Nick Sirianni

Q. Who is your quarterback on Sunday? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: We’re still sorting through that. Obviously [QB] Jalen [Hurts] had a good practice yesterday and went out and looked like he did some things really well.

So still going to sort through all those things. Haven’t decided anything yet. We have a couple days. Still got time.

Q. Does it matter how he responds to that? (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: Of course. Yeah, everything matters. Everything matters with how he’s feeling and what we feel like the timetable is and what the doctors are saying. Everything matters. Everything is in play.

Obviously the first and foremost thing that’s most important for [QB] Jalen [Hurts] is that his health is always taken into consideration first and if it’s safe for him to be out there.

Then from there, then you do what’s best for the team, but you first do what’s best for the individual.

Q. How did you divvy up team snaps? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: I’ll keep in-house business in-house there. [QB] Jalen [Hurts] was out there and did some good things at practice.

Q. What stood out about the way he threw? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: I just didn’t feel like it was affected. The velocity of the ball was good, the accuracy was good, that he felt good. So those were the main things, and that’s what you want to see.

Q. What else do you need to see from him? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think you guys ask that question to me quite often, and it’s just always going to go back to what the doctors are saying, what [QB] Jalen [Hurts] is saying, and where we think he is at that time. I don’t think it’s a, ‘Hey, I have to see him through it 57 yards on the left-hand side.’

It’s not ever going to be anything like that. It’s just going to always be about the information I get from Jalen and knowing how badly he wants to play, that I have to listen it the doctors as well. So, it’s a both, and then obviously we have to make a decision that’s best for Jalen.

Q. Is there a difference between being cleared to throw and being cleared for contact? (Bo Wulf)

NICK SIRIANNI: Like I said, everything is in consideration. So, I mean, it has to be everything. He has to be okay to throw. He isn’t wearing a red jersey on Sunday, and we wouldn’t ask to do that.

Q. You could. (Bo Wulf)

NICK SIRIANNI: You could. I don’t think they’d oblige. It makes me think of a funny story between my head coach in college [former Mount Union Head Coach] Larry Kehres and my brother’s team always scrimmages against Mount Union. There was an argument one year about, ‘We’ll take off the red jerseys if you want.’ That was Coach Kehres yelling that to my brother.

Obviously, that’s not the case here.

Q. Nick, when you have a quarterback who you’ve said is the toughest player you’ve ever been around, how difficult is that conversation to get a read on what he’s telling you? (Rob Kuestner)

NICK SIRIANNI: That’s why it can’t just be him. He’s going to want to be out there no matter what, so he’s going to say, in my opinion, he’s going to say what he needs to say to play.

But that’s why it’s a group effort to figure it out, right? Again, [QB] Jalen’s [Hurts] health is the first thing you think of. We all have to be responsible for that. Like Jalen, and we urge him to be as truthful as he possibly can in that scenario. [We’ll say] ‘Hey, I know you’re feeling good, just be truthful in this scenario.’ But then also [take into consideration] what the doctors are feeling, what they’re seeing, all those different things.

So that’s why it’s not just one guy’s decision. If it was just Jalen’s decision on this, of course he would go out and play. He would go out and play with way worse things maybe just because we know how tough is.

Q. What about replacing T Lane Johnson, how do you guys plan on doing that? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: [Jokingly] You’re going to try that again, huh? I’ll say the exact same thing I said two days ago: We have some options. That’s a good thing, right?

So, you have really three good options. You can move [T] Jordan [Mailata] over to right side; you can put [T] Andre [Dillard] to the right side; you could put [T/G] Jack Driscoll to the right side. That’s a good thing that we have options, and credit to [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] and his staff that we do have options and the depth that we have.

Q. With QB Jalen Hurts and QB Gardner Minshew, obviously you have to get Gardner ready if needed. Do you want to make a decision at a certain point because of the value of that position and Gardner has to be ready, or can you take it up to Game Day? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think you can take it up to Game Day. Again, the body is still healing. He’s still going through these things, so two days from now he’s going to be healthier than what he is today.

[QB] Gardner [Minshew] has been in this position where he has to do everything he has to do to prepare, on limited reps, on a lot of reps, all those different things, and that’s why Gardner is a great pro. We have a lot of confidence in him that he’s going to be ready no matter what the scenario is.

Whether he’s the back up; whether he’s the starter, whether he’s right now the starter but turns into the backup, whether right now he’s the backup and turns into the starter, Gardner will make sure that he’s ready because that’s the type of guy he is and that’s the role that he has to play in that position.

Q. Did you look at prior Saints games and what you were able to do in the run game and did that impact the game plan this week? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: You always look at your last game plans, but we also know they’re looking at their last game plans, and you always look at your last game films, and you know they’re looking at it. You do that. That’s just part of your process. I think that’s part of every coach’s process, to look at the last time you played them.

I think sometimes it even goes back to, okay, what about two times ago when we played them? What about three times ago when we played them? What about for times ago when we played them? What about those preseason practices we had with them when [Offensive Coordinator] Shane [Steichen] and I were in San Diego and [New Orleans Saints Head Coach] Dennis Allen was the defensive coordinator for New Orleans in 2017? Do we have that tape? Probably. Does he have that tape? Probably.

So, you think about everything, and so you just try not to leave any stone unturned and you’re trying to put your guys in position to succeed as much as you can, and that’s our job, is to turn every stone over to look for any answer we can.

Q. What did you think of the response to how the defense specifically and those individually impacted by third and 30 responded this week? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think it’s just been the response of the team any time we’ve been down this year, whether it’s in the midst of a game or after a loss. Just feel like we came back to work and fixed the mistakes, took accountability for the mistakes. We own the mistakes, we fixed the mistakes with great detail, and then we try to have a dawg mentality about it and we try to do all those things together.

That’s been what we’ve tried all week. We put ourselves in this scenario. Own it, fix it with great detail, dawg mentality, move on the next one, and let’s lock arms and do it together.