Giants 34, Cowboys 17
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: I thought they played hard. I thought you saw how important the game was to us. You could feel the hitting. Really pleased with the way we ran the football today.
Yeah, I mean, this group, I've never doubted that with them, no. It's always been a group that they're going to answer the call, they are going to play hard.
I just told them, Hey, look, I'm proud of you guys. I'm disappointed in the way the season turned out. We clearly didn't win enough games. Every week they laid it on the line. I'm proud of them for that.
Q. (Question about momentum.)
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Yeah, we got to look at it and see what those issues were. Now that the season is over, we'll go back and look at everything with a fine-tooth comb, if you will. We'll break it down into all the different areas that you need to in terms of offense, defense, special teams, running game, situational football, third down, red zone, all that stuff.
There will be things. There's always things. Things that we have to address, we'll prioritize those. We'll focus on getting better.
Q. Can you use this bitterness as a motivation?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Always. I mean, I think anytime you come up short of goals, there's motivation. I think these guys are hungry. We have the right type of guys. There's no question about that.
We did some good things this year. We just got to figure out the things that we need to improve and address those issues and coach those things up better.
But always. Yeah, it's a long season, and we'll start the process immediately, though, of trying to figure out the areas that we can improve.
Q. First thing Monday morning, is that your mindset, make a lot of decisions, coaches, players?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Yeah, it starts immediately. I mean, there's no time... You get into it. Study the film tonight and look at it on the way back.
We'll have the exit interviews. We'll go through the process. I love that process. I think that process is important where you talk to the players, you talk to the coaches, you evaluate everything.
I think, like I said, there will be some very clear things that we need to address.
Q. So much has been talked about Eberflus on the defense. Can you assess how he's done? Would you want him back at this point?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: I think at the end of the day if you look at the way the game went today, we put them on a short field. The time of possession kind of got flipped around.
Again, we're going to look at everything. At the end of the day we didn't win enough games. That starts with me. I'm responsible for that. That's where we'll start.
Q. You mentioned you'll prioritize things in your mind. What are the priorities for this team?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Again, I think there's going to be a number of 'em. Again, at this time I want to think about the guys in that locker room. I'm going to love on 'em some more, tell them how much I care about them because I appreciate how much they put into this season.
We got time to get into that. Like I said, we're going to start that on the plane. But there's a number of issues we need to address. We'll do that.
Q. Second quarter stretch where they were backed up, Murray got a penalty, remained on the field, other guys came off after penalties. Why?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: The thing is when it's a combative penalty like that, you can't see exactly what happened. Was it real? Was it him? Was it something maybe we didn't see?
Jumping off-sides and stuff like that, that's an immediate come out. We do that at practice actually. We didn't have a great shot of it actually what happened.
Q. On the defensive penalties, late hits, hits to the head, how disappointing is it to still be seeing stuff like that in week 18?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Again, I think we have to look at it. I do think the one hit to the head, I think he slid a little bit late. That the always going to be an interpretation. They're always going to make decisions to protect quarterbacks, which I obviously understand and probably agree with.
The biggest thing is some conversions that we gave up on third down, PI penalties, things like that. It's some technique stuff you have to clean up. At the end of the day there were a lot of flags out there today.
Q. The plan with a Dak, was this it all along, pull him at half? Did it have anything to do with the way the game was going?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: No, it was kind of the plan. We were going to evaluate as we went. We wanted to play to win the game. Certainly thought we could win the game with Joe. We felt like we could do that.
This is what we planned. I didn't say it had to be at halftime. It could have been before that, could have been a little bit after that. Just wanted to get Joe out there and see how he did.
Q. I don't know last year the review process, if you guys did a complete review once you were hired as head coach. Is this the second time you'll be going through this or is this the end of your first year putting this process together?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: No, it will be different. I mean, last year you're scrambling to put together a staff. You're starting to build everything.
This is different. You've got basically almost a year, almost a full 12 months under your belt to evaluate everything. When I say 'everything will be evaluated', everything will be evaluated, coaches, players, personnel, situational stuff. All that stuff.
Again, I feel great about the young men in that locker room, where we can take this thing.
Q. (Question about Jadeveon.)
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Incredible. Incredible. No one should be surprised by that. Had three sacks. Thought he was great. Jaydon Blue ran extremely well. Was really proud of him getting his first touchdown. Phil gets his first touchdown. Shemar James. We saw some young guys play, which is kind of what we wanted to do, as well.
Again, going back to Jadeveon, incredible.
Q. Are you working on a mental timeline as far as getting the big decisions made?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: No. Just go through the process. When you go through the process, my belief is it becomes very clear what you want to do, what you need to do.
But I don't think you rush into any decisions. I think you got to go through the process and you got to do the work. The work is not easy. Work is tedious. We're going to be working just as hard over this week and the next 10 to 12 days to get through all that stuff just so we feel good about everything.
Q. You mentioned just enjoying the process in general. What is it about (indiscernible)?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: How much better you can get, the amount of improvement that can be had, you know? When you're in year one you're going through the process and you think you know what it's going to look like. Certain things change and adjust.
Again, I'm excited because when we work as hard as we're going to work, we're going to find answers, solutions, things that will get us where we need to get going. That's why I believe so much in work ethic and all that. I think you can uncover a lot of those things that you need to do.
Again, there's going to be a laundry list of those things, but you got to prioritize them. That's where I think we'll be great.
Q. When that process is over, when are you going to actually look in the mirror yourself, in terms of having the mindset of we are headed in the right direction? What does that look like?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Yeah, again, I think it's a thing that I'll kind of know as we get going in the off-season probably. Make some moves in personnel things, stuff like that.
It's ongoing, man. If you win a Super Bowl, if you make the Playoffs, you're always doing that. This is no different. We're disappointed we didn't win today, absolutely. But at the same time we're going to go through the process, we're going to uncover some things. That's a big part of what we need to do over these next 12 days.
Q. You talked about the midnight rule this year. When this season doesn't go the way you want it to, how do you apply a version of that?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Well, the midnight rule applies (indiscernible). I think it goes back to the process. We're going to break it down to the finest things. First quadrant, first four games. We'll do everything. The way we practice, the way we did the draft, the way we did the off-season program, even to the way we game planned into this game.
There's no such thing when you get into off-season in terms of as you're evaluating everything, there is no midnight rule. Then again, you don't have the time.
Where the midnight rule originated is you have to move on because you have another opponent coming in the next week, five, six, seven days, whatever it is. This one we've got some time. We're going to roll our sleeves up and get back to work and figure it out.
Q. Right after of penalty, looks like you got a sack (indiscernible). When you see a play like that, what do you think?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Again, it's a big play in the game, for sure. I think just got to find a way to get the guy on the ground. Really good pass-rush, kind of broke off. I think one of the players actually picked another guy trying to make the tackle.
It's football. Again, big play in the game. Unfortunately there was more opportunities in that to go and win the game. Yeah, unfortunate. Those are the plays that when you're winning, you make those plays. We didn't make those plays. Came up short.
Q. You haven't said much about the record this year because there's always been another game. 7-9-1. Are you surprised there's not more of a bottom line improvement?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Yeah, disappointed. Yeah, of course. Absolutely. Again, the question is why? We need to look at it and figure out why.
I did not think we would be 7-9-1. Didn't think we wouldn't be in the Playoffs. I expected to be in the Playoffs and competing for a Super Bowl. We did not do that. That starts with me. I understand that.
But I can promise you this: we're going to get to the bottom of it, we're going to work our asses off to figure it out, we're going to adjust and make changes we need to do to help us get there.
Q. What were some of the issues that you were concerned about on the defense today? Were they consistent with the season?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Yeah, again, I mean, I think we did get some sacks, four sacks in the game. (Indiscernible) he's an athletic guy. Jaxson moves around and makes plays.
I think third down again was an issue for us. Got to get off the field on third down. Unfortunately we didn't do that. We weren't very good on offense on third down either. Those are probably the two things that kind of jumped out at me. Again, not getting off the field on third down. We gave up a couple explosives in the run game.
Q. Is that kind of consistent with the season, the third down effort?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Yes, for sure. Again, I think the last couple weeks we've been better in the red zone on defense. Third down has been kind of a little bit of our Achilles' heel. Those are big plays because there's momentum. You get a chance to give the ball back to your offense.
Q. How soon do you want to get your staff settled for next year?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Yeah, again, exit interviews with the players all day tomorrow, all day Tuesday. Again, I think that's so important. These guys worked their asses off all year. They've got great insight, great input for us. There's nothing out of bounds. They could say, You are the worst head coach I've ever seen in my life, I've ever been around. That is not going to hurt my feelings. It's not. I want to know. I'll ask why they feel that way so I can fix it.
Then Wednesday and Thursday we'll get into the coaches' exit interviews. Same type of thing, ask them their opinion.
There's so much incredible value in listening to your people. I've got thoughts, right? Jerry has thoughts. We all have thoughts. You guys have thoughts. But you have a chance now to slow down, take a deep breath, ask probing questions to get to the bottom, get to what I say the real answers are. Once I say you have that laundry list of things, you have to prioritize those things.
Q. You get to hire a draft pick with this loss. Any positivity at all?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: No, not for me. No, I wanted to win the game.
Q. This is going to be pretty blunt. What is the case that Eberflus should be back? Allowed most points in team history, team scored on every other possession during the course of the season. What's the case for him to come back?
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER: Again, the case is going to be the case that's made when we look at all the stats, we talk through the issues, we get through the exit interviews with the players.
Again, I've said this many, many times. Flus is a really good defensive coach. We're going to go through the process. That's with everybody, even myself and Clayton and Nick, Flus and the players.
You take this time that you have now. We have time. The players understand we're going to have those meetings. There's going to be lot of real hard conversations in a good way. Give feedback, they give us feedback, that's important. At the end of the day until we get all that information, we can't prioritize what we need to fix and more importantly how we're going to fix it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports