Nick Sirianni

Q. How fine is the line of having confidence and resiliency that you can find ways to win when you’re not playing at your best and the frustration that you’re not playing at your best? (Omar Ruiz)

NICK SIRIANNI: You’re just always trying to get better each week and that’s what we’re trying to do is get better each week and sometimes there’s going to be plays every single week where there’s going to be spurts of good football and there’s going to be spurts of football that’s not so good, and you’re just trying to minimize that, and appreciate the win.

But also, striving to get better. I think striving to get better, there is a fine line, like you said. There is, man, we won, but gosh, this could have been better. I think that’s what makes a lot of good players great is that striving to get better, and I said the same thing with coaches.

So, there is this where you never have that feeling of satisfied, but you’ve got to enjoy it, too. You’ve got to enjoy the wins as well.

Q. What are you seeing from Cardinals QB Kyler Murray since he’s been back? Are you seeing him move around like he used to before? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, he still can go. He’s still a really good player. Obviously, each week he gets healthier. And you’ve got to know where he is. I mean, you know where he is in each play, he’s always behind the center, but you’ve got to account for him on each and every play. He’s really, really outstanding. He is a playmaker, right. He can make plays with his arm and his mind and his feet.

So, a lot of respect for him and I think they are doing a good job with him. He’s doing a good job this year and we’ve got a challenge this week.

Q. Senior Defensive Assistant Matt Patricia mentioned their team speed, is that something that stands out to you? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: It is, yeah, I think they have got some skill players that have some really good speed, obviously on offense and obviously the quarterback makes that — when he’s touching the ball every time, and he has the type of speed that he has, that can show off the team speed as well. They have got tight ends that can go. And yeah, they have got a big, bruising running back in [Cardinals RB James] Conner, who is an outstanding player and I’ve got a lot of respect for him as well. But you definitely see the speed when you put on the tape.

Q. In terms of the bigger picture of the season, do games like this present interesting opportunities when you have WR Britain Covey and people like that showing up in the offense that you can find opportunities for? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you’re doing everything you’ve got to do to win each and every game. Sometimes like last week, Britain Covey had an opportunity based off of the defense and some of the things they were doing to different personnel groups. This week, we’ll see.

But you know, the things like always, the offense will go through — the pass game offense will go through the three guys that I always mention and there’s going to be some opportunities for some other guys, as well.

Q. You had mentioned how you thought you were too tense on the sidelines in some of the moments last week and you’re one of the people that sets the temperature for the team overall. Did you reflect on that at all? Obviously it’s been a season that’s had a sense of tension to it, and sort of your role in that, have you thought about that? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, that’s why I said what I said last week. You’re always trying to — every time in a game, after a game, I’m really thinking about: Were the guys ready to play physically; did I do the right things throughout the week to help them be ready to play physically. I mean, just physically be ready to play. Did I take enough time off practice; did I do enough on practice, all those different things.

You also think about did I manage the game well; what are the mistakes I made there or what are the good things I did there.

Then you also think about my role with the offense, were the designs the way they needed to be on offense, what could we have done better here and then you think about the messaging to the team as well. That’s my last thing there as the head coach is the messaging. So you go through that each and every week of what you think.

Last week, I felt like in the midst of that game it wasn’t so much the messaging but it was more so in that tense moment that I did that, and I didn’t like — just like everything else, you evaluate. Hey, I didn’t like that I didn’t call a timeout after the — Kenny’s [RB Kenneth Gainwell] not getting out-of-bounds, he got tackled inbounds and the same thing here.

You just evaluate that each and every week and I think that’s just your process each and every week of what can I have done better here and that’s what I felt last week and that’s what I shared with you guys.

Q. On the topic of takeaways and turnover differential, last year you and Jonathan Gannon were adamant that it’s not a luck-based statistic; it’s coached up. Is it the type of thing where you’re seeing it more as a luck-based thing this year, or do you still think it is a product of technique and coaching? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think it’s always going to be a product of that. Now, are there some unlucky bounces? Yes. But I do believe that every team has those, right. There’s every team that’s going to be like, if we just didn’t do this one and this one and this one with that unlucky bounce, but everybody has those, right, that go both ways.

I do believe those even themselves out. So yeah, I firmly believe still that we’ve got to continue to harp on it and even do a better job of what we’re doing as far as the way we’re coaching it, and then also we’ve got to execute it better.

So, it’s always in that, and that’s how I feel about that. I think that’s a really good question because there have been some unlucky bounces and those things — I think I said this maybe on the radio this week. Sometimes I get upset about a call or something like that, but those things have a tendency of evening themselves out as well.

And so, you can’t get wrapped up in the ones that might not be bouncing your way, because I do believe in this game and in a 17-game season, that all that stuff evens itself out.

So, we’ll wait for some of those to bounce our way in that, but it always starts with what we can control and that’s the way we coach it, the way we execute it, and the detail within that.