Giants 31, Vikings 24
A. Tough to come in and talk to your team when we didn't get it done tonight. I just told them how proud I am of the way they battled, the way they responded all year long to what we asked of them as coaches. It's one of the closest connected groups in the entire NFL. These guys, there's some real tears in there, there's real guys that expected to really have a chance to win a world championship, so you've got to give the Giants a lot of credit. Just didn't do enough in the end to win the football game, and we'll have to take a long, hard look at every aspect of what we do to make sure we give ourselves the ability to continue to strive to compete at a championship level, and that's what we'll begin working on immediately.
Q. Defensively did you think this was more a problem of scheme or talent?
A. I think there were some issues with explosive, big plays. Again, tonight they schematically did some things to maybe take advantage of some things we were doing, but across the board, we're going to take a look at everything. That's my job. I'm responsible for all three phases of our football team, and we'll definitely take a deep dive into it and find a way because I do think all three phases of our team can improve and individually do their part to try to give ourselves a chance to compete at the highest levels in this league.
I think we'll take a look at a lot of things just to see where we can improve and be the best version of ourselves.
Q. What sort of problems did Daniel Jones using his legs in the first half --
A. Yeah, we talked about it throughout the week. I know I mentioned it to you guys. We wanted to try to keep him in the pocket. We wanted to try to get a rush, change the game with some of our playmakers up there, but not let him get out and have an impact.
He had an impact on some designed runs, as well, all of which does not break any news to us in that locker room or our coaching staff. They just happened to make those plays.
When you play a mobile quarterback like that that can make plays with his arm and his legs, you just have to have a plan to maximize your chances of limiting those explosive plays in addition to some of those crossing routes and things they do to generate some of that stuff.
Q. What did they do differently with Jefferson?
A. Yeah, they didn't bring as much pressure tonight. It was more so a story of coverage, double teams. I think when you look at his stats, I don't think it's a coincidence T.J. having a big day, Adam Thielen with three big catches for 50 yards, K.J. had some opportunities in addition to the 2 for 20. Ended up I think with about 56, 58 snaps, so you would have loved to have the ball a little bit more to be able to run it and marry the run and the pass.
Just when we didn't have that success, we opened the game with a really nice drive and then end up being stopped a couple times there. Despite finishing the half with a touchdown drive, you look at the volume of snaps you end up getting as an offense and really that's where I could help us try to be better in those short yardage situations, try to be better across the board so we can go ahead and maximize our opportunities when they could be a little bit more limited because of their ability to control the football.
Q. (Indiscernible) did you feel like you were going to come back --
A. I did.
Q. Was it abrupt? How did it feel?
A. Very. Very. Even until that very last drive, you think you have a chance there on that 3rd and 8, 3rd and 10 call, whatever it was. You think you have a chance, and unfortunately we just didn't -- didn't end upcoming down with that one for whatever reason, and on that 4th down just trying to get some eligibles vertical and ball ended up going underneath him, and like we had done multiple times, T.J. underneath the coverage for catch conversions, they just were able to make a play, but the intent was to try to have a chance to win the football game with pushing the ball downfield and just didn't open up for Kirk, and that's on me.
Q. Was that the conversation after the 4th down on the sideline when the ball goes underneath --
A. Yeah, I just wanted to have some dialogue with him, and I could have done a better job in the moment. He knew it was 4th down, and he just didn't want to -- he wanted to make sure he put the ball in play. I've got to go back. I was watching some of the routes down the field to kind of materialize, and the pocket may or may not have been collapsing on him, and he just wanted to make sure he gave somebody a chance, and they made a play.
Had some double coverage to Justin on that drive, and trying to have K.J. come to life, trying to have Adam come to life. We'll take a long hard look at it. Our two-minute offense has been pretty darned good all season helping us, and in the end we didn't get it done on that drive, and it did feel rather abrupt the way it happened.
Q. (Indiscernible) would you have liked a riskier throw there so there was an opportunity?
A. Yeah, the intent as a playcaller is you're not going to call a primary concept where somebody is short of the sticks to gain, especially on 4th down. If it's 3rd down and you can catch, convert and make it a 4th and 2 or 3, that's okay.
But yeah, looking back on it, I maybe could have just been a little bit more, hey, this is kind of where you want the ball to go. But I want Kirk to be able to play. I want him to be free out there to make good decisions.
He did all night long. Moved our team. Stood in there, getting the ball out of his hand in rhythm. It just so happens that that down -- we just didn't get enough on the play regardless.
In the end I look at as it's as much on me in that play call, even though we had eligibles with a chance down the field. Maybe. There's always a play that could be better for your guys out there, and that one will stick with me.
Q. Going back to the first half with the 3rd and 1 Jefferson to Cousins. What was the thinking on that play?
A. Yeah, we thought we had converted. Officials marked it past the line to gain and they ended up making it a 3rd and 1. We had had that play up for a chance versus man coverage to try to see if we could generate an explosive, and they ended up leaving the cornerback side and didn't get the look that ultimately we were hunting.
And that's part of taking risks. No different than a fake punt. No different than some things in that situation. They defended the play well, and you've got to give them credit. Not a play call that I particularly loved, but it's easy to say that when it does not work.
Q. Are you saying you were looking for an explosive there? Is the idea that the explosive comes from Justin?
A. No, it was a designed throw-back kind of trick style play.
Q. When you said you would look at everything defensively short of overhauling the scheme, now that you're hitting the off-season, are you confident you have the right scheme defensively?
A. Well, it's one of those things, when speaking of the abrupt ending of tonight, it's a little kind of fresh to be in that mode right now, but offensively, defensively and special teams, we're going to take a look at our entire football team, personnel, schematics, how we coached, what things we can do better to help put our players in positions to have success, help put the personnel that we have in positions to have success, and it'll be an entire part of what this job is all about, is being critical, having the ability to evaluate your football team and what the intent was, and then being able to make adjustments to try to better what you are as a team.
That's what I'll do starting tomorrow.
Q. You listed a bunch of ways to evaluate the defense. Is one of the things that's potentially on the table who's coaching the defense?
A. Like we talked about, man, I think Ed tried to do the best he could this year across the board, installing the defense and the scheme that we had kind of manifested together and hoped that it would come to life.
He worked his absolute tail off and his commitment to trying to make some adjustments and improve was there each and every week all season long.
I'm going to look at every aspect, special teams, offense, defense, personnel all across the board how we can improve schematically. All those things are for really a different time and different conversations once we've had a chance to kind of collect ourselves and evaluate what took place this year.
Q. I know you worked with Kirk before, but being here, coaching him as a head coach, was there anything that you learned about him throughout the season and going forward that maybe you build on?
A. Yeah, he's grown tremendously from previously when I worked with him in '17. He is a competitor. He's tough. He's incredibly durable. Threw the ball at a very high level all season long, made game winning plays for us all season long when we had to have them. I thought he competed each and every week to put our offense in a position to have success, and he was always our leader each and every week. When things didn't go our way, that guy was out in front ready to go back to work. He was one of the reasons why I believe we didn't lose two games in a row.
We responded to adversity, and he's a heck of a leader for us. Much beyond just being our quarterback and our leader on the offensive side, just really for our whole football team.
Q. Your first year as head coach you win 13 games season ends with a home playoff loss. Does that feel like a success to you?
A. I don't really -- it's a little too soon to kind of go into true evaluation mode. I know our team wanted it very, very badly. We had a great week of prep and wanted badly to win this game. For it to be a one-score game with a chance to go try to tie that game up, it's going to sting us for a long time.
This team was as competitive as any group as I've been around from the standpoint of each and every time they took the field with the expectation to win. It did not always go our way, but these guys battled for, like you said, 13 wins, and I think there's a lot of things that I'm very, very fortunate and excited about moving forward with this team currently and where we can take it from here.
Q. You talked a lot even after victories about needing to improve on a lot of things, even after wins. Do you still feel like you were chasing a four-quarter performance and never got it?
A. Yeah, I think we're always going to be trying to improve, and the biggest thing is just understanding -- what I mean by that is all three phases at the same time playing well. It's not directly an offensive or a defensive or a special teams thing. It's can we be as a football team truly in phase with each other and playing off of the success of the other group, capitalizing momentum and being able to expand on that as a football team and understand what that feels like for us moving forward.
Any team in this league that doesn't finish in Arizona holding the trophy is going to feel like they've got to improve, and I sure know that that's going to be the main goal, regardless of tonight's outcome. It's going to be about improving our football team, me getting personally better for our guys and our coaches.
I feel like I've learned a lot this year, and I feel like I'm ready for what's out in front of us because of the type of leadership I get to work with, the leadership on our team and what we have here to build upon the 13 wins that we were able to get this year.
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