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Transcript: Cornerbacks Coach Peter Giunta Eric from BBI : 7:03 pm
Secondary/Cornerbacks Coach Pete Giunta
August 2, 2013
Q: Besides the obvious physicality when you look at Prince, he’s bigger, he’s stronger, what is the thing that maybe we don’t see that you see in terms of his development?
A: Well, Prince understands the defensive package right now, he feels much more comfortable with what we are doing defensively. He’s got a great relationship with the players, and more importantly he’s had a full off-season to work out and get in shape. He’s a completely different player now because he’s had the opportunity to work the whole time. (Until this offseason) he’s been rehabbing the whole time; there’s a huge difference between rehabbing and between conditioning and getting ready to play football.
Q: And Aaron Ross, on the other side of the spectrum, is a veteran who’s seen it all before, but yet, after coming back from Jacksonville he also looks like he’s a different player, why?
A: If you have something you really like and somebody takes it away from you, and you don't have it anymore, and then you get it back, you really appreciate it a whole lot more. He really appreciates the players that he’s around, the system, Coach Coughlin, the whole Giants organization is where he wants to be. So he’s excited about playing for us again.
Q: How much of a help is it having Sam Madison back?
A: It’s fun. You know, Sam was a really good player for us here, he’s got a great relationship with Corey, Aaron and a bunch of the guys. You know we’ve shown him on tape because he’s on a lot of the teaching tapes that we have, so when the guys see him on tape now they get a chance to meet up and get to work with him a little bit on the field, it’s kind of fun. It was one thing for myself or David to tell them what to do on the field, Sam’s a guy that we coached, he did it for us, won a world championship with us, so when they (…) what I did on the field, it’s different (…) because he can reinforce the things that we’re teaching with the guys and he can answer some questions on what it’s like to be on the field as a player, and can tell them ‘this is what works, this is why they’re telling you to do that,’ and it’s great that way.
Q: How encouraged are you in the end of early going in terms of the guys really being ball hawks considering the struggles you guys had last year?
A: You know, we really tried to emphasize this whole spring about getting back to playing sound, fundamental techniques, and the guys spent a great deal of time working at it this spring and they studied tape a lot, they studied themselves -- what they did well, what they did not do so well, and how they had to improve going into next football season -- so that’s what we're excited about. We’re excited about the way they’re attacking and playing the ball in the air and if you have good numbers and have players that are good players that compete against each other, it raises everybody’s level of performance, and that’s what we’re looking forward to, to raise our level of performance based on the competition we have because everybody wants to play, and the more guys you have that can play, the better off you are.
Q: In looking at the film last year what did you see was a primary problem?
A: We didn’t play good, solid technique consistently enough. We had our ups and downs, we had too many breaks in our concentration, our focus, our techniques. It was a number of different things, not just one specific thing. We’ve got to get back to playing good, solid fundamentals. I think we have a good, solid group keeping it together and if we communicate well together, we’ll be great.
Q: Anybody maybe towards the bottom of the depth chart that not a lot of people have heard of that has impressed?
A: The young guys, they’ve all stepped up and really played. Charles James, kid of Charlestown Southern, he’s a walk-on rookie free agent we signed, he’s done a very good job as a nickel guy. Junior Mertile’s made two really nice interceptions, one in the red zone, one down in the field, he has the ability to catch the football. We’re looking forward to see how he plays physically. And Terrence Frederick was with us all last year on the practice squad but we never got to see him play (in the preseason). We want to see what they can do in the game. Laron’s from New Orleans and Terrence from the Pittsburgh Steelers, so we want to see how they play as Giants this year in the preseason games, so we’ve got a lot of good young kids that are competing and pushing each other along, other than the guys that you know about that were on the roster last year.
Q: When you’re looking for undrafted free agents and you guys have always seemed to have a lot of success for that really, what do you look for?
A: Number one is character, do they fit into the Giants organization, do they fit with the other guys you’d have in your room because that's critical, what kind of people they are, number one. Then do they have the physical skills to play in the National Football League. You know Charles (James) is a little undersized, they may not test the best, they don't have the best speed, the best size but they’re football players, you want to get football players that have good character and that’s what we look for, football players with good character, and that’s what we have.
Q: What have you seen from Corey to maybe make you think he’s going to have a bounce-back year?
A: Well, he’s been very consistent in the spring and in the offseason here, in his coverage technique and his coverage skills. He did a great job of taking care of himself in the offseason. He had no off-season injuries or issues that would have set him back, so we’re looking forward to him bouncing back and we have some other god people to put around him, so we think that will be a big plus for us for Corey.
Q: Sometimes we see a player get beaten, and saw Corey last year, did he have a bad season last year?
A: We always try to match him up on the best receiver so he was constantly challenged, and maybe we can alleviate a little bit of that pressure this year, but he can contest a lot of balls, be in position and guys have to come up with the plays, and we’re looking forward to him getting back and making his share of the plays. Once you make two or three plays, the ball’s not thrown in your way very often, and that’s what you have to have. And if you’re having success and making plays, then people don’t attack you that well or that often, so we can mix our coverages and get him off the star all the time, then I think Corey will have a great season.
Q: And how close are you to making the switch to lining up left and right?
A: Yeah, I mean right now the way they’re playing, we can play left and right, because they’d come on last year, Prince would come on then he’d be injured for a game or two, the same thing with Jayron, he’d go in and sometimes when they were back playing they weren’t 100% when they were playing but they were out there competing so you didn’t have much of a choice but to break forward. Both guys both lacked experience. Now they both gained experience and played in a lot of games last year so they can go right and left and you can match guys up different ways. We have Aaron back, hopefully Terrell will be back, obviously Jayron, all gained experience, so they all play different. They were both rookies last year.
Secondary/Cornerbacks Coach Pete Giunta
August 2, 2013
Q: Besides the obvious physicality when you look at Prince, he’s bigger, he’s stronger, what is the thing that maybe we don’t see that you see in terms of his development?
A: Well, Prince understands the defensive package right now, he feels much more comfortable with what we are doing defensively. He’s got a great relationship with the players, and more importantly he’s had a full off-season to work out and get in shape. He’s a completely different player now because he’s had the opportunity to work the whole time. (Until this offseason) he’s been rehabbing the whole time; there’s a huge difference between rehabbing and between conditioning and getting ready to play football.
Q: And Aaron Ross, on the other side of the spectrum, is a veteran who’s seen it all before, but yet, after coming back from Jacksonville he also looks like he’s a different player, why?
A: If you have something you really like and somebody takes it away from you, and you don't have it anymore, and then you get it back, you really appreciate it a whole lot more. He really appreciates the players that he’s around, the system, Coach Coughlin, the whole Giants organization is where he wants to be. So he’s excited about playing for us again.
Q: How much of a help is it having Sam Madison back?
A: It’s fun. You know, Sam was a really good player for us here, he’s got a great relationship with Corey, Aaron and a bunch of the guys. You know we’ve shown him on tape because he’s on a lot of the teaching tapes that we have, so when the guys see him on tape now they get a chance to meet up and get to work with him a little bit on the field, it’s kind of fun. It was one thing for myself or David to tell them what to do on the field, Sam’s a guy that we coached, he did it for us, won a world championship with us, so when they (…) what I did on the field, it’s different (…) because he can reinforce the things that we’re teaching with the guys and he can answer some questions on what it’s like to be on the field as a player, and can tell them ‘this is what works, this is why they’re telling you to do that,’ and it’s great that way.
Q: How encouraged are you in the end of early going in terms of the guys really being ball hawks considering the struggles you guys had last year?
A: You know, we really tried to emphasize this whole spring about getting back to playing sound, fundamental techniques, and the guys spent a great deal of time working at it this spring and they studied tape a lot, they studied themselves -- what they did well, what they did not do so well, and how they had to improve going into next football season -- so that’s what we're excited about. We’re excited about the way they’re attacking and playing the ball in the air and if you have good numbers and have players that are good players that compete against each other, it raises everybody’s level of performance, and that’s what we’re looking forward to, to raise our level of performance based on the competition we have because everybody wants to play, and the more guys you have that can play, the better off you are.
Q: In looking at the film last year what did you see was a primary problem?
A: We didn’t play good, solid technique consistently enough. We had our ups and downs, we had too many breaks in our concentration, our focus, our techniques. It was a number of different things, not just one specific thing. We’ve got to get back to playing good, solid fundamentals. I think we have a good, solid group keeping it together and if we communicate well together, we’ll be great.
Q: Anybody maybe towards the bottom of the depth chart that not a lot of people have heard of that has impressed?
A: The young guys, they’ve all stepped up and really played. Charles James, kid of Charlestown Southern, he’s a walk-on rookie free agent we signed, he’s done a very good job as a nickel guy. Junior Mertile’s made two really nice interceptions, one in the red zone, one down in the field, he has the ability to catch the football. We’re looking forward to see how he plays physically. And Terrence Frederick was with us all last year on the practice squad but we never got to see him play (in the preseason). We want to see what they can do in the game. Laron’s from New Orleans and Terrence from the Pittsburgh Steelers, so we want to see how they play as Giants this year in the preseason games, so we’ve got a lot of good young kids that are competing and pushing each other along, other than the guys that you know about that were on the roster last year.
Q: When you’re looking for undrafted free agents and you guys have always seemed to have a lot of success for that really, what do you look for?
A: Number one is character, do they fit into the Giants organization, do they fit with the other guys you’d have in your room because that's critical, what kind of people they are, number one. Then do they have the physical skills to play in the National Football League. You know Charles (James) is a little undersized, they may not test the best, they don't have the best speed, the best size but they’re football players, you want to get football players that have good character and that’s what we look for, football players with good character, and that’s what we have.
Q: What have you seen from Corey to maybe make you think he’s going to have a bounce-back year?
A: Well, he’s been very consistent in the spring and in the offseason here, in his coverage technique and his coverage skills. He did a great job of taking care of himself in the offseason. He had no off-season injuries or issues that would have set him back, so we’re looking forward to him bouncing back and we have some other god people to put around him, so we think that will be a big plus for us for Corey.
Q: Sometimes we see a player get beaten, and saw Corey last year, did he have a bad season last year?
A: We always try to match him up on the best receiver so he was constantly challenged, and maybe we can alleviate a little bit of that pressure this year, but he can contest a lot of balls, be in position and guys have to come up with the plays, and we’re looking forward to him getting back and making his share of the plays. Once you make two or three plays, the ball’s not thrown in your way very often, and that’s what you have to have. And if you’re having success and making plays, then people don’t attack you that well or that often, so we can mix our coverages and get him off the star all the time, then I think Corey will have a great season.
Q: And how close are you to making the switch to lining up left and right?
A: Yeah, I mean right now the way they’re playing, we can play left and right, because they’d come on last year, Prince would come on then he’d be injured for a game or two, the same thing with Jayron, he’d go in and sometimes when they were back playing they weren’t 100% when they were playing but they were out there competing so you didn’t have much of a choice but to break forward. Both guys both lacked experience. Now they both gained experience and played in a lot of games last year so they can go right and left and you can match guys up different ways. We have Aaron back, hopefully Terrell will be back, obviously Jayron, all gained experience, so they all play different. They were both rookies last year.
