Nick Sirianni

Q. What’s your concern level with K Jake Elliot right now and why? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I’ve got a lot of confidence in [K] Jake Elliot. He’s been a good player for a long time here. He’s made a ton of big-time kicks. Like I said to you guys yesterday, the wind was a lot more than what you could tell from the stands. There were different types of wind there. And he’s made a lot of huge kicks here, recently and in the past.

Confidence is very high with Jake because I know who he is, and I’ve seen who he can be.

Q. Last night some of the offensive players were expressing some frustration about the passing offense. When that happens, what’s your process for hearing that and then funneling that in a positive way? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: Sure. When you guys asked me yesterday what I thought, normally I’ve always got to watch the tape. But I think it’s no secret that we weren’t up to our standard in that area yesterday. So it’s just going back to work.

What I do know – I love that guys care. They care about how they perform, they care about us meeting our standard, and that just leads into getting better.

My only thought on that is, hey, we’re going to get to work today, which we already did, and watch the tape with them and make the corrections. And be critical with ourselves as coaches, how we can put them in better situations, how we can do different stuff to help out, and everybody doing their part.

So it’s just an opportunity for you to grow and to get better. And that’s any time you step on the field, [there] is an opportunity for that.

Q. Do you think that too much of an emphasis on the run game has affected QB Jalen Hurts? Maybe made him trigger shy? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: No.

Q. What happened on a couple of the deep throws and check downs that he threw? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Which one?

Q. The second play I asked you about on WR A.J. Brown, the first passing play. What should he have done there? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: What did I see on that?

Again, there’s always a different reason to you guys, a play doesn’t look exactly the way or go to a place where you go with the football. I’m not going to get into that with every single play, and not in any play. We’ll keep it in-house and correct it in-house.

I think [QB] Jalen [Hurts] has done a nice job over the course of the last two months of the season of playing really good football, of going where he needs to go with the football, being accurate with the football, running our offense, getting us in and out of good plays.

So, if we perceive this or that on a certain play, you just try to correct it and get better from it.

I don’t think the offense in general, as far as our pass game, was to our standard yesterday. But make no mistake about it, and I know the question is coming about Jalen. Make no mistake about it; we’ve won nine games in a row, and Jalen Hurts is a big reason why we’ve won nine games in a row.

Q. Maybe in a general sense in terms of throwing downfield, in terms of air yards and attempts of 20-plus yards, QB Jalen Hurts has only attempted two in the last four games. That’s the lowest among all quarterbacks that are throwing that much. Obviously did more earlier in the season, was good at that coming out of the bye. Just wondering with that trend, where do you think that comes from? Is that reluctance? Is that what you’re seeing? How do you interpret that? Is that something you talk to him about? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: We don’t get too much into air yards and stuff like that. Jalen tries to go to the right place with the football based off the defense we’re getting and the way we’re trying to attack. We try to get him to do that same thing. As far as what happens, sometimes air yards are there to throw the ball down the field, and sometimes they are not.

So again, you read out each play individually and not based off of what a number potentially tells you before the game. You have to be in the moment of the game that you’re playing at that particular moment and take what the defense gives you at that particular moment. I don’t look too much into that.

Q. You tell us all the time, you’re hyper focused week to week, and you guys have won nine straight, clinched the postseason again. Is it difficult to weigh both ends of the spectrum that you’re having success, but you want to improve here? Do you have to be disciplined and say, ‘Hey, we have to improve this aspect,’ whether it’s the passing game or anything? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, of course.

When we found out we made the playoffs, that lasted a couple seconds. And then said to ourselves, now it’s back to the Steelers.

No one is thinking about the playoffs. No one is thinking about anything. All our attention should be on the Pittsburgh Steelers and that’s it, and how we get better for this week. That’s our attention at all times.

I think you have talked to me enough to know that’s the same thing I say every week of, hey, how do we get better this week? Whether it’s in the passing game, whether it’s in tackling, whether it’s in taking care of the football, whether it’s in taking the football away. If we saw a problem that we’re having or a game where we don’t have something going the way we want it to go, we’ll work like crazy to do that. Penalties, whatever it is.

And that’s our job, just to get better each week. If we can just keep getting better each week and just figure out how to play this game, and go against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and focus on getting better, the rest of it will take care of itself. We’re not worried about any of that. We’re just worried and focused on where we are today. First of all, it was the review of the game, and now it’s in the beginning stages of prepping for the Steelers.

Q. You said to the players after the game that you wanted them to enjoy the win. I’m curious, because it does seem like there was a lot of frustration on the offensive side of the ball after that game, are you worried at all about where the team’s head is at despite having an 11-2 record? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

NICK SIRIANNI: No, not at all. I think this is a very mature team of very great leaders and mature guys that are hyper focused on how to get better. Are you going to have moments of being disappointed that you didn’t reach your standard of how to play?

Now the win, it’s always our standard to win. That’s the main goal and that’s the main thing. As Jalen would say, that is the main thing.

So when you do that, you have to be able to enjoy that. Like I said, I like the fact that guys, when we don’t reach our standard of how we want to play and show everybody how we play each week, are disappointed in that. But you also have to remind them in those moments, it’s hard to win and that you have to enjoy those moments.

I know this; when you lose, that will sit with you, and you’re sick about that. So you have to balance that out when you win to enjoy it. Because it’s about enjoying the locker room after the game because there’s so much that goes into each week. You empty the tank every single week to try to win a football game. And when you win, there should be joy in that because you work so hard at it.

That other team emptied the tank too. So you have two teams putting a week’s worth of work in. And not a normal work week, a strenuous, long one. So you have to find some enjoyment because when you lose at the end of that week and all the work that you put into it, that’s a bad feeling.

I’m not saying that it equals out because us as coaches and us as players, the losses do sit with you harder than the wins do. But you have to find a way to be positive in those scenarios because you do work so hard and it not always going to be pretty.

You’ve got to give the other team credit. We are in the NFL. This is hard, week-in, week-out. We saw it yesterday, there were teams that were supposed to win or weren’t supposed to win that didn’t. You’re in the NFL and anything can happen every single week.

And to come out with a win in those, and to have it for the last nine weeks, is special. But the best thing about winning nine in a row is it gives you an opportunity to win ten in a row.

Q. One of the things that stood out in the locker room was the offensive players saying that in the passing game, you’re not on the same page. Curious what examples you’re seeing of that and why that is the case this deep into the season? (Tim McManus),

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think everyone has to be able to watch the tape after the game and look through that. Football is an imperfect game.

You show me a perfect game by somebody – it’s not like pitching in basketball where you can have a perfect game. It’s an imperfect game. There are going to be mistakes. Every play there’s a mistake. That’s the way the game goes sometimes. It’s just never going to be perfect. If you show me a game of whoever played yesterday, I’ll point out a mistake on each play.

And like I said, that’s just the way it goes. You’re striving to make sure that you’re playing as perfect as you possibly can and play as good as you possibly can, but there are going to be errors.

They are frustrating when they happen. What I say to the guys before every walkthrough period is ‘Work to be on the same page’ because that’s where it starts, is everyone being on the same page so you can go out and execute.

You’re constantly trying to do that, and we always talk about that. So you get frustrated when it’s not, but like I said, this is an imperfect game. Sometimes, there are going to be times – whether it’s Week 14, Week 1, Week 17, Week 20, whatever it is – where there are mistakes, and you’ve just got to be able to play the next play, correct it, and be able to move on.

Q. Early last week, you said that you want to win the double positive, winning the explosive play battle and winning the turnover battle. As it relates to the passing game yesterday, do you feel like the emphasis on winning the turnover battle came at the expense of attempting to generate explosive plays? And if so, how can you encourage a better balance? (Olivia Reiner)

NICK SIRIANNI: By our standard, we did win the explosive play battle and the turnover battle yesterday.

The explosive play battle does not just include passing yards. It’s run yards, passing yards, special teams, everything. Everything’s involved.

I’ve explained this to you guys in the past; you don’t want to turn the ball over, but you don’t want to not push the ball down the field and be explosive in the pass game. It’s a hard balance. It’s not easy as far as doing that. We’ve won the explosive play battle many times in these past nine weeks, and we’ve shown that we can be explosive.

We’re looking at a total, I think as far as the way we calculate it, explosive play differential going into last week, we were No. 1 with the amount we gave up and the amount we created.

It’s a true team stat defensively, offensively, special teams-wise. Again, it’s so important that you take care of the football. We are playing the Steelers this week who are No. 1 as of today in takeaways, so it’s going to be very important that we protect the football, and don’t give them short fields, and that we are explosive. That’s a battle you fight as a player, as a coach, all the time because both are important. It’s not just one that’s important. They are both important.

And for the past – last year was the year, but in ’21, ’22 and ’24 right now, we have been high in both those categories, in the explosive play differential category and the turnover battle. ’23, we weren’t great in the turnover battle.

So we’re doing a good job of that, but it is a battle. It is tough to balance both, but this game is not easy and everyone has got difficult jobs to do.

Q. When you watch the tape, it almost looks like WR A.J. Brown is open every time, all on slant plays, and he shows his frustration. Do you ever have to say to him, ‘Yeah, I see what you’re doing, and I can understand your frustration, but this is what it is.’ Did you ever have that conversation with them? (Bob Brookover)

NICK SIRIANNI: We talk about it. We talk about everything. I’d like to think I’m really close with [WR] A.J. [Brown], and he’d probably say the same thing. And so you talk about everything. A.J. is a great football player, and we always are trying to get the ball in his hands. There’s no doubt because he’s a great player. It doesn’t always work as simple or as easy as that. There are other factors of things that they can take away – you’re running the ball well, the situation in the game. There are a lot of factors that go into that.

I think what’s important that we talk about always is controlling the things that you can control, and what A.J. can control is going out there and doing a good job of beating the man over the top of him when he’s running a route and blocking the guy he’s supposed to when he’s in the run game. A.J.’s missed, what, three games and has 800-plus yards? So, he’s making a big contribution.

But I know he wants the football because he knows how much he can help our team when he touches the football. Just like [RB] Saquon [Barkley], just like [WR] DeVonta [Smith], just like Jalen, just like [TE] Dallas Goedert, [RB] Kenny Gainwell. When they get the ball in their hands, they know he can affect the game. I know that A.J. is a great teammate and a great person, and those things I know for sure about A.J.

Q. Switching to the defense – DT Jalen Carter – obviously you guys are not as deep as you were at the edge rush position. How much of a game factor has DT Jalen Carter become, and how much do you think opposing offenses have to plan for him in order to try to be effective? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, they have to account for him every play, just like we have to account for really good players on their defense every play. So I think you’re seeing that. You’re seeing teams do that. And I think [DT] Jalen [Carter] has done a good job of being disruptive at that first level of the defense.

He’s fast. He’s quick. He’s strong. He gets to the football. And so, he has been disruptive. He’s playing good ball right now and I know when you see that as an offensive coach, you have to do what you need to do to help to make sure you account for him on every play.

Q. Following up the decision to punt, in your four years, that’s the closest to the goal you’ve ever punted in the fourth quarter of a game. You’ve attempted tough kicks before. What’s the thought process there in between attempting a kick, even with the challenges of the wind, but that could give you a two-possession lead, and giving them the ball with the chance to take the lead there? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Good question, everything is in play. You go in every single game with a plan of– make no mistake about it, we have a plan for that specific moment and every specific moment. You find yourself coming up with new things every week as you study the league of like, ‘Man, okay, put yourself in this scenario.’ So your list of things and the moments that you’re in just grow and grow and grow.

But you have to do that. You have to put yourself in that moment to make those decisions.

With that being said, you have a guideline of what you go on, but then there’s circumstances in the game that you must be able to not just follow the guides of what you’ve come up with and the work you’ve come up with but also the feel of the game and how things are going.

The wind. The way your defense is playing. The way their offense is playing. Those are a couple things.

So in that particular case, I felt like that was the best decision to make to help our football team win. I know they got out of a backed-up area when they hit that pass on third-and-11, but man how good of a play was that by [DB] Avonte Maddox and [P] Braden [Mann] to get that ball into that area. Those guys did a phenomenal job there. Made me look right in that particular case but you trust your players in that aspect to, if you do decide to punt again, you trust them. If you decide to kick, you trust them. If you try to go for it, you trust them. [You trust them] in the scenario if you decide to punt it that they are going to go and do their job, and they did a really good job of that and the defense held.

So, everything is accounted for, but you have to account for the unknowns, too, in those scenarios like the wind, like the defense, like all those different things. I was really proud of the guys and I’m proud to be associated with the guys and the fact that we talked about playing with relentless effort for 60 minutes and on the last play we have the rush by more [DT] Moro [Ojomo], and Jalen, and Sweaty [OLB Josh Sweat] to flush [Panthers QB] Bryce Young out of the pocket.

And [CB Darius] Slay driving that pass break up that Slay has a knack for making in big-time moments.  Because Slay had another pass break up where he was in the hip of the receiver on another fourth down. I think they were three for five on fourth down, and Slay had two big plays on those categories.

I can’t say enough about Slay of how good he played coming off that week where he wasn’t in. It was good to have him back because he’s such a good player, and he’s such a good leader and such a good captain.

Q. Would the decision have been different had K Jake Elliott made earlier kicks? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Everything is a little bit different. Again, I have to be in the moment for the one that’s going on in that particular time, and all the factors come into play.

Q. On the RPOs when QB Jalen Hurts is pressured and he knows that there’s an eligible man downfield, last week against Baltimore, we saw him throw it away, you take the penalty. This week, he took the sack. What’s the coaching point on that? (Bo Wulf)

NICK SIRIANNI: I’ll keep all our coaching points in house there. I always want to answer your question, I feel like I’ve done this to you a couple times and I apologize – but our job is to go through and make sure that we coached it the right way, and that we are coaching it the right way, and that we coach it the right way moving forward.

Whatever the answer is to your question, which I’m not going to get into – I’m sorry – but we just have the communication of everything that happens on the field of, ‘Hey, here is what we need to do in this area as coaches and here is what we need to do as players,’ all in the attempts of getting better.