Presser Points: Takeaways from Coach Brian Daboll

After falling to the Vikings in the home opener, the Giants hit the road for the next two weeks, beginning with a trip to Washington. The Giants swept the season series with the Commanders in 2023 for the 36th time. The Giants have faced Washington 182 times in the regular season since their first meeting in 1932, making this their most frequently contested rivalry.

After that, the Giants face the Browns in Cleveland.

Coach Brian Daboll took the podium before Wednesday’s practice to preview the week ahead. Here’s what you need to know:

◾ Daboll opened his press conference by paying respects to the 23^rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. At the time, Daboll was beginning his second season as a defensive assistant with the New England Patriots.

“First and foremost, prayers, thoughts go out to anyone that was affected in that tragedy that happened 23 years ago. Spoke to the team a little bit about that today. Thank you to the military, police, firefighters, first responders. Very vivid in my mind where I was at that time, and I’m sure it is for a lot of you. Always a tough day. Again, very thankful for the people that helped along the way, and prayers to the people that were affected by it.”

◾ Four players did not practice to start the week: WR/PR Gunner Olszewski (groin), WR Darius Slayton (concussion protocol), LB Darius Muasau (knee), and CB Nick McCloud (knee).

◾ McCloud and Muasau, the rookie sixth-round pick who started and had an interception in Week 1, are considered “day to day.”

◾ “It’s going to be weeks here” for Olszewski to get back on the field. How many weeks? “Not sure quite yet. You won’t see him for at least a few weeks.”

◾ Slayton has not advanced to the physical activity stage of the concussion protocol yet.

◾ Linebacker Micah McFadden (groin) was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice.

◾ Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels is “athletic” and “dynamic with the ball in his hands whether it’s a pass or a runner.”

◾ The reigning Heisman Trophy winner and second overall pick completed 17 of 24 passes for 184 yards and ran 16 times for 88 more yards and two touchdowns in his NFL debut, a 37-20 loss on the road to the Buccaneers. Does he look like a rookie? “He looks like a good football player to me. Again, I’m sure there’s plays he would like to have back just like all of us, but I think he’s a good football player. I think he’s a good quarterback.”

◾ The Commanders have “a lot of good pieces” around Daniels. Wide receiver Terry McLaurin is an “exceptional receiver [with] speed.” Running back Brian Robinson Jr. is a “tough runner over there and they brought Austin [Ekeler] there from L.A.”

◾ On the challenge of facing a new head coach in Dan Quinn on top of a rookie quarterback for the first time: “In the early part of the season, it’s like that, but now you add Dan, even though he was at Dallas, but he has different players on Washington than he had at Dallas. The quarterback is in his second start, so there’s not a lot of tape other than you go back and there’s plenty of tape that we watched at LSU. Again, it’s still early in the season, so some of the preparation and the things that you go through, there’s a lot of tape to sift through. You make sure you hit the big details.”

◾ The focus is “on us and doing everything better” this week, Daboll said.

◾ Despite giving up 37 points, the Commanders’ defense made a “lot of good plays too.” They had “seven negative plays, six of them were in the run game.”

◾ Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield “made some really good throws and decisions” vs. Washington.

◾ The Commanders are “playing a different style than they’ve played the last few years” on defense. They’re “aggressive up front.”

◾ Daboll has familiarity with defensive linemen Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, two players he knows from their Alabama days. “They’re playing good. Again, first game, they did some good things. Tampa, I thought, played well. Had some big plays in the screen game, the run game, down the field, and some match ups. I think they’re a good team.”

◾ As fans saw on “Hard Knocks” this offseason, Daboll and the Giants, who held the sixth overall pick, did their homework on Daniels and the rest of the quarterback class. “I’ve spent a lot of time looking at some of those guys. If I didn’t look at them, I’d spend a lot of time looking at them this week. There’s cutups that I’ve made that I can refer to or go back and talk with the defensive staff about. There’s a little bit more time on some other things, but I put a lot of work into that. Again, he’s played in one game in a regular season, so we’ll use that. It’s really more about us and how we do things.”

◾ Daboll was asked about the confidence level of quarterback Daniel Jones: “That goes for everybody. Again, there’s 16 teams that are not very happy this past week on a Monday or Tuesday. Again, you have relationships with players. I’ve had plenty of conversations with multiple players. He’s someone that I talk to every day. We talk about the discipline to do things right on and off the field like he always does, having a positive attitude regardless of situation. It’s never easy when you lose a game, or you don’t play well, or you don’t coach well. That’s the National Football League. This is 24 years into it. There’s not much of that I haven’t experienced. So, keeping a positive attitude, doing the things that you need to do each and every week to prepare for a game, which he’ll do. And then handling things with the right mindset. Be able to persevere through things, let your passion show, have competitive stamina. Mental toughness is a real thing. Focus on the things that’s important, which is what his coaches are teaching him to do, how he goes out and practices with the right mindset. That’s what you do with every player, with every coach.”