Presser Points: Takeaways from Coach Brian Daboll

The New York Giants (1-2) will look for their second win in five days when they host the Dallas Cowboys (1-2) on Thursday night at MetLife Stadium. On Tuesday, coach Brian Daboll took the podium in the middle of a short week to preview the NFC East matchup.

Here’s everything you need to know:

📰 Because the Giants are holding walkthroughs on the short week, practice participation is a projection on the injury report, which has remained the same for the first two days.

Did Not Participate in Practice:

• CB Adoree Jackson (calf)
• CB Dru Phillips (calf)

• DL Dexter Lawrence (foot)
• CB Nick McCloud (knee)
• ILB Micah McFadden (back)
• WR Darius Slayton (thumb)

• OT Jermaine Eluemunor (thumb)
• C John Michael Schmitz (neck)

“I’d say if we were practicing today, everybody would practice, except Adoree’ wouldn’t practice today again and Dru wouldn’t practice today,” Daboll said. “Everybody else would practice.”

📰 Daboll didn’t “think” Phillips or Jackson are candidates for injured reserve but said “we’ll see.”

📰 The short week is “always difficult” for players because of their routine. “You’ve got to play them when they’re called upon. We’re doing the best we can. Our walkthroughs, extra meetings, extra walkthroughs. We’ll do a little bit of a jog-through here today. But we’ve got to put everything we’ve got into it.”

📰 The “only thing that matters is this game” and not the Giants’ recent struggles with the Cowboys.

📰 Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen “certainly look at” the division when they are building a team, but “you try to do the best job you can of building the team that you think gives you the best chance for that particular season or year or game.”

📰 Daboll confirmed it is going to be Greg Joseph kicking for the second consecutive week for the Giants. Signed five days before the team’s trip to Cleveland to replace the injured Graham Gano, Joseph kicked three extra points but missed a 48-yard field goal attempt wide right with three minutes left that would have sealed the game.

📰 One week after facing Myles Garrett, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, the Giants go up against Micah Parsons. “Dynamic player. He’s lined up in a variety of spots. He has the ability to play really any position. Explosive, athletic, tough. He’s a hell of a football player. One of the better players in the league. A challenge to block him.”

📰 Each of the Cowboys’ first three games of the season, which started with a 16-point win at Cleveland followed by a 25-point loss to New Orleans and a three-point defeat at the hands of Baltimore, “took on a life of its own.”

Daboll added: “The Cleveland game was kind of touch and go there for a while until the end of the second quarter, the early part of the third quarter. Then they get up. So, you call games differently based on how things are going in the game. New Orleans got off to a fast start. They were up 35-13 or whatever it was at the half. And the same thing with Baltimore. The unique thing is in the fourth quarter, they scored a bunch of points there to make it a game, 28-25. Baltimore hit a couple third-down conversions, a big one. (Ravens wide receiver Zay) Flowers over there. So, each of them are a little bit different. When you’re up that much or down that much, you look at tendencies and things like that. But as the game goes, play callers call things differently based on situations you’re in, down and distances, score. So those numbers are those numbers. But I think the games are all different, and you evaluate how they call it.”

📰 Running back Devin Singletary knows he needs to do a “better job of taking care of the football” and “he will.”

📰 Schoen told Daboll that the Giants are playing the most rookies in the league by percentage. How do they handle the inexperience? “You have to know the player, understand what makes them tick, and what doesn’t. For young players, they’re going to make mistakes. Everybody’s going to make mistakes. But young players, that’s why you play them, because you think they have good talent. They’re going to go through some growing pains here and there. But you can learn from them, learning from the things that show up. And then as the season goes on, you see improvement from those young players. And I’d say I have confidence in all our young guys, all our rookies. They have the right DNA. They work hard. They’re smart. They care about football. They’re good teammates. It’s important to them. And then you have good veterans in the room that help them along the way. So, they’ve all been through it, the veterans. And the right mindset for our young players is important. The type of people we bring in is important to us. And I’ve been impressed with all of them, how they’ve handled things. Good or bad.”

📰 It is the Giants’ job “to go out there and play and perform well and love our fans and hopefully give them something to cheer about” at home. Daboll also mentioned the “outstanding support” he has seen on the road at Washington and Cleveland.