Nick Sirianni

Q. What happened to DT Jalen Carter? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we’ll get you some of that information here later. But [we] had practice. When you’re practicing hard and practicing to get better, things happen at times.

Q. Why did you go with pads on Wednesday? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: That’s a normal day for us for pads. But that was a good question, Jeff, because we did it on Thursday early in the year. It’s just always trying to think of ways that we can make the guys as healthy as possible and also as ready as possible.

So it was just a decision that we made, and that I had to make, to move it back to Wednesday.

Q. Did CB Darius Slay have some sort of a setback with the knee? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, we’ll get you that information. I’m hoping all these guys are ready to go, but we’ll see as it goes.

Today is going to tell a lot.

Q. A couple of the guys talked about the need to get the play off sooner in the play clock. I know that there are different responsibilities there, but when it comes to the quarterback, what’s his responsibility to ensure that you guys are doing that? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: You know, it takes everybody, right? It takes the call from [Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore]. It takes me talking about the game management scenario in plays prior to that.

It takes the personnel guys, [Tight Ends Coach] Jason Michael, [Wide Receivers Coach] Aaron Moorehead, and [Running Backs Coach] Jemal Singleton, getting the personnel in, and those personnel guys coming in and communicating so we get the right guys in the huddle.

It takes [QB] Jalen [Hurts] calling the play. It takes getting up to the line of scrimmage. It takes whether it’s a motion or a shift. And then, it takes into account everyone having to make the call beforehand. I guess I explained everybody’s role there. And then there are times it takes a check.

We’re constantly working on that. We have a clock at practice that’s actually below 40 seconds, it’s at 35 seconds, to put the pressure on us to be able to do that.

But we’re always thinking about our operation, talking about our operation. Again, there are times you want the operation to be really fast. There are certain points in the game you want to snap it at 1. There are certain points you want to snap it at 5, 8, 12. All depending on the scenario.

But it truly takes everybody to be on the same page and everybody working in unison for that operation to be smooth and clean.

Q. Do you feel like different tackling drills last week helped against the Browns? Where did that idea come from where you changed it up? (Bob Brookover)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, again, everything is always on the docket, whether it’s what time you practice, whether it’s pads or not pads, of everything you can do to get better.

My job is to think about: Hey, this area hasn’t been good enough. How do we get better at this? So, with the help of the defensive coaches, you look at the tackles that you’ve missed. What’s the common thread? We did something a little bit different that wasn’t a drill this week when we had pads on with the way we wrapped and different things like that.

So there are a lot of different things that go into it. I think I have a big part of it when I’m in front of the team every day, pointing out the tackles that are done properly and pointing out the tackles that we feel like we would’ve missed if it was in a game.

A lot goes into that. A lot of credit to the defensive coaches of being creative, coming up with different ideas of things they’ve done in the past or making up new things to simulate the things that you’re trying to simulate in a game.

Now, it’s different. There are times where the best coaching point you have for a tackle is, ‘Come down with a body part.’ Obviously, you can’t do that. You can’t simulate that. But you can simulate the approach. You can simulate the wrap. You can simulate a lot of different things.

Again, that was just a full team effort. You’re only as good as your last game. We want to make sure that we’re a fundamentally sound team. That’s a big part of who we are and what we want to be.

Q. With all the factors you listed on getting the play off, which of the factors has most frequently taken too much time? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I’m not going to answer that. It’s different for every – if there is a play clock that’s going down, there are different reasons for each individual one.

Q. Just wondering if there was a trend… (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, that’s a good question.

Q. There has been a lot of talk from analysts: ‘It doesn’t look like an Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore offense’ or ‘It doesn’t look like a Head Coach Nick Sirianni offense.’ From your perspective, what do you think of that discussion and labelling a certain offense after a coach specifically? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think that, at the end of the day, coaches adapt to the things that their players do well and try to maximize their potential.

I think that’s been the thought of us since we’ve gotten here: How do we maximize? Okay, we’ve never run Play A to [WR] A.J. [Brown] before. But man, A.J. had a lot of success with that at Tennessee. We need to start running that more.

When we got A.J., there were a couple plays that we implemented into our offense that have been highly, highly successful – without getting too much into it – of what that play is.

I think that’s the same thing with who your right guard is. [G/T] Mehki [Becton] is new at right guard, different than [C] Cam [Jurgens] at right guard. And who’s your center, and who’s your tight end. Because everybody has skillsets, right? Nobody’s skillsets are exactly the same.

And that’s defensively, too.

You do what your players can excel at. That doesn’t mean you don’t dabble in new things, because we’ve got very talented players. We have a lot of confidence that they can do a lot of different things.

That doesn’t mean you don’t dabble into other things. But you really try to focus on the things that guys do well and what they can do. That kind of takes its life as the season continues on because you start to feel a little different about how things are going. And get a better feel for how they’re doing this year. Because that player’s skillset changes year in, year out, right?

So there is a lot that goes into that.

Coaching is figuring that out. That’s a big part of it.

Q. With G/T Mehki Becton, how do you like the way he’s settled in at right guard, and as far as the decision whether to move him to left tackle – (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, good question. I think Mehki has done a really nice job. I’m really pleased that we have him. Great job to [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] and his staff of getting Mehki in this building.

Mekhi has done a nice job next to [T] Lane [Johnson] on the line of scrimmage. We’ll see where he has to go this week. But he’s a big man inside at guard. We had a pass rush drill the other day, and what a battle between him and [DT] Jalen Carter. You’re watching it and you’re like, this is how you get better. Iron sharpening iron, good player against good player.

He’s so long in there as a guard. And there are about three or four blocks I see a game of the movement that happens on a three technique between Lane and Mehki, and that happens at practice a lot. Mehki is a big, powerful man.

Like I said, I can’t say enough good things about how Mehki has done since he got here, and [Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line] Coach [Jeff Stoutland] Stout and all the things that he’s done to help him.

I go sit in an offensive line meeting the other day. I’m sitting in there, and Mehki has a rep, and then Coach Stout starts to talk, gives his coaching point, and then [G] Landon [Dickerson] has a coaching point.

That’s unbelievable. That is a sign of a good team coming together. All these little things, all these little steps. I was really impressed by that, when Landon offered up a coaching point, Mehki looking over at him. That’s impressive to me.