Nick Sirianni

Q. Do you have any kind of update on the injured guys, WR A.J. Brown, WR DeVonta Smith? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: You know, the guys that are in the concussion protocol, I won’t comment on that. They are working hard to get back. The other guys, you guys will have an injury report later today.

We’ll see how that goes. We’re doing a walk-through today. You know, just with how we came out of the game, and just what’s best for these guys’ bodies at this particular point. And we’ll have a good, tough practice tomorrow.

Q. Three game sample size on CB Quinyon Mitchell on the outside. What’s he look like in your opinion? And I guess you’re going to keep him there, it would seem? (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: You know, we’ll see. We have the ability to be flexible with the different pieces that we have back there, so you never know. As far as just how he’s done, I think he’s done a nice job. I think he’s made some good plays on the football. I think we told you guys from the beginning, very confident and not fazed by anything. And he gets to go against two really good receivers, and our entire receiving core, actually, every day at practice.

I think that’s really prepared him. And then, those deep balls that he’s been getting hands on, those are obviously big plays. They count as PBUs for [CB Quinyon Mitchell] Q, but had [he] caught those, those are explosive plays for the offense. So those are huge plays. He’s done a nice job. That was a really good one on the double move on the third down that he made the play on [Saints WR Rashid Shaheed] 22 on the last game.

So he’s done a nice job. And again, the moment’s not too big for him. I think that speaks a lot to the character of Q. That he’s just [the] same guy every day, just working to get better and doesn’t make a big deal about the moment. He’s just in the moment of where he is.

Q. Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore talked about how the collaborative process was nothing new to him. You’ve been in an offensive coordinator and head coaching spot. What have you learned as a head coach leading the collaborative process and how that led into this year? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI:  I talk about football being the ultimate team game a lot and how much my passion for football is because it takes everybody. And I talk about that a lot in the sense of how games go with the players on the field. Well, that’s the same thing as in organizations and on coaching staffs. It’s the greatest team sport there is because it takes the players and the coaches; it takes the front office; it takes everybody in the building; it takes everybody.

And that’s no different in a coaching staff. It takes everybody. There are different guys that have different assignments that you give them throughout each week. [Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore] has a couple different ways that he does some things as far as how he splits up who has red zone, who has third down, who has this.

That’s what’s so cool about football is the collaborative effort, and that it is a true team game, and that you cannot be great without the greatness of others. Again, that holds true in every aspect of football. Not just on the field, but also on the coaching staff.

Q. An important part of a coach’s job is to figure out how guys respond to different kinds of coaching, like who responds to hard coaching. In Year 2, what have you learned about DT Jalen Carter, how to best get to him? (Bo Wulf)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think every bit of coaching starts with, first and foremost, that you can help the player get better. So that’s important that you hire coaches that you feel like can get the players better, and you as the coach, whether the coordinator or the head coach, can help the player get better.

Then, it’s building that relationship from that and having the relationship. I think when you have a relationship with somebody, you can coach them hard, you can coach them not as hard, I guess to say. But I think there’s always a feel in that for coaching.

There’s different ways you handle it. But I think it all, first and foremost, starts with the relationship. [DT] Jalen [Carter], what I’m really proud of Jalen [for], is that he had adversity the week before, and he responded from that adversity. And there were different styles of coaching, and sometimes it’s, ‘Hey, you be the bad cop this time. I’ll be the good cop.’

So I just think that, again, it starts with that relationship and the fact that you can get them better. And then, once they know that, then it’s just always about how you get the player better, and that’s just been my experience as a coach.

But again, every guy is treated different. Every guy is – let me say it this way. The standard is what it is, and everybody is held to that standard. But you might not – there’s different ways of how you get different guys to the standard. And there’s different situations of how you handle different guys playing to the standard.

Q. When it comes to offensive play calling, philosophically speaking, do you favor having plays called dictated on what the defense is doing, or you dictating to the defense to respond to what you are doing? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: There’s a little bit of both of that, Jeff. I think that’s a good question. Sometimes, you want to dictate to the defense to try to get them in certain things. You know, doing different things as far as – I’m not going to get into that.

But then there’s also times where you have to react. I think that’s the thing about playing quarterback. You have to react to what the defense does. You’re trying to dictate to them, but you have to throw it to the open guy, different things like that. The offensive line has to react to the set, the look that they give you to know what type of blocking scheme you’re doing.

And so I think it’s a little bit of both/and. Because again, if you’re saying, I’m just going to dictate to them, and then you don’t run the appropriate blocking scheme towards it – I think this is the easiest way to say it. If you don’t run the appropriate blocking scheme towards it, you won’t pick up whatever it is, the rush by the front, or the blitz.

So I think it’s definitely a both/and.

Q. The passing yards across the league, through three weeks anyway, are down. The lowest they have been since at least 2000. The rushing yards are on the way up. Anything that you have seen that speaks to the why of that? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: You know, it’s still early with the sample size. Obviously, our numbers reflect that a little bit as well. Our rushing numbers are up. Now, we’ve been high in the rushing over the past couple years. But again, I just think it’s too early to say that quite yet. Because we’ve definitely looked at that and studied that. Because you spend all your time focusing on the next opponent, but we have actually broke it off and said, what is happening across the league. And I just think right now, the sample size is just not high enough.

But it is something that we looked into because it is noticeable, and it is a really big difference. But we’ll continue to monitor that. And what we are trying to do, though, is be efficient on offense. Hit your explosive plays. Take care of the football. Those things will never change. Not give up sacks. Those things will never change of what we are trying to do as far as explosives, taking care of the football, and not giving up sacks.

Q. Has anything surprised you about RB Saquon Barkley since you’ve seen him in person these last couple months? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Man, there’s so many different things. Again, when you see a cut in person, when he’s on your team. For whatever reason, when he’s on your team, it just – I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve just really shook my head like, man, that was an unbelievable cut. And he’s making these cuts at 230 pounds. Oh, on top of that, he’s making these cuts at 4.3 speed. Who is like him, you know what I mean?

It’s just really cool to see him. And again, I will always go back to, you guys all see the plays he makes, but what a teammate he is. He works his butt off. He’s a great teammate, and I can’t say enough good things about him. I think those are the things, Reuben, that you really see is, again, his elusiveness, first and foremost. But then, the size and the speed at which he’s making those cuts is what make it so impressive.

Q. You’ve said for 2+ years that the passing game is built around WR A.J. Brown and WR DeVonta Smith – (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: And [TE] Dallas [Goedert].

Q. And TE Dallas Goedert. I’m sorry, you’re right. If they are down, is it functionally a different offense, or is it reasonable to say ‘next man up’? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: You’re always going to say ‘next man up,’ but you don’t say next man up, you have to do this. That’s just not good coaching, right. You can’t –next man up, but you have to do exactly what this guy does.

Again, that’s just – that’s not feasible. Everyone has their strengths, and everybody has their weaknesses. You try to help these guys, as much as you possibly can, play to their strengths.

And so again, it’s a both/and, right. It’s, ‘Hey, I know you do this really well, and [WR] A.J. [Brown] does this really well, so you can take this.’ Or, and sometimes I’ve told you guys this before, too, it’s, ‘Hey, we are going to try to run this particular route, it’s by committee.’ It might be Dallas on this one, or [WR] Jahan [Dotson] on this one, or [WR DeVonta Smith] Smitty on this one. I’m speaking to when A.J. has been out because he’s been out for two weeks.

That’s kind of how that goes. Again, our job is to help put the players in positions to succeed against the defense they are running against. But also, first and foremost, about what they do well. I think that, when you think about what plays you’re going to run, you always think about what your players do well first. Then you get into what you’re playing against, does it fit, and then you try to do some different things to hide it with formations, personnel groupings, motions, etc.

Q. As you get ready to face the Buccaneers again, their defense, do you think your offense is in a better position to handle the blitz? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: We’ve worked really hard at this for the past year, and we’ve done a good job so far. But you’re only as good as your next game.

So [we’re] excited about the challenge. I know [QB] Jalen [Hurts] has really played well against the blitz these last couple games, and he’s worked his butt off on it. And just excited about the challenge, but we know there’s going to be challenges against a [Buccaneers Head Coach] Todd Bowles’ coached defense. Again, we have done a nice job so far, but you’re only as good as your next game.

Q. You’ve been around WR Jahan Dotson for a few weeks now. What do you view as his strengths as a player? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think he’s got great hands. I think that when you go back, and even look at – when we look at all our stuff, everything, you watch all the stuff, you go back and look at your notes of what you thought of him coming out. I think that’s the big thing I wrote the most is like, man, he catches everything. He catches everything. He catches everything.

And then, he’s just got this great ability to get in and out of breaks. I think [WR] DeVonta [Smith] has this great ability to get in and out of breaks. They remind me of each other as far as, at the top of the route, how they can transition from full speed back down the stem or changing directions. Those are the things that really pop up and as I see with Jahan. Just his unbelievable ability to catch the ball wherever it is, and we’ve seen that in practice and then also just the shiftiness.

Q. Coming out of the Atlanta game, I don’t think anybody was happy, especially defensively at the end of the game. Are there one or two things you can give us unique about Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio coming out of that game and being able to turn that thing around so quickly? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Well, again, it’s just not an accident when you’re a top-tier defensive coordinator for decades of the NFL. 21 years, I think. Is that what it is?

Sometimes it’s like a quarterback that’s played 15 years. They have seen everything. They know what the answers are to get to and the different things, the different buttons to push against different looks, Again, I’ve got so much faith in him and the defensive staff. He calls a great game. I think that’s what you see. Just that knowledge of all the different things that he’s seen throughout the years.

Again, I’ve said this before, his experience. This is the first time as a head coach that I’ve had the experience of [Defensive Coordinator] Vic [Fangio]. [Former Eagles Defensive Coordinator] Jonathan [Gannon] was a first-year coordinator. And so was [Former Eagles Defensive Coordinator] Sean [Desai]. So [it’s] the first time I’ve had that experience that Vic brings, and he’s just seen so much football.

Q. Following up about the collaborative process earlier, taking a step back in the offensive game planning is probably what you wanted to improve about the collaboration. What did you learn in the past year about when to pick your spots with offensive coordinators? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I’m still in there. And still, I think, in the past, it’s been going through the game plan and saying, ‘Hey, we are going to do this, this, and this in these scenarios.’ Sitting in there listening a little bit more, not running the ship as far as, like, ‘Hey, I’m driving, we’re going to talk about this, and I’ll lead the direction of the conversation.’

It’s more, now, I’m sitting in the passenger seat, listening to the conversation, adding my information. Again, I’m not going to be shy to say ‘Hey, here is what I think in this scenario’ or ‘Here is what I think in that scenario.’ But it is more, I’m letting [Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore] run the – drive the car.

And just like my wife will say to me, ‘Hey, make sure you take a right here, take a left here.’ She’s giving me directions, and same thing in these scenarios. It’s just chiming in when I have something to chime in. Being able to step out when I need to step out and letting everybody else be able to participate – not ‘participate’ because everybody’s participating. That’s not the right way to say it.

But it is not having to put all the tapes together, all those different things like that, which has freed me up to do other things. But still be able to say, ‘Hey, take a look at what we did,’ – this was a conversation last week – ‘Take a look at we did in 2020 against Houston at Indy in this game on this particular play versus this particular look. How do we think that looks against this?’

Again, the same deal. [Passing Game Coordinator/Associate Head Coach] Kevin Patullo has a ton of experience. I have a ton of experience. Kellen has a ton of experience. That, again, is the great thing about football and that’s really the great thing about life, is that you don’t have to go through this by yourself, and you get to get together. One person coming up with one thing can’t do what four people do together, five people do together, six people do together. That’s what makes it a great team game, and you lean on everybody. I’ve talked to you about how I’ve learned a lot from Kellen, and I’m sure Kellen has learned a lot from us as well, and that’s how you grow as a coach. That’s how you grow as a person is other people. None of us have all the answers. None of us.

And I think that’s the cool part about football.