Kellen Moore
Q. How do you evaluate the passing game after Sunday? QB Jalen Hurts didn’t make any mistakes, no turnovers or anything, threw a couple touchdowns. But then there was a long gap without a lot of production. How do you look at it? (Reuben Frank)
KELLEN MOORE: Passing game, obviously, [it] wasn’t our best performance. Certainly every person involved would love to have it be cleaner, play better in that aspect of the game. But again, to [QB] Jalen [Hurts]’s credit, he played clean football as far as protecting the football. He gave us opportunities.
We made plays in some situations when we had to, and that’s sometimes how games go, unfortunately. It’s something that we are all excited to navigate and find better answers moving forward.
Q. How much were you surprised by some of the coverage looks they gave you? (Jeff McLane)
KELLEN MOORE: Any time you go into playoff games, people are going to stress you and challenge you on the best levels. You are playing the best defenses in this league. That’s how playoff games are. They are going to give you different looks, different presentations. And I think for us, the exciting part is how we navigate that and execute it in those situations.
Q. In the first meeting, RB Saquon Barkley had such a dominant game. How do you navigate that? Do you expect he’ll be the focus? (John McMullen)
KELLEN MOORE: [RB] Saquon [Barkley] had a great day out there. Long time between those two games, a bunch of other games. They are playing as well as any defense in the league right now, and they are playing really confidently.
They will stress us in a lot of different ways. And there will be a lot of challenges associated with our run game based on them having the film and the film they have put out the last month and a half, which has been really, really impressive. It will be a challenge.
Q. What is behind that defensive ascension from what you’ve seen? (Tim McManus)
KELLEN MOORE: Playing really clean, really sound football. You can tell every phase of that defense is tied together, and obviously the front is doing an excellent job getting pressure and the challenge when you get into obvious passing situations. Those guys are as good as it gets in this league collectively.
Q. QB Jalen Hurts had his fewest number of carries in a game he completed. It didn’t look like there were many designed runs. Was that by design, to not have him run much? (Jeff McLane)
KELLEN MOORE: We had runs within the game plan associated for Jalen to run it. He felt comfortable and excited for those opportunities. As it went, the game played out, he ended up only keeping it a few times.
But I don’t think there’s any cause for concern or hesitancy about it. I thought he went in there, and when he did have the opportunity to run it, he ran it and gave us positive plays.
Q. Was the general feel that that game called for more of a conservative offensive game plan, not pushing the ball downfield, taking a lot of chances, running on third-and-long, that kind of thing? (Tim McManus)
KELLEN MOORE: You’d love to have more opportunities downfield. You’d love to have those explosive play opportunities, and sometimes they didn’t present themselves. We were able to grind it out as the game progressed with some run game emphasis as the game ended.
There are things each and every game when you come out of it, you would love to do different things, and love to call a few plays here and there that are different. You’re going to come out of every game that way.
At the end of the day, we accomplished the No. 1 goal, which is to advance in this tournament. There will be things where we’ll look back and say, ‘Hey, we want to improve on that’ and ‘We want to improve on that.’ And that’s the beauty of this group, that they are ready to do that.
Q. Do you think there’s enough variety in the passing game right now? (Dave Zangaro)
KELLEN MOORE: It’s always something you’re trying to strive for. Just different presentations, different challenges to stress the defense and give yourself different opportunities. It’s something we’re trying to do each and every week, and as the season progresses, that’s the balancing act of flavor in different looks and different presentations with an identity and ability to do the things that you’ve repped a lot of times.
Q. The Rams have so many young guys up front. Have they gotten better because they are finally starting to get to play together as a group? (Reuben Frank)
KELLEN MOORE: Any time guys play together, build cohesiveness, build connection, they are going to play better and better and better. They have an excellent staff over there.
Obviously [Rams Defensive Line Coach/Run Game Coordinator] Giff [Smith], the defensive line coach, I was with in L.A. He’s one of the best in the business. He does an excellent job of getting those guys to play together and just play with the incredible effort that they play with.
It is just really impressive on film, and it’s going to be a real big challenge for us.
Q. You took a shot on the ‘tush push’ on third down. What goes behind that? Is that something you see, or is that something you just wanted to take a shot in that situation? (John McMullen)
KELLEN MOORE: It was a play that we’ve had in for a number of weeks. We were trying to find the right opportunity to present it. Obviously, we feel really good about the sneak, and it was a 3rd-and-1 that gave us a chance to be aggressive there with the 4th-and-1 in our pocket.
Took a chance. Obviously, it’s an aggressive call. We were close, but it didn’t happen. We’ll see what happens next.
Q. Even though you didn’t complete it, did that still serve its purpose to put that on tape? (Dave Zangaro)
KELLEN MOORE: There’s always value to the things you put on tape to force things to think about what has been done and what could be done. So we took a shot. I thought it was worthwhile, and we were able to get the sneak on the next play.
Q. You had TE Dallas Goedert in the season finale, but what did it mean to get him back in the mix with the starters in the first playoff game? (Olivia Reiner)
KELLEN MOORE: [TE] Dallas [Goedert] has transitioned into this thing beautifully. He made the big plays. He made the touchdown which everyone has seen.
His blocking in the run game was huge. It was incredible. His ability to block on those edges against some really, really good defensive ends in this league, really challenging matchups, I thought that was really one of the secret sauces of what made his game so special on Sunday.
Q. How did you and QB Jalen Hurts review his first game back after a couple games out? (Brooks Kubena)
KELLEN MOORE: Jalen and our really our whole offensive staff. It was a very similar process, I thought. We can score a million points or no points. You’re always going to come out of games with things you want to improve on, things we feel like we can build off of.
I thought Jalen responded really, really well. Coming out of that thing, not having played for a few weeks, it wasn’t perfect, but I thought he settled in. And in that second half, we were able to play with some tempo, play with some pace. He was able to play some clean football and give us some opportunities to score down the stretch.
Q. QB Jalen Hurts’s trust level in WR DeVonta Smith is obviously really high. How important is WR DeVonta Smith in those clutch situations when you really need a play? (Reuben Frank)
KELLEN MOORE: We have got some premiere players on this team that seem like every time you need to make a play, they make it. [WR DeVonta Smith] Smitty is one of those guys.
He’s really reliable. He’s trustworthy. His physicality as a player is always under looked. His ability to go block in the run game, his ability to catch the ball and make plays. He doesn’t shy away from contact.
And I think that’s the beauty of his game, that he has so many aspects of it that he can utilize.
Q. Your name has been linked to the Cowboys job. How did it end there from your perspective, and is that a job that would interest you? (Zach Berman)
KELLEN MOORE: I spent a lot of time there, eight years there. So [I] have plenty of relationships in that place.
I love it here. I’ve had so much fun here. It’s been a really fun process, and we’re in a really special situation right now, getting the chance to play this Sunday, having a chance to make a run at this thing, and that’s really all you worry about. Everything else is what it is, and we’ll see where it takes you.
Q. How vocal has QB Jalen Hurts been since the start of him in your offense to now in catering it to his likes and dislikes? (Jeff McLane)
KELLEN MOORE: Jalen does an excellent job each and every week just preparing every game new. Every game, different opportunities, different challenges, different presentations. I’ve really enjoyed how we collaborate on this game plan and build it each and every week with Jalen, with the rest of the staff.
I think that’s the cool part of it, and it takes the whole group even on game day. The receivers’ communication, the quarterbacks’ communication, the O-line.
I think that’s one of the secret sauces of our group, how collaborative they are. It allows us to make the adjustments that we need on game day, and Jalen is a huge key aspect of that.
His adjustment in the game – they were giving us a bunch of pressure that they had not shown in the red zone going into it, so they stalled us out unfortunately. He made that signal adjustment to Dallas. Got the ball out of his hand, put us in excellent position to score that touchdown. That’s a big time adjustment to the football that he made.
Q. You talked about physicality with WR DeVonta Smith. When TE Dallas Goedert does that in a physical kind of way, what does that mean to the offense? (John McMullen)
KELLEN MOORE: Our guys love that. They our guys thrive on it. The physical way that we play, guys embrace it, and it shows in each and every play by everyone.