New York Giants 23, Jacksonville Jaguars 17
Q. I know all the losses may feel the same to you, but it seemed walking to the locker room that there was maybe a little bit more frustration this time around maybe because it's coming on the heels of other close losses when you think you're getting over the hump? Did it seem like this was any more frustrating?
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: You mean for me personally or as a team?
Q. The team. The team.
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: Yeah. I mean, it sucks to lose, as you said, in general. That's the way this league is. Most games come down to the very end. That's the way it is.
Like we've been saying, you have to find ways to win and just find ways to make those plays that decide the game.
Those plays are scattered throughout the game, but no matter what happened in the prior three quarters and whatever minutes of that fourth quarter, at the very end how can we find ways to make those plays to win the game?
We're just not making enough of those plays right now. We're that close. That's what's frustrating for us too as players. You know, you put so much into it, and coaches too, obviously. You put so much into it. To come up that short especially this many times early in the season is frustrating. Everybody feels that.
Guys are sticking together. We have a lot of belief in that locker room, and you saw it today. We come up a yard short at the very end to winning that game by a point. Kick the next point, we beat them.
So that's how close it is. That's why I think you see the look on the guys' faces and just the energy. That's the way it should be when you are losing like that. No one is, I don't feel, happy about it.
Q. I'm assuming on the last, you couldn't wait for Christian to get to the end zone. You had to get the ball to him when he was open and just hope he could somehow twist and get his body in the end zone.
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: We have a lot of different thoughts and ideas and plays for different situations, and that was one of them. That's one, obviously, you take a little bit of a risk because it's in the field of play. So if you don't get in, like what happened there, the game is over.
We felt good about our chances of getting in. Credit to them. Literally, if they give up one more yard, it's in. You have to tip your hat to them for doing that.
Q. One last thing on the quarterback sneak. Have you ever done a quarterback sneak where you literally got pushed back, like, almost immediately?
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: I'm not sure, no (laughing). I don't really know. Obviously, they were kind of ready for that. We had ran a couple early in the game. They made some adjustments, so it's the same thing.
Good on them. Obviously, that was, whatever, fourth and half a yard. You just hope you can get a little bit there. We just weren't able to. It was a good play by them.
Q. Trevor, again, going back to the very last play, which was a crazy last drive, was there a moment there on that pass to Christian that you thought he had gotten into the end zone?
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: Yeah, like I said, we've practiced that play and others too. That one, honestly, when I caught the snap, hit the top of my drop, it looked like the exact look we wanted. It looked like it was shaping up where he was going to sneak in right underneath everyone and get in.
When I let it go, I thought we were going to score. Like I said, the safety came flying in and hit him right when he caught it and kept him short. Then they all rallied and pushed him back.
It sucks watching that when you are that close. Yeah, they made a good play.
Q. Was there a ton of confusion early in that thing just before the fourth down where Christian looked like he got the first down and then I guess you guys all thought it was a first down, but it wasn't a first down. It was third and one.
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: You talking about the sneak?
Q. Yeah, a couple of plays --
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: There was a lot of stuff going on there. Obviously, the play clock was running, but the ball hadn't been spotted yet.
We thought it was the first down. So the clock was running, but then the chains haven't been moved, but the ball also hadn't been spotted. So we weren't really sure what was going on.
Then they marked it short, so then we kind of had to adjust from there. They pumped the play clock up for us, so they gave us a new play clock, so that was fine.
Even there, it's like, regardless of the opinions of where the spot was, it's second and inches. We've got to find a way to get a yard there. We had three opportunities and didn't do it. Or whatever, sorry. It was third down, I guess, there.
We had two opportunities and didn't do it. So that's, obviously, you're kind of kicking yourself over that because that was a big play in the game where we didn't end up getting any points, and we were down inside the 30 or wherever we were.
That's one of the plays you are talking about. Making that play or whatever it is, we have to find ways to make those and turn these games around and start being on the other side of them.
Q. At what point do you start worrying that those will not come and then, for whatever reason, this team is either snake-bit or just can't find a way to break through?
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: Yeah, we don't believe in any of that. I don't think that thought will ever come.
It's our job to make those plays, and we've got the guys. We've got the guys to do it. We haven't made them up until this point in a few of these games.
You just have to move on to the next one and go get the next one and just get some of this momentum back because we really believe we're a great team. When we put it all together, we are.
I think that's important. Obviously, looking at where we are in the season, there's still so many games left. We have time. We need to go get one and get some momentum, but no one is going to give it to you. We have to go earn it and make those plays.
I believe that we're going to do it, and we just have to go do it.
Q. Big game for Etienne today. Had some big chunk plays in the run game. Did you see anything in your film work this week that let you know coming in that he was going to be able to have that type of success on the ground?
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: I mean, just the type of back he is, you kind of feel that way every week, honestly. The group that we have up front, we saw some opportunities in the run game.
We thought this was a team where we could be effective in the run game and rush the ball well, and we did that. Had some huge plays.
Credit to the guys up front. Travis for running hard. All those guys. Tight ends were blocking. I thought we did a good job in a lot of areas. And, obviously, Travis had some huge runs and did a good job.
Yeah, I mean, we feel that way really every week, but yeah, especially this week we had some good stuff ready for them.
Q. Also, the offensive execution was a little bit up-and-down throughout the game today, but really looked like it kind of came together on that last drive. Can you tell me from your perspective as a trigger man, what is it about that two-minute offense that really allows you to just get in the flow and go right down the field?
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of factors. Obviously, the defense changes a little bit in those situations because the circumstances. You know, they're up by six and trying not to give up big plays. They'll let you have some plays in front of them, trying to keep you inbounds, but they're okay with giving up some yards.
You see a little bit more easier completions in those drives. But really I think just the guys knowing when we've got to have it and flipping that switch, regardless of how the game has gone.
Obviously, we've had a bunch of plays that we would like back in every game. That's how it's always going to be, but in that moment there's a minute left. We have a chance to do something with the ball. We've got to make that decision to go make a play, to go do whatever we have to do.
Like you saw in the fourth and 15, I think all of our fans had left at that point because it's fourth and 15, and there's 20 seconds left. We don't have time-outs. We're on the minus-30.
Marvin makes a great catch. I don't even know where the ball was, honestly. I got hit and drove into the ground. Got the penalty too, but goes and makes a play.
Those are the plays that you've got to make. Unfortunately, we didn't make enough of those throughout the game. But to be able to do that and, like I said, where we were on that fourth down and then to put ourselves on the 20, inside the 20, for those last few attempts at the end zone, I mean, you can't really ask for a better opportunity in that situation. That's all you can do.
Obviously, we would love to hit one of those plays to Marvin or Zay before that last play or hit the last one and get in the end zone. We had a lot of opportunities. That's what's frustrating. You always look back.
I know all the guys in the locker room, you look back at all those plays that you could have made. That's the great part about this game is whoever makes those plays wins, and we've got to find ways to make them.
Q. With that said, how much do you think is that this team needs to learn how to win versus it's just an inch or two and the ball bounces the other way?
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: You know, I think it's both. It's just having, I think, that momentum. You look at a team like the Giants who are playing really good football right now, and they're, what, 6-1 now. All their games have come down like that. They've found a way to win.
We knew that coming in, and our message was let's find a way to win this one. Like I said, just came up a little short.
I think when you can go and make those plays down the stretch and go win one of these games and kind of turn that momentum around, obviously, that helps. That's what we're looking to do moving forward.
Obviously, we would rather the game not come down to the very end and put it away early, but that's not going to be the case most weeks in the NFL. We had two early in the season where we just jumped on those teams and got rolling and played really good complimentary ball and really just finished the game.
That was great, but most games are going to come down to the end, and we just have to find ways to make those, and we're getting closer.
You saw it today. Closer and closer. But that doesn't cut it, so we have to make them.
Q. How much do you go back to losing streaks in the past for you? Do you rely on that to then maybe change how you react to this, maybe what you do as leaders in the locker room?
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: What exactly are you asking?
Q. You had losing streaks last year. Do you go back and say, maybe we acted this way after a loss, let's do this instead? I noticed just in the locker room just now seeing how many guys were going up to each other and giving each other high-fives, I mean, like, hey, we got the next one.
TRAVIS LAWRENCE: Yeah, honestly, no, not really looking back at the past in that way. I think it's important to stick together.
At the end of the day if we can stick together, that's the only way we turn this thing around. And we continue to put ourselves in this position, but find a way to actually get it done.
If we don't stick together, we don't have a shot. I know we have a group that's going to stick together, and that's one of the best things I think about this team is how close we are.
You should have heard the guys in the locker room after the game. Guys are so passionate about it. You put so much work in.
That's the cool thing is that's the only thing that anybody cares about is winning. It's not about stats. It's not about someone getting the ball or a guy getting as bunch of sacks or whatever it is.
It's just everybody wants to win, and that's why people are so pissed off because we're not finding a way to do that right now. It's going to come though, and we just have to go do it.
Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports