Post-game quotebook: What the Giants said after loss to Dolphins

Another loss, and another injury

The New York Giants endured perhaps their most disheartening defeat of the season on Sunday, falling to 1-4 and losing quarterback Daniel Jones to a neck injury in a 31-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

Accordingly, the players’ postgame press conferences were mostly filled with expressions of disappointment and accountability. Let’s take a look at what the Giants’ stars had to say.

Cornerback Adoree’ Jackson on the speed of Miami’s offense…

“Oh, the (St. Louis) Rams, that’s who you’re comparing it to? … But, yeah, that’s probably the most speed that probably any of us playing will probably ever see with two wideouts, two running backs with speed. So I think that’s by far the most speed any team will see until something later down the line when I’m 60 or 70, and there’s somebody else that’s got super speed like that.”

Jackson on how much New York’s defense was responsible for Miami’s explosiveness…

“Could have done a lot more … We had our own mishaps that first drive, for sure. They end up scoring, getting down there early. There’s just some plays we’d want back. Although we had three actual turnovers, caused four with the fumble, you still want more plays back. So I would tip my hat to them. That’s a great team that capitalized on our mistakes, but for us, it’s not like one of those tip your hats because they’re super explosive. You know what I mean? It’s like one of those ‘Damn, we messed up, but they capitalized,’ so tip your hat to that, because you capitalized on our mistakes. But I felt like defensively we were doing a great job playing them, matching up. Just fell short and they extended some plays.”

Linebacker Bobby Okereke on the defense forcing its first three turnovers of the season…

“I think just an aggressive mindset. Everyone is getting more comfortable in the scheme, becoming more comfortable playing with each other. We know turnovers are going to be the difference in this game, but we have to limit the explosive plays.”

Safety Jason Pinnock on the turnovers…

“Like you said, it comes in bunches, so now we got to keep the momentum. We know what it feel like to get our hands on the ball, get turnovers, punch-outs, and get some momentum going. So hopefully it keeps flowing into week after week after week.”

Okereke on seeing Jones exit with an injury…

“I mean it’s tough. We all know how hard Daniel works. We all know how diligent he is, how hardworking he is. So seeing a leader like that going down hurts, but I thought Tyrod (Taylor) came in and did a great job. Offense was still in it until the end. Just defensively, we got to do a better job to put our offense in a position to help us win the game.”

Tight end Darren Waller on seeing Jones exit…

“Tough, man. We love him to death. To see any of your brothers go down is not a good feeling. Football is a violent game. I don’t think people take into account that if you make it healthy out of any game, it’s a blessing. Just praying that it’s not anything serious for him and we can get him back as soon as possible.”

Waller on frequently having to play from behind (the Giants have trailed at halftime in every game this year)

“It can be tough. It’s tough to have that balanced rhythm. Sometimes you may feel like we have to hurry up, or get down the field as quick as possible by throwing it. You can’t have the run-pass balance that you may want because we’ve got to climb or do something different. It affects your rhythm and you pace as an offense.”

Waller on the challenge of maintaining optimism…

“Very difficult. It’s easy for people to point fingers and blame at this point. It’s easy for people to be like ah. Or whatever comes to their mind. It’s hard to stay the course. It’s hard to maintain a positive attitude. It’s hard to pick guys up when everybody is just kind of figuring what’s going on. It’s difficult, but we do hard things.”

Wide receiver Darius Slayton on the offense’s struggles after high preseason expectations…

“Yeah, we didn’t expect it, for sure. We expect to be better, expected to play better but we haven’t. That’s the reality right now, and we got to go back to work and get better.”

Jones on taking more hits than other quarterbacks…

“I mean, it’s part of playing the position. You’re going to get hit in the NFL. There are good pass rushers on the other side, so got to look at what I can do to get the ball out of my hands and get the ball in space.”