Quotes (11/8): Coach Brian Daboll, QB Daniel Jones, WR Malik Nabers, OLB Brian Burns

Q: Did you get to sleep at all?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I got a little bit of sleep, but appreciate the hospitality. Just had an opportunity to meet with (Bayern Munich manager) Coach (Vincent) Kompany. It’s an honor for the New York Giants to be here and play in Germany and we look forward to it. With that, I’ll open it up for questions.

Q: Do you want to just give us a rundown, (tackle) Chris Hubbard, how’s he doing?

Q: (Kicker) Graham (Gano), (punter) Jamie (Gillan)?

BRIAN DABOLL: We’ll go ahead and go through practice like we normally do and then we’ll decide what we’re going to do. But, I think for both the kickers and for Chris (Hubbard), that’s looking positive. So, we’ll see.

Q: How about the guys who popped up yesterday with injuries? Any of them concerned for the game?

BRIAN DABOLL: (Safety Jason) Pinnock is a concern for the game. I wouldn’t rule him out, but he’s probably the one. The other two guys I think will be fine. We’ll go out there and practice and see where they’re at.

BRIAN DABOLL: Good, how are you?

Q: Nice to see you on this side of the world.

BRIAN DABOLL: You as well.

Q: Do you see this opportunity in Munich, like the one in London, to reset a little bit the mindset of the team? To have new energies going on in the locker room?

BRIAN DABOLL: We look forward to going out there and having an opportunity to compete against Carolina. We had good success here in London. Again, it’s a different year with a different team, but certainly grateful for the opportunity to be here and represent the National Football League in Germany and look to go out there and compete well.

Q: For international fans that don’t have a team, can you have a sales pitch to get them to support the New York Giants? Do you have a message to the existing fan base that you have in Germany?

BRIAN DABOLL: One, we appreciate it. We go out there every single day, work as hard as we can. We appreciate all the support and we look forward to being able to compete here in Germany. Again, it’s an honor and a privilege. I know all the players and the coaches and the staff and our ownership feel the same way.

Q: The Giants actually rank last in touchdown conversion in the red zone. What do you think is the reason of that performance of the team?BRIAN DABOLL: We need to do a good job down there. Haven’t been as successful as we’d like to be. It’s something that we work, I’d say, each and every day on. We get a head start on it early in the week and have to do a good job of executing down there.

Q: With (wide receiver) Darius Slayton not making the trip out here this weekend, is it going to provide some good opportunity for the likes of (tight end) Theo Johnson and (wide receiver) Jalin Hyatt to get some looks?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, Jalen Hyatt will get more opportunity than he has because Darius (Slayton) is down. He’s had a good week of practice. Theo (Johnson) has been pretty consistent for us as a young player. He’ll play quite a bit at the tight end position. Then the other receiver’s got to be ready to go as well.

Q: Anything interesting or unusual with the flight, or just long?

BRIAN DABOLL: You had the same one, basically. It’s a long flight over here. You try to adjust your time clocks the best you can and we look forward to going out here and having a practice. But it was the middle of the night, so you got a little bit of rest. I think everybody got different rest. Not everybody slept. So, everybody’s at kind of different spots and we’ll do our best to get acclimated.

Q: And you say you just met Coach (Vincent) Kompany. Do you know anything about international soccer and Bayern Munich?

BRIAN DABOLL: I know how popular it is. He was a heck of a player. I got to do a little bit of research and watch him. He was certainly a tough player as well and he’s done a nice job here. I had a few minutes with him just before I got in here. Smart. It was a good conversation with him. So, wish him well. They’ve got a big game.

Q: If you could have your game anywhere in the world, obviously we love it in Germany, but if you could choose any country to have a game, where would you have it?

BRIAN DABOLL: MetLife Stadium.

Q: A big part of the Panthers offense was (wide receiver) Diontae Johnson. Obviously, he’s now been traded to the Baltimore Ravens. Has that had to change how you’ve been evaluating this offense and what you’re scheming up against them?

BRIAN DABOLL: I think each week when you go into a preparation you look at all their players and sometimes they’ve had some switch of players, guys in and out. So as a coach, you’re looking at everybody on the roster, each position, strengths and weaknesses and see how you match up against them. Then you incorporate the scheme to it. So, it’s always a challenge every week. The players are all good in our league and you’re going to have to do a good job of preparing and then playing well.

Q: (Tight end/fullback) Jakob Johnson is one of the most famous football stars here in Germany. He’s a very popular guy. Everybody loves him. You released him five times in the last two months, I guess. What does he have to do to be safe on your roster?

BRIAN DABOLL: Some of that is roster transaction. We have a good relationship with him. He’s played some football. He has a role right now. He’s on the practice squad. But, he’s smart, tough guy that has played with some of our other coaches, been on a roster with some other coaches and he’s been a good part of our football team. He brought some good pretzels to the meeting today.

Q: (Outside linebacker) Azeez Ojulari is somebody who’s had a lot of success with (outside linebacker) Kayvon (Thibodeaux) being out? How are you going to manage this package or this pass rush once Kayvon (Thibodeaux) is going to come back? Is Azeez (Ojulari) going to have to play second fiddle again?

BRIAN DABOLL: I think we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. We hope that Azeez (Ojulari) continues to play well and be productive for us. That’s what you look for in guys that may necessarily not be the starter, guys that fill in for the guys that are injured, to come out and to produce at a high level. We’ve had a couple of those guys be able to do that and Azeez (Ojulari) is a certainly one of them.

Q: I’m just curious how much in your preparation do you have to consider almost… We mentioned yesterday that there’s noise throughout the game. Do you prepare almost as if you’re a visiting team with the silent count or do you prepare as almost as if you’re the home team?

BRIAN DABOLL: No, we practiced with noise. So, we used silent count. We mix it in. You practice when you’re in this environment, but it’s certainly loud in London. But, not knowing exactly how loud it’s going to be, you practice for it being extremely loud so the communication process is up to speed where you need it to be when you’re in this type of environment.

Q: Can you talk a little bit about the next couple of days? How do you approach them here?

BRIAN DABOLL: As normal as we can. We’ll have a Friday practice here today in a few minutes and then we’ll do our meetings and our walkthrough for Saturday and get ready to go for Sunday. We’ve practiced throughout the week before we got here to Germany and we’ll try to keep it as normal as we can keep it for the players so we can go out there and play our best on Sunday.

Q: How are you taking the field conditions into account when you prepare for the game on Sunday?

BRIAN DABOLL: You get out there and you’ve got to check the surface. Our equipment manager, (Director of Equipment Operations) Tim Slaman, has communicated with the players about the field conditions. We have different sets of cleats for the players to get out there and check early. We talked about that early in the week. Tim (Slaman) done a great job for us, our equipment manager, who handles all those things, to relaying what he needs to relay to the players so they have all the information. Then you get out there early pregame and check the field conditions to see what equipment you need.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about the trip to Germany?

BRIAN DABOLL: I’ve only been here a few minutes. Got about two more days and I’ll give you that answer.

Q: Then there’s a question to your rookie, (running back) Tyrone Tracy (Jr.). You found an absolute stud in the fifth round. Was there a specific moment in training camp or in the game where you realized that you found a good player?

BRIAN DABOLL: Well, I think when we drafted him and got to meet the young man, he did everything we asked him to do. Then as he got more opportunities, much like Azeez (Ojulari), the question was asked about Azeez, he took advantage of them and he produced. He’s continued to make the most of his opportunity. He’s smart. He’s got good toughness. He understands the game. Ultimately, he’s gone out there and produced on Sunday when we handed him the ball or in pass protection or in the routes. He’s done a nice job with that.

Q: So, he will continue to get the first-team reps?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, he’ll get a lot of reps for us. And the other running backs, we’ll use all of them. But, he’ll be a primary guy for us.

Q: I know you don’t want to use spoilers on roster moves, but with Jakob (Johnson), do you know if you’re going to elevate him or not?BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, we’ll talk about that tonight and make our decision.