SAINTS INTERIM HEAD COACH DARREN RIZZI

Opening statement

"I want to start out by saying congratulations to the guys. As I just told them, 'Sometimes you don't get to pick the formula on how to win. Sometimes you think the game is going to play out a certain way and it plays out a little differently. We didn't particularly have a very good fourth quarter there. But, we found a way to make a play at the end of the game. Obviously, (defensive tackle) Bryan Bresee with a huge block. Phenomenal job by him. But, listen, the things we did well, obviously, our defense pretty much controlled the entire game, until the last quarter when they started to move the ball a little bit. Obviously, had a couple of chunk plays. But, overall very happy with the defense in terms of the way we stopped the run. New York Giants quarterback Drew Lock ended up being their leading rusher. That's something we've got to look at. That's hit us a few times this year with the long quarterback scrambles. We've got to examine that a little bit. But, as far as their actual running game goes, two running backs combined for 53 yards. That was a huge part of why we thought we could win this game today. It's a huge part of why we won the game. We've got to get some things cleaned up. I thought our offense and our special teams had one of the worst halves, maybe the worst half of the year, in the first half. We turned it around and made some plays there in the second half. Obviously, it's kind of ironic that we ended up winning the game on a special teams play because we were having one of our worst days in recent memory. But, again, great job of finding a way to win. It's never easy to win in this league. We came out on the road. We respond from last week. We get a 'W'. We go home with a win. We'll try to figure out some of these other things we've got to get figured out."

On any update to Derek Carr's Injury

"He's got a left hand (injury) that they're looking at. We'll see what's going on with that. I really don't have any other information than that. They're going to do all the scans and the X-rays and all that. So, we'll play that by ear. He made a phenomenal effort, on his part, to try to keep our drive going and get it first down there. Just an unselfish player diving over the top and came down. I think he tried to put his hand down and brace himself. I think he just hurt his hand. We'll see what they say. I also believe he might be the concussion protocol. I've got to confirm that. But, right now, it's really talking more about his hand. He may be in the concussion protocol as well. We'll see what happens there."

On the exchange with Matthew Hayball after the punt return got called back

"That's what you're calling an impassioned exchange? I'm passionate about everything. Everybody has a job to do. Everybody has a one-eleventh to do. I'm a big accountability guy and what was a big part of our game plan today and he wasn't executing the game plan. So, I'm going to say this. His last punt was outstanding and it really helped us. Actually, I think his last two punts, the second to last punt in particular, was really, really good. Pinned them back. Didn't get any returns. That's really what we were trying to do all day. Our first three punts weren't good enough. So, that passionate exchange, I let him know that that's exactly how I felt. So, it probably came across as a little bit more than that but me and Matt are fine."

On Alvin Kamara's response to the exchange

"Listen, I love AK (Alvin Kamara) because AK is a guy who's very, very observant and sees everything. You guys know that I've followed AK for a while. He's a little bit of a lay-in-the-weeds guy, but he sees everything. He's very, very observant. He was just trying to be the peacemaker there. Then he came back around and said, 'Rizzi, I didn't know you could lose your shit on a punter like that.' He was just trying to calm me down. But listen, he's a team guy and that's good to have around."

On Bryan Breese's field goal block

"Phenomenal. Phenomenal. That's a play that we started practicing. We had it in a few times. We put it in this week on Friday. We repped it a couple of times on Friday. We were out there on the field and we were like, 'Hey, you never know. The game could come down to this.' And look what happens. It just goes to show you, though, that a guy his size, the athletic ability he just displayed. I've seen him do it all the time in practice. I knew he could do it. We were discussing on the headset, myself, (Assistant Special Teams Coach) Phil Galiano. We were deciding on what call was the best call. We were kind of going there. The last ball that he had hit had come down a little bit low, so I wanted to get some pressure there in the middle. But, really, just an unbelievable, phenomenal job by Bryan. Individual effort. Some other guys that were working on the play, too, to make sure he gets freed up. But, outstanding. Outstanding. Great to see him make a big play like that. Really a game-winning play."

On Breese's big plays

"Really, the last couple of weeks. We talked about that during the week. He's a guy that's just – I feel like his best football is still out there. You see these flashes of brilliance out of the player between the pass rush and the field-goal block. He's made a couple of huge plays a couple of weeks in a row. You're seeing a lot of the reasons we drafted the player. We drafted Bryan in the first round. So, these are some of the things. We talked about some of the things he can continue to get better at: first, second down. But, his pass rush, his field-goal rush, those things are outstanding."

On the importance of this victory

"Huge. I know another one of the teams at the top of our division lost again today. So, it keeps us in the mix. Listen, we're down here to the end of the year. It's the middle of December already. When you're playing games that still matter and still count and still have a chance to affect the final outcome, that's a big deal. So here we are with four to go and as I just said to the guys, that's why we practice with a purpose. We go through the week with a purpose because we're still playing. We're still in contention. Trying not to be a big-picture guy, but, it's always nice to have that out there so you can focus on the now and not worry about that there's still that opportunity for us."

On his homecoming

"I was able to see a lot of family and friends. Phenomenal. My three nieces were here. Cousins, friends, high school. My high school coach at Bergen Catholic was here. Bergen Catholic had a big contingency. So, it's congratulations to them. Just two Fridays ago they won the state championship right here on this field against Don Bosco. So, another state championship for them. It's great to see all those people. Friends I grew up with, some family. So, I got a little emotional there when I came out to the field and saw them out there. My immediate family. Just really, cool. As I said at the beginning of the week, once the game kind of started, you got to forget all that with this. I'm not going to sit here and try to BS you guys. To go up here in my home area and get a win on the visiting side, obviously, is something that I probably told you would never happen in my life since. Pretty wild, pretty crazy. Back to focusing on the Saints. Then I'll get back on track for next week."

On Kendre Miller and his return

"Yeah listen, I think Kendre again, is showing you why we drafted where we drafted him. He made some really dynamic runs I thought. Kendre has the unique ability to make an eight-yard run look really good. And making people miss, getting some tough yards. Again, just a small sample there. But again, the touchdown run he has where he just keeps his power. And when I talked about in the beginning, we could change the pace back, that's really what I was talking about. A guy that can just have a little bit of a different style, and that's a big deal. We don't become one-dimensional with (running back) Alvin (Kamara), we got another guy that can get us a tough yard. So, he had a nice kick return today. Off the top of my head, I'm a 31-yard kick return. A really nice touchdown run. Some really good make-or-miss. So, Kendre has to just stay consistent. That's been his thing. So we've got to do that again next week. We've got to have another good practice run. We've got to just stay healthy. And so those are the things. But you saw the flashes today on the athletic opponents. That's a guy we really needed to draft."

On the importance of getting on the field after injuries

"It's very important to get out there and just show, you can always sit here and say, 'well, well, this and well, that. Maybe this, maybe that'. But to actually show the proof. And that's the thing about Kendre Miller. The times that he's been on the field for us, like today, you see it. And anybody that knows football sees it. You see a very good running back. That's what you see. And again, is he there yet? Has he reached the clinic? No. He's got plenty of room for growth. But staying healthy, and staying consistent for him is the big thing. And actually, coming out and showing it rather than just saying, 'Oh, he looks good in practice'. Or 'Oh, he looked really good in college'. And I just saw today what he did."

On long offensive drives

"Really, those two long drives are the game. I mean, when it comes down to it, we get pinned back there on a great punt by Jamie Gillan for the Giants. And then he did a great job punting the ball today. They had all the field position in their favor in the first half. We obviously faked the punt in midfield and missed it by half a yard. They had good field position there. And so, they did a really good job. And so, when we got pinned back and we went on a long touchdown drive, man, that was a big deal. We talked all week about we had not been good coming out of halftime in the third quarter. Our first couple of drives, I believe our first drive, we had a punt in that second drive. We went on the field again. Shoot up a lot of clock. Had another scoring drive. So really, although it may not have been, the whole picture may not have been super pretty today. Offensively, those two drives essentially were the ones that mattered the most. And so, kudos to them. We've got to do a better job of finishing games. We get the ball back there at the end. We don't get a first down. We come up on third and short. We don't get the first. We get a punt. And we gave it back to them. We get the ball back. I think we had two situations today where we got the ball back with a chance to kind of end the game, and we didn't do that. So that's where we've got to do better. But our defense clearly in the first half was much better than our offensive special teams. And held them to three points, and that's why we were in good position. And put us in a really good position to win the game today."

On Bryan Bresee's success

"I wouldn't say anything as just one particular thing. I think Bryan is focusing in on the things that he can get better at. I think BY, the last few weeks has opened his eyes to some technique stuff and some things that can help his game. But man, I mean Bryan's young. He's got a lot of football ahead if he stays healthy. And you see the flashes, and that's the thing. I listen, I've read the narrative. The narrative is, 'Oh, man, a flash play and it disappears for a while'. That's what he can't do. He's got to just be more consistent. And so, the last two weeks, he's got a heck of a body of work the last two weeks. So that's the key for him and for us is to keep him where he's been the last couple of weeks and play more consistent."

On challenging the team with narratives

"Hell yeah. One of our goals for this game this week was to control the narrative. All the narratives are out there. We can't stop doing that. We've got a good second-half offense. You know all the things. We were 0-4 on our last four road games. We were 0-2 on our last two outdoor road games. So those are facts and narratives. And so, my challenge to the guys this week is you control your performance. You control that. So, yeah, not only do we challenge them individually, we challenge them unit-wise, team-wise. So, I think that's important. I think it's important that those guys know they can control that."

On challenging strategies

"Yeah, there's different ways. I mean, honestly, I don't challenge every single guy the same. I'm not going to challenge Alvin Kamara, DeMario Davis, Cameron Jordan the same way I'm going to challenge some of the younger guys, Kool-Aid McKinstry, and Trevor Penning, and Taliese Fuaga. There are differences there. Guys have been doing it a long time. So, I think the thing you get creative as a coach, you get to find different ways to challenge guys. It really depends on where they are in their career, in my opinion."

On using Parcells' playbook for motivation

"Yeah, I don't want to get too many cats out of the bag. But yeah, a lot of that stuff we do. But listen, I challenge Kendre (Miller) all week, and I'm proud of him. The next challenge for him is going to be can we duplicate the success and duplicate the production."

SAINTS DEFENSIVE TACKLE BRYAN BRESEE

On the blocked field goal

"(Defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd) Shep and (defensive end) Payton (Turner) did a great job kind of pushing down the long snapper and guard. Then my job is to get up and get down. I jumped up and it didn't really work how I wanted it to. I kind of bumped it on my landing a little bit (laughs). I just threw a hand up, I got a piece of it, just enough, I guess. It worked out. There were a lot more guys doing their job than just me."

On the feeling of the block

"I really didn't think I got enough of it at first. I felt it, but I didn't think I got enough of it. I looked back and saw it missed, left a little bit. Just super excited once I saw that it missed. It was a hard-fought game by everybody on the team. Just being able to close it out in that fashion was really exciting – for not only me, but everybody."

On relatives at the game

"A bunch of my neighbors came up, parents were here, sister…I've got like a group of 20 here right now. There were a lot of people. My cousins live in New Jersey, so they came up. A lot of family and friends here."

On what this game meant to Darren Rizzi

"Absolutely. Coach Rizz has been awesome for us. He's a great leader for the team and I think all of the guys have his back 100%. Knowing he's from right out this way as well, this is his home turf. Just being able to come here and give him a win is awesome."

SAINTS LINEBACKER DEMARIO DAVIS

On what this game says about the team

"I love it. Our story isn't finished. Day-by-day. That's what we are going to focus on. Day-by-day, moment-by-moment. Day-by-day. Our story isn't finished yet. Lot of football left to be played, and the amazing thing is that every day we step out, we get another opportunity, and you can't control what's in front of you. You can't look too far down the road while you have the moment in front of you and then you are able to capitalize on this moment. Proud of our team, proud of the coaches, proud of your work week. Truly a phenomenal effort by the Giants. They played some good ball, made it tough on us for four quarters and we were able to prevail, so great game."

On Bryan Bresee's performance

"Oh my gosh, man he is slowly becoming one of those ones. And I'm proud of him, I'm proud of the growth, the progression from year one to two has been phenomenal. You get somebody that early in the draft, you know what there potential and upside is, but they have to put in the work. And he's one of those guys that has put in the work, day in and day out. I think one of the underrated attributes that he has is he is the quarterback on the defensive line. He is the guy that once he hears the call, he's able to line those guys up. If it's a shift or a motion, we run a lot of stunts on our defense, he's able to communicate with both sides of the defensive line to communicate. We may have multiple games on, multiple stunts, he's able to communicate. If I give a check, usually I'm giving a check to him because I know he will communicate it around and whenever I get to the pass rush, after I make my communications, I know he's the guy that I can go to that's going to give me the cadence of what game we have. It's really amazing because when you think about defensive lineman, they usually just thinking about the man that's in front of them, beating them. So, the ability to have that, at such an early age just says what type of career he could potential have. I don't think anybody is surprised that he's having great games but I think that quality right there is very surprising. In 13 years I played with a lot of really good defensive linemen, many that have been All-Pro, many that have been Pro Bowlers, some that will probably go to the Hall of Fame but that's a rare quality and yeah, he has it."

SAINTS TIGHT END JUWAN JOHNSON

On the touchdown

"Yeah, I guess I was hiding, or I wasn't on the field, or whatever the case the may have been. I was just telling Derek (Carr) to speed it up because I didn't want them [the Giants Defense] to know that I'm right there. When he hiked the ball, I just ran up the field. That was a route where I was probably going to be run an out-route, but I just saw space and ran up the field and he saw me. We both locked eyes and I just caught it and just made a play. It almost didn't seem like it was real because I was looking around for a flag because it was just like it was too easy. We got a touchdown, we got the win, not much I can complain about."

On the involvement of tight ends

"We've worked really hard and I'm glad that Dallin [Saints TE Dallin Holker] got his first catch. We were trying to get that for about two weeks now. We've just been working really hard and we don't want any credit, we don't want any notoriety or anything like that. We don't want anybody to boast about us, but we just keep our heads down and work. Myself, Foster, Dallin, Mike Jacobson, Treyton Welch, even Taysom when he was here [before getting injured], we all work extremely hard before, during and after practice. We got guys catching jugs before team meetings every day and doing stuff after practice every day. Things are just coming to fruition right now and nothing is going to change; nothing is going to stop. We are just working hard so we can be prepared for situations like this. We have been doing a pretty good job."

On seeing Foster Moreau's one-handed catch

"Yes, I was on the other side of the field but I was like 'freak' but I mean I'm not surprised, that's just stuff he does. We have a really good, talented tight end room. Nothing really surprises me from the fact of what some of these guys have done; they have done it during training camp, during OTA's, and it's not one of those things where your jaw drops because we have already seen it before. He (Saints TE Foster Moreau) just makes those kinds of plays. He makes some wonky plays, where a guy was holding his arm, and he just makes a one-handed catch. He is just really good at that, so Foster's been doing well. Credit to him. We still have a lot of work to do, we still got four games left, so we just have to put it together however we can to win these games."

On uncertainty with Derek Carr's injury

"Yeah, I mean it's sucks because for a guy who has worked so hard just in general, on the field and off the field, it kind of sucks to see how this season has sort of panned out where he misses the most games he probably has in his career and now he is probably going to miss more time, or whatever the case may be because we still don't know whatever it is he has going on. He's just been having a rough-go and we are behind him, aside from all the football stuff. He is still Derek Carr aside from the football field, so we just have to be there for him emotionally, spiritually, physically and we still have guys like Haener (Saints backup QB). He's been playing really good ball and played really good ball in training camp, so we are excited to rally around him and do his thing and make big plays happen."

SAINTS RUNNING BACK KENDRE MILLER

On the touchdown run

"Most definitely, I just try to keep my feet moving, honestly. It was people coming in from all different directions and the biggest thing was I just got to keep my legs moving because I know the linemen are coming from behind to push me in."

On narratives this season

"I said it earlier in the week, this game wasn't a 'prove it' to anybody. It was just really to myself because, like I said, I haven't been on a journey ever since I got to the NFL. I have never dealt with anything quite frankly like this, throughout college with injuries and stuff, and it's been a bumpy ride but hopefully we're trending in the right direction now finally."

On making it to the end zone

"After the linebacker, he had shot the gap, and I made him miss. I kind of slipped and I got back up. Then, it was a dude who hit me, and then I was kind of in the little iffy spot where if it's going to move or not. I just kept my feet moving and then I felt the extra little push, and I was like, 'man I might score'. I looked at the goal line to the left, and then we were moving, we were moving, moving. So, I was like, man, we got to score this and then I fell in, I looked over, and I was like, yeah."

On timing of the play

"15, 20-second play is most definitely what it felt like. It was a long play, man. I'm just glad we got it in. I think it was (offensive lineman) Lucas (Patrick) who was punching me on my chest when I had scored. He was like, 'let's go.' I was like, 'thank you for getting me in', because I was in that little if we were going to move or not stage, and he got me in there."