Head Coach Brian Daboll

Q: If I'm not mistaken, with like two minutes left, (wide receiver) Darius (Slayton) was checked for a concussion. Is he in the protocol? I don't know if we ever heard the results of that.

DABOLL: He cleared.

Q: Trade deadline tomorrow. There seems to be a lot of (talk about) will the Giants be sellers? Will the Giants be buyers? What would your argument be for why the Giants, sitting here at 2-7, should add a player at any position? Why should you guys give up some draft capital to add players to this team where you are right now?

DABOLL: I understand the question. My focus is on doing the things we need to do better on the field with the guys that we have here and that's what we're going to do.

Q: I didn't see this live. It looked like (quarterback Jaxson) Dart was in quite a bit of pain on the broadcast, shoulder-wise. How's he feeling today? How did he come out of it? It looked like maybe after that last touchdown.

DABOLL: He's good.

Q: Would you like there to be trade reinforcements here, as you sit currently?

DABOLL: Again, the focus for me is the guys that are on this football team and doing what we can do to help them improve. That's where my focus is.

Q: The perception that I'm getting from your comments this time and last time about the trade deadline now is that you're kind of hands-off. Is that pretty accurate?

DABOLL: I would say that during the year, as a coach, your focus is on doing what you need to do to help your team be as successful as you can. So, that's what we're going to try to do, that's what we need to do, and that's where all my focus is.

Q: I heard some of your players say that you had to go to a silent count at home. How often have you seen that and how often have you been part of that?

DABOLL: There have been some times. Again, the two false starts weren't a result of a silent count. We were using cadence and we flinched on one of them. Then we used cadence again and we jumped on another one. So, we adjusted on the sideline to that, I'd say, after those two things and we went to a silent count for a while.

Q: On your defense, what did you see? What did you see being the problem and more importantly, how do you fix that going forward? Right now you're three straight weeks at 30-plus points allowing on defense.

DABOLL: We're working, we're working at it. We had a long meeting like we do after every game and looked at some of the things that were good and then a lot of the things that need to improve. And that's collectively, that's all of us, from the coaches to the players. We're doing everything we can do. Obviously, we've had morning meetings today. Players are meeting now with the coaches. We'll continue to do that here throughout the night and tomorrow to make sure that we're doing the things we need to do to be successful. There were some good things in the run game and then there were some things that weren't. It wasn't one person, it wasn't one position, it wasn't one call, it wasn't one missed tackle. Just overall, we need to be better.

Q: You keep saying, 'We need to do better.' In what ways? You're going to go into this week and try to teach and learn from it, right? In what ways do you need to get better?

DABOLL: There are a number of things, from technique to maybe changing up the scheme a little bit to open field tackling. Everything that's important on defense, we've got to do a better job of. That's collectively, that starts with me and that's what we'll work on doing.

Q: You're focused on the guys who are here. Just curious, with (wide receiver) Jalin Hyatt at kick returner, what was the thought process behind that? He told us he hadn't returned kicks since high school, so what was the thought process using him in that role?

DABOLL: He's been working at it for quite some time here, this year. Obviously, we had (cornerback Deonte) Tae (Banks) back there. We were down in numbers in the secondary. We had (running back Devin Singletary) Motor back there. We were down in numbers at running back. So, Jalin's been working at it. We felt comfortable with him being back there and that's the reason he was back there.

Q: I can't remember if we asked last week or not, but he (Hyatt) was inactive last week. I'm just kind of curious, what was the thought process with that? Then obviously, with injuries and whatnot, was that a reason why he was made active this week? Take us back to last week. What was the thought process and did that affect anything for this week's plan?

DABOLL: I'm not going to go back to last week. Again, every week's a different week and based on the numbers that we had and the people that were available, not available, Jalin would have been up. He was going to be our kickoff returner. We'll see how it goes this week.

Q: (Offensive lineman) Evan (Neal) was active this week. Is that just a matter of numbers with (offensive lineman) Jermaine (Eluemunor) being out?

DABOLL: We had quite a bit of guys that were inactive because of injury and all available healthy bodies were up this week.

Q: Obviously he's been inactive all season, so I'm just kind of curious, where do you see him right now? Is he working towards a new position? Where do you see his role at this point, nine games in?

DABOLL: Evan's one of our backups. He continues to work. He'll continue to work to improve at his craft and that's where we're at.

Q: Why do you think Shane (Bowen) is the right defensive coordinator for this team still and what gives you faith at this point that he can still get it right?

DABOLL: Again, nothing's good enough. Offense, defense, kicking game, we all can be better. That's what we're all working towards. I know that's what Shane is working towards. That's the defensive staff, that's the offensive staff, that's the kicking game. That's what we're going to try to do. We're doing everything we can do to try to improve it and I'm confident we will.

Q: The front seven, you have a lot of talent there, so much invested there, why is that not propelling that side of the ball?

DABOLL: Well, again, I think there were some good things. I think there were plenty of things, obviously, that need to be corrected, not just with the front seven, the back end. Our run fits, our eyes, our hands. Again, there were some good things when you go back and watch the tape, not enough of them. But have confidence in those guys. We've got to make sure that we're doing everything we can do to help them be in the best position they can be in. That's what we'll continue to do. I have confidence in those guys.

Q: You mentioned how you're shorthanded in the secondary. A team that doesn't play much 11 personnel, any thought to playing (cornerback) Dru Phillips outside just to get one of your better tacklers in the secondary on the field?

DABOLL: This week we were going with the guys we had outside. Dru's pretty locked into the inside part of it, in terms of the nickel. You never know how that can go down the stretch here, but as of right now, he's our inside guy.

Q: You've been in this a while now, obviously, as a head coach. Do you sometimes find yourself at wits' end with every week talking about some of the same things and the losing and just the inability to get this team where it needs to be?

DABOLL: No. Look, you put everything you've got into it. You look at the things that aren't where they need to be and you try to fix them. Whether that's changing things on the schedule, whether that's different periods of practice, whether that's changing little parts of the scheme, again, that's where we're at. We're at where we're at. I look forward to doing everything we can do to continue to work on fixing this thing and getting it the way we need to get it. I know everybody's locked in on that, and that's what we're going to do.

Q: You're not new to this as far as hearing questions about your job security. Jaxson got it for the first time yesterday after the game. That's a new thing for him. Do you address that with your players? You obviously don't want them to be asked that, but they're going to be asked that. What is the dynamic of that situation that you've been in before?

DABOLL: The biggest thing for us is to control the things we can control and that's the way I've always approached it. That's the way the players are going to approach it, and that's what we're going to do.

Q: Is Shane Bowen still your defensive coordinator?

DABOLL: He is.

Q: Is he still your defensive play caller?

DABOLL: He is.

Q: You mentioned a change in scheme potentially to address some of the issues. Could you elaborate on what is required with the scheme in order to improve the results?

DABOLL: It's not drastic. I would just say each week you do that. You look at what you need to do, what isn't going right, whether it's on offense, the kicking game, on defense. It's not, I would say, a drastic thing. I'm not saying it's a drastic thing. I'm just saying obviously it hasn't been good enough, but that's collectively, and that's my job. It's not the defense, it's not the offense, it's not the kicking game, it's all three phases, and that's my responsibility.

Q: Are you getting involved any more in those rooms and meetings and conversations given the last couple weeks especially?

DABOLL: I sit in those meetings with all three phases throughout the week. Again, you take a look at the game and say, okay, where did we fall short? You look at it and you make sure you're making adjustments to it. It hasn't been good enough the last two weeks, but that's collectively. Again, it's not one person, it's not one play, it's not one side of the ball. It's the collective, and that's my responsibility.

Q: When you blame the collective, is that really addressing the issues? Is that holding the individuals accountable? Every play is different, right? So, it's not the same thing every play, but if you just say it's on everybody, does that actually address this person's reluctance to tackle on a play, or this person being in the wrong gap? Does that actually fix those problems?

DABOLL: Those issues get addressed.

Outside Linebacker Brian Burns

Q: You usually talk after the game. I didn't see you in the locker room. I'm just curious, anything going on with you after the game or any reason you didn't?

BURNS: I just had to rush home. I had some family in town. They were waiting on me at my car.

Q: This is kind of a big-picture question, I guess, but how does this coaching staff hold players accountable on this team? If someone's not playing up to the standard, how are they held accountable?

BURNS: Pretty much we evaluate the film. I guess, I wouldn't say call out, you call people up to the standard of how they should be playing. We give examples of how it should look. After that, Wednesday, Thursday, we drill it.

Q: Do you see that message get through? Do you think people are responding to being held accountable the way it's been conducted here?

BURNS: I feel like everybody responds to it well. I'm speaking defensively – there aren't a lot of egos on the defensive side as far as talking back or not taking the coaching. I feel like people respond to it well. They just have to keep working their craft and keep honing in on what they need to improve on.

Q: You guys always talk about the pride you guys have with this run defense and wanting things to get better and just improving with that. When you see teams constantly run the ball on you like the Niners did when they basically ran the whole fourth quarter, mentally, what does that do to you guys, pride-wise, to see that the run defense isn't where you want it to be?

BURNS: The pride isn't the problem. I don't feel like anybody's shying away from contact or not playing hard. I think it's more so the details of where we need to be aligned. The 49ers have an amazing run scheme as far as their window dressing, the flashes, the motions. Everything that they do, they do it for a reason. There's a rhyme and purpose. We just have to be more honed in on our part in that. There's just a lot of stuff going on. We've got to play better, detail oriented.

Q: Every season is its own entity. Last season has nothing to do with this season. But you guys are 2-7 again. I'm just curious, for all the talk that you guys had before the season about making things different, how frustrating is it to be in that same position nine games in as you were last year?

BURNS: It is. It's very frustrating just because of the hype that was surrounding the team and the level of energy and optimism, I would say, going into the season. But like I've said, that's how every team feels going into the season until they hit adversity. I think we need to be better with hitting adversity and being consistent when we do get our wins and stacking them instead of going back to what we've been doing. That just comes from consistency, honestly. Pretty much, that's all I would say on that. I mean, I understand that the record is the same, but at the end of the day, I don't see guys giving up or anything of that nature. I don't see guys thinking too much.

Q: I'm curious if you feel like this team has gotten over that fourth quarter in Denver yet? Or have the last couple of weeks sort of been a continuation of that slide...

BURNS: No, I haven't thought about Denver since that happened. As far as other guys, I would feel like they would be on the same page that I'm on. I tell you guys every week, every Sunday is a new Sunday to me. Once that week starts, this is a clean scratch. No matter if I had two or three sacks in the week before, once we get to another week, it's brand new to me. I don't think too much or dwell too much on what happened in Denver. It was a terrible loss, but at the end of the day, we've got more games.

Q: Are you satisfied with the effort you see from the other 10 guys on the field with you? Your effort is pretty unimpeachable, but the rest of the guys, do you feel like they're keeping up?

BURNS: Yeah, I do. It always can be better, including myself. I can always play harder. I try to leave everything on the field. I try to leave no meat left on the bone. At the end of the day, we're all human. But at the same time, I expect them to hold me to a higher standard as I will with them. I am pleased with the effort I've been seeing thus far, I just need more from everybody.

Q: You've been on teams in this spot before. The trade deadline, how much does that seep into the locker room? Is there a concern about guys being shipped off or breaking up what you guys have? And on the same side of that, if you guys were to acquire somebody, do you think there'd be an energizing effect to that?

BURNS: Personally, I haven't felt or heard anyone say anything about the trade deadline. I've been in that situation a certain amount of times. It's tough to keep out of your head when you're the name that's in it. It's tough to not look at it, but at the same time, you can't control whether you leave or stay. So, I think the only thing that you can do is focus on your craft, focus on your work. Then to your other question, if I feel like we make a big move will that energize the building and whatnot? I don't know. I'm kind of just living in the present, trying to be where my feet are. I'm only focused on who we have in the building and what we've got going forward.

Q: The video showed you on the sideline after that missed field goal, you kind of shrunk, you kind of slumped into the bench. After you made the big play, (outside linebacker) Abdul (Carter) gets the recovery, you guys give the offense good field position. That was what, tell me what that was?

BURNS: That was just me being me. It's no message intended for the special teams unit, no message intended for anybody to take any other kind of way. That's just me being me. After that play I made, I kind of just had high hopes that we would get on the board again and cut it down to a three-point lead, at least. But that was just me being me. There wasn't nothing more to it.

Q: It literally looked like you physically couldn't stand up anymore. It looked like all the energy had been drained out of your body. I mean, it wasn't acting, right, it was real?

BURNS: I don't know about all that. It was just me being me. That's it.

Q: You mentioned before that the 49ers have a really good run scheme. You mentioned a couple of weeks ago about how the pin and pull teams are doing things to kind of get the ball to the edges, all these things. There is always a counter. You do something, they counter. Is there ever a sense that, look, this is our defense and we are going to dominate this game no matter what the hell you do, no disrespect intended. You know what I'm saying? Is there a little too much of, well, they do this really well, so it was hard for us to stop it?

BURNS: No, I wouldn't say that. I do think we play to our scheme, to our strengths. What I think that teams have been doing recently is just trying to neutralize our strength, which is our d-line. They're not running a lot up the middle because (defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II) Dex handles mostly everything that goes on in there. They're not letting me, Abdul and (outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux) KT just tee off off the edge. They're kind of moving the picture, moving the number scheme, getting a lot of guys out and trying to get everything into space. We just have to find a way to combat that, and like I said, it's all down to details. They're changing their numbers, they're pulling guys, they're pinning guys, that changes the number for every defense. We just have to be more gap oriented and know where we need to fit so we can play faster. At the end of the day, that just comes to preparation and guys taking that extra step with their preparation. That's all it comes down to.

Guard Jon Runyan

Q: I'm just curious, as a vet on this team when you see just this record at 2-7, you guys have been here before, how do you guys try to process how the execution may not be where you want it to be, and you guys are a similar result to where you are last season, being 2-7?

RUNYAN: Yeah, it hurts. I think everybody in the locker room is pretty upset. I feel like going back to the offseason program, the training camp, I felt like we really built a strong brotherhood and culture throughout this locker room. And for us to be sitting in the same spot we were last year is not where we want it to be, not where we thought we would be. It hurts. Still got half a season left to go. I mean, the guys in this building on this offense and defense, this team, we're fighters, so we're going to keep going. There are some tough dudes in here, and we're just going to stay after it day by day, and at the end of it we'll see what happens, but everybody's going to keep giving their best effort.

Q: We also talked to some guys about just (quarterback) Jaxson (Dart), how he's handled this. Just what have you seen how he's processing some of this? Because obviously he's a gamer, he's tough, but how is this wearing on him, and how are you seeing him just kind of respond to that?

RUNYAN: Yeah, Jaxson's been unbelievable for us. The energy, the enthusiasm, the leadership, just in the building every single day, and then everybody kind of sees what they see on Sunday out of him. But he's so consistent, he's on top of everything. It really hurts me to see him, such a young player in this league, take these losses to heart so hard because he is the quarterback of this team, and he feels like it is his fault, but he's got people around him to support him. He's got a team around him, and we do everything we can to help lift him up because he likes to think that this is all his fault, and we try to reassure him that it's not. We're all in this together, but he's a leader, and he believes that, and he does not like to lose. He's not used to losing. He has said that, so for him going through this losing stretch, it's not normal for him. He doesn't like it. He's sick about it and do everything we can to keep supporting him and keep him on this track because I feel like he's got a bright future.

Q: Jaxson for the first time heard questions after the game about his head coach's job security, and that's something that veterans sometimes or rookies hear this time of year when the team's not doing well. How does that play in the locker room when that infiltrates the locker room? You start hearing stuff like that.

RUNYAN: I, myself, and a bunch of the other guys, I can mainly only really speak for the offensive line because that's the group that I'm with the most for the most part of the day, but we try not to pay attention to anything that's out there. We are a really tight-knit unit. We're going to stick together. Anything else external, outside the building, pressures, talking about whatever is going on with our team, that's for other people to talk about. We don't look at that as something we're worried about. We're not worried about who we're playing in three weeks from now. We're not worried what the state of the organization is going to look for now. We're worried about this game we got coming up. We're going back, looking over the San Fran tape, and now going forward playing Chicago. So that's not really a thought for me, for offensive line, for offense at all, about who's going to be in the building, who's not going to be in the building. Stuff changes with players and everything every single week. So, this league is very fluid. However, it shapes up, that's not up to me. That's not my decision. So, I don't pay any mind about it, and we're still going to go out there and play with our coaches and our guys that we have out there, and we're going to play hard.

Q: You mentioned about the culture and the brotherhood that you felt was built this summer, and you could feel the feeling this summer that things were going to be different. Does this feel the exact same as last year? I mean, 2-7 is literally the exact same record. Does it feel the exact same?

RUNYAN: Yeah, I mean, it's the exact same record. I'd say it does feel a little different. I mean, losing two of our best playmakers on offense, kind of being all over the place with that. And then, defense has a ton of injuries. In that aspect with the injuries, it kind of feels the same, but I feel like guys have really kind of developed stronger bonds with each other this year, and they will stick together. So, I mean, I feel like we, as offense and defense, we've been in so many more games than we were last year. When it gets late in the fourth quarter, being able to pull those things out, and that's where we've got to start to really improve and finish these games off when we have them in our hand. We haven't done that a couple times this year, and the record, yes, it is the same, but I don't feel the vibe is the same as last year.

Q: You touched on it a little bit there, but what needs to change? I mean, you've been part of winning programs in the NFL and in college. Why isn't it working here, and what needs to be done to fix it?

RUNYAN: That is definitely the big question. I think if we were able to pinpoint what that would be, we'd be in a lot better place. Speaking from offensive line perspective, from my own individual perspective, I feel like we have been a pretty solid, consistent group, and I feel like we have done some good things. I feel like we've fallen short in some spots, but for us, the offensive line, I feel like we've been good. We're solid. We got to do better. The point where we're at in the season, where the season's going right now in direction, we're doing enough to put ourselves in position to win games. But I feel like we're not doing enough to take over games and put that confidence in the coaches and the rest of the team to call more run plays and move the ball down the field, and then we start establishing that run, throwing off of that, and that's what Jaxson does best. So, I feel like we have to take games over more from offensive line perspective, and that'll put a lot more confidence in a lot of other people. I feel like me, personally, that's where it could start, building that confidence that these coaches and these players know that they can depend on us even more from where we're at now, and we got to step up and meet that expectation if we're going to set that standard.

Q: I know you look at it as week to week, game to game, and sort of break it up like that, but it's hard to not go back to after three quarters in Denver, where you were compared to where you are now. Do you feel like, it almost feels like that collapse never really stopped in that game. Can you connect those dots, or no?

RUNYAN: I don't think they could fully be connected. I think there might be a little truth to that. Really, I mean, we've had a couple really close, I think back to the Dallas game, I think to the New Orleans game, I think to the Denver game. I felt like the first Eagles game was kind of like a really high point for us, and I mean, we pulled that out. Then going to play at Philly, and I kind of felt like the energy sucked out of us when our best player went down at midfield. I felt like that kind of really hurt, really shook a lot of guys, unfortunately, and I feel like the wind, it kind of took the wind out of our sails, unfortunately. But that's how this league is. It's brutal. You got to keep going after witnessing something like that, and it's tough. Those are the times where you have to come together as teammates and as brothers, and get this stuff fixed out, because going out there and kind of putting out the performance we had as a team, seeing the San Fran fans all packing the stadium, I felt embarrassed leaving the field, and that's not really a feeling you want to have leaving your own home stadium.