Defensive Coordinator Dennard Wilson

Q: How big of a loss is it to lose (outside linebacker Brian) Burns and what is the emotional aspect of that on the team?

DENNARD WILSON: Oh, it's huge. You know, Brian Burns is one of the best players at his position in the National Football League, and he's just a better person. Being around him for the time that I've been here, his ability to connect with everybody in the locker room, the players and coaches, his belief in his teammates and the belief the teammates have in him, you're going to lose that. But it's part of the business. Things happen in this game where guys get hurt and, ultimately, we've got to find a way to get that production from some other places. And the guys that we have here, they're ready to go.

Q: You have guys that have produced in that way before, whether it's (outside linebacker) Abdul (Carter) or (outside linebacker) Kayvon (Thibodeaux), so does that make you more confident that they can execute in that role?

DENNARD WILSON: Yeah. For us it's like, as coaches, we're looking at it, we have to put them in better positions for them to go ahead and take off a little bit. Right now, obviously, the production hasn't been there with the sack totals and everything like that, and we take full responsibility as a coaching staff to get that going. A lot of it is moving pieces around, trying to get different players in different spots so they can have more success, being able to dent the pocket in the A and B gaps. Those are things that we're working on and we're still chasing it. It's still early in the season, and early in the season it's not where we want it, but we still have a lot of games to go to get where we want in terms of that. There's other things that we can do in terms of bringing extra pressures or whatever throughout the course of the game to manufacture some pressure. So, we're chasing it as coaches. We're doing different things on the field in terms of the pass rush, making sure everybody's in sync, no matter if the big guys are in there or the fast guys. So, we're trying to just manufacture all that, package it together and make sure we work on one accord.

Q: Abdul played 58 out of 60 snaps. Is that something that's too high, or how do you manage his workload going forward?

DENNARD WILSON: No, I think Abdul was fine the whole game. You see his energy, his effort. He played with tenacity throughout the game and he's a guy that prides himself on being able to stay out there. So, for him, it's – he has no wall and he doesn't get tired. He's in great shape. He's a professional and when he's out there, good things happen for us.

Q: Dennard, you've used (inside linebacker) Arvell (Reese) on the line and on the edge at times. Especially with him starting to play better at off ball, would you rather keep him at off ball where he's starting to heat up a little bit or would you rather move him up to help the pass rush?

DENNARD WILSON: I think it's a little give and take. You know, he's – and just like you said, you see the progression from Dallas, you see the progression from the Rams game, and then you see the way he played against the Titans. You can see him growing. The mistakes he made early in the season aren't showing up anymore, and he's playing faster and more decisive. Yeah, we can move him around a little bit, put him on the line of scrimmage, but we'll see where it goes. We have other guys that will step up with the absence of Brian, and we know what Arvell can do on the ball and off the ball. So, it's just trying to get him favorable matchups and put him in a position to have success.

Q: Everyone can see kind of how (safety) Jevón's (Holland) playing. Where do you stand at that other safety spot right now? You started with (safety) Ar'Darius (Washington) the other day and quickly made the shift to (safety Jason) Pinnock.

DENNARD WILSON: Well, I think that we have – well, the game plan was to go in, first and foremost, to play all the safeties that were up. That was the game plan. It wasn't one guy started and the other – we had a game plan to get these guys on the field to play early. Right now, we'll see how (safety Tyler) Nubin progresses, but in our opinion, we have three very good safeties opposite of Jevón. Each player has a different skill set, and if they're on the field, we rely on them and they rely on us, and we're going to put them in the right positions and they're going to be in the right position when their number's called. So, we're very comfortable with all three of those guys plus Jevón, and some of the young guys that are developing in the room, they're progressing in the right way. So, I'm happy with the safety position, and we'll see how we play it this Sunday. But all guys that are up have the ability to play.

Q: You just mentioned before about needing to manufacture pressure. How much of – I mean, going into the season with Brian, obviously, you had three guys there, maybe more. Did you expect, 'I don't need to manufacture this, it's going to come because these guys are such good players.' Was there a little bit of a shock to you or an adjustment, like you said, that, no, no, it didn't work those games, now we need to really do something.

DENNARD WILSON: Well, you always love to rush and cover. If you can win up front and you can play coverage on the back end, that's always a great thing. But let's look at these games, okay? You played the first game with Dallas. (Cowboys quarterback) Dak (Prescott) got – he got the ball out extremely quick. All right, the ball came out of his hand, he was decisive with where he was going. The same thing happened in the Rams game. All right, now, you play a game against the Tennessee Titans. If you notice, the first three or four third downs, we did pressure, right? We did pressure. But when did the ball come out? It came out quick. So, it's not like we're not pressuring. It's not like fractions of time. We have to just – we have to do better at initial get off. Initially get in the pocket to get the quarterback on his heels a little bit. But it's all going to come together. It's early. It's not like a catastrophe out here. I mean, we did play a game where a team we just faced only scored seven points. We had six three-and-outs on the first possessions. They had 54 total yards in the first half, all right? It's there. It's going to come. Be patient. And when it comes, it just keeps coming, okay? Just like interceptions, just like takeaways. Once you get one, you start to feed off of it. The guys start to have that feeling, and it will come. Be patient. It's coming. And maybe the dam breaks this week. You don't know.

Q: You brought in Haddy (outside linebacker Jihad Ward), a guy you are very familiar with, got a lot out of last year in Tennessee. What does he bring to the table? And is he the kind of player that can step up into this group right now without having to sit here for a couple weeks and let him adjust?

DENNARD WILSON: Well, Haddy's a guy that played extremely well for me last year. Moved him around inside and outside. Haddy, I believe, had like 7.0 sacks last year. He's a guy that brings versatility to play on the edge. He's a guy that brings versatility to play in the middle of the defense if we need him. He can be an interior rusher if we need him there. He plays with tenacity. He's a tough player. He's a big man. And Haddy's going to be ready when his number is called. We'll see how it all plays out from today going forward to Sunday and weeks after that. But he's a guy that knows the expectation. He's going to be prepared. He's an ultimate professional. And he's been in camp. He's in shape. So, we'll see how the chips fall. But Haddy can be a good factor for us on our defense.

Q: You would have, in a perfect world, time to ease (cornerback) Colton Hood in. With (cornerback Paulson) Adebo and (cornerback Greg) Newsome (II) and (cornerback Deonte) Banks, obviously it hasn't. He's been thrown into the fire. How do you think he's handled it?

DENNARD WILSON: When you look at it, he's been baptized by fire, man. You look at a rookie corner coming in with not having the expectation to play early. The first game that he goes out and plays is on Monday Night Football against a Hall of Fame quarterback and a potential Hall of Fame receiver, and he has to go out there and execute and think about all his assignments, plus that added pressure that he had. What I've noticed from him from that game to the last game, those same mistakes didn't happen. He got better throughout the course of the game. And look, the best teacher in life is failure at times, or not being successful early on. So, he's growing from it. We got a win with the young man out there, like I said. And we had a defense that only gave up seven points, and he was out there at the starting corner position. So, he's going to continue to keep growing. And for us, if young guys can play early, it builds more depth down the stretch. And he'll take his licks early on, but he'll learn from it. It won't happen again. And he's going to continue to get better. One thing I know about this kid, he loves football. He's passionate about football. He loves to be coached. He works at it all the time. And he has the ability to have success in his league. So, I'm good with where he's at. You see the maturation process, and it's going to keep just – he's going to keep getting better and better as the season goes on.

Q: How do you handle dropped interceptions? You guys were in a couple good positions the other day.

DENNARD WILSON: You know what? You're always chasing perfection, right? And we're hard on them. We call them MOBPs, missed opportunities for big plays. You know, you wish (cornerback) Dru (Phillips) made that play down on the goal line, but we got off the field. We forced them into a fourth down. If you think about it, when (inside linebacker) Tremaine (Edmunds) dropped that ball, it really flipped the field because now it added another 25 yards while our offense ended up converting and maybe getting another 12 yards, and we got a field goal going into the half. So, that kind of worked in our favor there. But we're chasing it. They're all on each other about it. It's a big thing in the room. Yesterday Tremaine was talking about it. He ended up getting a tip ball in practice and talking a little trash like, 'I do have hands.' And I expect him to make more of those plays than not, and I expect Dru to make more of those plays than not. And when an opportunity comes, our guys are hungry for it. And, obviously, takeaways will help our team. It will shorten the field for our offense and put them in position to score.

Q: What stands out about the Cardinals' offense to you?

DENNARD WILSON: You know what? It's very similar to the Rams' offense. Obviously, (Cardinals Head Coach Mike) LaFleur has been around (Rams Head Coach) Sean McVay for a long time. It's the West Coast offense. The running backs are very good. Both backs are good, downhill runners. (Cardinals running back Jeremiyah) Love is a guy that can bounce the ball, but he has patience, can hit it up in the A and B gaps. I think he's a hell of a player. They have a very good receiving corps, and their tight end is one of the best tight ends in the National Football League. So, I have much respect for this team coming in here. I understand they're still trying – they're trying to chase wins, just like we're trying to chase wins. Our big thing is being 1-0, and I'm sure they're trying to be 1-0. Right now we're undefeated in our stadium, and it's our objective to go out there and try to be undefeated coming out of this game.

Offensive Coordinator Matt Nagy

MATT NAGY: How are you guys doing? Go ahead. Fire away.

Q: What do you like about, from two days or pre-draft or pre-trade (quarterback) J.J. McCarthy?

MATT NAGY: He's done well since he's been here. I didn't do a whole lot on him coming out, so I didn't know a whole lot about him. But I talked to a lot of people, got a lot of good reviews back from it. And I think that really the last 48 hours that he's been here, just like most guys are going to come in here and grind and then dig into it. And it's crazy because you're basically taking all of OTA's, just trying to learn the foundation, which guys have done in five or six months, and now taking that into two days. So, he's done a great job with it. We're impressed, it's impressive. But at the same point in time, too, we also understand that it can be a lot, so there's a little bit of a balance.

Q: What stands out about him skillset-wise that has you intrigued to work with him?

MATT NAGY: So, yesterday was the first time that I got to see him in person and really see that. And I think he's a little taller than I thought, and I think he's got a very natural release. The ball, he's a natural thrower. The ball comes out nicely, has some good accuracy. And so, I think he's going to keep growing and working on his footwork, his timing. Where does he go during practice? The little things that we all take for granted. But from him as a person, it was good to see, and I think we want to just keep going with it, but it was good.

Q: As a young quarterback, I think mechanics were sort of an issue in Minnesota. But he's coming in midstream, and you can't tear him down. So how do you address, you're trying to fix or adjust it to your system, but also just get ready to play?

MATT NAGY: We'll stay away from a lot of that right now. We're just trying to get him to learn the verbiage, and what to do, and where to go, and how to go there. We'll tackle some of that as we go, but I don't think that's something that we're going to really harp on right now so much.

Q: How much does he have to know to get on the field? I mean, he can't know 100%, he can't know 70%. How much does he have to know to function?

MATT NAGY: It starts with the cadence, as simple as that sounds. It sounds easy, doesn't it? But it starts there, there's a rhythm to that. Then you take it to the personnels, and you got to know all the personnels. Then you got to know the formations, then the motions, then the shifts. Then you got to know the play, and then you got to know what the defense is doing. So, there's a lot involved, it takes some time, I guess is my point, what I'm saying. So, what our job is going to be is to balance it, to see what's fair to him. What can he handle, what's real? And then you just go from there. And I think that's where, as long as we all have kind of the same standards and expectations as we go through this, then that's only fair to everybody.

Q: Now, what does a crash course look like, I mean, to people, I mean, is it just focusing on the game plan and certain packages? How do you accelerate that process?

MATT NAGY: When he first got here, we were able to get him to learn the generic foundation of the playbook. So, cadence, formation, motion, shifts, and not have him waste time on stuff that we probably won't do. And then you start diving into the game plan and you start seeing, okay, hey, now there's going to be concepts that, again, you just don't know until you truly are here for a few weeks and understand it. But I think for him to, and there's a lot of hours involved. He got here early, went through all his stuff in the morning with the doctors and everything, physicals, and stayed here late. And he's continued to do that each day. So, it's been a lot for him, but he's handled it really well. I give credit to (Quarterbacks Coach) Brian Callahan and (Offensive Quality Control Coach) Mike Snyder who are working with him, and I think that they're taking a lot of time to help him get to that point.

Q: The other aspect of that is, with maybe any other position, you could use a guy in a sub package or something like that for week to week. Can you do the same with a quarterback? How difficult is that?

MATT NAGY: It depends. I think every quarterback's a little bit different. It's our job as coaches when we go into this is, obviously, you want to, I want to start off by saying too, I think it's important to say, I understand the questions on J.J., I get it, but I also don't want to lose sight of where we're at with the time that we're spending on (quarterback) Jameis (Winston) and (quarterback) Jake (Haener). So, there's that balance, and I think when you judge that process is, okay, what's most realistic to get him ready to be a backup, right? That's where you start, and that's where we're at, and that process takes some time. And there's a little bit of realization in knowing it's not going to happen in one or two days. I think that's only fair, but we just got to see each and every day how much can he handle, and then we continue to throw more and more at him, and then we got to make our own judgment on, now, what is he doing on the field, and where does that take him as a number two or number three?

Q: Matt, where are you eventually on once he's up to speed as much as he needs to be that on change of pace quarterbacks, what's you're thinking about that? I mean, he has a different skill set than Jameis does, that sometimes you just put him on a field in a package and see where you go.

MATT NAGY: There's two thoughts to that. The first one is, whoever the quarterback is, you want to work to their strengths. And so, guys like J.J. that have the ability to run, I think it's an advantage. Any defensive coordinator will tell you that's something that they got to stress about throughout the week, so we'll start there. And then it's just a matter of us just saying, okay, this is what we do too, and how does that fit into your strengths? And then there's the timing element too, like he literally just got here two days ago. So, we got to balance what's fair to him, and then how's it going to look down the road? So, the only thing we can do is literally teach him as much as we know and want to give him to see what he can handle. And then you just evaluate him on the field, and again, you prepare him. You always prepare these guys, same thing with Jake, you prepare them like they're the starter. As much as they can take, you prepare them that way. And then you just got to see how does it go, and how does it play out? And so, anyway you look at this in any position, but we're talking about quarterback, you're one shoestring away from playing, whoever that is. And so, our job as coaches is to make sure that these guys are prepared, and then what's the level of that? If it is that, the big if word, then it's obviously not the whole playbook or the whole game plan. So, we got to kind of prepare that side of it too, is if we're one shoestring away from somebody going in, what's real? Unlike with Jameis, when (quarterback) Jaxson (Dart) got hurt with Jameis, Jameis knew the whole game plan, now he didn't get any reps at it, but he knew it. It's a little bit different right now in this situation.

Q: Matt, you built the offense around Jaxson and his skillset. How much of your playbook is not available to you, even though you believe in Jameis? How much of it is not available to you because of his skillset being different?

MATT NAGY: Yeah, there's a portion of it, I'm not going to say a lot, because we know going into it that that can always happen and be taken away. And then you get to a point where if it is 30 percent of your playbook, now you're down to 70 percent of what you do. And what does the next quarterback do well? And now that might cut you down to 60 percent or something. So, we balance what that is, but you're right, we did. We have and had a lot of stuff in, even in that Rams game. We didn't prepare to not have him, but we were prepared if we didn't have him. So, there's that balance of the two. And I think now we have to adjust. And we're able to, that's the beauty. I think that's a positive of our offense, is it's not like that portion that you're talking about is gone and it's 50 percent. That's not the case. We have plenty of offense that we can roll with. And we have a ton of trust in Jameis.

Q: With that said on Jameis, you mentioned your trust in him. How much better do you think he got from first game to this start?

MATT NAGY: Yeah, so two things. So, the first game with the Rams, that's not easy. That's a difficult situation to walk into. So, that one's a little tough to fairly criticize, I think, in my opinion. Then the second game, there was a little bit of weather, or whether we like it or not, that's what's real. So, but at the same point in time, we need to score touchdowns. That's what, it's my job as offensive coordinator. It's our job as players. And so, I have a ton of trust. And I really feel great about what's about to happen and what he can do. And I think he's got a resume that's shown that. And our players, our coaches, everyone here believes in Jameis, everybody. There's no doubt. We just got to go out there and we got to do it. And scoring touchdowns will help that confidence. Scoring touchdowns will help that trust and that belief. And fortunately, enough, our defense did a great job to hold them to less points than us, and we were able to win the game. So, we won the game. How do we not let it deodorize what we did, and get better? And I think, to answer your question in the end, we have a ton of confidence in him, and we think he's going to have a great game.

Q: The off-target throws, right? There was a couple to (tight end Isaiah) Likely, maybe they were just behind him, and the screen to (wide receiver) Malik (Nabers) was short. Do you see something mechanically there? Do you think that's weather, or is it timing? Like, what do you see when you see the off-target throws?

MATT NAGY: I do think it's a little bit of both. There's a little bit of the sinker ball that with a couple of the low throws that he had over the middle of the field. Jameis will tell you that. I do believe, I think there was a little bit, it's not easy. In pregame, I was out there watching those guys throw and catch in pregame, and it wasn't easy. It was misting and raining a little bit. But I think Jameis will also be the first to tell you that's not an excuse. So mechanically, Jameis knows to keep that wide base to be able to throw through the throw and be able to make a friendlier catch for some of these passes. And the guys know it, and then there's some plays there that, I think there was one that got, it actually got tipped. It looked like a bad pass, and it got tipped just a little bit. So, in the end, no excuse, we all need to be better, and I think that Jameis is ready for this next opportunity.

Q: What do you make of the red zone? I know you were hard on yourself last week for not calling a pass in that one series, and this week.

MATT NAGY: Yeah, the play there where we lost seven yards is again, that should never happen. And again, I look at for myself, we were excited, I was excited to get to call that play, and it didn't work. Those are the plays where when they work, it's like, man, this is awesome. It's fun. When they don't work, it's one thing. When you lose seven yards, it's another thing. And I think the thing that we've been harping on all week is the first drive of the game, penalty, kicks us back. We get down there, we have a first and goal at the five. We just went seven straight runs down the field. Then we get to first and goal at the five. We lose seven yards, then we get a penalty. We can't have that. And so, we dug into that. We hit that hard. We did not just let that go, and from a play caller standpoint too. And then we get down there again at the two-yard line, and we have a formation penalty, illegal shift, unacceptable. And so, we as coaches, me as a coordinator, you have to say, why is this happening? And we got to make it stop, because we score touchdowns in that game, it's a much different ending. And I think that's where you go back to Dallas week one, that was happening. We were good in the red zone. So, we're emphasizing it, the guys know it, and it's got to be better there. We love our kicker, and he did great, thank God. But we want extra points, not three's.

Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Chris Horton

CHRIS HORTON: Good to see everyone, hope everyone's doing well. Just a quick recap of just last week. I thought our guys came out and played well. They played hard, they set the tone from the opening play of the game. Those are the things that we kind of talk about in our room. Talking about our specialists, these guys handled the weather. It was one of the things we talked about last week, about how do they handle the weather. And we talked about just it being our process, being our day-to-day work, and us going out there and just being consistent in those things. And that would give us the best chance to handle the weather and handle the conditions. Very pleased with where we are right now. We understand that game's behind us now. It's a week-to-week league, and we're getting ready for Arizona. Questions?

Q: (Punter) Jordan (Stout) said that he's allowed to pull off some of the punts to flip the field so drastically because of the confidence that you guys put in the coverage team on the punts, especially the 74-yarder. Where do you get that trust? Because a lot of times it's don't out-kick the coverage but it seems like your coverage is in the right place.

CHRIS HORTON: It's built over time. It's built over time and just understanding the guys that you have in the room, the kind of players that we have in the room. Our gunners have done an outstanding job of getting down the field. (safety) Elijah (Campbell) and (cornerback) Nic (Jones) and any of the guys that we put out there, they're displaying speed, which gives us a chance. So, we've got a saying, man, if we're single, we can't be blocked, which allows Jordan to get those opportunities to punt the ball down the field. And that's not something that we're going to do all the time, but if there's opportunities for it, we're going to allow it because we do put trust in the entire unit. It's not a one-man show. We need all 11 guys when we're going to do things like that.

Q: (Kicker) Dominic (Zvada), obviously, has been really good for you early on. What made you think that this was the likely outcome for him, right? You obviously decided to keep him this summer following the kicking competition. What is it that you saw in him that convinced you that he would be able to have success?

CHRIS HORTON: You just saw a good player. You saw a guy coming here with confidence, a guy that earned his right. He earned his right on this team, right? We saw a guy that consistently made kicks when given the opportunity, and those are the things you look for, and those are the things that you want when you're looking and you're trying to make those decisions. And then you've got to have belief, right? You've got to believe in, you know what, that's our guy, that's the guy we want to go with. And, again, it just starts with the consistency and just making kicks on a consistent basis.

Q: Were you okay with the wind and the rain and the weather when (wide receiver) Braxton (Berrios) some of his decisions with the punts? It seemed like maybe he could have come up and got them. You know what I mean? He was in a difficult spot, it seemed, and the field position reflected that.

CHRIS HORTON: Braxton made great decisions the entire game. I mean, weather-related, there's times he's lined up and that ball gets punt shorted. Our number one goal is to get that ball back to the offense. Don't put yourself at risk to field the ball. I thought he made great decisions all day, and the ones that he took advantage of, we made the most of.

Q: I mean, sometimes it's just a  situation, right? If you can't get it, the ball's going to bounce to the 4, 5, 6 yard line. You just have to accept it.

CHRIS HORTON: Correct. Sometimes you have to live with some of those decisions, right? Returners are back there. Just because a ball is punted doesn't mean the ball has to be caught. The goal is to give the ball back to the offense. That's the number one job of those guys when they're back there. Now, there's opportunities. Don't put yourself at risk to create a bad play. So, sometimes you have to live with it, and that's why this is a team game.

Q: The field goal block, you had 10 guys on the field. It was the second week you had a play with 10 guys on the field. What happened there, and what kind of safeguards did you try to put into place to make sure, I know there's obviously a lot of things going on within the game that makes that sometimes happen. What kind of safeguards are in place to try to protect against that?

CHRIS HORTON: Obviously, we want to play with 11. Obviously, we don't want to play with 12, but when we do end up in a situation where we have 10, that's on me. That's on me as the coach, and that starts with me making sure that every guy knows he needs to be on the field at that point. So, rather than just sending a guy out there in an unforeseen situation, he's on the other side of the line of scrimmage. You know what? We can live with 10, right? We don't want to do that. We don't want to be out there with 10 guys all the time. So, that's on me to make sure that we always have 11 guys out on the field.

Q: But is that why even though Jack's (linebacker Jack Kelly) yelling one, you're not running somebody on?

CHRIS HORTON: Correct.

Q: Because you're saying the person who's missing, it's like we'd rather have them there, but okay, we'll live with it right now.

CHRIS HORTON: Correct. We'd rather not make a situation worse. Like 10 guys, you might be okay with that. And we saw we were okay with it, but that's not something that is going to happen consistently, I can assure you that. We'll get that taken care of. But it's better than having a guy run on the field and he ends up on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Now we're in trouble. You know what I'm saying? We just turned a situation that was somewhat bad, not going to hurt us, but we just made it worse.

Q: You talked about your two specialists. You also have a third, (long snapper) Ben (Mann), being a rookie. I mean, I guess it's the job where you don't talk about him if he doesn't screw anything up. But in those conditions on Sunday, to know that his role was out there, what did you make of your own rookie longsnapper?

CHRIS HORTON: Ben had a heck of a day. I mean, just fired up for him, him running down the field, making a tackle, just being in the right place. And if you know anything about just those three guys, that's why I said specialists, those three guys, they go hand in hand because everything starts with that snap. That ball is wet. He's got to put a good ball back there. He's got to give a great ball to Jordan. And then Jordan's got to get that ball down in order for us to make kicks. So, I mean, everything that we talk about with our specialists, when I'm talking specialists, I'm talking all three guys, just playing at a high level. And that's what we want to see. I thought those guys did a heck of a job.

Q: How can you tell that those three are going to click and work together so well early? Or can you? Is it just like an evolution of games and weeks going in practice?

CHRIS HORTON: I think it's just an evolution of just being together, just over time. Having all three guys here at the very beginning, understanding the standard, understanding what we want, the things that we talk about on the field. When things go wrong, let's sit around and let's talk about it. But I think it's just over time, the more these guys play together, the better they'll get. And there's some things on that tape that we're going to correct. It's not always perfect, but it's like you just said. You don't really notice it until it's really bad. But we're always going to be shooting for perfection.

Q: You guys open the game with a turnover, obviously, with the forced fumble by (linebacker) Zaire (Barnes). How does that help you guys start off the game really well when you guys get a turnover on the first play?

CHRIS HORTON: It's just unbelievable, right? The things you sit around, and you tell guys, man, you just run to the ball, you never know what's going to happen. And you find yourself in a situation, you see ball, take a shot. Those are things that we practice and practice. So, when they carry over to the game, it's just a reminder that when you're practicing the right way, you can allow for these things to happen. As far as just flipping the field, that's a special teams' game for us. Creating turnovers, winning the field position, scoring points. Anytime we get a chance, let's do our part so we can help this team win.

Q: What does (wide receiver) Charlie Jones bring to the table? I mean, is punt return an open competition because he practices and he's done that, but Charlie's done it in the past.

CHRIS HORTON: I mean, Charlie's got experience. He's an experienced guy, he has speed, he catches the ball great. I mean, again, it's good to have options when you go into this thing.

Wide Receiver Malik Nabers

Q: Giants brought in (quarterback) J.J. (McCarthy). What's your first impressions of him as a quarterback?

MALIK NABERS: Strong arm. I was with J.J. in a 7-on-7 All-American, like the little game. So, I was with him before we went to college. So, he has a pretty good arm. Strong arm.

Q: I know it's too early, but what have you seen how he's evolved as a player since then?

MALIK NABERS: He's catching on quick. He's catching on quick. He's out there throwing touchy footballs. I feel like he has confidence out there. He's targeting receivers pretty well.

Q: How do you feel? We talked to you last week, I think when we asked you about the opener you said you were rusty. How much more do you feel like you're working towards being yourself and feeling pretty normal out there?

MALIK NABERS: Yeah, it looks better. It looks better each and every day. Little things that I see when I'm watching myself play that I'm like, okay, I'm going to emphasize that in practice the next day. So just overall, just trusting my knee. I think that's the last thing everybody's been talking to me about is you got to be able to trust your knee and just go out there, do exactly what I feel like I can do and do it like just do it. If you never do it, you never know if you really can do it if you don't push yourself to do it. So, I think just trusting it and just do it.

Q: Do you have an example of one of those things that you said that maybe you see about yourself?

MALIK NABERS: No examples.

Q: I mean, you've watched everything you've done. Is there any play that you've made or something this year and said, you know what, I left a little bit out there. I could have wind up one time and pounded it.

MALIK NABERS: Just like the slant I ran this past week, just overall, just that's one of those catches that I made before that I'm able to take 25, 30 yards, maybe even more. But I left a lot. No, it wasn't really, just it wasn't really just thinking on that route. I caught it, seen a hole and then broke out running. But probably could have got way more. I think before I would have got injured, what I would have got maybe more? I probably think for sure, yeah.

Q: How do you think, how do you do this offense like evolving with (quarterback) Jameis (Winston), right? He's a different quarterback, different skills. How do you see that kind of moving forward?

MALIK NABERS: I think we got pretty good confidence in Jameis on his ability to throw the ball downfield, do play action, get involved with the run game. So, I feel like Jameis can do a lot in this offense. Jameis has been a part of a lot of different offense. So, this offense is probably nothing different than what he's already seen. So, we got pretty good confidence in his ability to give us the ball and manage the offense.

Q: You mentioned just before about trusting your knee. Does that mean there's a little bit of hesitation on your part or concern about it?

MALIK NABERS: Have you ever had an injury?

Q: Yeah, but not like that.

MALIK NABERS: Not like this. So, you already know that you got some things that you have to just do that your mind is like, I don't know about this. You're restricting until you just actually doing it and your like, okay, I don't feel so bad doing that. So, I think just putting myself in some of those placements on the field would just give me better confidence of when I'm out there just wanting to do certain moves. But my mind is like, oh, not yet and just trusting just to do it. I think (wide receiver Darnell) Mooney talks to me about that. He's like, 'You're good, you're ready.' So, my teammates have been implementing confidence in me to just let go, let's just be free, just play the game.

Q: Do you think you are one game away from that? Like when you anticipate this Sunday, you'll do something. You'll say, yep, that's it.

MALIK NABERS: It's game after game. Everyone's been telling me, it'll take a little bit of time. You're not going to just come out there and just be better than what you were before. Just catch everything you want to do. It takes time. It's a year off of football. So, I'm just like I said, I'm waiting on that, waiting on that game, waiting on that day. It'll probably come pretty soon or it won't. But I'm going to still keep working to get to that day. Just keep working out there and just keep playing the game.

Q: Mentally, how hard is that for you? Like you want to go out there, obviously, and be yourself right away to say, hey, you know what? People keep telling me it is going to take time. I have to be patient there. What's that like mentally for you?

MALIK NABERS: I mean, this whole rehab took a long time. So, I kind of believe through this whole rehab, I've kind of been patient. I'm always a person where I want it now. I want everything to go my way now.

And I think just with this process, it showed me how to just be patient, wait, wait on time. Everything has its time and a place. If it's destined for you, then it'll happen. If not, then it won't.

Q: The competitor in you, are you tired of being patient?

MALIK NABERS: The old me definitely would have been for sure. But like I said, through this whole rehab I've kind of just trusted the patience of just taking my time. When it's your time, you're going to know. And then after that, just taking advantage of it.

Q: You've been here when losses piled up and they've gotten to you. With everything that's gone on, Jaxson's (quarterback Jaxon Dart) injury, (outside linebacker Brian) Burns, weather, just a lot of things going on with this team. You are 2-1. Is it hard to, I mean, do you look at yourself, no, we're 2-1. We've got something going. We're winning. Or does it seem like it's not there yet?

MALIK NABERS: I think everybody knows that even though we're 2-1, we leave a lot of stuff out there on the field that we can take back and one play will make something better. But like you said, we're taking us being 2-1. But we all know that we leave a lot out there. So, I think we're more focused on not leaving those plays out there, scoring more points. And we feel like some teams can't keep up with us and we should be able to extend the lead and show that. So, it's a lot of things that we leave out there. And some losses and some wins look like that. This past win looked like that, that we just left a lot out there, a lot points on offense. Ended the game off with 12 points and not scoring. So, I think that we are more focusing on about doing that, making everything look clean instead of just taking a lousy win but we'll take it.

Running Back Cam Skattebo

Q: You guys brought in (quarterback) J.J. (McCarthy). What are your first impressions of him?

CAM SKATTEBO: He's a good player. He's a quarterback we brought in because we needed that. We didn't have that in depth. He looks good on the scout team right now and throwing the ball around and just getting his arm loose. He looks good, man. He's a quarterback in the NFL, and I feel like no matter who you see come in here, it's going to look the same. It's going to look good. He knows what he's doing, for sure.

Q: How do you balance trying to get to know him and support him as a teammate, but also making sure that you guys continue to support (quarterback) Jameis (Winston) as the starter right now?

CAM SKATTEBO: Yeah, I mean, the same way I balance my relationship at home, but come to football every day. I see him every day. I talk to him every day. He's near my locker, and I'm going to continue to build my relationship with him. But Jameis is my quarterback right now, so I'm going to continue to help him and continue to build on him, and we're going to continue to win games, no matter what. So, no matter who it is or what it is, Jameis is our guy right now and that's what the main focus is.

Q: What do you look at – last week, obviously, you didn't get in the end zone. Coaches have talked very much about the red zone this week. What did you take from that?

CAM SKATTEBO: We obviously made a couple mistakes down in the red zone the last two weeks. I've made a mistake in the red zone. So, I think we just take away the big penalties and stuff that we're doing negative against ourselves, and we'll be just fine. I think we shot ourselves in the foot a couple times, and if we get rid of those, then it's a different ball game in those football games.

Q: You mentioned after the game that you think that there's more for the fans to give, trying to get them going a little bit. (Inaudible) but do you hope that, by winning this game for the first time without (quarterback) Jaxson (Dart), that spread some belief that will lead to more excitement on Sunday?

CAM SKATTEBO: Obviously it's hard, but – because a lot of people come to the games to see certain players. And if that's why they didn't come that game and that's why they weren't rowdy, then I understand. But there's still – we have 14 more games to play at minimum. We have to continue to bring our fan base in, have people coming in and giving their efforts and spirit to us. You know, that's – teams are built off of what's surrounding them. And if they have a good fan base – I was at Arizona State, for instance, and the fan base when I first got there was not very good. We ended up building an amazing fan base, sold out every game my senior year, and look (at) what team we turned into. So, when you get that camaraderie from the people around you in your city, the people walking down the street when you're going to the grocery store, you feel better about yourself when people are talking to you about how good the Giants are. That makes you feel better. And when you come in the building, your football team is better because everyone feels that way. And I think if we continue to have the city of New York, the state of New Jersey, continue to build on what we have, I think we're going to be just fine.

Q: (Head Coach John) Harbaugh gave out 1-0 shirts. What does the message behind that mean to you guys?

CAM SKATTEBO: Obviously, one week at a time, one day at a time, one play at a time. You have to continue to win in the moment. And I think, like I said, there are 14 games left, but we play one game this week, and that's what we're focused on. We're not thinking about two games ahead, three games ahead. We're thinking about what – the Arizona Cardinals and what we're playing this week. The 1-0 is focusing on this week and going 1-0 each week.

Q: Is that especially important when there's so many other things besides this week around it? Jaxson's injury, (outside linebacker Brian) Burns' injury, trade for J.J. McCarthy. Does that help, I guess, with all that other outside noise, help the team focus in?

CAM SKATTEBO: Yeah, I guess, if you want to say that. We got those shirts last week, so it was kind of something that he just wants us to continue to know that, if we go 1-0 each week, then we're going to be fine. There are going to be ups and downs, but if we focus on that and we know at the end of the week that we're 1-0, then the weeks are going to add up and it's going to be a pretty outcome at the end.

Q: I know you're going against Arizona's defense, but the Giants did a lot of work on (Cardinals running back) Jeremiyah Love in the draft. Obviously, that would've been very interesting if he was here and you were here. Any part of you want to go out there and outperform him and show the Giants, 'You have the right running back.'

CAM SKATTEBO: Outperforming is not in my vision. I want to go out there and outperform myself from last week. I'm not worried about any other running backs or anybody else on the field. I'm worried about me, my production, making sure that I'm doing the right things. I had a couple missed assignments last week, so I'm going to take the blame for that. Come out here on the practice field, fix those things, and then when I go out on the field next week against the Cardinals, I'm going to get everything right and do everything right. I'm not looking for any competition from offense on offense. I'm trying to play against their defense, and that's what I'm focused on.

Q: You had your second fumble, I think you fumbled out of bounds. Did the coaches talk to you about just kind of how to work on ball security or anything, or has that been emphasized by the coaching staff?

CAM SKATTEBO: I think they've got me down for three fumbles, which is BS, because the one in the second game, I caught the ball on the sidelines and kind of just let it go because I was out of bounds, and they called that a fumble as well, catching a fumble. Let's figure out who did that and find them (laughter). But yeah, I mean, it was raining, it was wet. I was engaged in a stiff arm. I think I need to be more focused on that. I actually had the ball nice, high and tight when I got it punched out. Just being cognizant of, when throwing three or four stiff arms, you've got to understand when someone's going to come and punch the ball out. I think maybe after the second stiff arm next time, I'll probably tuck the ball and get north and south.