Kellen Moore

Q. What’s the challenge for RB Kenneth Gainwell week to week when he doesn’t know he’s going to have a big role, medium role, or no role? How has he handled that? (Reuben Frank)

KELLEN MOORE: Kenny is like a lot of the guys we have where you’ve got to prepare as though you’re playing, and you never know exactly what that snap count may look like. Kenny has done an excellent job. He’s produced a lot here over the course of the last few years, and we feel really comfortable with him.

We feel fortunate to have him in that backfield able to spell [RB] Saquon [Barkley] when we need it, and this past Sunday he was able to produce, and it was really exciting for him.

Q. Another game without QB Jalen Hurts having a turnover. During that bye week when you guys focused on that, was it more drill work or film work to help him get over that streak he had? (Chris Franklin)

KELLEN MOORE: Any time you get to evaluate where you’re at, just individually and as a collective group, I think protecting the football was something we wanted to do a little bit better job of. Sometimes those things are bad luck and sometimes there’s things that you can focus on.

I think our team, in general, has done an excellent job the last couple weeks of really securing the ball as ball carriers and throwing. Jalen has made some excellent decisions in the last couple weeks. He’s done a really, really good job with that and it’s put us in some very favorable positions.

Q. The second sack QB Jalen Hurts took, he kind of just fell to the ground. Is that a byproduct of you guys enforcing to be more careful with the football? I’m not really sure– what happened there? (Jeff McLane)

KELLEN MOORE: That’s a great question. I think it’s a combination of always evaluating the play call and how we can improve that aspect of it. The pocket just kind of got a little tight there right at the end, and from a ball security standpoint, he made that decision.

He’s done an excellent job of protecting the football in those situations, getting us opportunities to still punt and put ourselves in favorable positions. Certainly in other instances in the game, he was able to make plays with his feet as well. He’s done a really good job of making those decisions when it is necessary.

Q. I thought the touchdown pass to WR A.J. Brown was rather an aggressive play. The play before that QB Jalen Hurts was looking downfield for RB Kenneth Gainwell, and WR DeVonta Smith seemed like he was up there, RB Saquon Barkley was open on another. Is that a sense of Jalen looking to be aggressive or the offense, or what are those the product of? (Brooks Kubena)

KELLEN MOORE: Just playing situational football. We went a little bit aggressive just from a standpoint of having a throwing opportunity on third-and-three and coming back to a fourth-and-three call. They had played fairly tight in the earlier third-down situations, and we felt like there was potential opportunity to get behind them.

A.J. and Jalen have a phenomenal feel for each other downfield, and they have shown that in the last couple weeks. Excellent job by those guys at the end of the day. Excellent by A.J. with the release, getting on top of the DB; Jalen to sit in the pocket. There was a little bit of pressure on his right, so to speak, and for him to sit in there, it was an excellent, big-time throw.

Q. To follow up on that, to go to WR A.J. Brown two weeks in a row in critical situations, I mean, the first time was like towards the end of the game, you’re trying to run out the clock. The second time on fourth down. What does that say about the two of them? (Martin Frank)

KELLEN MOORE: Yeah, those guys have an excellent feel for each other and they do — you have a lot of confidence in those two are part of the play in those critical situations, and obviously they have earned it. They have done it over the course of a long time. We’re fortunate to have those guys.

Q. On the flip side of that, how strange was it to look at a box score that had WR DeVonta Smith with one catch for minus two yards? (Bob Brookover)

KELLEN MOORE: Yeah, those are never ideal. You know [WR DeVonta Smith] Smitty is one of the premiere players for us and sometimes unfortunately goofy things happen like this where he only ends up with the one catch for minus two yards because it was kind of a bubble screen.

Obviously we had different visions as we go into the game of getting him involved and sometimes it just doesn’t happen. But you know, he was in it the whole time which is a testament to him, just his run blocking ability. He made some excellent blocks downfield to spring our running backs on some plays.

Sometimes the ball doesn’t go his way. We feel very comfortable and confident that things naturally will correct itself over the course of the next week or two, and he is certainly right there.

Q. When it comes to fielding a fullback package, you’ve been creative in that regard in your career. I’m guessing LB Ben VanSumeren is a little more athletic than Chargers OL Jordan McFadden. What do you look for whenever you’re deciding who can fulfill that role and what does Ben do? (Brooks Kubena)

KELLEN MOORE: Two-back offenses sometimes there’s value to it at various times. We just felt like there was an opportunity to utilize it in this game. [LB] Ben [VanSumeren] is a guy, going back to high school days, he’s been a ball carrier. And so he’s played on the offensive side before.

So sometimes it starts as more of a fun experimental aspect and it then it might tournament to serious over the course of training camp and the season. We’ll see where it plays out. Every week you’re trying to find out what gives us best opportunity to be successful and felt like that gave us an opportunity this past week and he did an excellent job. His effort in the run game he had the juice and energy going, and I think it was a real benefit to us.

Q. Who’s idea was it to play him there? (Jeff McLane)

KELLEN MOORE: I think it’s just a collective group. Sometimes as you go through training camp and stuff sometimes guys on offense have to help defense and defense have to help offense just to show different looks and line up and presentations. Him just kind of unintentionally line up on offense to aid the defense gives us the look of, hey, this guy has got some athleticism, and obviously it kind of just kept building as we went. So we’ll see where it takes us.

Q. How did QB Jalen Hurts enjoy setting the protections? (Bo Wulf)

KELLEN MOORE: Yeah, he’s done a good job. Every single week is a completely different challenge, whether it be structurally schematically, personnel. The challenge for all of us is just each and every week, we’ve got to readdress the protection aspect of how are we going to handle the opponent.

So those guys have premiere players. Obviously 97 [New York Giants DL Dexter Lawrence] is one of the best in the league and it was a challenge for us.

Q. You guys lead the NFL in 40-yard plays, big plays on offense. How much of a focus was it getting back to those and what’s the value of those plays beyond the obvious that you’re getting a lot of yards? (Reuben Frank)

KELLEN MOORE: 40-yard plays, I think really that comes down a lot of times to premiere players doing an excellent job. Simple as that. We have some excellent players that do a great job when the ball is in their hands, and obviously we’re fortunate to have those guys.

Any time you can flip the field quickly like that, huge, huge opportunities in this game. It’s hard to go 12, 14 plays consecutively, be consistent, which naturally you have to in this league. But any time you can have those quick scores, quick explosive plays, they are critical to the opportunities to score.

Q. I’m sure it’s frustrating for you, but the slow start is still there. The first quarter issues are still there. I’m sure you’re working on it and you guys are working on it but is the problem, there is no theme or is it — have you focused in on what the issue is? (John McMullen)

KELLEN MOORE: Yeah, not something you feel great about. Obviously something that we hopefully get there. You know, sooner rather than later that, just because it’s been one of the biggest aspects of us just if we can start fast, usually the second, third quarter, we get rolling and we find a groove.

But we’ve just got to find it faster. My focus on how to create that rhythm for us from a game plan, schematic standpoint and find that rhythm for us.

Q. How do you evaluate a quarterback’s vision if he’s looking at the rush too much, and how do you think QB Jalen Hurts did in that regard this past game plan? (Jeff McLane)

KELLEN MOORE: I think those guys did an excellent job of creating one-on-one opportunities up front, pushing the pocket. They have played multiple styles in New York. They have been an exotic pressure team and a push-the-pocket pressure team. They pushed the pocket and did an excellent job of doing that with their personnel.

Any time you’re looking at that, you’re looking at it both schematically and then structurally and then you know feel like, how can I help get the ball out of our hands a little bit quicker in some of those situations. I think [QB] Jalen [Hurts] has done an excellent job over the course of this year handling a variety of different looks and different presentations and something that we’ll always continue to work on and evolve with.

So obviously third downs, going 1 for 13 isn’t ideal for us, but I think for me, just focusing on how I can help that process.

Q. The three third and shorts you missed, you converted the fourth and shorts thereafter. When you call the third down play, are you thinking you have fourth down option in your back pocket? (Zach Berman)

KELLEN MOORE: Those are big-time opportunities for us, and I think a testament to [Head Coach] Nick [Sirianni] having the confidence to go for it in those fourth downs. I think that fires up an offense. When you have three opportunities, other games it doesn’t go our way and it gets frustrating, like New Orleans why you don’t convert those.

But for him to have the confidence and willingness to go for it is huge that allowed us, really, two shots at it and we were able to get it.

Q. (Regarding zone read option plays with QB Jalen Hurts and RB Saquon Barkley and what goes into creating variance with those plays)…(Brooks Kubena)

KELLEN MOORE: Certainly it’s an aspect of our offense that we feel very confident. Any time you can have [RB] Saquon [Barkley] and [QB] Jalen [Hurts] a part of a play, and they do an excellent job, Jalen does an excellent job of assessing the edge rushers and making great decisions.

So the run game became a big focus as that game evolved. I thought we started hitting some, creasing some, creating the explosive plays. The previous week against Cleveland, we never felt like we were able to bounce one and make that explosive play but we were close.

So those guys did an excellent job. Jalen just does a really good job of reading and making decisions in those situations. You can see the movement and impact it has on the defense that you get one gap out and now you’ve got a crease in the middle. We were able to hit some big ones because of it.

Q. How did you like the way T Fred Johnson and G/T Tyler Steen filled in in a situation and Fred obviously with T Jordan Mailata gone on IR, do you see him as a solution there? (Martin Frank)

KELLEN MOORE: We are fortunate that our guys have done an excellent job of stepping up, next-man-up mentality, like we always say. [T] Fred [Johnson] did a really good job. He had a challenging matchup out there. He battled and fought. He was excellent getting to the second level in the run game. It’s huge. There’s a bunch of really cool examples of him just getting up to linebackers, getting in combination box, but then getting up to the linebackers and those create those big explosive runs.

And [G/T] Tyler [Steen] hopping in there, again, seems like he’s done this a couple times now where he just hops in the game, and nothing changes. And that’s the beauty of it. He’s a big-time player for us and we feel fortunate to have him in that role.

Q. In those situations where you go for it on fourth down how early is it communicated to you that you have four plays to work with? (Dave Zangaro)

KELLEN MOORE: We are really talking about it the entire drive. You know, preliminary, and as the drive extends, constant communication, just so we can play previous downs, you know, dependent on how that fourth down situation will play out. So I think we do an excellent job of it.

Q. You spent most of your coaching career with high-profile wide receivers. Throughout the game, are you cognizant of the target distribution as the game goes on? (Zach Berman)

KELLEN MOORE: You certainly want to get your guys involved, and that’s a key aspect of this thing. Passing attempts end up being a little bit lower than probably anticipated going into this game but that’s the way the game flowed.

Obviously we were fortunate to get a few big plays to [WR] A.J. [Brown] which is excellent. [WR DeVonta Smith] Smitty’s didn’t go his way. I think natural there will be games. Smitty will come out and get a bunch of touches, all that good stuff.

But obviously you’re trying to get your guys involved as much as you can.

Q. WR A.J.’s Brown numbers in one-on-one man situation are just unbelievable. How do you, when you’re creating a play, and let’s say that you scheme something open but QB Jalen Hurts goes to what’s a favorable matchup for you guys and he hits it, how do you grade that out? How do you evaluate that post-play? (Jeff McLane)

KELLEN MOORE: Any time we’re able to create one-on-ones for our guys we feel very confident that we’re going to execute that at a really high level. Particularly with [WR] A.J. [Brown] downfield and even [WR DeVonta Smith] Smitty downfield, a lot of the progression is going to start with that mentality of if you get that one-on-one go, take it and don’t be afraid of it and go for it.

These guys have done an excellent job with it. That’s a progression with the pass play. But there’s certain alerts when you get those opportunities because especially the way trends kind of take you, there’s only so many times you get true one-on-ones, just one-on one downfield man coverage-type looks.

So when you get them, take advantage of them.