Matt Nagy - Offensive Coordinator, giants Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-17 | Full transcript (primary source).
On September 17, 2026, Matt Nagy, Offensive Coordinator for the Giants, addressed the media in a press conference following the team's recent performance. The discussion focused on the team's progress, player development, and preparations for their upcoming game against the LA team.
Transcript
Nagy: Probably the biggest thing is what we talked about last week when we were here. You guys were asking what do we want to see from him? He was calm, he was composed, he made plays when plays were needed. The moment was never too big for him. I wasn't really sure going into it. We're a young team. And even in training camp, in our pre-season, we get excited, and I love that part. But sometimes you wonder, is the moment too big? And I came out of that thinking and knowing with our guys, the moment's not too big. And I think now the next thing will be for Jackson, for us as coaches and the rest of the players, is zero complacency, unacceptable. We got to understand that what happened on Sunday night was expected. You guys also asked, you said, what do you think is going to happen? I don't know. Now we know week one what we did. But at the same point in time, this league is difficult. People make adjustments, and our expectations and our standards are to go out there and hit repeat. You know what I mean? So that's our next challenge. We embraced that and had fun that night, but it's right on to LA because they are really well coached. They're a good football team, and you can take last week and throw that away.
Nagy: No, I don't think so. That was a good day. And again, the players really executed well. The one that really stands out to me, I think, was a big one was we had a penalty. We got kicked back to third and nine, and they ran a little bit of a non-traditional Tampa 2 defense. And they had a drop in to Jackson through the out route to Malik. I think that's not an everyday coverage, and Jackson saw that. He remained composed, and that was just one of those nine makes that we had. When you have that, the key to doing that is making sure you're staying ahead of the chains, which is, again, a credit to Coach Harv's because what he does such a great job at and what he did this past week was he explained to all of us how what the recipe is each and every week and to try to stay ahead of the chains was one of them. And we did that, and then the players executed.
Nagy: Right, it did look like that, although it wasn't. But at the same point in time, I think the credit to Jackson is understanding that in those moments. In that situation, that part of the game, a field goal was massive. And so we had lost some yards on the screenplay, and then we got to a point where we needed to make sure that, if anything, we got up 10 for sure. Touchdown's beautiful. And it just so happened that he stayed within his progression and his reads. They were a little bit off in some of their rules that they have, probably, in their coverages. And he exploited that. So just keep things simple. You guys see it. It's day one stuff. But sometimes day one stuff is where the simplicity of execution can really happen, and just so happened at that moment.
Nagy: That part's important, is making sure that his presence and understanding where he's at and where the ball is going. One thing as a coach that you look for is you look to see, like me being up in the boxes, are his eyes going to where my eyes are going? And really, in that game, I'm telling you, almost every play, he went to where he was supposed to go, which means he's calm. He's seeing things. The moment wasn't too big. And there's times, too. You guys probably don't know this, but there's a lot of stuff that goes on on the headset and the communication between myself and the quarterback and whether it's substitutions, formations, motion shifts, things that he's doing within the play. And I can't tell you, everybody here, enough of how well he managed that part of it. And there was a few times where I got to play in later than I should have, and he fixed it. He made me right. And I love that about him. And so that's the teamwork part, but very cool, very calm, very collected. And then, you know, I just know, too, like the next day, that thing's pushed away now. It's onto the Rams, and that's the next part. We cannot get complacent, and we won't.
Nagy: Yeah, I was a little bit stressed on that one. I had two different call sheets, one stuffed in my bag, and I never wanted to look at it because I just did not want to see that one. But that's right, that's what's real. And that's okay, you know. He came out and got that early catch, which was good. And now we'll go from there, but you certainly love to get him out there. And as I said last week, you know, he's worth two guys when he's out there.
Nagy: I just, I saw a bunch of guys. I saw some maulers out there. I saw them being physical. They were really, man, they, from the very first play, decided what they were going to do. We talked about it all week, but then you got to execute, and they did that. They just wanted more and more and more. And so when you're calling plays and you're able to get positive yards to stay ahead of the chains, and then they protect in the way they're protected, you know, that was just really a beautiful thing for us to see. And now, again, we got to keep that going. But I love those guys. And, you know, it was really, really cool to see.
Nagy: Yeah, that part is, that whole process of the game planning part, I want to give a lot of credit to our coaching staff. We have a lot of guys on staff that, they have their areas, and they spend a lot of time while we're all doing different things. They're up there looking at their areas, and red zone specifically, you know, we're putting ideas and thoughts together. And they had a specific front that they ran down there that we knew they were going to run, and we wanted to try to work something off of that, and we did that. So the players now and then, and like you mentioned in Kansas City, the best part is having the players have ownership, and so when they feel good about plays, so they may tweak a play here or there, or have some ideas, and we embrace that. But the way we play football, and anybody, we went into last week and we said no field goals. We need touchdowns, and that's got to be all year, but no field goals. No field goals, no field goals. Touchdowns, touchdowns, touchdowns. And we did that. We put a great game plan together. The players executed it, and now we have to be able to, you know, we got to be able to do it again, and all year long. It can't just be a one-way thing.
Nagy: Yeah, it's not easy, and you don't really know going into it how it's going to go. I think the biggest thing is you rely on your prep and your coaching staff. I mean, I really, these guys here, I cannot say enough about the staff that we have and the knowledge that they have. So we put it all together, and then they give me an opportunity. Now I got to put my spin on it. When do I think things should come? And again, Greg Roman does such a phenomenal job along with Mike Blumgren and Grant and, you know, all of our coaches on staff. They do a great job of working in that run game, and we put it all together, and we're going to create our offense, the New York football Giants offense. That's what we want to build. That's what we want to create, and this past weekend was the first week of seeing that, and now we're going to continue to build each and every week off of that.
Nagy: It's a great chess piece for us because what he allows us to do is he plays basically three different positions in one, whether it's an O-lineman, whether it's a tight end, or whether it's a fullback. So it's a little bit of a chess piece. He's super smart, so you can do different things formationally personnel-wise, and so it becomes a little bit of a back and forth with the defensive coordinator on what you're doing personnel-wise with him, but then we got to be able to protect that, too, and make sure we're doing enough passes as well. It's been great for me to learn who he is from day one when he got here. He's also really good at what he does, so it's one thing to be smart and be able to use him, but he's really good at what he does, too.
Nagy: Yeah, it's like eye candy, misdirection is difficult anywhere on the field, but in particular, you get down there in that tight quarters area, in that red zone inside the five in different areas, it's hard. The linebackers' eyes are going to certain places, and so those are the good ones. When you see that first touchdown run we had, the way that the fellas executed, I mean, it wasn't just the left side, it was the right side as well, and so when you can just walk into the end zone, and Isaiah's doing his little celebration before we're in there, those are the fun ones and the nice ones, but we just got to keep that going. I want to make sure that everyone, our players know the details of what we do is so important. We don't just say that, you got to do it, and we just came out of a walkthrough. We just got a ton of reps in that walkthrough. Walkthroughs are just as important to us right now as some of the practices, so we just got to be locked in every single day, and again, have a ton of respect for LA because they're well coached and they got great players.
Nagy: I can tell you this, I was there for the beginning stages of that where you talked about that example, and I've seen it throughout for many years, and what we have here with Jackson and Zay is right there. I mean, it's not there with them yet, but it's at the beginning stages, it's there. That's the exciting part is they're just super talented people, and it's going to take a little bit of time, but they were on the other night, and I think you guys saw that. That one throw that he had to Zay on third down, he had some pressure in his face, he made a great throw, great accuracy, and then Zay made a great route and great catch. Keeps the sticks moving, so we're building towards that. Those guys know it, but they're not satisfied either.
