Q. Hey Nick, have you decided whether or not to rest your starters week 18, and if those calls haven't been made yet, what is the general philosophy of the benefit of that versus continuing to play to stay sharp over whatever?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we're talking through all that still. We haven't decided anything there yet. We don't have to decide right now. We're preparing like we would normally prepare on a Monday for a game; really it's like a Tuesday now. But now that we got flexed to Saturday, trying to get the plan ready, rip through that, and, again, like I said, we don't have to make that decision quite yet.
So I know there is a thing about resting and there is a thing about staying sharp. No doubt we're taking everything into account and we'll discuss that later on today.
Q. If I can just follow up, you mention preparing as normal. I'm sure you guys have figured out already that your most likely round one opponent will be Tampa. Do you start to look ahead to them even though you're preparing for Dallas this week?
NICK SIRIANNI: Same response I had kind of last week with all that. You just don't look too far ahead or too far behind. You think about each day what you got to get done that day, and that's been our motto all year, what we've done all year. Keeping it one game at a time, and we got to go out and be able to put our best foot forward and be able to try to win this football game against a good football team in Dallas.
Q. You spoke last night about Jalen's calming influence on the players around him. Serious question: You're pretty wound up on the sidelines on. We watch you. Does he have a calming influence on you? Does his demeanor affect you and help you?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, when he tells you to call anything you want, I'll make it roll, I mean, that's a calming influence for everybody, not just the players, not just his teammates, but coaches too. That's a great thing to have as a coach, to have your starting quarterback say that to you.
So, yeah, I think it's got an affect on everybody.
Q. You mentioned still trying to figure out plan for the upcoming week. How much do you weigh the potentially keeping your offense (indiscernible) against getting some more development for the younger players?
NICK SIRIANNI: Again, things that I haven't really thought too much about yet. We came in here, watched the tape of our game, and then we started getting ready for Dallas.
So everything is on the table to talk through all those things. Those are great points, too, and we'll talk through that as well.
But right now just focusing on how -- the tape is put to bed. When the players get in tomorrow we'll review parts with them. The coaches have reviewed with our guys part of it, and then just onto Dallas.
Q. Nick, in terms of your coaching past, have you been in this type of situation before on any of your teams? How was that handled and what was your view there?
NICK SIRIANNI: I've been in seven playing games. Seven. And then there was one time we were locked up in Kansas City. We had won the division in 2010 and we were locked up going into the last game.
So, I mean, that was quite some time ago, but the other ones you were playing in on week 17 then -- what did I say six, seven? We were in six of them, so we were obviously that's a different story.
But when we were in Kansas City we rested some guys but not the whole team again. So I'll look back at that scenario, call Todd Haley, talk to him about it, call some different coaches, and see what their opinion is.
Keep everything on the table. Not sure what we're going to do quite yet.
Q. Kind of a lighter type question: On the TV broadcast near the end of the first quarter you can hear Jalen yelling out "Delaware" a few times. Obviously since that's a paper I work for I was wondering if there is any significance to that, what it meant, if it means anything to you guys?
NICK SIRIANNI: We try to go to great detail to not let those words out there. I know the camera picks them up sometimes. It's a competitive advantage when the team knows your words, so we fight like crazy, Martin, to protect those words, hide those words, to marry those words together to mean one thing but have something else happen.
So I would be giving away a competitive advantage if I was giving that away, what that was. You know, there is things named after states. I'll try to give you something here. There are things named after states. Unfortunately didn't have anything to do with the paper that you're working for. It has meaning for us and that's why we called it that.
Got a beautiful view of Wilmington on the way home yesterday traveling.
Q. Does it have anything to do with Mount Union?
NICK SIRIANNI: I know it's Delaware County.
Q. Does it have anything to do with Mount Union?
NICK SIRIANNI: No.
Q. I guess I'll go light here, too. You know how much I love to go light. What was your reaction to making the playoffs?
NICK SIRIANNI: Exciting. I mean, you come home from a game and you're just always -- you're always exhausted even though I'm not playing obviously, but coaching just emotionally takes a lot out of you. So by the time it was actually clinched, I don't let myself get too excited even though it was 37 to 10 at one point. You wait until the whole thing -- I was ready to go to bed by the end.
Obviously we're really excited to be in the tournament, but like I said, we got to focus on beating Dallas and the plan that goes into that. Got to focus on getting better from the game we played yesterday. But obviously we're all excited to be in this situation, and the goal is obviously to run it out and go as far as we can in this thing.
Q. Was there any way that the team marked it front office, your accomplishment of just making the playoffs? Was that one of those things you set as a goal before the season?
NICK SIRIANNI: I think you always...
Q. Tangibly.
NICK SIRIANNI: I think always your goal -- you know, for whatever reason, you always have the goal of you want to win your division and get into the playoffs. I think that's always goal in every team because anything can happen once you get in.
Yeah, I'm not necessarily saying that we set that as a goal and said, Hey, our goal is to make the playoffs, but I know that's in the back of everybody's mind each and every year.
Q. Let's help Martin out here. How often do you change those words and did he screw up Delaware for you?
NICK SIRIANNI: (Smiling.) You change the words as you hear them on the television copy. We watch that television copy all the time. There is a lot of good teaches moments in a television copy.
When you're watching a tape with the guys, they're very used to seeing the all 22 tape and being a little bit further away, but there is a lot of good things you can use technique-wise when you're teaching a wide receiver, a quarterback. Wide receiver, they're right up on them and obviously on the defensive back as well.
The quarterback is like a sky cam view of him. Behind there you can kind of put them in virtual reality when you teach them that, they're in the play reading the play.
They're just so many good teaching moments from it, and, again, you self-scout yourself all the time, right? What are we doing out of this formation, in this set, out of this personnel grouping, are we balanced, this and that?
Well, you do the same thing with the television copy. What words have they heard? What do the words mean to them? What are they seeing? So you're constantly trying to do everything you can do so the defense doesn't have a bead on your offense and trying to set them off when you think they might.
So we have a running list of those. No, Martin didn't give anything away. That's the first time we used the word Delaware because they were changing it from something else. It meant something else, and now it meant that, and next week now because Martin opened up his mouth we're going to have to change the word again.
I'm just teasing, Martin. We will change it again. Anything to throw the defense off we will do. You know, make it easy for us and harder for them.
Q. As much as you might keep the blinders on, I'm sure you know you're the subject of some criticism, punch lines a few months ago. Is there any sense of vindication for you given how the season transpired?
NICK SIRIANNI: No. I don't look too much into that. Again, I try not to hear the outside noise. I know sometimes you're going to hear it because obviously that's part of my job, is to do the media multiple times in a week. You're naturally going to hear some of that stuff when Bob is prepping me to do the media.
But everyone has a job to do, and when we are not playing good, there was criticism. When we're playing good, you get praise. I think when it's the quarterback and the head coach, they get -- I think when you're winning you probably get more praise than you deserve and when you lose you're getting more criticism than you deserve.
I know everybody has a job to do. My job is to block out the outside noise, whether it's telling me that I'm really good -- and this is how I want our players to think as well -- or whether it's telling my that I stink, and that my catchphrase about growing roots stinks.
No, my job is to block all that out and focus on the task at hand, and I respect everybody's job. I really do.
Hopefully I'm helping you guys do your job the way you need to do it.
Q. Are there any things you learned about yourself this year that you wouldn't have known if you weren't a head coach?
NICK SIRIANNI: That's a good question, Dave. I don't know. Shoot, I been doing this football coaching thing for a long time, been raised in it.
I don't think so. I would have to -- kind of catching me off guard, so I don't have a great answer for you. Ask me again on Thursday, okay?
Q. Sorry about that.
NICK SIRIANNI: I'll have a better answer for you. Dave, you got anything else?
Q. Yeah, sure I'll double down here.
NICK SIRIANNI: Hit it.
Q. We saw Jalen yesterday kind of buy some time and keep his eyes down field. What does that take for a young quarterback with his skillset to figure out when to do that and when not to do it?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, that's a great question. I think when you escape the pocket, you always want, as a quarterback, to be able to make the play down field with your arm and then run.
And Jalen has gotten better and better at that as the year has gone on, so I think what you just see is he sees it on tape and sees the guys -- I think the entire team has gotten better at that, right? It's not just Jalen.
If you looked at Dallas Goedert on the one where he breaks up the seam, retraces, and comes back to the football and Jalen gets the ball to him and he finds the open area.
Same thing with Greg Ward. Greg runs a sit over the ball, Jalen breaks right, Greg mirrors him, and we get a big play.
So it's not just -- a ton is on Jalen extending the play, keeping his eyes down field, but you would be surprised how much technique and detail goes into the receivers and the tight ends and backs finding the open spaces and how they find the open spaces. We have got better at that as the year went on.
I think as when Jalen was making plays with his feet early on we were saying, Man, we're a couple scramble throws away from being really explosive at this thing. And that's been an emphasis as coaches and as players, and I know we've gotten better at that in a lot of different areas and really showed up yesterday.
Q. I know the last time the league moved a game last minute it was very last minute and you just kind of found out on the fly. Was there any communication between the league and you guys before the decision was made to have you guys play the Cowboys on Saturday? If so, you're playing four games in 19 days. Have they told you kind of what to expect from a playoff schedule standpoint because of that change?
NICK SIRIANNI: There was rumblings about it that we might play Saturday. We knew a little bit. Again, didn't know for sure.
Q. Was that before this game?
NICK SIRIANNI: What's that?
Q. Just to clarify, was that before this game or after?
NICK SIRIANNI: That was while I was watching the game.
Q. Okay.
NICK SIRIANNI: And then we found out for sure like maybe probably five minutes probably before you knew.
And then what was the second part of your question, Mike? I'm sorry.
Q. Have they told you anything about potential playoff timeline because you've had such a quick turnaround here?
NICK SIRIANNI: No, no, they haven't mentioned -- we haven't asked and they haven't mentioned that, if you're a Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. There is a Monday night game now, right, I believe.
So we don't know anything about that. Like I said, it's going to be hard for me to press. I know you guys are going to try to get me to talk about the playoffs. I'm going to talk about Dallas. Haven't really thought too much about it.
Again, just trying to get ready for Dallas.
Q. I might actually try to get you to talk about the playoffs here a little bit if you can tolerate one more. Any updates on Miles? And then the guys on IR, maybe not for this week, but next week, Brandon Brooks, Davion Taylor, do they have a chance to come back?
NICK SIRIANNI: Davion is out for the year because he's been put on IR twice. He's unable to come back. No new update on Brandon.
With Miles, I'm not thinking Miles is going to be up this week. Not ruling it out, but I'm not thinking he's up this week. Hopefully he'll be up the following week.
With Miles it's easy to talk about the playoffs because you didn't put him on IR because you want to get him back in this three-week span. He's progressing well. Not putting a timetable on him, but you guys know we're hopeful we can get him back for the opening round of the playoffs.
But no other update on the other guys.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports