Nick Sirianni

Q. Back in June, you were outlining the receiver position, and you had mentioned that WR Darius Cooper [and] kind of grouped him in the bucket with WR Johnny Wilson as a dirty-work-role kind of guy. Do you think he’s graduated and deserves more playing time on offense for the kind of training camp that he’s had?

Nick Sirianni: There’s still a lot of time left. He’s having a good camp. There’s still a lot of time left. It’s about being consistent on a daily basis. He’s done a good job being consistent on a daily basis. He makes some really good catches. Really elite hands. We know he’s tough and things that he can do, but I’ve been pleased with where he is.

Q. Who’s starting at quarterback on Saturday?

Nick Sirianni: We’re still thinking through that.

Q. On Saturday, speaking of the quarterbacks, when you’re not game planning for a preseason game, obviously, what do you look for from the quarterbacks to say ‘This was a good outing,’ you know, a good showing?

Nick Sirianni: It’s not just a quarterback thing. This is something you’re looking for for each and every position. You want the operation to be really smooth. It’s the first run for our coaches, too. We do things at practice, obviously, but this is the first time in a game setting we’re able to do that. You want the operation to be really smooth. You want everyone to be really clean on their assignments, and you’re looking for good fundamental football. That’s not any different than how we treat practice on a daily basis. It would be crazy to say, ‘Hey, now that we’re in a preseason game, or now that we’re in a game, this is what’s important.’ No, it’s our daily habits. It’s going to be a lot of the same stuff we look for in practice. The operation obviously becomes a little bit different there. We talk about detail. We want all our guys playing with outstanding detail, knowing what to do, handling situational football, [and] playing with great fundamentals.

We want all our guys to play with extreme effort. This is [where] some of the guys are going to have a lot of plays, [where] they’re not used to having that many plays. With great effort, great physicality, and great mental toughness, [being] able to put behind a bad play and go on and play the next play. Anytime you step on the field, I’m looking to emphasize that in team meetings and in offense and defensive meetings, where we can emphasize that so we can continue to show, ‘Hey, this is what our standard is.’ This will just be another opportunity for that. The difference is that it’s live to the ground and in a game setting in front of fans and that’s exciting.

Q. QB Andy Dalton was talking about how it’s kind of like a real game where — and then QB Tanner McKee didn’t know when he was going in on a given rep in certain — You have to decide who’s going to start in the preseason game, but are there ways that you can kind of continue what you’ve been doing there in training camp?

Nick Sirianni: I don’t know if that’s just for the quarterbacks. There’s going to be DBs that are backing up or have to be ready to play a couple different spots, you know, field corner, boundary corner, nickel, safety. We’ve got some guys like that too, and offensive linemen, in particular have to know, ‘Hey, I’m an interior offensive lineman. I’ve got to be ready to snap if called upon. I’ve got to be ready to play guard.’ Same thing with tackle, ‘Hey, I’m on the left side. I’m on the right side.’ All those things can happen in a game. We do those things in practice and those will also come viable in this game on Saturday. What’s today? Thursday?

Q. Is that something you want to do going back to these preseason games?

Nick Sirianni: We’ll see how that all plays out [with] where we are with all that. We’re constantly talking through who’s playing, how many reps everyone’s had, who needs this or who needs that. It’s kind of a fluid conversation that started early this week on Sunday. There’s been, again, I don’t get into it too much because there’s constant change through it. If I would’ve told you guys on Monday, I think I had a press conference Monday, ‘Hey, here’s who’s playing.’ — It’s just so fluid in that. There’s constant little changes going on behind the scenes with that.

Q. This offense historically working the middle of the field more, and certainly when you work into that area, and you’re more prone to throw interceptions. Do you have to alter your kind of expectations for how many turnovers you want out of the position versus the reward of working that part of the field?

Nick Sirianni: We talk about [that] an awful lot. You want to be explosive, and you want to take care of the football. My job is to win as many games as we possibly can. Not to, say, lead the league in total offense. If we lead the league in total offense, great. We’re probably playing really [well], but my job is to win as many games as we can. That will always be the goal. We know that part of that is taking care of the football. Our guys know how to do that and have done a good job of that. Our defense [has] done a good job of getting their hands on some of the balls that are out there. So no, the focus will always be, how do we take care of the football and how do we play with great fundamentals while still being explosive?

Now you’re going through progressions of different things and saying, ‘Hey, yeah, that looked good. He made the right decision on that one and it should have [gone] there,’ and then play it as that. The standard is, ‘Hey, take the right footwork as the quarterback. Go through your progression, go the right place with the football.’ That’s going to be the standard for quarterbacks throughout time. Did they make the right decision? Did they go to the right place with the football? Did they make an accurate throw? That will continue to be the emphasis.

Q. A lot of the offensive linemen, the young offensive linemen, I mean, how big is it for them to get preseason game experience on Saturday?

Nick Sirianni: We’re live upfront. They’re going at practice. Now, the only thing they don’t have is when somebody gets — They could get rolled up on still if somebody goes to the ground, but the thing they don’t have is the tackle gets rolled up on. We’re getting a great — We’ve been in pads in however many days we’ve been in pads as much as we possibly can because we’re live upfront. So, what better reps to get when — You’ve seen that we’ve done some ones versus twos, twos versus ones. What better reps to get than against, if you’re a young offensive lineman, against [DT] Jalen Carter and [DT] Jordan Davis and [DT] Moro Ojomo?

Our ends are doing a really nice job — [OLB] Nolan [Smith], [OLB] Jalyx [Hunt], AK [OLB Arnold Ebiketie], and [OLB] A.J. [Epenesa]. We’re getting so much of that good work in practice. Again, I think what happens in preseason games, the way we kind of look at it is just like, ‘Hey, now more eyes are on it.’ You guys get to see everything in practice. We get to see everything and then some by rewatching the tape over and over again, but now more people get to see it. Excited for that opportunity.

Q. The live part, you’re live upfront. How important is adding in the tackling aspect to evaluate the running game?

Nick Sirianni: You see when we go through practice how many tackling drills we do, but the tackling drills aren’t to the ground. It’s getting your body in position. That’s half the battle of taking the right angles, defeating the blocks, [and] putting yourself in position. Now it’s going to have to be, ‘Hey, now you’ve got to come away with a body part and you’ve got to come down with the tackle.’ For those guys, that’s different. That’s different.

Obviously, quarterbacks can get hit now. That’s different. I would really say O-line [and] D-line, they’re going full go. Now, the D-line’s going to have to take the guys to the ground. That’s a great opportunity for us to evaluate how a guy tackles is in this game because now it’s live and now you cannot only see his approach angle, the way he broke down going into it, but now you can see if it’s a low tackle, how he approached that and did he come away with getting the guy down, which at the end of the day is so important.

Then you see the relentless effort of everybody else because if we do miss a tackle, our philosophy is, ‘Hey, we missed a tackle. We’ve got to have eight guys there ready to hit that guy and make them pay for breaking that tackle.’ That’s going to show up too. Again, we’ve seen the guys relentlessly effort to the football. We preach that. We talk about it. We condition and we show it in team meetings on a daily basis. That will be fun to see. But, good point. Great evaluation tool for how guys tackle in a live setting.

Q. What is a battle or two that you’re looking forward to seeing in a preseason setting?

Nick Sirianni: I think I’m just looking forward to all of those things. Just getting back out there in a game day setting. The process that we go through as coaches, the process that they go through as players. To say I want to single this position out, I’m just looking forward to watching all these guys play in a game where it is live, even though I feel like we get so many good evaluation process here with the caliber of our team and our players.

I know I’m dancing around your question a little bit, but to say, ‘Hey, this position over this position,’ I’m just so excited to see all the guys compete. At the end of the day, this business is for people that are ultra competitive because it’s how competitive it is. I look forward to seeing that. It’s always good to go against somebody else. Sometimes at this point of camp, you’re like, ‘Man, we just want to hit somebody else and go against somebody else.’ So, looking forward to see our guys, every position, go against another team and all the things that come with that.

Q. Preseason games — How do you go about wanting Offensive Coordinator Sean Mannion to get into rhythm as a play caller, but also not showing your cards too early?

Nick Sirianni: Good question. I look at it in the sense of anything you don’t want to — We’ve got to go through our process because that’s so critical that we’re doing that. We’ll have four or five practices throughout camp and joint practices where we get to practice that. Also, preseason games where we get to handle that. At the end of the day, anything you don’t want people to see, you can’t put on tape because everyone’s watching. I think back to the 2021 season, we put a couple [of] things on tape and we’re like, ‘Man, we wish we wouldn’t have shown that.’ It kind of showed up in a game early on, and that’s on my notes constantly to talk about that to the guys, the coaches in particular, throughout the first couple [of] preseason games to highlight back to that.

I won’t get into specifics of what it was, but to get back into that 2021 season of something that happened there that we’re like, ‘Man, we wish we wouldn’t have put that on tape because the couple of opponents saw that.’ You’ve got to go practice the things that you’ve been working on and what your staples of your offense are or defense so the guys can go out there and operate and go out there and, again, play with — You’re not masking it so much where you’re like, ‘I’m not running the plays that are our base staples,’ because we want these guys to go out there and execute with high fundamentals, knowing what to do. We can, again, know what to do so we can see how you do it and see how their talent shines. I think you can do that. The process of it and the communication of it is so critical, too. You can do all that while not showing all your cards, if that makes sense. That will be our process through this game.

Q. Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio said that QB Jalen Hurts looks faster or running faster. Do the metrics back that up? I guess — I know you guys have ways to track that.

Nick Sirianni: He looks great in every aspect. When he has to run the ball, he’s running it well and looks fast and explosive. When he’s passing it, he’s been so consistent throughout camp. He’s getting better and better and more comfortable as each day goes by. I love his consistency right now, and I love the way he’s playing right now. I’m really excited for him this season and the things I know that he can do. I’m just so pleased with how he’s attacked everything. I’m really excited for him and pumped for this year.

Q. DT Uar Bernard is developing, can he play in a game? And if so, do you have a conversation with him just about stadium and fans and that aspect of it because it’s so different?

Nick Sirianni: He’s doing a nice job. Everything’s new to him. Everything’s new to him. He’s continuing. When everything’s new, that’s a great feeling to have. He can only get better from some of these things. Obviously, when everything is new to you, the game day process will be new to you as well. Whether somebody is playing in the game or not playing in the game, we want all our guys to go through the pregame process so their first time going through it’s not game one. That won’t be any different if that’s [RB] Saquon [Barkley] or [LB] Zack [Baun] or Uar. They’re all going to be going through that process. Your job in the process is to go through the same routine every time so you’re not thinking about the magnitude of the game. [It’s] kind of like your dribbles on a free throw. You’re focusing on that instead of the crowd going wild and all those things when you have to have hyper focus. That will be his emphasis and that will be everybody’s emphasis on the team.

Q. In Tuesday’s practice, you finished with sprints. That’s not something you usually do. What was behind that?

Nick Sirianni: You can’t play with relentless effort, and you can’t play with great detail unless you’re in phenomenal shape. It’s just the emphasis. We did some two-minute drives that day and the emphasis there was, we were going to — As we talked in the staff meeting, I said, ‘Let’s see where we are at that point.’ [We] wanted to get a little bit extra work. You can see how our guys attack that.

Our guys know how critical it is to be in great shape and know how hard you have to push yourself there. We’ve got great guys that lead that. Sometimes you could be like, ‘I know I saw it at my son’s football practice last night.’ They [did] sprints at the end and everyone’s like, ‘Ugh.’ But our guys attacked it like crazy because they know how important that is. That just speaks to our character of our football team that it’s just like we know how to work. Our guys know how to work extremely hard in the time that we’re out here. That was just another good example of it.