So much goodness coming out of the Giants’ postgame press conferences after their playoff-clinching blowout win over Indianapolis Sunday that we couldn’t possibly cover it all – so here’s another (playoff-bound) edition of Giants Quotebook!
Head Coach Brian Daboll on Xavier McKinney’s return: “I thought he was ready to go. Rome (Defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson) came up to me, I think it was the second quarter. We had a plan for how many reps we were going to play him. And he was communicating with Rome (that) he feels good. And Jerome said he was playing good, so we ended up going with him until we took him out.”
Daniel Jones on the emergence of Richie James and their connection: “Yeah, I think he deserves a lot of credit. He's played great all year, and I think he's been consistent throughout the whole year. Stepped up and made a ton of plays for us. He's a really good football player, knows where to be, knows how to get open, knows feel for spaces and uncovering in zones and can beat man-to-man coverage. He's played great for us. His work ethic, his demeanor every day – if you'd see that, you wouldn't be surprised by it. He's a really good football player.”
Saquon Barkley on the unique atmosphere at MetLife Stadium Sunday: “Yeah, it was fun. You could feel the energy just driving here from the fans. We challenged the fans – the coaches, the captains, the team – and they showed up, man. They were loud, made a lot of noise and created the energy that we needed and we were able to win the game because of them.”
Dexter Lawrence on how the Giants fought through adversity: “Just knowing that it's more than just about ourselves. We play for each other; we love to compete for each other, we love to just go out and put good stuff on tape and good stuff on film. There's a lot of guys that understand their job and their roles, and we all play them.”
Daboll on why Jaylon Smith let up on what seemed to be a sure sack of Nick Foles: “Did you ever play basketball? Do you have a son or a daughter that are younger? And you play with them, and you throw it over their head, and then they look up at the net, and you still have it? That's what I thought happened. (Smith) thought (Foles) threw it.”
Related
Jones on Jihad Ward being an igniter: “He brings the energy, brings the juice every day. He's a great teammate, great player.”
Barkley on reaching a career high in rushing yards: “I really don't focus too much on the numbers. My goal this offseason was to get back to myself. I think everyone gets caught up in the numbers and gets caught up in the stats. I think stats are a beautiful thing, but I don't distinguish stats like, oh who's this and who's that? I think it's when you turn on film, you can see how talented a guy was and I wanted to show the Giants organization that the guy that they drafted is still here and I think if you turn on the film from last year and you turn on the film from this year, whether I had better stats or I don't, you can just tell there's a big difference.”
Lawrence on his sack celebration dance: “That’s been my dance the whole year, but it's my latest one and this was a big (game), so it's probably my best one.”
And finally, this from Daboll when asked about his offensive line’s play Sunday: “That’s where the game starts: up front. The guys don't normally get their names in the paper or a bunch of articles written about them, but they do the dirty work that they need to do. And they played some really good guys up front. (Colts linemen DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart) are really good football players, and (Daniel Jones) didn't get sacked, right? I thought Daniel made some loose plays with his feet, too. You know, with a couple action-type passes that he chose to run on a couple of them and made a couple good reads on some runs. And (Matt) Breida finished it off pretty good. I thought him and (Gary) Brightwell were running hard on some of those outside runs. And Saquon was running hard. Saquon is – he's always coming to the sideline, and you can see it in his eyes, every time he touches the ball, he wants to go 80 (yards). So, I'm like, 'Hey, buddy.
That was a really good two-yard run.' And he gets really upset, so I’m like, 'Relax, pal. It was a good two-yard run. It'll come. Let's not go outside of doing what we need to do.' But again, it was a good team win. Everybody contributed today.”
Listen live to WFAN via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker
Follow WFAN on Social Media:
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch