Presser Points: Takeaways from Coach Brian Daboll

The New York Giants have a quick turnaround ahead of their Thanksgiving Day game in Dallas. The team held walk-through practices the first two days and will fly out on Wednesday. Coach Brian Daboll took the podium early Tuesday afternoon before practice to preview the game.

Here is everything you need to know:

📰 Quarterback Tommy DeVito, who made his first start of the season in a 30-7 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday, was limited Tuesday with a sore right forearm. Daboll is “hopeful” that he will be good to go against the Cowboys, but it’s “not 100 percent” certain at this point.

“He was sore from the game naturally playing, but it just bothered him a little bit. And right before I got out here, we were talking about it, and I was talking to the trainers about it. So just sharing with you.”

📰 Backup Drew Lock took a “few snaps” in Tuesday’s walk-through.

“I’m going to give Drew a few snaps here and see. We’ll go ahead and we’ve got a lot of time on task with the walkthroughs, the stuff that we’ve put in. We just had one earlier, but I’m going to give Drew a few of those. But if Tommy’s good, then Tommy would be the guy.”

📰 Left tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (quad), outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari (toe), and defensive lineman Armon Watts (shoulder) did not practice again. “Just take it and let it go all the way up to the game time to see where they’re at.”

📰 Daboll is “optimistic” that starting right tackle Evan Neal (hip) will be ready to go for Thursday.

“Nobody’s happy” with the team’s record, “but we’ve got a positive mindset.” Daboll has “good appreciation for the people in the building” and they’re focused on controlling what they can control.

📰 Daboll spoke about what Thanksgiving football means to him. “It’s a privilege to play on Thanksgiving. I remember sitting there with my grandfather and watching the games on Thanksgiving when there’s only a couple of them. But I’ve participated in this game on Thanksgiving in my career quite a bit. It’s always a privilege.”

📰 The NFL continues to honor and commemorate the late John Madden with the third annual John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration. Madden once said, “There’s no place that I would rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game,” and the John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration brings together all the things that were important to him – family, football, food, tradition and fun.

This year’s edition of the John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration will feature the following elements:

Network partners FOX, CBS and NBC will continue to celebrate Madden’s contributions to the game, both on the field and in the broadcast booth, with tributes interspersed throughout each game on Thanksgiving Day. The lineup includes the Chicago Bears versus the Detroit Lions at 12:30 p.m. ET on CBS, the New York Giants versus the Dallas Cowboys at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX and the Miami Dolphins versus the Green Bay Packers at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC. Live game audio of all three Thanksgiving Day games will be broadcast nationally by Westwood One and SiriusXM.

A special NFL-produced Madden Hallmark will kick off each broadcast, conveying what Thanksgiving meant to him in his own words.

Each network will select a Madden Thanksgiving MVP who will receive a $10,000 donation from the NFL Foundation to be given to a high school or youth football program in their name, as the topic of youth football was important to Madden.

This year for the first time, each Madden Thanksgiving MVP will be awarded with the Madden Thanksgiving MVP trophy, created to honor Madden and celebrate everything the game of football means to the Thanksgiving holiday. The trophy is in the form of a pylon and includes various “Maddenisms” sprinkled throughout, along with visual cues to speak to the holiday theme.

New this year, the NFL will benefit the newly-created John Madden Foundation by auctioning off game-used items from the three Thanksgiving Day games via NFL Auction, with proceeds supporting the new foundation.

A coin featuring a silhouette of Coach Madden on one side (“Heads”) and a six-legged turducken on the reverse side (“Tails) will be used for the coin toss, and a patch featuring a silhouette of Coach Madden will be included on the jersey of each player at all three games.

Special John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration stencils will be placed on the sidelines of Ford Field (Detroit), AT&T Stadium (Dallas) and Lambeau Field (Green Bay), along with stadium wall panels that include an iconic image of Madden from his coaching days.