Kevin Patullo

Q. With the running game, what changed this week to get it going? (Zach Berman)

Kevin Patullo: I think when you look through the whole season up until this point, we’ve been close on a few things, and then just continue to work in the direction of knowing we want to run the ball and compliment that with the other things that we have going on. It was just a matter of time. The guys did a really, really good job of executing and doing everything they can to prepare for the different looks we might get. It was good. It was a good thing to have it go the way it went and build to this point. We knew we were really, really close and it was exciting to see. It adds another element to our offense.

Q. How much of those heavy packages, when you put T Fred Johnson in as sort of the extra tight end, how much does that help get some of those double team blocks? (John McMullen)

Kevin Patullo: I think when you do stuff like that, you just add another element to the offense. When you bring in a different personnel package, you’re opening up to what could be a variety of different things, whether it’s play action passes, runs, drop backs. When you do that, you can put the defense in a different spot to where now you’re saying like, ‘Hey, you have to prepare for this. We’re going to have something for you.’ I think it definitely helps the offense as a whole, not just the run game, but it gives you a different dynamic. It’s not something we’ve done, so it’s been a new thing for us going forward.

Q. QB Jalen Hurts’ ability to throw deep while also keeping the ball out of harm’s way, how does he do that? I mean those are high-risk, generally, throwing deep, but he doesn’t get picked off. What goes into that? (Reuben Frank)

Kevin Patullo: I will say this, he’s unbelievable at it. He does a tremendous job of understanding where to place the ball, seeing the coverage, knowing how to put it in a spot to where it’s our guy or nobody, and he really works at it. I know you guys aren’t out there the whole time when you watch practice. I mean, he works at it in between periods, during the period, constantly. He’s talking to the guys, ‘Here’s where it’s going to be, here’s what I’m going to do.’

I think it’s those little extra things as far as him with the receivers and the tight end just being on the same page and working through it and constantly, constantly looking for an area to improve on. When he gets the opportunity to hit it, he does. I mean, he does a tremendous job. The ball’s always catchable. It’s fantastic to watch and it opens up a lot of areas in the offense. So, when you can start hitting those, then all of a sudden, the runs start to go and other things start to open up.

Q. We haven’t seen much of the screen pass, at least slower developing screens, out of this offense over the years. Why did that one work this week and what do you like about it moving forward? (Jeff McLane)

Kevin Patullo: I think in general, you always look to try to get them in. It depends on what the defense does and what they’re kind of giving you with whether they’ll develop or not and what type of screen you want to put into the plan. Each week, we try to find a few if we can, and then it’s just a matter of finding the right spot to get those called to where they can be successful.

Q. After the game, RB Saquon Barkley said that what defenses are doing is trying to take away space in the run game. How are they doing that this year? On Sunday, how were you able to sort of counteract that? (Tim McManus)

Kevin Patullo: I think each week it has looked a little different. Like the Vikings tried it the week before, and it depends on what the structure of their defense is. You can do it with more guys at the line of scrimmage, you can blitz people from the edge, you can bring backers. It’s been different every week because each defensive coordinator has their own philosophy. When you look at that, I think it just comes down to what they want to do. Obviously, it is a way to stop the run game, but it does open up windows behind, [and that’s] kind of what’s happened the last couple of weeks. It’s that balance of coming in and out of the passes and the runs, but each defense has their own unique way of getting to building one line of defense.

Q. You didn’t have RB Tank Bigsby during training camp. Were you as aware that he was as powerful as he appears to be? (Merrill Reese)

Kevin Patullo: In the short time we’ve had him, his explosiveness is evident. You can see it in practice, whether it’s drills, team periods, whatever he was doing. You knew he had it. We had watched tape on him before so you could definitely see it. To see it in person was obviously a little bit different, but it was exciting. It just adds another element to our offense, another dynamic player that, if Saquon needs to blow and he gets tired for a second, we can go back out there with Tank and keep it rolling.

Q. The tush push where they stripped the ball, would you prefer that QB Jalen Hurts doesn’t reach out? I mean, what’s the coaching point on that? (Bob Brookover)

Kevin Patullo: It’s tricky because it was a fourth down. You would like to get the first [down.] We’ve got to be careful with that in that capacity, and going forward, we’ve got to be cautious as far as making sure we get the first, knowing you get the first and not putting the ball in harm’s way.

Q. You mentioned the different looks that you’re getting to take away space. Is there one particular look or structure of defense that you’ve struggled against in the run game? (Jeff Neiburg)

Kevin Patullo: Not really. It’s so different. We’ve seen so many different defenses to start the year up to this point and really good coordinators, and we’ve seen some of the best defenses up to this point. Guys that have been doing it a long time between [Buccaneers Head Coach] Todd Bowles and [Vikings Defensive Coordinator] Brian Flores and [Chiefs Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo] Spags and all those guys. It’s pretty much been different every week and I think going forward it’ll be a similar pattern. We’ll get something different from people. There hasn’t really been one thing specifically. I think it’s just a philosophy, and if you look around the league a little bit, I think with the cover twos and stuff like that, everybody’s kind of doing similar things with the personnel that they have. The Giants have a really good front seven, obviously, and so their personnel is a little bit different than some of these other fronts we’ll see.

Q. What’d you think of OL Brett Toth’s performance? (John McMullen)

Kevin Patullo: He played really [well.] He played really, really [well.] I mean, the guy’s extremely smart. He’s detailed. He comes to work every day, he works his butt off constantly in the classroom. He asks really good questions. He’s out in front of things. He wants to know the plan inside and out and you can feel his detail and his energy out there. That’s the biggest thing for him is you could tell that he wants to be good in every area and do anything he can for this team, and he put a lot of effort into it, so it was really good to see.

Q. As far as TE Dallas Goedert in the red zone, what makes him so dangerous? He’s got seven touchdowns, which is already a career high for him. What makes him someone you guys want to go to? (Martin Frank)

Kevin Patullo: Just his ability to get the ball in the end zone, right? He’s a big guy that, when he gets the ball in his hands, he’s going to score. When you feel that, you want to get him the ball and use him in any way you can, and it’s been a variety of different things, it’s not been one thing he’s scored on. I think he’s dynamic with the ball in his hands and that’s why you want to continue to get him the ball.

Q. You and Head Coach Nick Sirianni have been good over the years at making big in-season adjustments. In your experience, what’s the key as a coach to finding a problem, but then when it’s practice week and you don’t have all the time to implementing that type of change in season? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

Kevin Patullo: I think it starts– really, it started yesterday and even that mini bye, Nick does an unbelievable job of having this very detailed process that we go through as coaches. What it does is it basically allows you to go through every phase of what we do, what we’re getting and where we need to go. It’s basically a process to where, ‘Yes, we’re good in an area, how do we get better?’ Or, ‘What’s going on, why are we good, what’s the next step to continuously evolving in this area?’ It starts with the process that we’ve had in place for a while, and then it takes a while to kind of work through that. We’re in the process of it right now. We’re on a quick lunch break, and as soon as I go back up there, we’re ripping back at it.

I think that process of just going through everything, every phase, the plays, the combination of how these plays were kind of working together, the packages, the situations, and truly being honest. You can’t get better unless you’re honest. We can say all we want, ‘Yeah, that play worked fine, but was there a breakdown? Could we be better at it? What’s the next step for that play?’ I think that’s where it really starts and we’ve done a good job of that, and then simplifying it so that when the players come back and we come back, we know, ‘Hey, this is what we want to do from this standpoint going forward,’ and slowly kind of getting it in each game plan. You can’t fix it all at once. If you do too much, then you kind of become all over the place. It starts with Nick and what we’ve done over the years, and we’ve found a good recipe for how to look at what we’re doing on both sides of the ball and improve from there.

Q. We didn’t see a designed quarterback run. Didn’t need it as much, but after eight games, this is kind of a thing, clearly. Is this a conscious thing? (Jeff McLane)

Kevin Patullo: I think it just really comes down to do we need it? Do we want to do it? Does it present itself? I think there’s different ways you can get around that. We’ve used different plays in that capacity, too, that have led to explosives in different games where we’ve gotten the ball in the perimeter. It’s not something that’s definitely on purpose, it just kind of happened that way. The way the game unfolded the other day, we really didn’t need it, and so we just kind of kept going.

Q. As much as you might call it outside noise, you’re a savvy guy and, if nothing else, you hear the nature of the questions each week. How have you dealt with the scrutiny, the spotlight of being an OC during the past eight weeks? (Zach Berman)

Kevin Patullo: I think it comes with the territory. I totally understand that. But really, it’s all about just winning games, and we know we have a really good talented team and we’re going to stick together. We live to our core values and that’s what we want to do. It’s been fun. I mean, the players have been all into it. The energy has been super high no matter what’s been going on. We have not wavered from that standpoint. We’re always looking [for] ways to get better and improve on everything we do. Obviously, we know we want to continue to improve on anything and everything we can to get to the point at the end of the season, but I feel like we’re improving on certain things and in a good spot. Like I said, it comes with the territory, but I totally accept that and ready to keep moving on.

Q. Head Coach Nick Sirianni has talked about mental toughness. In your case, how would you explain your mental toughness in that role? (Zach Berman)

Kevin Patullo: I think you’ve got to understand totally being in this role [that] my job is to make sure the players [are] in the best position at all times and we’re detailed in everything we do and there’s no stone unturned. By doing that, you have to consume yourself with absolutely everything you can for the team, for the organization to do the best you can and put the best product out there to win the game at all costs. You really have to kind of block things out and understand that’s part of it. I totally get that. It doesn’t bother me in that respect. You just have to continue to march forward and understand your job is to put everybody in a great position to win the game and do everything you can and make sure we’re all on the same page. Our goal is to win the game. So, that’s kind of what you’ve got to go with.

Q. How has QB Jalen Hurts developed as a quarterback who throws from under center off play action? (Jeff McLane)

Kevin Patullo: I think his willingness to work. The guy works at everything extremely hard, and the reps that he’ll take. He asks good questions and seeking like, ‘Hey, what else can we do? Can I do more?’ I think that’s the biggest thing. He wants to do new things. He wants to get better and challenge himself and do new things to add to the offense. It just makes him more dangerous. I think he’s proven that the last couple weeks with this kind of new thing that we’ve been messing with where he can do it from a different capacity, and that’s been really huge for our offense.

Q. The Packers’ defensive numbers are better this year than they were. Obviously, LB Micah Parsons is a big part of that, and he’s making plays as an individual. What is he opening up for the rest of the guys on their defense? (Jimmy Kempski)

Kevin Patullo: I think really he’s so dynamic in everything he does and they move him around a lot to where you’ve got to pay attention to him. But they have a really good group of guys in general. Their front sevens really good, they’re playing really good team football right now when you watch them. Just as a whole, I think he brings the energy up, and the demand for who he is just elevates everybody around him.

Q. What was that experience like for you as a play caller where everything was flowing in the pass and the run game against New York? (Tim McManus)

Kevin Patullo: I think we knew we were close as an offense in certain games and there were a few things we just need to continue to work through, and to feel that was good. It was a good sign. We understand throughout the rest of the year, we’re going to have some ups and downs. [It’s] just how it works, but we also know we are trending in the right direction and what we’re capable of. We’ve just got to continue to push through that and add more layers to it and see what else it can bring us.