The New York Giants (5-7) are preparing to host the Arizona Cardinals (6-6) at MetLife Stadium this Sunday and their three coordinators spoke with the media on Thursday to discuss the state of their units.
Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett addressed the issue of whether or not Daniel Jones was close to resuming his position as the team’s starting quarterback. Jones missed last week’s game in Seattle with a hamstring strain.
“That’s a good question,” said Garrett. “We’re in the midst of those discussions. We had kind of a jog through type practice yesterday. Daniel worked out afterwards. He looked good. He looked good moving around. We just have to continue to evaluate his situation as the week goes on, not unlike any other position you have. Hopefully he can do some more work in practice today and we’ll make our assessment afterwards.
“We feel like Colt is capable of doing whatever we ask our quarterbacks to do. I don’t think the game plan changes dramatically from a mental standpoint or a physical standpoint. Obviously, you customize things. Again, you try to play to your players’ strengths and limit their weaknesses. But in terms of capability, we feel like each of those guys is capable to do whatever we ask them to do. You might customize it a little bit for each of them to do what they do best.”
Coordinator Patrick Graham has the defense playing at a top level here in the second half the season. They have become a top-10 defense.
Graham comes from the Bill Belichick coaching tree, meaning the only game that matters is the next one on the schedule. His coaching strategy changes from game to game and the defense has responded that approach.
“Each week is so different,” he said. “The confidence is coming from practice, to be honest with you. Practice and spending time with one another. Whether it’s zoom or when they’re here in the building. Them getting comfortable with us as coaches. The coaches getting comfortable with one another.
“It just starts to grow just like any relationship. You get your bumps in the road, if that’s the right saying, and you work through it. Now we’re just focused on the Cardinals and how we can hopefully stop them or minimize their effectiveness on Sunday.”
Graham has been so good, questions about his potential candidacy as an NFL head coach have arisen. Unsurprisingly, he pays that talk no mind.
“I’m not smart enough to think ahead of today. I’m trying to get better today. I need to get ready for third down versus Arizona on Sunday. I can’t even think about it like that, to be honest with you. That’s all I’m really focused on. Third down and two-minute today. Finish up early downs and get ready for red area. Right before here, I was going through red area meetings,” Graham said genuinely. “I can’t think about that stuff, to be honest with you.”
Special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey’s group recovered somewhat last week after an embarrassing showing in Cincinnati but still appear to be trending downward for the first time in several seasons.
McGaughey is challenging the special teams to step up and get things cleaned up. The Giants have been lax especially on kick and punt coverage and some of that has to do with the kicker and the punter not placing the football where it needs to be.
“I used a phrase from when I was growing up: are you gonna box or throw rocks,” he said. “You get hit in the mouth, you get hit in the chin, you get hit in the guy, how are you going to react to it?”
[lawrence-related id=661202,661225,661219]