Nick Sirianni

Q. You now have a record of 40-2 when you win the turnover battle. I know the concept of not turning the ball over is nothing new, but was there a certain point in your career where you decided it was something you really wanted to stress? Why do you think your team in particular has so much success when you win the turnover battle? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

Nick Sirianni: I think you’re a product of everything that you go through as a coach, as a player. It’s always been about the ball. I’ve always admired [Raiders Head Coach] Pete Carroll’s programs and how much they talk about the football. I thought I knew how to teach ball security and all those different things until I got around [former Colts Running Backs Coach] Tom Rathman in Indianapolis, and he was a maniac about it and just relentless about it. [Running Backs/Assistant Head Coach] Jemal Singleton is very similar. If I had worked with Jemal before Tom, I would’ve said, ‘Well, hey, I’ve got to run this guy Jemal Singleton,’ because Jemal does a great job on it as well, but it’s just this obsession there with the football. We always talk about, ‘Victory favors the team making the fewest mistakes.’ There’s a sign of that up on our wall and it’s about playing with great detail with your fundamentals, and so that’s obviously something that’s very important to us.

The two games that we did lose, one in ’21 was to Kansas City in the regular season, the other one with last year against Washington. But when you combine good talent with good detail and good fundamentals, that’s where you get some special things happening. I think that’s been a big key, the talent combined with the fundamentals and then you add the defense, taking the football way and doing the things that they do and being just as obsessive about it on that end as well. It is just something that we’ve been very obsessive about. Our guys have done a great job of paying attention to it and playing to their strengths with the ball in their hands and trying to take it away.

Q. There’s a report out there that T Lane Johnson is going to miss some time. Can you confirm that and how confident are you in T Fred Johnson to handle that slot and also the big packages? Because that had become a big part of the offense with Fred playing extra tight end. (John McMullen)

Nick Sirianni: I know yesterday we did some of that and [G/T Matt] Pryor was able to do some of that. We’ll see with Lane. I know that he’ll do everything he can do to get back as quick as he possibly can. We’ll see the time that’s missed. You guys know me. I’m not going to get into how much time this or that, but obviously, you all saw the report, and we’ll see where that leads. I’ll have more information as we continue on throughout the week. As far as the big packages, like I said, Pryor has the ability to do that and have a lot of confidence in Pryor and Fred. I think they’ve played good football when they’ve been able to go in and play.

Q. We’ve seen TE Cameron Latu when he’s been out there as the fullback exclusively, but is there something preventing him from being more of a blocking tight end? I mean, since that is kind of his position. (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: Cam’s done a really good job for us on many different fronts. He’s done awesome on special teams. He’s a menace out there on special teams with his physicality and with his ability to tackle and block destruct and block, all those things that he’s doing well in space. Obviously, he’s playing our fullback position like you mentioned, and we are really pleased with the guys that we have playing the tight end position. That doesn’t mean that he can’t go in there and function at a high level, but we’re pleased with the guys that we have in there and what they’re doing, and [we] know that Cam can go in and be successful with it as well. But Cam’s role right now is at that fullback position, spotting in at tight end with different things, and then playing a big role on special teams.

Q. I want to ask you about OLB Jaelan Phillips. I know it’s a short sample size, two games, but this defense has only allowed 16 points against two very good offenses. How much difference has he made on that defensive front now that you’ve seen him for two games and X amount of practices? (Ed Kracz)

Nick Sirianni: He plays with a great physicality. He plays with a great motor. Something that when we talk about what tough means, it’s mental, physical and relentless effort. He plays with all three of those things. [He’s] awesome. Obviously, he’s been a good addition these past two weeks. Look forward to continuing to get him going even more, but I think the front as a whole has continued to excel as well, and that’s just those guys playing great team football together, [and] it’s happening in the secondary as well. We’re getting good matches, we’re getting good rushes and all that works in conjunction with each other. Just the defense is doing a really nice job these last couple games playing just as a team, a great group unit.

Q. Along those lines, a lot of your defensive linemen seem really proud about their group rush, being able to work together. What does it take for that unit to work in cohesion like that? (Dave Zangaro)

Nick Sirianni: Selflessness. I think that’s first and foremost. When you play that position, you obviously want to always get sacks. They’re judged so much on sacks, but when you can rush as a unit, because it does take everybody and it takes everybody rushing as a unit, and be so happy for your teammate when they make a play, that just builds on top of each other.

Again, the best teams that I’ve been on– good teams have good players, great teams have great teammates, and you really see that with the defense. I love that they’re so excited for each other in that that. You try to stress that and show that as much as you possibly can because this is the greatest team sport there is, and you can’t be great without the greatness of others. There’s no more true [team sport] in all sports I feel [like] than in the defensive line, and we just are getting great group efforts. Truly, you see the excitement for each other when they make a play and you love that because that just emphasizes team, team, team, team, team. It’s the best teams that win, not the best groups of individuals.

Q. I was wondering these last few weeks, Green Bay and Detroit obviously weren’t the best games offensively for you guys, but did QB Jalen Hurts show you something just with his leadership, with his poise during these games? I mean, is there anything new that you saw from these last two games? (Martin Frank)

Nick Sirianni: It is just that his will to win is always on display. To do whatever he needs to do to help us win a football game, whether that’s throwing for a ton of yards, whether that’s running for yards, whether that’s handing it off. That’s what I always love about Jalen is he’ll do everything that he needs to do to help us win games, and [he’s] selfless. He’s always doing that and finding ways to help us win football games and doing what’s necessary to win football games. Every game [has] a different thing required. I think that through this little winning streak that we have going on right now, he just continues to find ways to put us in positions to succeed. But we know as an offense, we want to continue to get better. We have a long way to go and there’s a lot of opportunities for us to get better. That’s what today was about. But yeah, I love Jalen’s ability to find ways to help us win, and I think that’s what you see from our team is we find ways to win and then we go back to work and try to find ways to get better.

Q. I know you’ve talked about how you view analytics in the past. Curious as it applies to the end of game situation, so Green Bay, the fourth-and-sixth and the fourth-and-one against Detroit. What kind of information are you getting in real time and then how are you sort of applying that in your decision-making process? (Tim McManus)

Nick Sirianni: I’ve talked to you guys about this. Again, there’s a lot of different factors that go into it. It always starts with the players and the play that you’re calling first. Do you have faith in the players that you have? The analytics can say what it wants, but if you don’t have faith in the players to go execute it, that doesn’t give you a lot of confidence. So then, what play do you have, the players that you have and then you do it. Analytics is a piece of the puzzle. All these different things are a piece of the puzzle. Your past successes, the league studies that you do, all these things play into that. I love our process.

Just because you have a great process doesn’t automatically mean that you’re going to convert every fourth down. I completely understand that. But we’ve got a great process with our coaches, great process figuring out how we go about attacking there, and when we go for it, I have to make those tough calls and be able to have that conviction. When you don’t convert on fourth down, it is always going to be on you as the head coach. You ultimately made that decision, and you’re not going to get a lot of praise when you get it on fourth down like, ‘Coach, great job on that decision.’ That just doesn’t go that way and that’s okay.

You have to have major conviction within yourself, understanding that there’s going to be major criticisms when you don’t get it, and there’s not a lot of points that are given to you when you do get it. You have to have a major process that you go through to put yourself in a position where you can have major conviction when you make those decisions and fully accept all the criticism that happens when you don’t get it because that’s my job as the coach. But it can affect you moving forward making the right decisions with the right process as we continue on.

Q. You said last night that the way the game is played is sometimes dictated by what’s happening in the game. When the defense is playing at this level, how do you either manage the game differently, call the game differently or even accordingly based on the defense? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: I think that will get a little bit technical. I don’t want to get into everything. There are obviously different things, but it can affect decision making in the second half of things that you do in the second half. You’re always trying to get up and get a lead in that first half, but it can affect some of those things. But you always want to play obviously with the lead, but the more the lead, the more comfortable you can be right there. You’re always trying to add to that, but it can help you decide on when to kick field goals, help you decide on when to punt, different things like that, knowing when the defense is rolling like that. But again, that’s what I’m saying. There are all these different pieces of the puzzle to help you make decisions and you’ve got to have the discernment and wisdom as you’re going through the game to understand how the game’s being played.