Kellen Moore

Q. When you don’t know exactly how mobile QB Jalen Hurts will be going into a game, how much does that change the game planning aspect? (Dave Zangaro)

KELLEN MOORE: Same game plan formula. Like any player on our team, if you have to make adjustments as weeks progress or games progress, you do. But a very similar plan.

Q. We’ve talked a lot about the passing game. And you keep winning games, but 65 net yards I assume is not the goal? (John McMullen)

KELLEN MOORE: Not ideal.

Q. How do you look at it when you come out of a game like that? (John McMullen)

KELLEN MOORE: I think you’ve got to evaluate it from a big picture perspective. Then we look through every detail of it. Too many sacks on our end. I focus on how I can help this process and put ourselves in better situations with some of the playcalling. Some of those situations I’m going to dig really deep into.

I thought we protected the football. We made some plays in some situational football when we needed to and gave ourselves a chance to win.

Q. What was last week like for you? It’s not every week where you’re prepping for a divisional playoff game and have three head coaching interviews. What was that like? (Tim McManus)

KELLEN MOORE: It’s really the same process we normally take. Nothing changes in our preparation for a game.

You know, I missed a fourth grade basketball game on Friday night; that’s about it. Other than that, it’s the same process.

Q. After QB Jalen Hurts’s injury, there were two sacks where he took deep drops: the safety and the second down sack on the last drive. Why were those the play calls there when he wasn’t moving as well clearly? (Zach Berman)

KELLEN MOORE: Yeah, those are two situational calls I’ll dig really deep into. If you’re in that situation again, you’d probably give yourself a better opportunity. I’d lean that way, just going back through it, everything, being backed up and playing that situation out.

Then in the four-minute offense, we had had some success on some movements, and they played that one really, really well.

Q. Last time you played the Commanders when QB Jalen Hurts went out, they obviously, in that second half, sold out on stopping RB Saquon Barkley. Why were they successful in your mind, and given the situation with his knee, how much are you worried they maybe try to employ that same thing? (Bob Brookover)

KELLEN MOORE: They did a really good job. They were really gap sound. I thought they did a really good job fitting the gaps. They did a really good job with their pressure plan, having enough different presentations. I thought they really changed up their variety and did a really excellent job.

We felt like we were close on some. We were not able to hit, and they finished it off.

Q. If I could follow up on the safety, when you’re evaluating that, obviously there is a lot at play there. Protection, the defense they played, the call, and QB Jalen Hurts’s decision making. If you could get as granular as you can, how do you assign, I’m not saying blame, but how do you evaluate that and say this is what should have happened ideally? (Jeff McLane)

KELLEN MOORE: Yeah, that one is on me. That one is simply on me. Chasing a particular look that’s more traditional in the open field, and we were backed up. That’s one that, hey, I’ll call something different in that situation based off just the way it played out.

Q. 100% on you? (Jeff McLane)

KELLEN MOORE: Yeah.

Q. You wouldn’t say, ‘Hey, you know what, QB Jalen Hurts should have gone to TE Dallas Goedert there to get rid of the ball’? (Jeff McLane)

KELLEN MOORE: There are things within it, but my number one focus is to put the guys in the best position to be successful, and didn’t feel like I did.

Q. On QB Jalen Hurts’s 44-yard touchdown early in the game, obviously it was a zone read with Saquon. Does that kind of show if QB Jalen Hurts is a threat running just how much defenses have to account for that? What makes them tougher, QB Jalen Hurts and RB Saquon Barkley, tough together? (Martin Frank)

KELLEN MOORE: The combination of [RB] Saquon [Barkley] and Jalen in the backfield is really, really powerful. They do an excellent job of having the threat of both of them. Jalen does an excellent job making decisions. He has to make decisions a lot of times in those runs whether to hand it or keep it. He does an excellent job.

I thought that was a really, really cool play. Great decision by him. The offensive line, [G] Landon [Dickerson] kind of pinned it, [T] Jordan [Mailata] led the way, and the receivers did a good job with their perimeter blocking.

Q. Obviously there are pass plays that you call where you’re hoping for an explosive to come out of it. Are there run plays with RB Saquon Barkley where you’re thinking ‘This could get us an explosive’? (Bo Wulf)

KELLEN MOORE: There are variables that may increase the odds. Sometimes there are some anticipated probably a little bit more dirty runs, and there are some runs that you’re trying to chase something big.

Most runs, if not almost all of them, you’re trying to block the first and second level. If it gets to the third level, usually that’s where the big plays happen.

Q. How big has it been getting TE Dallas Goedert back, especially these last two games? (Reuben Frank)

KELLEN MOORE: [TE] Dallas [Goedert] has done an incredible job in the run game. Want to highlight how important he has been in the run game. Just done a great job in there, and he’s made some plays in the passing game. Seems like we need a play, and he happens to be there.

Q. A lot of times when you see the top tier cornerbacks, people tend to shy away. In the last matchup, you guys really attacked Commanders CB Marshon Lattimore, especially deep. What did you make of that, and what was the decision process behind that? (Chris Franklin)

KELLEN MOORE: He’s one of the best corners in this league. He does a really, really good job. He’ll be a challenge for us. In one game, some things happened. Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen the same way.

He’s a guy that, playing against New Orleans over the years, has had huge impacts on games and does a really good job. We’re well aware of that.

Q. Washington’s defensive physicality, do you see it on film? Is it more than other teams? (Jeff McLane)

KELLEN MOORE: They’re really well coached. Know [Commanders Head Coach] Dan [Quinn] and [Commanders Defensive Coordinator] Joe [Whitt Jr.] really well. They do an excellent job with that group.

They play fast, they play physical, they play confident. That’s the secret sauce. They do an excellent job, and you can tell they’re all aligned and they’re all in sync on defense. They are not going to give you freebies, they’re not going to give you easy things. They are going to make you earn it.

Q. Has anything about WR DeVonta Smith and WR A.J. Brown’s willingness and ability to block surprising? (Jeff Neiburg)

KELLEN MOORE: It’s really a testament to the team players they are. They’re blocking for each other, for the quarterback game, for the running back run game. They just do an excellent job. It’s big time.

Q. You’ve been around a lot of good offensive lines in Dallas and now here. What does this group mean to you as a coordinator, just the group as a whole? (John McMullen)

KELLEN MOORE: Yeah, this group is incredible. Awesome people first and foremost. They work really, really hard. They’re aligned. They work well together. I think they bring the physical tone and mentality to our entire football team. They set the foundation. We lean on those guys a lot.

Q. You said it would be a similar process to making adjustments based on QB Jalen Hurts’s mobility and how he’s feeling throughout the week as it would any other injured player. What information are you taking into account? How much is consulting with the player directly, the medical staff when you’re making those kinds of adjustments on a daily basis? (Olivia Reiner)

KELLEN MOORE: That stuff is always going to lean on the medical and the player. Those guys go through their process, and it’s just communicated from them to the coaching staff.

So plenty of conversations as the week progresses. Hey, it’s mid-to late January. There are a lot of guys that are banged up. It’s doesn’t have to do just with Jalen. There are plenty of guys that are going through stuff. That’s how these weeks are.

Q. You guys have managed the blitz pretty well all season. Why were the Rams more successful than past weeks? (Brooks Kubena)

KELLEN MOORE: Really, really good rush. They’re doing an excellent job. I thought some of their games and their movements as you get later into a progression where the defensive ends kind of loop back around and made some plays.

They’re doing an excellent job with it. It was a challenge for us, so credit to them.

Q. You look at passing yards, and it obviously didn’t look good. But how would you describe QB Jalen Hurts’s game on Sunday? (Bob Brookover)

KELLEN MOORE: I thought Jalen played a really clean game as far as, he protected the football, he ran it really, really well, he made some really good situational throws.

Some stats can be perceived as not ‘wow’ perspective. I thought he did a good job giving us a chance to win that game and putting us in a really good position.

Q. In the first play of the game, you had success under center, play-action bootleg there. I think that was the last under center pass of the game. Was there a reason you went away from it thereafter? (Zach Berman)

KELLEN MOORE: I think we’ve got a variety of things within the game plan. And sometimes tying the run game and the pass game together, we have different opportunities for those.