Nick Sirianni

Q. When you look at the Titans on tape, what are some things that they do well and some things that you guys are really going to have to worry about? (Jason Dumas)

Nick Sirianni: You start by always looking at the personnel that a team has. There are a couple guys still there from when I was in Indy; Hooker [Titans S Amani Hooker] and [Titans DT] Jeffrey Simmons. Obviously, both really good players, and were good players then. They still are good players. Jeffrey Simmons — we’ve got to know where he is at all times. I look at their wide receivers on the defensive side of things. No secret, the Ohio State kid went really early because he’s a really good player. [Titans WR Calvin] Ridley — we’ve always had a lot of respect for his game. I think that was the first game I coached here; he was on the other sideline.

I think very highly of [Titans WR] Wan’Dale Robinson. I think he is a really good playmaker and really tough, having seen him in the division over the past couple years. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. Same thing with [Titans RB Tony] Pollard on there, and [Titans QB] Cam Ward does some really good things. Their offensive line with [Titans G Peter] Skoronski and [Titans T JC] Latham and the rest of them. I think that they’ve got a lot of good pieces right there and it shows up on tape. We’ll have to be ready to have our best week of preparation to be able to play our best.

Q. When did you first realize that G Landon Dickerson was seriously hurt and wouldn’t be himself? And was there any talk about maybe going with someone else at left guard to start or even getting him out of there at halftime or something? (Reuben Frank)

Nick Sirianni: Like I said to you guys, everybody in that first game had some good plays and had some bad plays, and he was doing some really good things as well, like I mentioned to you guys. After he got into the locker room, he was uncomfortable, and that’s where you do MRIs and that’s where we saw the bone bruise, and that’s kind of how it went. You’re comfortable with him because of how many times he’s played through him being uncomfortable because he’s so tough. That’s how that went about.

Q. Why wasn’t he on the injury report? Before the first game, you said a bone bruise. (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: Like I just said, he was practicing everything, and he came in being uncomfortable after the game. That’s when we did the MRI, and that’s where we saw what we saw.

Q. What would you think of the way C/G Drew Kendall played, and do you feel like he’s ready to step in for G Landon Dickerson? (Martin Frank)

Nick Sirianni: I was really pleased with Drew’s preseason. I was really pleased with [C/G] Willie Lampkin’s preseason. [T] Markel [Bell], [T] Fred [Johnson], [G] Micah [Morris], all those guys have the ability to be able to do some things there. We have flexibility with how we need to rotate around and where we need to be. Excited about the depth that we have there. Like I said to Landon, there haven’t been many games that I’ve been the head coach here that he wasn’t playing football for us. Obviously, going to miss him like crazy, but really excited about that room and the depth of that room and where we are there.

Q. LB Zack Baun, NFC defensive player of the week. Just a couple years ago, he was kind of buried on the Saints roster in their special teams. How has he really grown as a player in your eyes over the past couple years? (Breland Moore)

Nick Sirianni: He has this amazing work ethic. None of us know our ceiling. What I mean is, none of us know our actual potential, our ceiling, because so much can happen when you work your [butt] off. I may think to myself, ‘Well, my kids aren’t going to be NFL football players because I wasn’t,’ but that’s not fair to say because nobody knows what their potential is until they put the work in. That’s a great example of Zack: He is highly talented and he puts the work in. I’ve always said — I think I’ve said this to you guys a lot — When you’re talking about the draft or you’re talking about players’ potential or ceiling, the guys that love football, that are tough, that have high football IQ, obviously that are talented, God willing, those guys reach their ceiling. They reach their potential. That’s a great example there with Zack.

Zack works extremely hard. We’re so happy to get him when we got him. Could I have predicted that this was going to be the case? I don’t know, but we knew how good he was on special teams. A lot of the times for a linebacker who maybe hasn’t played full-time on defense, the things that you have to do on special teams correlate: being able to play in space, being able to tackle, being able to block destruct, being physical, all those different things. It really did correlate well there, and Zack deserves all the credit because he’s the one who put that work in.

I’d be crazy not to mention [Inside Linebackers Coach] Bobby King and the linebacker coach I think he is. Our job as coaches is to take a player to another level that maybe they couldn’t reach themselves through all the things that we give them in this building. That’s why you guys hear me talk so much about fundamentals to ad nauseam. I get it. Our team thinks it’s to ad nauseam, too, but that’s how you take a guy to another level. How can you get him a little bit better in those areas? I’m really proud of that for the guys we’ve been able to get in here and helped them develop to reach their goals. That’s why we got into coaching in the first place.

Q. After the game, RB Saquon Barkley said that you guys this year weren’t going to get caught up in, if it was just a two-point win or whatever the case, looking at style points. Is that something that’s coming from the top from you emphasizing to the team this year? (Tim McManus)

Nick Sirianni: You always have to find joy in every situation. Regardless of if you win or if you lose, there’s going to be things that you’re going to want back in every single game and you’re going to need to improve on in every single game. It’s freaking hard to win in this league. I mean, it is extremely, extremely hard.

Have you ever seen that Seinfeld episode where Kramer promises a kid that Paul O’Neill is going to hit home runs? It’s hard to hit home runs. ‘Where’d you get two?’ and he’s like, ‘Two’s better than one,’ and he’s like, ‘How’d you get in here?’ But it’s hard to win.

You have to enjoy it because you know you’re going to go right back to work, win or lose. We’re going to sit here and we’re all going to take ownership of the tape. Naturally as humans, you tend to look at the negatives more than you look at the positives, but there are so many positives and it’s so important that joy comes after every time. I already know how I’m going to feel if we lose. That is a feeling that’s hard to get over. You better appreciate the things and know how hard it is and appreciate those things after a win. It’s very healthy to do that. It’s very healthy to be like, ‘Man, I want this back and I want to do this better.’ That’s naturally what we do. In the moment, we have to be able to enjoy that because let’s say I didn’t coach my best game or let’s say Saquon didn’t play his best game, but the guy next to him played his [butt] off and played the best game of his life. What kind of teammate or what kind of coach are you if you’re just down and out. What are you saying to him like, ‘Hey, you played your best game –’ because everybody’s in a different spot after every single game.

Some guys grade it out as pluses, some guys grade it out as minuses, some guys grade it out as Oks, but the goal in every game is to win the game, and that has to come and that has to be the reward every single time. I do know this: I don’t know who else won Player of the Week for the AFC or offense, defense, special teams, but individual goals are only met if team goals are met first. Of course, there are occasions where it’s not, but you look at it, the team that advances far into the playoffs usually is the team that has the most All-Pros and Pro Bowl players, naturally. And the guys that get contracts. Everyone’s got individual goals, but the only way those are met and met for as many people as we possibly can is if the team goals are met first. That’s always got to be remembered.

Q. Why did you go with QB Andy Dalton as the No. 2 quarterback? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: We felt like he was the best person for the job and that won the job. That has no indication of how we feel about [QB] Tanner [McKee]. That’s who won the job throughout camp, but roles and spots on the depth chart are never set in stone. They’re still competing, they’re still working, and we’ll be evaluating everything all the time. But at the end of the day, that’s why.

Q. Is C/G Drew Kendall a better fit at guard or center? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: [Jokingly.] That’s a tricky way you’re asking that question. I think he’s able to do both. I think he does well at both and that’s why you cross-train these guys. Same with Willie. I think he can do both. Same with Fred. I think he can play inside and outside. We’ll see how that goes. He’s got reps and experience at both and excited for whoever that may be who fills in this opportunity.

Q. You mentioned G Landon Dickerson’s toughness several times. I’m curious, I imagine that players express discomfort at various times. Does this change in the future, like how quick he might be to imaging? (Brooks Kubena)

Nick Sirianni: That’s not my department. Our doctors do a phenomenal job. [Vice President of Sports Medicine/Head Athletic Trainer] Tom [Hunkele] and the trainers, they do a phenomenal job at everything that they do. The detail — and they have a big job this week going in and playing in the heat. I’d say that every week is an organizational game, meaning it takes everybody to get it done, but this one even more so with all the protocols that we go through and the checklist that we go through of how to play in the heat game with Nando [Director of Player Performance and Sports Science/Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Fernando Noriega] and his staff and Tom and his staff, [Vice President of Equipment Operations] Greg [Delimitros] and his staff, [Senior Director of Team Operations] Dan Ryan. There are so many people that play a part in that for this upcoming game and for what you’re speaking of. I’ve got a lot of faith in everything that they do, and they do a great job.

Q. Is your criteria for explosive plays still the same and how does it match up with what, in your philosophy on it, how does it match up with what Offensive Coordinator Sean Mannion thinks? (Dave Zangaro)

Nick Sirianni: I think we look at that very similarly, first of all. I know we look at that very similarly. It’s not — when I said it’s like, ‘Hey, 2021, the guys really bought into your message.’ Well, I was talking about the toughest team wins, the most detailed team wins, and the most together team wins. It was said a little bit differently. Well, those are the truths of football. Well, it’s also the truths of football that you’ve got to protect the football, and you’ve got to be explosive, and you’ve got to stop explosives, and you’ve got to take the ball away.

We’re on the same page there and how we think of it, how we look at it, how we look at how we create them, all those different things. Our definitions are a little different than the league or however, whatever the numbers may be, but ours are what they are for a run and for a pass and that’s what we kind of dictate everything on.