Nick Sirianni

Q. How different do the Cowboys look from the first time you played them? (Reuben Frank)

Nick Sirianni: Obviously, some different personnel in there, and as you grow throughout the season, doing some different things. You’ve got a little bit more tape on them now than we did going into the first game. Had to look at some Bears stuff and some different things there. But yeah, they look different not only personnel-wise, but also as you looked at them going into the first game, there was a lot of unknown.

Q. There’s been a few reports about QB Jalen Hurts over the past week. My question is not about the substance of the report, but what do you think about the fact that there are seemingly people in the building talking about Jalen through the media in a negative way? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

Nick Sirianni: Again, when there’s not a name on it, I don’t put a lot of credence into that. Obviously, it’s not good for me to read anything. I’ve got to prepare to do my job, and if I’m thinking about other things– So, now when [SVP of Communications] Bob [Lange] preps me for it, I don’t necessarily believe everything that’s being written. I just don’t. I’ve been around long enough to know that, so I don’t give it a lot of credence when there’s not a name. Again, just don’t fall into the trap of believing everything you see or read.

Q. Defensively, specifically with the Cowboys, because of your history with Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Matt Eberflus, but they have changed personnel pretty significantly injury-wise, getting DT Quinnen Williams and all that. That part of it, because they’ve been successful offensively, but they’re getting better defensively. Is that a bigger concern for you coming into the week? (John McMullen)

Nick Sirianni: I think you always go into a game– This is the NFL. Any team you play, you better be ready. The Cowboys always have our attention. They’ve been a good team for a long time and have a lot of respect there. This is obviously our next game, so [it’s] our biggest game of the year. I’ve got a lot of respect for this team. The moves that they’ve made to help their team out; I have a lot of respect for that. Then the players that they have over there, the coaches that they have. I think [Head] Coach [Brian] Schotty [Schottenheimer] does a really good job just watching him from afar. Got a lot of respect for him, the coaching staff that they have over there and the players that they have on that team.

Q. You haven’t had to plan extensively for T Lane Johnson being out in a couple seasons. How much does it holistically alter game planning, protection planning, and how you guys go about doing it? (Jeff Neiburg)

Nick Sirianni: Lane’s one of the best players in the NFL, so it makes you do a couple different things here and there. With that being said, I have a lot of faith in the guys with [T] Fred [Johnson]. We’ve had a lot of guys play through the length of the seasons that we’ve had the past four years. We need all hands on deck. We’ve had a lot of guys play, so a lot of experience doing that, not just with Lane, but with every position. You will miss Lane, no doubt, if he’s unable to go. But I have a lot of faith in the guys that we have and obviously faith in the process that we have to get ourselves ready with different players.

Q. As a follow of that, in the role meeting before the year, how did you envision T Fred Johnson’s role, and given the nature of that position, did you see a day where he likely would have to step in to start? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: I think that when you do talk about that, you look at past experiences. You show Fred playing really well against Cincinnati last year, or whatever the game may be. You say, ‘Hey, you’re the next guy in,’ or whatever it may be. I can’t remember exactly how it went down, but imagine it was something like that.

Be ready for when your number’s called. You just never know when that’s going to be, and that’s every backup. Every guy’s one snap away from going in. Like I said, we have a lot of faith in him. There’s a reason why we were putting him into playing those big packages because we have a lot of faith in him. For what we were trying to do, we felt like he was one of our best eleven to do what we were trying to do on those particular plays. So, obviously the faith is high there and he’s earned that.

Q. What have you thought of Offensive Coordinator Kevin Patullo’s performance as a play caller and how do you review that performance week in and week out? (Dave Zangaro)

Nick Sirianni: I go through everything. One way I look at it is situationally. I’m going to look at how we handled things situationally, how did we play two-minute, how do we play four-minute, how do we play backed up, third down, red zone, all those different things because there’s got to be alignment with the vision of how we manage the game as well. Then I’ll look [at] the design or anything like that. ‘Was this issue an issue that we lost because of play design or was this an issue that we lost because we didn’t execute?’ Always going to look at that and then just look at the flow of game. ‘Why are we doing things this and that [way]?’ Maybe it’s questions here and there. ‘Hey, why did you do this here? Why’d you do that there?’

So, it’s just the interactive part of it that, I wouldn’t say it’s anything real unique besides the things I just talked about, but more so the flow of how you watch every game together and every practice together. ‘What’d you think here? What if we’d have done this instead of that?’ Again, I think he’s done a good job. We’ve found ways to win. We have a lot to improve on, and he’ll tell you he needs to continue to improve. We all need to continue to improve, but I think he’s done a lot of good things, and he’s got to continue getting better.

Q. What do you think has allowed DT Moro Ojomo to take the leap that he has this year? (Pat Gallen)

Nick Sirianni: I wish you guys could see every day– [Jokingly.] sometimes I don’t want you guys in here at all and then there’s sometimes I wish you guys could see everything every day. I’m just teasing. I wish you could see the everyday process that he goes through. It’s not a surprise to me– and it may be a surprise to everybody else, or I don’t know. I don’t know what the thought process is there. But when I see a guy work the way he works on a daily basis consistently over and over again, and you guys get to see how hard he plays in the game. I mean, his motor is constantly running and he can’t turn that off. He does that in everything that he does.

He does that with how he leads his teammates. He does that with how he practices. He does that with how he [approaches] walk through. He does that with how he meets. It’s like, a guy like that who loves football, who’s ultra tough, who gives everything he has every moment, God willing, those guys are going to reach their ceiling. They have no choice. There’s no other choice. You can’t put in the work that he puts in with the relentless effort that he puts it in with and not reach your ceiling, God willing. So, as good and as talented as he is, as you hear it in my answer, it’s all about the other stuff that he has with how he kind of goes through about his business.

Q. DT Jordan Davis won the NFC Defensive Player of the Week this week. What’s your vantage point on his development? (Tim McManus)

Nick Sirianni: Yeah, just proud of him. I think what a great example of the world that we live in today, instant gratification. He’s had to go through some ups and downs. Always has made plays for us starting in 2022, but there’s been ups and downs in his career. He’s just continued to put his head down and work. He’s got himself in the best shape of his life. I think he’s saying that and it’s paying off, and just can’t say anything more. Just happy for him because of all the work that he’s put in to get that acknowledgement that he got from the NFL, and he’s been playing really good football. It’s awesome to be able to talk about those guys like Moro [Ojomo] and Jordan and their continued development because they’re really helping us win games.

Q. You mentioned former Colts Running Backs Coach Tom Rathman the other day on protecting the ball. Is there anybody on the other side of the ball that through your course of the years has really influenced the way you take away and try to take away the ball? (Bob Brookover)

Nick Sirianni: I thought [Cowboys Defensive Coordinator] Coach [Matt] Eberflus was really good in that aspect, and obviously [former Eagles Defensive Coordinator/current Cardinals Head Coach Jonathan] Gannon was with him. Jonathan and I thought about that the exact same way. But I always thought that Coach Eberflus was really good at emphasizing that, being that his background just with the ‘Tampa 2’ stuff and the old Bears. I’m not saying he was there during that Bears era, but he had those ties there and they won so many games that way.

I purposely left him out the other day because I didn’t want to give him any praise going into our game, but I think that Coach Rathman, [Running Backs/Assistant Head] Coach [Jemal] Singleton, and Coach Eberflus all have had a good influence on me as far as protecting of the football and taking the football away.

Q. A lot of the three-and-outs have come when you guys have been backed up. I imagine percentage-wise, most teams go more three-and-out in that area, but have you identified what it is and how can you guys break that tendency? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: Of going three-and-out or being backed up?

Q. Going three-and-out when you are more backed up. (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: I think that there are common themes. Obviously I won’t get into specifics there, but being in third-and-long– I’ve been saying that all year, when you’re in third-and-long, it’s harder to convert it obviously than third-and-two to -six or -two to -five or whatever it is. Being efficient on those plays and eliminating some of the things that put you in the hole, whether that’s a penalty, whether that’s a negative play.

Again, when I say those things, I’m looking at everybody. It’s the play call, it’s the execution, it’s everything. I think it always keeps coming back to being able to be ahead of the sticks and being able to be explosive. It doesn’t have to creep its way out of there, right? It doesn’t have to be three-yard gain, three-yard gain, five-yard gain, seven-yard gain. It can be 20-yard gain and being explosive back there as well, which are some of the things that we’re continuing to work on as a staff, as players, of how we [can] be more efficient in those areas.

Q. You spoke a lot about yards after the catch, and you specifically mentioned getting the ball with guys running five yards at the line of scrimmage. Has that shifted over your time here? Do you see changes in terms of the route concepts? How do you explain that? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: Not necessarily that that shifted but obviously want to always be able– Defenses have changed slightly, but you still try to work your way to get the shallows and crossers against what you want them. Again, we’ve had areas of success with that here, have had areas success with that in the past [at] other places I’ve been. Always something that we want to think about, to be able to get our guys the ball in space to make plays. Maybe there are different thoughts of how we do it now. That doesn’t mean we aren’t still thinking about the other ways we’ve done it as well, but obviously you grow, you add something to it, you take something away from it to continue to try to make it be what you want.

Q. As you try to find more consistency on offense, how do you not fall into the trap of maybe pressing or getting out of character to make some of those explosives or get things going? (Cayden Steele)

Nick Sirianni: I think that when you’re in the midst of a game or when you’re in the midst of preparing for a game, it’s so important that you stick to your process. I always compare it to these guys like a free throw when everything is noisy around you and everything’s going crazy and the magnitude of the situation. Whether you’ve had a lot of success or whether you’ve had a couple games– because two games before that [you] have a lot of success, the two games after that haven’t been as good. Regardless of what that is, there’s always going to be ups and downs in a season. There’s always going to be ups and downs in life.

I try to put as much of this into life as I possibly can. The way I look at my job is not just to help them become better football players, I want to help them become better men. It’s being locked in, laser focused on the process. Your dribbles instead of what appears to be chaos or comfort or whatever it is. So, you attack it the exact same way.