Nick Sirianni

Q. Can you confirm that DE Bryce Huff is getting surgery? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, he will be. He’s really done a good job of battling through, but this will hopefully help him get some more function in that hand.

We’ll see as the season continues, but just can’t say enough of how he battled through and tried to keep going through it. Hopefully this helps him.

Q. How long had he been playing through the injury? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Just exactly when we talked about it last. He was battling through all those different things. I really admire the way he did battle through it and played with that cast on. So, again, hats off to him.

Q. You mean two games – that was the… (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah.

Q. Does that mean OLB Jalyx Hunt takes on a bigger role here? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: We’ll see. We’ll see how that goes. We’ve got some guys – obviously with all these guys, [we] really like our room. They’ve been playing at a really high level.

We drafted [OLB] Jalyx [Hunt] because we liked his skillset. Jalyx has been doing a lot of good things on special teams.

So, yeah, we’ll see how those reps get divvied up. This week with tell a lot in practice.

Q. Is the plan to put DE Bryce Huff on IR possibly, or is it too soon to tell? (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: We’ll see. We’ll see how that goes. We’ll see where we are as we continue on through the week and after everything goes on.

Q. Is this possibility one of the scenarios, when you’re at the trade deadline, that this could be a result? Was that something you guys had in mind – (Jeff Neiburg)

NICK SIRIANNI: We talk about everything and through every situation. Like I said, we really like this room and the guys. We love [DE] Bryce [Huff], and the way he’s battled through, and the things he’s done.

But we feel good about the depth we have here and some of the young guys. [OLB] Nolan [Smith] has done a really good job.

Jalyx, we’ll see where he is as we continue on here. But Jalyx keeps getting better as a football player.

[OLB Josh] Sweat has had some really good games and is playing at a top-notch level.

[DE Brandon Graham] BG has continued to be steady throughout, like he has his entire career.

Q. Any concern? Obviously, DE Brandon Graham has played at high level, but he is 36. And OLB Josh Sweat had the quick start last year; played a lot of snaps and then maybe tailed off. Is that sort of workload, increased workload something to keep an eye on? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: We focus on everything. I think the last couple games, they’ve played in a sweet spot where we anticipate them playing.

That fluctuates week in, week out depending on how the game is going, doing what we need to do to win the game. But like I’ve said to you guys about everything, the management that you do with your players is done more Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And then you do what you’ve got to do to win the game.

Yes, you’re trying to have rotations to keep guys fresh throughout the year, but we owe it to ourselves, the team, our fans, and everybody to do everything we need to do to win the game.

I know that’s always a popular question, do you have to manage this and manage that? Yeah, we do, but we’re also thinking [about] what we need to do in that time frame to win the football game.

Again, we can take care of their bodies on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday as much as we possibly can. Now, don’t think it’s not on our mind on Sunday; it is. We’ll do it as much as we possibly can on Sunday.

But that number of plays, touches, anything you talk about, we go with our number in mind. We try to hit within five of that. Sometimes it’s five higher, sometimes it’s five lower.

That’s the way it goes.

Q. What stands out to you about OLB Nolan Smith’s development? How big is he going to be over the stretch? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: What a guy that’s been able to handle the ups and downs. Not getting a lot of reps early on in his career because of the depth we had at that position, to now really being a big time contributor.

Patience. Patience of everybody. Hey, it takes time. If you’ve got the right people, like Nolan is – Nolan deeply cares about being good at football. Nolan loves football. Nolan is as tough as we’ve got. One of the toughest guys we’ve got on this football team. He plays as hard as anybody in the National Football League. And he’s got great skill.

When you have those characteristics as a person, God willing, you’ll reach your ceiling. I think he keeps getting better because of the skill he has and who he is as a person.

I think we want things to happen right away at all times. I’m guilty of that. I think we all are. But development and getting better every day, there is a process, and it takes time.

I think what you’ve seen is him putting his head down, working every day, regardless of what the circumstances are. And you’ve seen him get better. Now he’s contributing big time to our success.

Q. Along the lines of Georgia guys, DT Jordan Davis is a guy that hasn’t made the splash plays, I guess. What have you seen from him since the bye week as far as his play? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Sometimes [defensive] tackles aren’t going to have the splash plays at times because they’re eating up the double team. Sometimes there is no space in there, and other guys are contributing because it’s taking two guys to block them. And [LB] Zack Baun or [LB] Nakobe [Dean] can run around and make the play.

I think [DT] Jordan [Davis] continues to get better. He has strung together a couple nice games in a row by our accounts of, did we grade him out as a positive. I don’t get into the grades much, but Jordan has been playing well and doing what we’ve asked him to do.

Sometimes at that position, it’s like the offensive line. You might not notice everything that’s happening from the stat sheet or from anything else, but we sure as heck do. And I know his linebackers behind him do.

He’s doing some nice things with the way he’s taking on blocks, the way he’s getting off blocks, and being able to finish when he has opportunities to finish.

Q. We talked to Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio yesterday about the defense being so young, yet you have DE Brandon Graham and CB Darius Slay. How valuable have they been to have on that side of the ball? (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: Big time. I think those two guys are phenomenal leaders that could lead any team, lead any business. Just great, great leaders. We talked about [CB Darius] Slay today. He was the topic of our team meeting today, just being able to overcome adversity.

So you have to overcome adversity in-game, and DBs have to go through that quite a bit. And you have to overcome adversity through your career.

I talk to Slay quite a bit, and we just talked about how he’s had to overcome early adversity in his career. And now he’s on year 12. So, if bad things happen and you can’t overcome them, maybe you don’t deserve to be in year 12, and he is. Bad things happen and you don’t overcome them, maybe you don’t deserve to continue to win games.

So that was our talking point today, being mentally tough because of how long the season is and how grueling it is. There will be ups and downs, and really handling that.

It’s always great to pull a video and show, hey, watch [NBA player] Michael Jordan talk about this, or watch [golfer] Tiger Woods talk about this. Or watch [tennis player] Roger Federer, whoever it is.

It’s so much better when you’re able to put your own guys up there, and then that can lead to questions that the other guys have for Slay.

So when we were able to do that and take his progression of his first year, when he was wearing number 30 through everything, it was really awesome story about how he’s persevered and why he is where he is. That’s what you want to accomplish for the entire team.

Again, just can’t say enough about the leaders that we have on this football team, particularly the two you asked about. Man, big time leaders. That’s important for any team, any organization.

Q. How different is the self-scout process coming off six wins than it was early in the year, when you were 2-2? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: You try not to let it be any different. You may have more to watch at certain points because there is more to fix. But even then, you’re like, ‘Okay, here is what we need to fix based off our studies. Let’s watch this.’

Then when we feel like we’re playing good football – we have a lot of things to correct – but when we feel like we’re doing some good things, then it’s like, ‘Well, what can complement this?’ So it’s still grueling.

You don’t have the same amount of time as you normally do in a bye week. It’s a shorter process. But it’s still the same process with little tweaks because of the amount [of time].

As far as the wins and losses or what your record is, it just takes different shapes and forms. Again, sometimes it’s bam, ‘We need to improve this,’ and it’s very clear. Sometimes you have to search for that answer of what you need to improve. Sometimes when you’re playing well and doing a lot of good things, you still have things that you’ve got to correct, but then it’s like, ‘What can complement this? What can complement that?’

It’s always about not skipping steps and being diligent in your work on your bye week. I think we’ve had some good success after bye weeks. This isn’t exactly the same thing.

But we feel like we have a good formula for bye weeks that we use on Thursday night games and that we’ll use moving forward.

Q. What did that self-scout process teach you about the passing game? (EJ Smith)

NICK SIRIANNI: We’ll keep a lot of that in-house because obviously if I share it with you guys and share with everybody, I’m giving some information to the opposing teams. All I can say is that for every part of our game, it was productive. Now it’s our chance as coaches to build on that and put them in positions to succeed, and our guys to go execute.

Again, any time you have self-scouts and have the time to be able to do it – you simulate time even on a regular week to do it as well, so you’re always thinking about it.

But any time you have extra time to do it, it’s going to be helpful.

Q. A lot was made last year about how the culture and chemistry towards the end of the season wasn’t where you guys wanted it to be. Is there anything this year that you can point to and say, ‘Yeah, I know it’s right because I saw this?’ (Bob Brookover)

NICK SIRIANNI: I just think it always comes back down to the connection. We talk about our core values. There are always these truths. Football changes. Scheme changes, ebbs and flows of the way the game is being played change.

But at the end of the day it’s always going to be, do you play with detail, right? Did you play with detail? Did you play with fundamentals? That is what I mean, detail, football IQ, all those things. Did you play tough, and did you play together?

Those things don’t change, so we always talk about that. I think we’ve got some really good teammates and coaches. Everyone is just so locked in to becoming better.

I do feel like that, that everyone is locked in to becoming better. I felt that way last year, too. Don’t get me wrong.

It didn’t work. There were things that happened last year that we feel like we’ve corrected, that we’re on the right track. We’ve made those corrections already from last year, so we don’t focus too much on that. We just work on what you can build each day.

I really feel like this team continues to grow closer each day. We’ve got great teammates; we’ve got great leaders. Winning is contagious. You build on the success that you’ve had.

But I think the other thing I see is just the hunger of everyone to get better. And that’s all I can point out from this year’s team. Forget last year’s team. We’ve learned from those mistakes that we made last year. Myself, the team, everybody.

I really notice in this year’s team that we’re getting closer as a football team and have that hunger to get better each day.

Q. As an offensive minded head coach, when you look at Rams Head Coach Sean McVay, what do you see? What do you like? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think [Rams Head Coach] Sean [McVay] has done an unbelievable job there for a long time. What is it, seven, eight years for him as the head football coach?

He’s had a great run to date and been at the top of the mountain. I have a lot of respect for his scheme. One thing I always want guys to respect on our team is that we play with great fundamentals because we put a lot of time into that.

I always see that from his guys. And I’ve always seen that from his guys, even dating back to when I knew he was a wide out guy and he was at Washington. I would always be like, man, his wide receivers play the game the way I envision receivers playing the game. So I’ve always respected that about him.

Looking from afar, you always study guys. I’ve got so much respect for his leadership. We have some of the strength guys that were here with him, and I’ve been very curious [about], hey, what would Sean do in this situation? What would Sean do in that situation? You always try to learn from people.

Again, when you watch the tape, it’s obvious he’s a great football coach with the details, and the fundamentals, and obviously the scheme. I think he gets talked about a lot with his scheme, but you see it in his players with how well they play the game. That’s a tribute to his players, but that’s a tribute to the coach as well.

And then, like I said, I just admire his leadership from afar. I don’t know him well. But I really admire his leadership from afar. Talk about a guy who has had up seasons and some slight down seasons and then recovers back.

Man, can’t say enough good things about him and what I think of him as a football coach and a person.