New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin is trying to rally his team after they imploded in a 27-26 loss to the Dallas Cowboys with a rash of late-game blunders.
The Giants (0-1) are set to host the Falcons (1-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday at MetLife Stadium at East Rutherford, N.J.
Here’s what he had to say on a conference call with the local media on Wednesday:
Q: Will you be glad to get back out on the field?
A: Yeah, we were glad to get back to practice that's for sure.
Q: What did you see from the Falcons pass rush against Philadelphia the other night? Have they improved from last year?
A: They do look like an improved, energized unit. They are playing very well together. They added some key pieces in there that have helped the pass rush. They seem to do an outstanding job against the Philadelphia Eagles team that had scored a lot of points in the (exhibition) season.
Q: How do you scheme to slow down Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones?
A: You try to do anything that you can to slow him down. The way that people are doing it, is not easy because you have him moving and aligning in a lot of different places now with many different tight splits and things of that nature that they utilize for him up the field and across the field. It's a difficult measure, but they also have other outstanding commodities that you can't ignore. Roddy White, his buddy, plays very, very well, too. There are multiple weapons there. The young running back and … they have Hankerson.
Q: What did you see from Coleman?
A: The way they used him, they did a nice job with that. They interspersed the runners, Coleman and Freeman. Ward came in a lot of times on third downs. They are using him well.
Q: How is your wide receiver corps coming along? Is Victor Cruz progressing?
A: He's progressing, but he has still not been given the green light to practice. It's frustrating for everybody involved, but mostly for Victor.
Q: It is tougher to defend a zone-blocking scheme than a straight-up running scheme?
A: I don't know if it's tougher… it depends on the team you're playing and the people you're facing. It definitely is a multiple running game and flapped into one term. The ability to get outside, go off tackle and cut it back, all of those things are happening with one play (and that) does make it difficult. You have to be absolutely sure that no where a long the line does anybody get cut off. Because as soon as you get cut off, you're opening up a big, big seam. The way that the Falcons handled that was that they ran a linebacker through and they were able to stop the Philadelphia outside zone on a couple of occasions that way.
Q: Any update on Jason Pierre-Paul as far as his return to the team?
A: No. Not at all. He's been in contact with our people from the time that he basically reported here, but I don't have any more information.
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