Kellen Moore

Q. QB Tanner McKee did pretty well. What are your thoughts on him in his limited action? (Tim McManus)

KELLEN MOORE: Yeah, really cool opportunity for [QB] Tanner [McKee] to have that chance, and showed his preparation that he’s gone through each and every week throughout the season.

It’s the fun, challenging aspect of being a backup quarterback. You never know when your opportunity is going to present itself. For him to take advantage of it, you can tell by the response of everyone, everyone is fired up for him.

Q. Throughout the year, are you able to evaluate him even though he’s not really running your offense? (Dave Zangaro)

KELLEN MOORE: You do your best. I think [Head Coach] Nick [Sirianni] does an awesome job with the schedule, giving a lot of the developmental opportunities for guys throughout the roster, not just the quarterback position. Even in walk-through settings where we can have them practice plays in the game plan and put them in those situations and steal some good-on-good as far as developmental guys competing sometimes on certain days of the week.

All those opportunities count, and those guys take advantage of them.

Q. As a former backup quarterback, was that the dream performance for a backup quarterback? (Bob Brookover)

KELLEN MOORE: Not a bad stat line there for Tanner. At the end of the day, for [QB] Kenny [Pickett] and Tanner to prepare and put themselves in position to be successful this past Sunday, I thought they both did an excellent job.

Q. What is the most impressive part of Saquon’s season to you? (Bo Wulf)

KELLEN MOORE: [RB] Saquon [Barkley], I think the consistency that he plays with is incredible. He’s just an A+ teammate. One of the all-time best I’ve been around. I think the whole group really embraces him.

Q. How much of your postseason planning is done at this point in terms of what will potentially fuel your game plans? (Brooks Kubena)

KELLEN MOORE: For post-season games? I think right now, we’re focused on the Giants.

As we go through this, we’re constantly in self-scout mode. So as the week progresses, naturally your eyes are starting to – some of the preparation work for who may be the opponents, a lot of that is more on position coaches and whatnot as we prepare for this game.

We’ll just make the adjustments as we go.

Q. Why is RB Saquon Barkley one of the best teammates you’ve ever been around? (Jeff McLane)

KELLEN MOORE: I think he just has tons of fun, brings a smile to everyone’s face. Just the way he plays the game, I think guys have a ton of fun playing with him. I think the teammate that he is what makes him really special.

There are times where [RB Kenneth Gainwell] Kenny makes a play and gets it down in the red zone, and the number one guy who wants Kenny to score is Saquon. That’s real and that’s authentic. That is everything that Saquon is about.

It’s been fun to be around him.

Q. If the starters don’t play on Sunday, what’s the most important aspect of practice this week from your standpoint? (Bob Brookover)

KELLEN MOORE: I think this week is really about the Giants, focusing on that. We’ll let the week play itself out. We’re not there yet as far as how this whole thing will go down.

As you go through it, you understand there are a lot of different circumstances. We want to prepare the best way we can for this week for the Giants, whoever ends up playing. If it’s starters, it’s starters, if it’s backups, it’s backups.

You put together a good plan, and we’ll be excited to go play.

Q. Do you change that once you figure out if the starters are playing or if the backups are playing, how you prepare for certain guys? (Martin Frank)

KELLEN MOORE: We prepare very similar to a traditional week. We understand that adjustments may need to be made in the game plan as far as having those contingencies if some adjustments are made roster-wise.

We’ll let it play out. That’s the big part of it, is just being flexible with the game plan. We’ll see where it takes us.

Q. How special is the relationship between RB Saquon Barkley and the O-line? Seems like they work together so well on the field. They’re super close off the field. RB Saquon Barkley is always giving them credit. Can’t talk to him without him mentioning them. Just the way they all work together. (Reuben Frank)

KELLEN MOORE: I think that’s what makes this whole group special. This team is very well connected. Very connected. Very much enjoying everyone else’s successes. That’s what makes this group special. It makes it really fun.

The O-line and Saquon are great examples, but throughout this team, you see guys each and every week celebrating other people. When [WR] A.J. [Brown] makes big plays, [WR DeVonta Smith] Smitty is celebrating him. When Smitty makes a couple plays, A.J. is right there with him. [QB] Jalen [Hurts] is right there with those guys when they make plays. It’s a really cool group.

Q. Head Coach Nick Sirianni has spoken in the past about preparing his assistants to become head coaches and kind of clueing them in on the decisions that come across his desk. What’s something you’ve learned about that role working with Head Coach Nick Sirianni this year that maybe you did not know in the past or that is more highlighted this year? (Zach Berman)

KELLEN MOORE: Nick just does an excellent job each and every week preparing the team. I think his messaging is excellent. It’s really awesome, just the way he leads our team. And he does an excellent job throughout the week preparing us and putting ourselves in situations.

Nick does an excellent job. Especially for him and I as far as our roles, just teaming up when we go through game plan processes and also situational football. Because there are so many situations that come up throughout each and every week, and there are things that come up throughout the season across the NFL.

He just does such an awesome job of us being able to go through those weeks each and every week as a staff. Sometimes as myself, him, [Assistant General Manager] Jon [Ferrari], [Passing Game Coordinator/Associate Head Coach] Kevin [Patullo], some of the situational football guys, go through all the different things that come up throughout this league.

Because as much as you prepare, there will be something every week in the NFL that you haven’t fully discussed, or maybe there’s a contingency that may be an adjustment to an original plan.

He does an awesome job continuing to prepare and evolve that way.

Q. The moment that RB Saquon Barkley got the 2K, I think you were one of the first people to congratulate him. What was that moment like from your perspective as Head Coach Nick Sirianni called timeout and everybody sort of huddled around him? (Tim McManus)

KELLEN MOORE: Really cool opportunity. So many people are a part of that thing, as Saquon has certainly embraced. I think guys really wanted to get to that opportunity, so for that drive, we ran the ball almost exclusively. And I think guys were finishing and taking care of business.

So it was a really cool moment.

Q. With RB Saquon Barkley so near to Hall of Fame RB Eric Dickerson’s record right now, I’m curious from your perspective as someone who holds records in college, how important are those to you looking back in your career? What do you think goes into that significance for a player who is near it and may not have the opportunity to do it? (Brooks Kubena)

KELLEN MOORE: There are a lot of records in sports. There are a lot of opportunities for all of our guys to accomplish certain things, and they understand there are ultimately big goals that everyone has aspirations for collectively.

Those things, a lot of times, take care of themselves. They present themselves. If you keep playing really good football, more opportunities present themselves. What Saquon has done this year, and our group collectively, has been really, really special.

We’ll see how this week plays out. I think our guys would embrace whatever the outcome ultimately becomes.

Q. When it comes to team goals versus individual goals, how is this franchise different than others you’ve been in? What is the philosophy when it comes to that? (Jeff McLane)

KELLEN MOORE: That’s a great question. I think at the end of the day, what makes it really special is the element of everyone embracing every other person’s opportunity except for their own.

I think that’s what is really cool about this group. They embrace each other. They understand we play in a lot of different games, a lot of different styles. Sometimes we just grind it out and maybe the pass opportunities aren’t there as much, and then maybe another week, we end up throwing the ball a number of times.

So the guys collectively embrace each other, embrace the opportunity. Everyone understands what the ultimate goal is, but also that if you just stick with the path with this group, good things are going to happen to you individually as well.

Q. Did you feel some added pressure on that drive to help RB Saquon Barkley get over 2K? (Dave Zangaro)

KELLEN MOORE: We wanted to run the football. Objectively, certainly for Saquon, but also for the circumstance of the game. It was going to be an ‘All right, let’s grind this thing out. It’s the fourth quarter.’

Got an opportunity to take advantage of being in that grind-it-out mode. Our guys were all on the same page. They were ready to roll.

Q. Did you get a golf cart? (Jeff McLane)

KELLEN MOORE: No. (laughing)

Q. When QB Kenny Pickett was in there, obviously he had a full week to prepare, unlike the week before in Washington. Were you able to see a big difference in the way he played compared to obviously the first time against Washington? (Martin Frank)

KELLEN MOORE: I thought Kenny did an excellent job. I thought he did a really good job. There are a lot of things that go into the position as far as the run game mechanics and some of the protection stuff. I thought he did really, really good job. Made just some really good decisions. We started a little bit slow unfortunately, so I’ve got to do a better job there.

I thought he got in the groove, and he did some big-time plays. I thought the move and getting the ball out to [TE] Grant [Calcaterra] – big time catch by Grant – the red zone, the throw to Smitty with the protection adjustment and all the things he did within that play were excellent.

And then to score and make that throw to Smitty right before half was a big-time throw. There is trust, there’s anticipation with that throw. I thought Kenny did a really good job.