Nick Sirianni

Q. This stretch that WR A.J. Brown has been on, what has impressed you most about him during it? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: Consistency. There were a couple of plays last week that — and I brought them up to the team and to the offense — that it was, man, A.J., everybody knows how good he’s been playing. He’s been recognized by us as player of the game when you go into the indoor [you’d see that]. He has been recognized by the NFL as Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career.

But let me show you a couple things he did. It’s because of how he’s catching the ball and the yards he’s getting with it, right? But let me show you guys a couple things that he did, and our guys noticed it, to help somebody else get open in a couple different instances with [TE] Dallas [Goedert’s].

The block that he had on Dallas’ touchdown on the screen pass that we ran. So, there were all these different things.

I think what impressed me the most are the things that he’s not getting recognized for of how good of a team player he is and what he’s been doing for this team, not just catching the football and not just being on the field.

It gives me goosebumps to think about it as I’m talking about it right now. It’s the things he’s doing that are unsee where other guys are getting the shine. Now he’s getting his opportunities as well, but that’s what impressed me.

From that last game, that’s what impressed me the most, the couple things, it was about three or four plays of things that he did to help somebody else directly, and how it changed the game with what he did.

So that speaks to why he has the ‘C’ on his chest and why he’s a captain of this team. He just keeps getting better every time he steps on the field and that was the most recognizable thing on that.

Q. Hoping to ask you about the players of the game awards that you give out. How is it determined and who picks it? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: We do that as coaches. That’s part of our process is every week that we win, there is a player of the game. [To Senior Vice President, Communications Bob Lange] Do they walk in this way? There are pictures right here. There is a play of the game.

I always thought it was pretty cool — again, I don’t do it in the locker room right after because I don’t know exactly what happened. You guys ask me questions sometimes and I’m like, I need to watch the tape, so I’m not quick — unless it’s really obvious, I’m not quick to throw our game ball out in the locker room right after the game. We want to take our time and think about who played a big-time game.

So, our coaches decide that. We discuss that as an offense, defense, special teams after each win, and we do a play of the game as well. What we do with the play of the game is we give them a picture– I know how much my sports room means to me, like the different jerseys or pictures or anything like that. We give them a picture of them making a play. We put it up in the back [of the auditorium] each week when they’re walking in and so they get to look at that picture all week.

So, I kind of think that’s a cool thing, just a way to recognize that. I think it’s one thing that when you talk about culture and connecting, and one part of connecting is you want to be in here each day.

Who doesn’t want to see a picture that they made of a huge play in the game that helped us win when they walk into the building each day, or the team room?

That’s why we do it and how we go about who gets it.

Q. Is that new? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: No, we’ve always done that. You see when you look in the indoor, I think it’s cool to keep them all up, but you see 2021 players of the game and ’22, and on that back wall now you see 2023. So, we’ve been doing that for the entire time we’ve been here.

Q. S Kevin Byard, getting him ready in such a short period of time, obviously he’s been playing so you don’t have to worry about a pitch count from that perspective. Do you worry about it just from ramping up a guy in a new system? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Obviously every walk-through, every practice, everything is being evaluated, so we feel really good where he is. I won’t give away any information of how much he’s going to play or anything like that. I just think that’s not — I don’t want to tell the Commanders anything, right?

But we feel like he’s had a great week of practice. Everything is considered. Like you said, he’s been playing so it’s different than [WR] Julio [Jones] as far as the pitch count, as far as health-wise goes.

But man, he’s a pro, and he’s worked really hard this week, so we’re confident in him. We’ll see how much he plays in this football game.

Q. How did QB Jalen Hurts do throughout the week with practice yesterday and how is he feeling heading into Sunday? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I’ll let you guys ask him how he’s feeling. In my opinion, he feels good. That’s why he’s not on the injury report. His game status is not in question. He had a good practice yesterday.

I just want him to be able to answer that to how he’s feeling. He’s tough as heck, right? He’s going to fight through any bumps and bruises that he has.

As far as his game status and his practice status, he’s been full, and his game status is not in question.

Q. DT Jordan Davis was on the injury report, wasn’t moving great in the locker room. Any concern with him? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: We’ve got to see today. Listen, we practice hard out there. That’s part of the way our guys get better each week is the intensity of practice. You’re going to have some bumps and bruises at practice at times and you’ll see new guys – hopefully that doesn’t happen, but guys will pop up on the injury report because of something that happened in practice. That’s just the way this game is. When you practice the way our guys do out there, that happens.

We’ll see how he feels today. Obviously, it’s a constant evaluation. It happened yesterday as you saw that it popped up on the practice report yesterday. We got to see him out there today, the rehab today, then we got tomorrow. We got time to figure it out. We’ll see what happens.