Kellen Moore

Q. You went against the Cowboys last year, what did you see in that? And returning back there again, how much of it is a game of trying to not have Cowboys Head Coach Mike McCarthy guess what you’re doing? Having worked with him for so long, and that guessing game trying to evolve as you go along. (Chris Franklin)

KELLEN MOORE: It’s a good question. A lot of coaches, players, they all have overlap. We’ve all worked together in some capacity, so no different than a lot of guys that go to different places.

Obviously, there’s familiarity. There’s some of that, but at the end of the day, once you get in the game, you play the game, and some of that stuff kind of takes care of itself. Excited about the opportunity. Big division game and all that fun stuff.

Q. What did you like about Cowboys QB Cooper Rush when you were around him? (John McMullen)

KELLEN MOORE: [Cowboys QB Cooper Rush] Coop is a really smart player. He has a great feel for the game. Anticipation. Vision. Feel for what the defense is doing. I think he puts himself in a really good position. He can handle volume from an offensive game plan perspective. When Coop has gone in there, he’s had success. It’ll still be a challenge for us.

Q. In terms of your game plan preparation, you took an Excel course? Why did you do that, and how has that helped you? (Brook Kubena)

KELLEN MOORE: I’m not quite familiar with that. But I do spend a lot of time on the computer.

Me being slightly younger than some other guys, I spend a lot of time [on the computer]. So a lot of times, I do the call sheets and the scripts just because I find familiarity with when I type it. It’s similar to people who say the more you write something, the more you remember it; the more I type it into the call sheet and put it in certain situations, I can find it quicker during the game.

So it’s something that I’ve always enjoyed doing, and enjoyed piecing it together. [Passing Game Coordinator/Associate Head Coach] Kevin Patullo and I spend a lot of time piecing all those things together and making sure the call sheet is ready for game day.

Q. Do you remember being part of a game with that many individual spectacular plays? (Dave Zangaro)

KELLEN MOORE: It’s a really good question. There were definitely some big time plays. It was really a special night for so many guys. And for different guys to do it, multiple guys to do it, it just showed the depth that our team has and the ability on the field. So it was awesome.

Q. How much more insight are you able to give Head Coach Nick Sirianni and maybe Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio as far as the Cowboys personnel? Obviously, the Eagles play them twice a year, so they probably know them pretty well. But are you able to give more insight? (Martin Frank)

KELLEN MOORE: Being a division opponent, there’s already a lot of familiarity. And then being two years removed from a place, rosters change quickly. There are certain players that have been there that I’m familiar with, but there are a number of guys that have come in over the course of the last two years.

It’s a division game in the sense that both teams know each other very, very well. It will be fun.

Q. When a play is not working, like the quarterback sneak the other night, as effectively as you want it to be, what’s the thought process between trying to stick to it and going independent or abandoning it and trying something else? (Zach Berman)

KELLEN MOORE: Just try to take it case-by-case and evaluate the ‘why.’ And that’s something that within the game, you have to make quick decisions. Ultimately, it wasn’t successful for us when we shifted gears there and tried to do the movement on 4thd-and-1.

You’re going to second guess yourself every time when it doesn’t work and try and evaluate that. But from the standpoint of game planning, can we make any adjustments with it? Is there anything else that we can add to the package within that situation? Just continue to evaluate it.

Q. What was the ‘why’? I’m sure you guys looked at it pretty extensively. Was it something the Jaguars were doing or was it execution errors? (EJ Smith)

KELLEN MOORE: We’ll continue to evaluate it as the week progresses. Usually, we get into our short yardage packages later in the week.

I think a combination of – there are always going to be things that we feel like we can improve on our side. And I thought they did an excellent job from their standpoint of creating some movement and some push there. It wasn’t successful, and we’ll evaluate and find our next solution.

Q. Are you surprised at all that the variations off that [QB sneak] haven’t worked that well and you haven’t been able to get an explosive play off of it? And do you have any theories as to why? (Bob Brookover)

KELLEN MOORE: Great question. Continuing to evaluate it. The QB sneak has been a very valuable piece for us, and we continue to have those different tools that hopefully can create and generate a big play off of it. But it’s something that just hasn’t popped yet this year, and sometimes it takes time. Hopefully we’ll find something at some point.

Q. You guys are running it more on early downs post-bye than you were before the bye week. Is that just a situational thing with the opponents, or something in the bye week you guys decided you wanted to do more of? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

KELLEN MOORE: We are constantly trying to evaluate our rhythm throughout each and every game. It felt like some of the run game on early downs has generated some very positive situations. I feel like we’ve put ourselves in more manageable third downs because of how we’ve played first and second down.

The play-action game is still critical to those situations. I think when you are able to tie those two together from a presentation and a threat standpoint, huge advantages. We are running the football well at times. So when you do have that ability to control the line of scrimmage, and our guys can just run off the ball and play physical, you definitely want to embrace that.

Q. I know that you’re the play caller, but when it comes to making a big-time change in terms of needing to run more on early downs, how involved is Head Coach Nick Sirianni in those conversations? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

KELLEN MOORE: Every single one of us is together on this thing. It takes everyone having those conversations, talking through it. And sometimes games take different flows.

We go into games with the ability to throw it a lot or run it a lot. We have an indication of how we maybe want to go into it.

But yeah, sometimes those adjustments have to go within the game. And when you are running the football as successfully as we have been in a couple of these games – not every single time, but when we have those successes, hopefully we can build on them and continue to attack the defense in that manner.

Q. Bringing plays to players, it seems like that helps generate some motivation from them. Why do you think that is your approach? Is that from your playing career? What led to that approach? (Brooks Kubena)

KELLEN MOORE: I really think this is a collaborative effort at the end of the day. Certainly, you have got to make decisions as a coordinator and make those decisions and make those calls during games.

But I think the more that people are tied together and bought into it – the players ultimately make plays. When they believe in something, when they have a belief and when we have a willingness to have those conversations and share their perspective, I think it just strengthens our conviction in what we want to do.

We have a lot of veteran players here who have done an excellent job and played a lot of big time football. They have a lot of experiences that we can lean on.

Q. RB Saquon Barkley is such a violent runner, and he embraces contact, it seems like. He’s had 22 touches per game. Are you good with that number, and how closely do you monitor that? (Reuben Frank)

KELLEN MOORE: [RB] Saquon [Barkley] has done a phenomenal job, especially in some of these games where he’s had higher workloads. It’s something that we’ll have to monitor and be aware of during the week.

I think we do an excellent job through the week as far as getting him ready to go on Sunday. He does an excellent job with his preparation. Really impressive preparation the way he handles it, and we’ll just see how it goes.

Q. You were excited and animated when RB Saquon Barkley scored on the 3rd-and-17. Why did that play excite you so much? (Bob Brookover)

KELLEN MOORE: It’s a 3rd-and-17 run. Those don’t happen a whole lot for touchdowns (laughing).

Q. What made you go to that call right there? (Bob Brookover)

KELLEN MOORE: Yeah, we just felt like we were in a goofy spot there a little bit, with the situation of, you have points, you can be a little bit aggressive.

We felt like the run had a chance. We worked it the last couple weeks, putting ourselves [in the position that] if we get in one of these goofy spots, there’s a handoff opportunity here. And see if we can at least get it started and get some of the safeties blocked, then we can try to get to the corners. Fortunately, it played out as we had hoped.

Q. Were you excited when you saw the D-lineman that came out before the play was run? Looked like it was – (Bob Brookover)

KELLEN MOORE: We felt like we had a chance as long as we could get through the first level, and then it was really about the receivers occupying the defensive guys. And as soon as all our guys went to the middle of the field and everyone chased them, we felt like, okay, there’s an edge. We can go.

Q. QB Jalen Hurts clearly has no turnovers since the bye. What has gone into making sure he doesn’t put the ball in harm’s way? (Jeff McLane)

KELLEN MOORE: So much credit to [QB] Jalen [Hurts] and his process. He’s doing an excellent job throughout the week, preparing, making excellent decisions on game day.

He’s aggressive. He’s still aggressive. He’s giving us opportunities downfield, and I think we have created some really, really positive explosive plays in the pass game. And we haven’t lost any of that while he’s still protecting the football. So all the credit goes to him in making excellent decisions.

Q. When you have a player as talented as RB Saquon Barkley, what does it take from Running Backs/Assistant Head Coach Jemal Singleton to help him maximize that talent? (Dave Zangaro)

KELLEN MOORE: [Running Backs/Assistant Head Coach] Jemal [Singleton] is a huge aspect of this. Jemal does an excellent job preparing him throughout the week from the film and the classroom standpoint. But also, when his volume is a little bit less on a Wednesday or Thursday, on an occasional week when he needs to physically recover as the week goes on. So, credit to those guys. They do an excellent job preparing him, putting him in the best position to be successful and ready to rock and roll on Sunday.

Q. When you look back at the two fourth down attempts, do you feel like those were the right two play calls in that moment, and why do you feel like they didn’t work out? (Olivia Reiner)

KELLEN MOORE: Any critical situation, we are always going to evaluate those. We have had a ton of success this year on fourth downs [in] similar games where they shifted the gears of a game at New York and Cincinnati, all those different things. It didn’t work out.

So you’re going to be hypercritical of yourself. [We] try and put ourselves in the best position to be successful. Maybe adjust the play call or how can I put ourselves in a better situation.

So ultimately, we didn’t get it done, and we’ll continue to find new avenues to take.