Head Coach Brian Daboll
Q: Do you have any update on (defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II) Dex's status?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah. Well, he's got an elbow, and I would say that I anticipate it being long term injury, the rest of the season. Still going to have to take a look at a few different things, but not very optimistic about it.
Q: Well, I mean this one obviously seems pretty bad, regardless of the situation of the team. Down the stretch will there be certain players that maybe you're more conservative about playing now that you're eliminated from the playoffs, or do you treat these injuries like you would no matter what the circumstances were?
BRIAN DABOLL: No, Status quo. It's just play time, and everything we can do to put the best guys out there, and that's what we're looking for.
Q: Quarterback, where are you going forward if (quarterback) Tommy (DeVito) is healthy and (quarterback) Drew (Lock) is healthy, who's the starter?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, we just got done watching this tape. We'll see where we're at. We'll see where Tommy's at. We'll see where Drew's at. We'll make that decision today.
Q: And then to follow up, what will you make the decision based on?
BRIAN DABOLL: Well, we'll evaluate the two games that both of those guys played, and look I thought Drew did some good things yesterday. We got to, obviously, clean up the turnovers. Turnovers, the ones that were seven points to the defense, and then back up when we get some points. We got to make sure we're taking care of the ball. Give our guys a chance down the field to make some plays.
Q: The other thing was, obviously, this season for the Giants began with the celebration of the 100 years and whatnot. And you were obviously vocal about the pride in this organization and what makes it special. I'm wondering, is that any motivation in getting this turned around? Is there a sense of obligation to the history of the franchise? Not just you and your job and your players, but to get this Giants franchise turned around.
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, we'll do everything we can do to go out there and play well and get a win. And that's our focus.
Q: You were asked yesterday about job security, and you said no. Is it simply a question of, 'I'm just going to focus on what I can control'?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I think you focus on your team. You focus on our staff, our coaches, players, and going out there to get the kind of performance and result we all want. We have a lot of confidence in our people. Obviously not where we want to be by any stretch of the imagination. So, we just keep working hard to fix the things we need to fix.
Q: Are you going to need to sign a couple of defensive linemen with all the injuries at tackle?
BRIAN DABOLL: There's definitely a chance of that. These guys are coming in here and getting looked at. We only had three guys out there with the second half. (defensive lineman D.J.) Davidson came down, (defensive lineman Rakeem Nuñez-Roches) Nacho and Dexter. So, we have (defensive tackle Jordon) Riley. He's been inactive for us. Again, we work with all our guys. We try to continue to improve them. If other guys aren't ready, then we're going to have to do a good job of bringing guys in and bringing up practice squad players and getting them ready to play.
Q: Do you have updates on (defensive lineman) Nacho (Rakeem Nuñez-Roches) and (defensive lineman D.J.) Davidson as well?
BRIAN DABOLL: Nacho (Rakeem Nuñez-Roches), from what I got right now, he had that stinger. He was pretty sore this morning. So, he'll, obviously, have to go through and get a fair amount of treatment. How long or how short, I think that's too early to tell. And did you say D.J. (Davidson)?
Q: Yes…
BRIAN DABOLL: He had a shoulder (injury). Sore as well. We'll just take that day by day.
Q: Then yesterday during the media portion, the open media portion, in the locker room, we saw (tight end) Theo Johnson throw two sneakers, just wondering what if you could explain maybe what that was about.
BRIAN DABOLL: He injured his foot. This one's probably going to be a long term one as well.
Q: Do you think that it's possibly season ending? Do you have a sense of how long-term it is?
BRIAN DABOLL: I think there's potential of that. We are going to get a few more tests, but I definitely think there's a there's a potential of that.
Q: There was a moment in the second quarter, on the play that (defensive lineman D.J.) Davidson was hurt where (outside linebacker) Kayvon (Thibodeaux) was kind of yelling at the official. What happened on that play and what did you think about how he handled it?
BRIAN DABOLL: I thought Kayvon (Thibodeaux) did some good things yesterday and got to continue to focus on the things that you can control.
Q: With all these injuries and all the losing you know that that's mounting, how do you look at the locker room and try to keep these guys motivated to play hard for five more weeks?
BRIAN DABOLL: Well, they're professionals. We're all professionals and we have a job to do. Again, I've said this many times, the results aren't what they want, we want. But, there's a lot of pride and commitment to improving and doing the things we need to do on a weekly basis. We've got a lot of young players that have come up, learned from the older guys and work extremely hard during the week and we're not getting the results. But, they're professionals. Our job is to go out there and do everything we can to improve each week and get ourselves a chance to get the results we look for.
