Nick Sirianni

Q. If I could start off by asking about the trade deadline being like eight days away and everything. The fact that you guys don’t have a game to prepare for this week, how much does that enable you to kind of be more involved with Executive Vice President/General Manager Howie Roseman as far as trade talks, and how beneficial is it for you not to have to worry about a game and can focus on the trade deadline? (Martin Frank)

Nick Sirianni: Regardless of the scenario, whether we have a game, whether we have a short week with a trade deadline coming up, [we’re] always [in] constant communication with Howie about everything. We find time to do the things that are necessary to help the team win, help the team get better, whatever it may be. Obviously, this week’s very important for us as far as our self-scout and identifying some different things, and [it’s] always going to be a busy week. But I wouldn’t say because we don’t have a game this upcoming week [that] it’s any different because you just find the time to do the things necessary to help get better and help the team win.

Q. LB Nakobe Dean, I wanted to ask you yesterday, but getting him back and all he’s gone through, just the leadership behind the scenes. What’s it been like for the team to get him back and contributing? (John McMullen)

Nick Sirianni: Always great to have him on the field. Guys love playing with and for Nakobe, so love that linebacker group that we have. It’s great to have him back on the field contributing. Obviously, he’s been very important for us for the past four years, and again, works his butt off, always constantly preparing, doing all the necessary things that getting better requires. Just love having him back and ready to go.

Q. Just ask you about what your messaging is to your coaching staff and the players heading into, I guess, this week off and into the bye week. (Ed Kracz)

Nick Sirianni: I think it’s so important that we are completely locked in and focused on finding ways to get better. Identifying issues, identifying strengths, and this is a really important week. We’ve benefited from this week in the past, whether that be going into playoffs or whether it’s in the regular season. It’s that same motivation and same hunger to do everything that we can do to help improve the football team. For players, it’s about being away, resting their bodies, taking care of their bodies, doing some extra stuff themselves as far as their mental preparation for the rest of the season. I always think that this bye week sets you up for some things for the rest of the season, so it’s really an important week.

Q. The pin and pull blocks were key this week for you guys on bringing RB Saquon Barkley and RB Tank Bigsby. What’s the process of how they’re put into the game plan, then carried on through the coaching staff, then down to the players and then executing? I imagine it starts with Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland seeing something. How much can you provide in terms of how that unfolds over the course of a week? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: You always look at the defense that you’re playing. Their players, obviously, are the first thing that you look at. Then their techniques, every defense has different techniques of how they play different things. I want to be careful how much I’m saying, too, for competitive reasons, but you always look at the techniques of how they’re playing, the different ways they’re stopping the run and that’s your starting point of what to put in and why to put it in. Obviously, we have the offensive line to be able to do a lot of different schemes, but you also want to have your bread and butters of things that you can rest your hat on in critical moments when it’s crunch time. A lot of that is based off of your film study of what you’re looking at now.

The better you are on offense and the more they’re worried about the run game, the more you might not see the things that you saw on film all week. But it always starts with their players, their techniques of how they play different things, and how they line up [in formation.] First and foremost, what you’re always thinking about [are] your players and what they can accomplish, but we do feel like our guys are versatile. They’ll be able to accomplish a lot of different things. I think that’s what the starting point is. That’s probably the most I’m going to give you right there just for competitive reasons.

Q. Through this point in the season, how much growth have you seen from Offensive Coordinator Kevin Patullo in his new job, and how much do you account for that going into a season knowing that you have an OC who’s been with you but hasn’t been in that particular role? (Dave Zangaro)

Nick Sirianni: I think he’s done a good job of continuing to get better, just like our players. Every team is a new team, so there’s a growth period whether it’s a first-time play caller or not, there’s a growth period within each year for the players, for the coaches, everything. That’s what the first weeks of the season are for is to find ways to win, find ways to get better, and really be in that continual growth mindset all the way through, so you’re playing your best football in November, December, and January, hopefully.

Q. These bye weeks are obviously time to take stock and self-evaluate. You just had one of these two weeks ago with the mini bye. How differently do you feel about the state of the union right now, I guess for lack of a better term, compared to two weeks ago? What’s sort of your general overall take on where you guys are right now? (Jeff Neiburg)

Nick Sirianni: Yeah, super important. A Thursday night game coming off of that, you can’t do everything that you want to do in a normal bye week just because there’s less time, so this week is always important.

Again, we don’t live week-to-week with results. Obviously, we’re paid to win football games and find ways to get better, but we don’t live within a week-to-week [mindset.] You work like crazy to get better. You work like crazy to win each football game, but then win, lose or draw, you’re onto the next and you’re doing the same thing over again. Respect the question as far as obviously after the Thursday night game, we had lost two in a row, now we’ve won two in a row. We really don’t think that way. We just think about how we’re going to get better and find ways to win. That’s where we are right now.

It’s no different, and we don’t have to be like everybody else. We actually thrive and enjoy that we don’t have to live like the outside world with how each and every game goes. We just put our head down, look for ways to get better, try to find ways to win, and that’s where we are right now. Now we’re into the bye week, and it’s a great opportunity for growth here.

Q. You guys obviously had a lot of success coming out of the bye last year. It looked like it was kind of early when you look at the schedule. This year, is Week Nine the perfect bye week? What have you learned about how to spend your time in the bye week since you’ve been in this job? (Bob Brookover)

Nick Sirianni: I don’t think you can ever really say, ‘Hey, this is the perfect time for a bye,’ right? Last year in 2024, Week [Five] was our perfect time for the bye, and our mindset will be, ‘Hey, this year, this is our perfect time for a bye,’ and when we play the Friday afternoon game coming up, that would be a perfect time for a Friday night game. You handle every situation and control the things you can control. You can’t control those other things. The bye week process, we just continue to evolve it. But I think that to say, ‘Hey, here’s what I’ve learned in my past four years here,’ it really goes back, ‘What have I learned in my time in the NFL in these bye weeks?’

That’s why you’re just constantly in this growth mindset of how you can get better at your process. I think that’s been an evolving thing. Obviously these last four, five years, I’ve been the head coach, so obviously there’s more to it than when I was just the offensive coordinator. But I think that the process of our bye week has evolved throughout the years from the past 10 years of my coaching career.

I think human nature could be, ‘Hey, we don’t have a game this week,’ and have a tendency to relax. That’s just not the way we think and that’s just not the way we’re about to go about our business. This week will be about finding ways to get better, identifying issues that we know we have, identifying strengths that we know we have, and tendencies, and looking for ways to improve on those things.

Q. On the missed field goal, midway through the first quarter, it seemed like there was some confusion and some frustration afterward. I’m curious what happened on that play? What was the source of the confusion, and then what was the explanation from the officials that you got on the sideline there? (EJ Smith)

Nick Sirianni: Obviously, there’s a lot of things that happen within a game. I’m glad you guys don’t ask me every week, ‘Hey, why’d you get upset with the official here? Or why were you happy with them here?’ Because that’d be the whole press conference. I think that we probably just keep that between [ourselves] and the officials. Again, I just think that’s the right way of doing business in the NFL. They’ve got a hard job. We’ve got a hard job. There are always many opportunities to win and lose football games. It’s never about that. But obviously, there was something that we were communicating about. They made the call the best way that they thought they could. I respect that, and we move on, and we play the next play.

Q. I saw on the team video that you gave out a cowbell after the game. What’s the story behind that and how long has that been going on? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: Yeah, that was the first time I gave out a cowbell, so it really hasn’t been going on a long time. But I don’t know. I always want to keep my conversations with the guys in-house. That was something we talked about in a team meeting. If they want to share that with you, by all means they can.

Q. If I can follow up then just generally on RB Saquon Barkley’s performance. What stood out about the way Saquon ran and is that a game you saw coming this season? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: I thought that was just a matter of time. We’ve been close with our run game and it popped yesterday. We want to build on that and continue on that, but I think that was just a matter of time because we have the players up front. Saquon looks great, and he was able to find some space yesterday to get some of those explosive runs that we were used to seeing from him.