LISTEN: McAdoo Says Cutler Could Be More Dangerous Without Jeffery In Lineup
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- When the Bears play the Giants on Sunday, Chicago will be without star wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, who is starting a four-game suspension after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
Giants coach Ben McAdoo says that Jeffery's absence could actually make Bears quarterback Jay Cutler even more difficult to defend.
"I'm very familiar with Jay. Played him a bunch in the past," McAdoo said Thursday in his weekly appearance on Mike Francesa's WFAN show. "He may be more dangerous missing his guy because he's not going to be real concerned on who gets touches. So he's going to drop back, he's going to read the defense, and he's going to go where the coverage dictates. And we just need to make sure we stop the run first, get to Jay a little bit, and we can't let him get hot out here on Sunday."
The Giants enter the game 6-3. The Bears are 2-7.
Here are some other quotes from McAdoo's interview:
• On his decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line during the fourth quarter of Monday night's win over Cincinnati: "I thought we had a good week of preparation, first and foremost. Practice was good all week. We executed at a high level down there (near the goal line), and we had a stack of calls that we like to go with if we got a completion over the course of the four downs there. But I told (quarterback) Eli (Manning) early on we were in four-down territory and I'm confident in the guys and I felt we had a chance to punch the ball in there one way one how, whether it was a run or it was a pass, but they did a good job of getting the ball in the end zone."
• On Manning's performance against the Bengals: "I thought Eli played well. I thought he attacked. (Dre) Kirkpatrick made a nice play on the interception on the right side. I think that was just a nice, aggressive play by the corner there. Wasn't a bad ball, wasn't a bad route. It was just a good play by the corner. And (Manning) was a very good and accurate in the green zone, which you need to score touchdowns versus teams like that because they're capable of putting up some points."
• On giving so many rookies, including Sterling Shepard, Jerell Adams, Roger Lewis and Paul Perkins, extensive playing time: "We're going to use our young players. We're confident in this rookie class that we have. We're going to get them out there, get them reps. They're going to learn as we go, but they'll have a chance to fix their mistakes, whether it's through the course of a game, whether it's in practice and go back out and get better each and every week, and they've done that so far."
To listen to the full interview, click on the audio player above.