Giants at 49ers quotebook: ‘Take the good, learn from the bad’

The New York Giants wrapped up their second game on the west coast with a 30-12 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday Night Football.

The Giants spent much of the game within two possessions of the 49ers, and were within one score for a significant portion of the game. The game was closer than the final score would suggest, and New York fought hard against one of the top teams in the NFC.

Here’s what the players and coaches were saying after the game.

Head coach Brian Daboll

On the game overall

“We went down there and got points. Obviously, you want to start fast. That’s a heck of a team. It usually comes down to making plays when you have an opportunity to make plays. They did a good job, give them credit. That’s a heck of a football team there. We came back out in the second half, had a score, went for two to try to cut it to three. It was a 17-12 game. Just give them credit. They did a lot of good stuff. That’s a good team.”

“You have to take the good from it and you have to learn from the bad. Just like every game. The guys competed. We competed all the way to the end. They made more plays than we did. You go back and take a look at it and get going on the next week.”

On the offense

“We called a fair amount of them [deep passes], whether they’re high-Vs, crossers, middle posts. A couple of times we had them and the protection leaked a couple of times. They covered them. It was a delicate balance with that defensive line that they’ve got. You have to decide how many guys you keep in to help out the protection to make sure you can get off more vertical routes versus getting it out a little bit quicker. Again, I just give that team a lot of credit. They’re a really good football team.”

“One [missed connection between QB Daniel Jones and TE Darren Waller] was the over and the other one was a double move. That one was close. We missed it. We missed the one on the over. The other one was fairly tight coverage. He tried to put it kind of behind him. The one that we missed on the over, it was an 11-point game at that particular time and it just sailed over his head a little bit.”

On the Giants’ injury situation coming into the game

“No excuses with anybody that missed the game or who played. We have to go out there, compete and try to win our football games. There’s no excuses.”

QB Daniel Jones

“We just didn’t make enough plays. Obviously it’s a good defense, going up against them and credit to them. They play well, but we have to convert a couple of those opportunities. When you play a good team like that, you have to be crisp. We have to be clean and we didn’t do that.”

“We didn’t create a rhythm. We didn’t execute didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. Certainly is a good defense. It’s a good team. When you’re playing good teams, you can’t afford to do that. We didn’t play well enough.”

On the lack of passes to Jalin Hyatt
“I think we are always trying to make plays and get the ball to those guys, so have to look at where there could have been opportunities to do that and do a better job with that. So he’s a dynamic player and we didn’t have enough plays, period. We didn’t possess the ball well enough, didn’t convert third down. I think had we done that better, it would’ve been more opportunities for everybody.”

Dexter Lawrence

“I feel good, we have a lot of young players on this team that have to go through those pains and aches sometimes, just being able to ensure that they have the resilience. I think that last week was a good sign that these guys don’t give up. If you’re in the NFL you can come back and win from almost any score. So, I think this team has a lot to learn but I think we’ll be alright. Like I said, it’s only the third game, so we have a lot of football to play and we’ll be alright.”

“Honestly, I like the way we ended our last game. We attacked as a defense. It was very promising. I think we just have to correct the little things that have been hurting us. We have to watch the film and figure out what that is.”

On the Giants’ blitz-heavy defensive game plan

The Giants called an extremely aggressive game plan, blitzing Brock Purdy on 31 of his 37 pass attempts. After the game, NFL NextGenStats reported that the Giants’ blitz rate was the highest they had ever recorded, so obviously it was a subject in post-game press conferences for both teams.

Kayvon Thibodeaux
“That’s the way [New York Giants DL Coach] Wink Martindale calls it. You know, he calls the game and we go play. So I think the team is confident in the play call and I feel like that’s a part of our DNA.”

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan
“No, that’s what they do. That’s what we’ve been preparing for. Sometimes they do it more games than others, but I’ll see the numbers later how much they did it. But you always got to be ready for that on every play. They’re a team that had zero blitzes on any play. They did the first play of the game. They did a bunch throughout the game and that makes things hit or miss usually for both sides.”

“A number of times, I thought we handled it real well. There’s a couple times we missed it too. I say the zero blitzes were probably an even match. But we got a couple big plays on it also, especially that touchdown at the end to [WR] Deebo [Samuel]. But I said it was about even when they did that.”