DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE CALDWELL
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2022
(On what CB Shaquill Griffin has shown by moving on from last game) “He’s a veteran. He’s been
consistent throughout his career. As a corner, you have plays, you have to have a short memory. He
does that, he moves on, and he’s back in here trying to get back healthy and trying to do the things we
want him to do.”
(On the confidence level of CB Shaquill Griffin) “Oh, it’s still there. It’s still there. They make plays, we
make plays, but we just have to make more plays. We have confidence that Shaq can go back out there
and do it, there’s no loss of confidence in him. We’re just ready for him to get another shot.”
(On comfortability of having a veteran cornerback who remains confident despite performance) “Really,
corners have to have that frivolousness and forget things. Because if you don’t, you’ll have it in your
mind, and it causes you to play soft and causes you to play the way you’re not supposed to play. He’s a
veteran corner, he understands the game, he’s had a bunch of success and we look forward to him
doing it again.”
(On if there’s a worry as CB Shaquill Griffin is a defensive leader) “I think you can never really put it on
one guy, because at the same time, when he’s in coverage we have ten other guys that are out there
that are supposed to be doing their job. If they do their job, maybe that doesn’t show up. It’s a team
game, and when you have one guy that has an opportunity to make a play, there’s ten other ones that
also have the opportunity.”
(On if adjustments could’ve been made defensively last game) “I thought we did in the second half, we
did it. It just comes down really to making plays. The ball was coming out, we were in leverage
sometimes. Sometimes we were out of leverage, but we’ll learn from it. Got back to work yesterday,
going back to work today, ready to get it fixed.”
(On talent of Giants offense) “26. 26.” (Referring to Giants RB Saquon Barkley)
(On what’s game changing about Giants RB Saquon Barkley) “That’s the thing, he’s a game changer. In
the run game he’s special, has great vision, jump cuts, can find a hole when it’s not there. Their offensive
line is playing well, they’re protecting the quarterback and they’re also opening up holes. The
quarterback itself is another dynamic. He’s a guy that can throw a ball on time, use his legs when he
needs to get out of trouble, and to make plays for them.”
(On the challenge of going against a quarterback that can scramble) “It’s the same way in all three levels.
The backend has to hold up in coverage, the linebackers have to be aware in zone coverage, and up
front we have to make sure we try to limit his movement in the pocket.”
(On the importance of assuring OLB Josh Allen and OLB Travon Walker that the stats will come) “It’s
important for them to know that, but at the same time, they know that we need that and that’s what
we’re about. We have to generate that. We don’t need them to stress or try to go out there and play
outside the scheme. We just need them to be them, and the plays will come. Just trust the process and
the plays will come.”
(On struggle of not having DE Folorunso Fatukasi at times) “I think Corey (DL Corey Peters) has done a
good job of filling in, but any time you have one of your main guys not there, the other guys step up. If
you were able to have both of them on the field at the same time, that might help out. There’s really no
excuse for it, but we have to stop the run when it’s time to stop the run. We haven’t been doing that as
consistently as we want to, so we go back to work.”
(On if the defense needs to prove they can stop the run game this weekend) “I think you’ve got to prove
it every day. That’s one of our slogans, you’ve got to prove it every day. Every day you step out on the
field, you got to prove who you are as a player and who you are as a defense. Our division is like that.
We have good running backs in our division, so every week we step out there, we’re facing a good
running back so that’s part of stepping up every week and prove it every day.”
(On what has been seen of LB Devin Lloyd and OLB Travon Walker so far this season) “I don’t think the
energy, physicalness, that’s something that really is different with those two guys. Devin plays physical
on a second level, and Travon is physical up front. The real thing that stands out between those two is
the length. They’ve increased our length on defense and they’re able to help other guys in certain ways,
and they’re able to make plays themselves by being long. Both of them are extremely long.”
(On if LB Devin Lloyd and OLB Travon Walker have become leaders yet) “Really, leaders are defined by
their actions and both guys are out there working hard and performing on the field. Guys gravitate to
guys who perform well on the field and work hard, so they’re leaders not by age, but by the way they
play.”
(On flexibility of moving around S Rayshawn Jenkins) “I think he’s a piece that is playing well for us.
We’re happy, we’re excited that he’s healthy. He’s going out there and making big, big plays; he’s being
physical in the run game, being a blitz at times, and then his coverage you don’t think of, guys are
catching balls on him. That’s a big plus, he’s playing well and we’re hoping to keep that going.”
SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR HEATH FARWELL
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2022
(On when WR Jamal Agnew is expected to be back on the field) “We’re hoping this weekend. We’re
opportunistic. We’re hoping that he’ll be out there, but we’ll see. He didn’t practice yesterday. He may
move around a little bit today, but the reality is he’s a good returner, a great returner. I don’t need to
see anything. It’s just get him ready. We’ve got to protect him from himself probably, but if he’s healthy,
he’s going to be out there. We’re hoping he’ll be out there.”
(On if WR Christian Kirk will be the next guy up if WR Jamal Agnew can’t play) “He has done it in the
past, and he catches them in practice, but we have other guys who can do it, as well. Chris Claybrooks
(CB) can do it as well. We have guys that I trust that will be back there, but we have not made that
decision. We’re still holding out hope that Ags (WR Jamal Agnew) is playing.”
(On if any players are going to him saying they want to play returner) “Oh, I’ve got a bunch of guys, not
even returner-type guys. I’ve got D-linemen telling me they can do it. I’ve got a million guys. Josh (OLB
Josh Allen) does all the time. They all do. They all think they had returned at some point in Pop Warner
or something and they think they still can do it at this level. I get it all the time, yes.”
(On if his returner ability was a factor when they were scouting WR Christian Kirk) “I did. I don’t know if
they took my opinion on it. He’s talented. He’s a very talented player, obviously a great receiver, lucky to
have him. I don’t think that had any bearing on us signing him, but I was definitely excited to get him
here. You can’t have enough returners in the building.”
(On what he has seen from CB Chris Claybrooks) “He works on it every day. That’s the cool thing about
it. He works on it every day. It’s funny, two weeks ago, I was showing the guys clips of him at Memphis
returning the kicks, scored a touchdown. I enjoy showing those guys clips of their buddies and how they
were in college, what they used to do, and those type of things, so they love it. Literally two weeks ago I
was showing some clips of it, so it’s something we’re encouraging, and he works at it all the time, so I
feel very comfortable with him being back there.”
(On how blocking styles change with different returners and their styles) “It’s not necessarily blocking
styles, it’s scheme probably would change a tad. You may have different returns planned, but overall,
we’ve got to put a body on a guy and block and all those techniques we work on all the time. We do a
ton of drill work, fundamental type stuff. Those are all still the same.”
(On if he has ever had a long snapper knock someone out) “There’s not very many guys like Ross (LS
Ross Matiscik) that hit like he does, that cover the field like he does. He’s a linebacker in there. It’s
funny, some teams actually account for him and block him like he’s a cover guy, like he’s a normal punt
guy. He gets treated that way at times, so it’s a cool thing that he can go down there and be a factor in
coverage making good plays, making tackles. He’s always a factor down there.”
(On if LS Ross Matiscik has continued to do what attracted them in the first place) “Yeah, he works at it
every day. His snaps are fantastic. The laces, all the little details he does for our unit that we watch every
day, it’s so important, just getting those snaps back perfect, so we have great operations, not only in the
punt game but also the field goal stuff. That’s number one, but anything he does in coverage is a bonus.
There are some guys who aren’t as good down the field. We’re fortunate that he is very good in
coverage. Sometimes he has to kind of save the day for us. You’d love for the snapper or any of the
specialists not to make tackles, but when they do, it’s a huge deal for us because you’ve got to get them
down sometimes.”
(On a punt along the sideline in Sunday’s game) “I would say it was a great punt by Logan (P Logan
Cooke). I would say it was a really good play by Chris Claybrooks (CB). If you watch that play, he ran
down the field, it’s a technique we use a lot. When there’s a returner standing there, and you have a
returner on you, we call it ‘bully,’ but bully them into the returner or get him in his face. To do exactly
that, we get the opportunity to potentially make a big play. It’s one of the unfortunate plays where it
bounces right in their hands to a really good returner as well. That’s ball. Our guys were frustrated. We
looked at it. The ball’s on the ground, it’s an opportunity for us to make a big time play, a game changing
play, and it just didn’t go our way. You study that, and you go, ‘Is there something we could do a bit
different?’ and there’s not. I think you just get more guys down the field, and the very next time we do
that, the ball is ours. That’s what I try to encourage the guys. Those plays will come, just keep getting
guys down the field with great effort, all those details, and we’ll make those big plays. Like I said, the
very next time, I feel very confident we’ll get those.”
(On if other returns have the green light to go like WR Jamal Agnew does) “It’s something with Ags, you
trust him to make good decisions. We’re fortunate with those other two guys, they also make good
decisions. That’s something that as we get into the game, further down the line of how we’re liking our
matchup, how we’ve practiced, all those things we’ll get into more down the road. We’ll come in Friday,
make those decisions. I trust those guys back there to make good decisions, so it can be very similar.”
(On a rule about blocking and fair catch interference) “That’s what Chris (CB Chris Claybrooks) was trying
to do, and that’s what he did. I call it a bully technique, but you run their guy into the returner, so
anytime you have a bailer back there, or even a corner that’s on you, you kind of lock on and drive them
into the returner and hope that it’s a good opportunity whether it goes off the corner or messes up the
returned enough to cause a muff. That’s a technique that across the league, every team is doing it. It’s
the awareness of the returner to help his corner out who doesn’t’ know where the ball is at and also the
awareness of the corner or safety or whoever is bailing back there understands where the ball is and is
close. That’s the communication we teach all the time because those are game-changing plays. All of the
sudden, we give the ball to the opponent. Those are big plays, we can’t afford those.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR PRESS TAYLOR
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2022
(On RB JaMycal Hasty’s big play last game) “Yeah, there’s a lot of different things that go into a lot of
those. You just get a feel for how a back see certain things, all of that. That cool part about that, we ran
it in practice, and we said, ‘Hey, just a reminder you need one yard. Just cram it in there.’ And he said,
‘Coach, I’m going to score.’ That was kind of the conversation in the headset was, ‘Alright, it’s fourth-
and-one, we knew it was a short yardage play for us, unbalanced formation.’ You can never guarantee
how they’re going to line up to the unbalanced stuff, you think you have it schemed up pretty well. It
kind of catches them off guard at times, and he just did a great job hitting it. Then it opened up pretty
well, everybody adjusted pretty well and got it done, and he was able to finish in the endzone.”
(On the expectation of RB JaMycal Hasty’s performance) “Yeah, certainly. You just see through practices
he’s grown and understanding our offense. Obviously, he got a late jumpstart. It kind of just starts by
learning gameplans week-to-week, not necessarily mastering the offense. Now, getting into Week 7
further along, he just gains more and more confidence from the players, staff, everybody, that he just
understands what’s going on. He’s done a good job and he’s, I guess you could say, proving us to be right
and trusting him that he can do more things well. He’s done a great job.”
(On the confidence of RB JaMycal Hasty’s play versus the Colts) “Yeah, they got a little bit out of whack
with the adjustment when we motioned, so you kind of thought this could be a positive play. Now, you
never know if it’s going to hit like you hope it does, for 60 like that, but they kind of got off balance and
you felt good about it watching it, but it’s still got to play out and be executed.”
(On having trust in the risk takers on the team such as QB Trevor Lawrence) “Well, I mean it’s great
knowing you got extra downs sometimes to get a first down. It’s third-and-two, and you think, ‘Alright, if
we just get half here or we try something, there’s a good chance we’ll get another down.’ You can be
aggressive in that mindset, in terms of scheming things up, designing some plays. You just know he’s
doing whatever it takes to win. He’s trying to give us an opportunity to win the game in each situation,
so that’s fun to be a part of.”
(On having creativity of the offense) “Well, it is tough to be creative because you’re taking a risk. That’s
something that Doug (Head Coach Doug Pederson) has encouraged to the coaching staff, is we need to
be risk averse, we’re going to push the envelope, we’re going to do what we need to do to win the
game. Create plays to win the game, potentially. The plays and things we come up with usually come
from somewhere. Very rarely are you inventing a new play. That’s a play we’re able to show evidence of,
‘We ran that in Philadelphia. Jim Bob (Passing Game Coordinator Jim Bob Cooter) would run that in
Detroit.’ A lot of people would run plays like that in their past. There’s not a lot new that you’re seeing
today in football, but we’re all kind of recycling ideas or sharing them. You’re always looking for
situations where you have a feel for what the defense is going to be, and this play aligns with that
defense. Now, I’d like to tell you it hits all the time the way we hope it does, but that’s not true. The
game is really a game of unscouted looks and adjustments within the play even. It has and always will be
a player’s game, they’re able to go out and execute at a high level and that’s what makes it feel good as
a coach.”
(On using fourth quarter performance in the last game as a building block for the offense) “Yeah,
certainly. Anytime those guys answer the bell with a situation like we have where we needed a
touchdown, we’re down a score. Now, you don’t anticipate taking eight, nine, ten minutes off the clock,
whatever we did. You still think in the back of your mind, we probably have two possessions here at
least, maybe three, but you end up eating a lot of the clock and guys just kept pounding away. We felt
we were able to run the ball and they did a good job converting. Then, we had some huge third downs
conversions as well. I do think that is a confidence builder, but at the end of the day as an offense we
understand that we did not score enough points to win the game. It comes down to that. Our job is
always to perform more than the opponent, whatever that means. We didn’t get that done, so we’re
disappointed in that aspect. There’s certainly the feeling that when we need to, we can go down and
execute. We haven’t done that every single time, but we feel like we’re capable of that when we get out
of our own way.”
(On the importance of experiencing fourth quarter drives for QB Trevor Lawrence) “Yeah, I think just
continues to build that belief that everybody has in him and in our unit as a whole. Everybody just kind
of believes when we need to, we can answer the challenge and execute. Now, it almost makes it more
frustrating when you don’t in those situations because we’ve seen ourselves do it. You kind of go back
to, ‘What led to this lack of execution? What was wrong with this play design right here?’ You kind of
always go back to that. There’s a give-and-take with it. At the end of the day, we just want to win.
Whatever that means, if that means we have to punt every single down and our defense is scoring,
whatever that means, we’ll take it. We just want to win at the end of the day.”
(On QB Trevor Lawrence having key plays in the last game) “Certainly. We stepped up when we needed
to. Guys protected really well, there’s a good pocket, Zay (WR Zay Jones) ran a great route on a really
good player, and Trevor put it exactly where it needed to be. It was a great job by Zay to keep his feet
inbounds and finish the play, but that was the execution that we needed in a critical moment right
there.”
(On how to coach against a blitzing team this weekend) “Right. They’re trying to not necessarily create
sacks or create hits, but there’s a sense of pressure being added to you. It’s really just falling back on
your techniques, your fundamentals, the way we’ve coached you, the way we’ve built the plan
throughout the week and executing our plan at the highest level. Every week is going to look different.
We go into every week with a different plan of attack for that specific defense, but still trying to put our
plays in the best possible position. It’s on us to explain that to our players, something for them to
understand, why that’s the coaching point for that week, or what the particular plan is built for. At the
end of the day, it comes down to us executing the plan and adjusting if we need to.”
(On QB Trevor Lawrence’s mindset of this year versus last year) “I don’t know necessarily last year; I
think that’s just Trevor’s make-up. He’s very levelheaded, stays in the moment, and understands that
this is a short part of a long season. We just continue to stress with all of our guys, and coaches as well,
just to trust our process. We all believe in what we do here and the way we do things, we believe we
have the right people to accomplish what we want to accomplish. For all of us, it’s learning from what
happened the day before, executing in the moment right now, and we’ll worry about it as we prepare
for the next day. We’ll continue to move forward on that. Trevor has done a great job of understanding
that, living his life that way. He stays in the moment right here, doesn’t dwell on the past, learns from
the past, and uses it to be a better version of himself moving forward.”
(On important plays being a function of schemes seen before in the league) “I’d say that’s a big part of it.
You have an idea of how the defense is going to unfold, but at the end of the day, all of those plays are
kind of for us, core plays for us. The presentation is certainly different, and that’s what you’re going back
to. We’re trying to find ways as coaches to scheme against what we anticipate the look being while
putting our players in position to do things they’ve been doing for a long time or what we’ve asked them
to do for a long time. They have a great understanding of it. The old saying is, ‘Plays are expensive,
formations are cheap.’ We’re going to show a bunch of formations, motions, all that, to try to execute
things that we know really well. I think that’s just kind of a byproduct of all of that. The game expresses
itself differently. We have a lot more plays on our call sheet than we execute in a game. There are
always times when we have plans to complement this play with that player and the game just doesn’t
unfold that way, it doesn’t get called. Maybe it carries over to three weeks from now, we show the play
that complements something we ran in this game, because we have to understand what the opponent is
studying as well.”
(On if TE Evan Engram’s focus is different going against his old team) “Honestly, I don’t know that I do.
Evan is a guy that from the day he’s got here, been extremely focused. He’s always been about his
business, about his work, puts in the extra work as much as anybody else we have here. I don’t know if
I’d say anything different, he hasn’t acted any different to me. I haven’t really brought anything up with
him, too. I think there’s always a certain proving step of, ‘I’m not there anymore, I want to show you all
of this.’ I don’t worry about that with Evan really, Evan’s always been locked in and working as hard as
he could to prepare himself, ready to play on Sunday.”
(On what has been seen on film of Giants’ defense) “Well, I think they have a really good interior
defensive line. I think Dexter Lawrence (Giants DL Dexter Lawrence) and Leonard Williams (Giants DL
Leonard Williams) are just very, very good players in this league and have been productive players since
they’ve been in the league. Structurally, they give you a lot of variety. There’s a variety of coverages,
there’s a variety of presentations. Again, you’re kind of trusting that we’ve taught the standard
operating procedure of all these plays to our guys really well, and they can adjust. He’s not a guy that
you’re going to get the same look over and over like we’ve played some of these defenses in the past.
Where they kind of stick to who they are and what they do and force you to execute. I think Coach
Martindale (Giants Defensive Coordinator Don Martindale) and those guys, they give you a lot of
different presentations, that makes it challenging to know, ‘When I call this play, what defense am I
getting? Am I going to get it? Do the players know all the ins and outs of that for each look?’ So that’s
what certainly makes it challenging, they’re good players and they’re playing really, really hard.”
(On the challenge of offensive staff to go against different defenses in a game) “It’s certainly a challenge.
We’d love to be, ‘We know what they’re going to play, we’re going to go out and execute it at a high
level.’ Then, when it becomes all this variety, you’ve got to cover your bases on a lot of different levels.
You got to make sure that we’re in great communication with the players and that they understand
everything inside and out. If they don’t, it’s not worth it. We have a hundred good plays on that call
sheet, we can afford to scratch plays, whether that’s Sunday morning, Saturday night, whatever it is.
We’re always looking to put our players in the best position. If they don’t understand something to the
front and back of it, it’s not worth having in the game plan.”
(On how to coach communication amongst multiple quarterbacks) “We definitely do that. We try to
make everybody sound like the starter, because that’s what everybody is used to hearing, the first
offensive line. Now, that’s impossible to do. Everybody sounds different. C.J. Beathard (QB C.J.
Beathard) sounds very different than Trevor Lawrence (QB Trevor Lawrence). C.J.’s just got that little
twang in his voice that he’s not going to make it sound that way. We have Logan Cooke (P Logan Cooke)
as our emergency quarterback, he sounds more country than anybody we have. It will not sound the
same if he were ever in there, but we do. We actually record when we go out early and do our
quarterback-center exchange every single day. We record with audio, too. We get a variety of Trevor
going through all our different cadences, what it sounds like, we have a library of that stuff so any
quarterback that comes in, they’re able to hear what that sounds like. We do everything we can to try to
create that same rhythm that the starter would have, so everybody gets used to that, but it just doesn’t
work out that way. Everybody is going to sound a little different. You want the rhythm to be the same,
you want the voice inflection to be the same, what is it, dialect, I guess? You definitely can’t coach the
accent out of C.J. there. That’s just something that everybody deals with, and everybody understands,
they’re on high alert that this is going to sound a little different as it goes.”
(On what the lifecycle of trick plays can be) “I don’t think so (doesn’t think that the Philly Special is dead
and defenses have figured it out; the Bengals ran it, and it didn’t work). It’s just a matter of the right
time, right situation. There’s certain things you’ll see, there are trick plays that we always look at every
single week. What plays have been run against this defense going back to as long as we can with these
guys. To kind of just see evidence of, ‘Have they seen it? Have they seen it recently?’ You’ll see plays
that their offense just ran. In the back of your mind, you’re kind of like, ‘Well, they probably practice
against their defense, they have a feel for it, let’s hold on to it.’ Whatever that may be. I think you could
probably go back as far as twenty years and find a play similar to the Philly Special and people have been
running it for a long time. It’s just how you present it, the details of it, and the situation you call it that
kind of dictates whether it’s successful or not. I think the process of how you get to that play and what
makes that decision that’s a big part of this whole deal.”
