Head Coach Brian Daboll
Q: (Wide Receiver) Montrell Washington has been impressive in training camp. He had 3 catches for 60 yards yesterday. What do you think of his performance yesterday and what more do you guys want to see out of him in order for him to make the roster?
DABOLL: I thought he did some good things, had good run-after-catch, which he's had in camp. It's one of those deals in camp where they say, 'Yeah, he was tagged down. Was he tagged down…' He had a big play on that, the play on the sideline to the right. I'd say he'd be the first one to say he could've finished a couple plays down there in the fringe on third down which would've helped us hopefully generate some scoring points, touchdowns instead of field goals. (He's) a conscientious guy that's competing, he's made some plays and still (has) things to improve on.
Q: What did you see when you went back and looked at your quarterbacks yesterday? From first glance, it seems like they were impressive.
DABOLL: I think that starts with the offensive line giving them good protection, but all four of them did a nice job in the pocket, kept their eyes down field, made plays when they could make them. We had that one where we were bounced back, where they were called for defensive offsides – we threw it to the post-safety there and then (quarterback) Jameis (Winston) came back and reloaded and drove down and hit it. (Quarterback) Russell (Wilson) was efficient. (Quarterback) Tommy (DeVito) was good, efficient, made good decisions. I thought all four of those players, albeit preseason games where you're not seeing many things – did their jobs and did them at a fairly high level.
Q: How do you expect to approach this week with the joint practices with the Jets and do you expect (wide receiver) Malik (Nabers) to participate?
DABOLL: We'll see. You know I'm not getting into injuries or who didn't play right now. We'll practice against them on Tuesday and everybody that can practice will practice and those that can't, won't.
Q: What about the approach? What are you trying to get out of it?
DABOLL: Well, it's good to go against different schemes, different players, matchups, as long as you practice the right way. (New York Jets Head Coach Aaron Glenn) AG and I have a really good relationship. We've talked about it a number of times of our scheduling and what we're looking to get out of it, which is good, competitive work against different teams that do different things and have different matchups. We're able to look at their team, they're able to look at us. We got a lot of players out there that are competing for a roster spot, so I think it serves multiple roles.
Q: (Running back Dante Miller) Turbo converted a third-and-eight, a third-and-nine, a third-and-12 and a second-and-10 into first downs. Obviously, you have three running backs who are already pretty set on your roster but what have you seen from him and what does that kind of explosiveness do when he's trying to make the roster.
DABOLL: It's competitive, the roster spots that are out there. He's not just competing against running backs, it's competing against other positions that are fighting for roster spots special teams-wise. Special teams will be important. You have a starting running back , we have a starting running back and we have a couple other running backs that we think are going to help us and then Turbo is firmly in that mix based on his performance, but special teams will be very important for him and the roles that he can help us with in those areas relative to making the roster and going through a game. He got Player of The Game on offense for us this game and he did a lot of good things for us and we'll keep on working with him.
Q: Are you aware that you went viral on social media for your '6-7' reference even though none of us knew what you were talking about?
DABOLL: Yeah, I didn't think you guys would know.
Q: Did you learn that from (quarterback Jaxson) Dart or from your kids?
DABOLL: My kids.
Q: (Cornerback) Nic Jones was out there with the ones. Why did you put him in that spot and what did you see from him?
DABOLL: (Nickel) Dru (Phillips) wasn't able to go, so he went in. (He) competed, did some good things, some things to clean up just like everybody but he was the next guy up when Dru came out.
Q: Is there anything serious with Dru?
DABOLL: No, just couldn't finish. It falls in line with all the other injured guys right now.
Q: Is there any chance (left tackle) Andrew Thomas will get activated this week?
DABOLL: We'll just take it day-by-day with him and keep on improving him. When he can do more, he'll do more and whenever that is, that's when it'll be.
Q: What did you see from (offensive lineman) Marcus Mbow yesterday?
DABOLL: I thought he did a good job, protected well, is athletic, knew all the plays, the assignments that he had. He's had a good camp up to this point. We played him on both sides and he's done a nice job since he's been here.
Q: You had your offensive playcaller/coordinator on the sideline for this game. Is that just a preseason thing or was that to see the feel in how that works down there?
DABOOLL: It's something we talked about in the offseason. I think it went well, think there was good communication. We'll see what we do this week. That's what these preseason games are for. Operationally-wise, I was pleased with how things went.
Q: You've done both, calling plays from the booth and the sideline, in your career as a coordinator I assume. What do you prefer?
DABOLL: I think it's an individual preference. I think there's probably pros and cons for each spot, calling upstairs vs calling downstairs. That would be a good question for (assistant head coach/offensive coordinator) Mike (Kafka). There's different things – you're less emotional when you're upstairs, more calm environment, you can maybe see part of the field a little bit better. Downstairs, there's better conversations a lot of the times, easier conversations when you're right there around the quarterbacks, able to communicate with the coaches, so this is something that we wanted to try for this game. We'll sit down and… I thought it went well. I'll talk to Mike about the plans going forward for the next game and then the third game and then ultimately, we'll make the decision that we feel best about for the opener.
Q: If Mike is on the field, who will be the eyes for him upstairs?
DABOLL: We have a number of guys. We have a big staff, so there's a number of guys that are upstairs. Again, I thought the communication really in all three phases was good. The information – and again, that's what these games are for. We haven't coached in however long it is, and we have new people on the staff and that's what part of these games are for, too, is so we can get aligned and make sure our communication process is right for our players.
Q: Jaxson was talking yesterday about how the guys were telling him to slide yesterday on the 19-yard run. How do you guys reminding him or reenforcing with him that sliding to avoid hits sometimes can be better?
DABOLL: I thought it was a good play.
Q: That's it? Just a good play?
DABOLL: Yeah, a good play. A 20-yard gain. He's out there with the ball in his hand. There's times that call for you to slide and maybe there's times that aren't. Obviously, we want to minimize the hits for our quarterbacks but there's a competitive nature to that position as well. He's going to learn as he goes. We got a lot of guys that can run with the ball. We want to take as few hits as we can and sometimes there's plays that you're not going to be able to get down. You're just going to have to do a good job of getting your pads low and protecting yourself. He's been a good runner in college. We'll do a good job with working out the kinks of him carrying the ball, but I have confidence in his instincts and what he sees out there and when he needs to do it and we'll try to minimize as many hits as we can, but he's a competitor and I like that about him.
Q: How far back does your relationship go with Aaron Glenn where you guys can easily figure out how you want to operate during joint practices smoothly?
DABOLL: I'd say a number of years. Since he was a DB coach back at the Saints, but obviously, he was a player when I first started in this league, so I've known AG for a long time. I have a lot of respect for him as a man and as a coach. Easy to work with. We've communicated a bunch throughout the years. Obviously, the last couple of years at Detroit when he was the defensive coordinator and we've gone through situations of how we're going to practice, what we want the tempo to be, the periods. I got a lot of respect for him and the communication process has been good.
Q: When the joint practices come, how calculated are you guys in terms of what specifically you would like to work on? Do you talk about specific drills or is that more of a Tuesday into Wednesday thing? How do you set the whole thing up?
DABOLL: Yeah, we have an outline of how we're going to practice in terms of the periods, when we're going to be separate and when we're going to be together. Usually that involves some type of one-on-one work and then I'll be on the Giants offensive field, he'll be on the Jets offensive field and what we talked about is when he's on that field and I'm on that field, you're the head coach of that field. We want to practice the right way, get work out of it, try to keep the being on the ground and cheap shots and all that other stuff out of it. It's like we're practicing against one another on our own teams, but get work out of it against different skillsets, different schemes. The drills we do, whether it's a seven-on-seven or a team, whatever it may be, red zone, third down, we talk about those almost prior to leaving in June and then our assistants go back and forth on some things, we readdress them, we've talked – we've probably communicated three or four times today already. They had a late night getting back from Green Bay, but it's good to work with another team and get proper stuff out of it.
Q: Yesterday, Thomas Fidone II had a false start and then it looked like he was pulled off because of that. For a young player who has missed some time in camp to come back into the game and then play a role and still engaged late and made a few really good catches, for him what did yesterday represent for him and his growth?
DABOLL: It was good to see. He had that two-point conversion, when Jameis (Winston) threw it. It might've been to (wide receiver) Gunner Olszewski but Fidone stepped up and made a good catch and then that big fourth-and-midrange area where Tommy (DeVito) kind of held it, held it, held it and he threw it up and (Fidone) made a high-point catch and then in the four-minute series, he had one. These plays are all critical for young players to show what they can do and how they handle different situations, their technique, are they getting movement in the run game? In this case, at tight end, are they creating separation? Catching the ball? Being where they're supposed to be? Can we count on them in critical situations? That's why these preseason games are so valuable for everybody.
