure that I stay in-bounds. That's rule number one. There are a lot of plays out there that we are kicking ourselves where we could've done this or we could've done that, but that's football. At the end of the day, like I said, as players, as coaches, as a whole organization, we are going to find a way to get better and learn from this loss.
Tight End Isaiah Likely
Q: Sixty-plus yard touchdown that gave you guys the lead there in the fourth quarter. What happened on that play to break you free? At that point did you think that things were going to wind up going your way tonight?
A: I mean (Giants Offensive Coordinator) Coach Nagy called a great play, (Giants QB) J.J. (McCarthy) threw a great ball, I saw nothing but green grass, gave me a great open field block and at that point you've just got to just score. And there was a lot of time still left on the clock and you never want to look too far ahead, but knew that we put ourselves in a great position.
Q: Your defense comes up with a couple of picks. As an offense, how frustrating is that to see them come up with those turnovers and then not be able to put the game away?
A: Very frustrating. Defense gives you two opportunities to end the game, especially on down and distances where you feel like you can get it, so as an offense that's frustrating going to the sideline, keeping putting them in a position to go out there and ice the game. They've been doing a great job this year when they're put in situations to ice the game, but as an offense we need to look ourselves in the mirror and be able to do that ourselves.
Q: You guys have been so good and clutch down in those dramatic finishes this year, what was the mentality of the guys as you went out there for your final offensive drive in the huddle knowing that you had to at least get three points to send this game into overtime or perhaps win.
A: To win.
Q: Was the confidence as high as you wanted it to be?
A: Absolutely. Whenever there's time on the clock there's always a chance, so everybody in the huddle knowing that we have a job to do when we go out there.
