NICK SIRIANNI:
Q. Outside your locker room there is the greatest rivalries in the NFL, and the Eagles helmets and the Cowboys helmet, and just yesterday DeMarcus Lawrence had some things to say about your offense and Jalen Hurts and how they haven't played you yet. Do you do any bulletin board material? Do you use any of that leading into a game like this?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I'm not really into bulletin board material, to be quite honest with you, because, right, our greatest motivation is to play for each other. This team loves each other, right? This is what is making this team a special team, is that they're in it for each other and they're in it to not let each other down, to play for each other.
That's why our in it as coaches, right, to put our guys in positions to help them play great. That's the motivation we need, is just, hey, for each other. I don't want it threat Jalen down. I don't want to let Fletch down. That's a contagious thing.
When all the guys want to play for each other, that's when it's a special thing. And, hey, DeMarcus Lawrence is a great football player and we're going to have to be ready for where he is no matter where he is on the field, so we know how good of a football player he is, and how good of a defense this is for that matter.
But we're playing for each other, and that's our greatest motivation.
Q. Tony Dungy said that you guys have spoken a few times and you spoke about fourth downs, game management, protecting leads. I guess what was the impetus of that's conversations and why those topics in particular?
NICK SIRIANNI: Coach Dungy, first of all, any time I can talk to Coach Dungy, Coach Wright, Coach Kehres again, right, anybody I can talk to that has -- Bill Parcells had an article that came out the other day, and I want to call Todd Haley, you know, he was Todd's mentor, and I want to get Bill's number to talk to him, right, because I'm obsessed with how I get better.
If I want the team to be obsessed with how they get better I need to be obsessed with how I get better. I'm going to continue to live that. I've lived that way for 41 years of my life, and I am going to continue to live that way.
But I'll keep Coach Dungy and I's conversation private just because he was -- I was asking him about a couple different things. One thing I can tell you is that his record when he went up 14 points in a that game, I don't know if you guys saw this, when Coach Dungy was up 14 points in a game, at any point in the game, his career record at Indy and at Tampa Bay was 80-1.
Like, can I find out what's going on here, right? So I'll talk to anybody. That's a huge thing that Coach Dungy would take my call. There is a media guy in Indianapolis that helped me out in getting in touch with him, so I'm thankful to him.
But any advice I can take from somebody like that is really good advice. There was a swimming team where I was in Carmel, Indiana, and it was Carmel High School, they would won like 35 state championships in a row. 35, something insane like that. You guys can check my math on that.
I was really set on talking to him and finding out what his secret was too, but then COVID hit and we weren't able to get together.
I'm looking for any way I can get better at all times.
Q. Had a few 14-0 leads this season that maybe you haven't executed after that. What have you found to be the biggest reason why, or at least this past Sunday?
NICK SIRIANNI: 14 point leads that we blew?
Q. Well, you didn't -- I mean, this is the only one that -- you got caught, but the other ones I guess you felt like in the second half...
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah. Again, those are things that I think that competitive advantage to give any of that out, but we're constantly working on -- that's why I'm calling Coach Dungy and what's his secret, right, and studying different things like that.
So I definitely feel like we've made strides. Now, did that reflect that? We were up 14-nothing in the last game and won by three. Did it reflect in the last game? No. But not every game is going to play out the same.
So just, again, working to make sure that we protect or 14-point leads when we get them.
Q. What was the messaging to the team this week?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, I'm going to keep that one in-house this week just of what we talked about. You know, just sometimes it's appropriate to share my opinion. Sometimes it's appropriate to share with you and the fans and sometimes it's appropriate to keep in-house, and I just think this one is appropriate to keep in-house.
Q. How do you think you're handling being 5-0, the only undefeated team as far as the bull's eye, the pressure, all that?
NICK SIRIANNI: I think they're handling it great, because when you -- what do I think of when you handle it great is that you're preparing and practicing the same way when you're 5-0 as when you're 0-0 or 2-5 or whatever it is. That's what I see.
So the preparation. I'm not with them at all times. But I know when they come into these meetings, right, when they go home and come into these meetings, they have the same detail and same preparation and same knowledge of the game plan as they had going into Detroit, going into last year's Detroit, going into last year's Tampa Bay, whatever.
So to me, that's a sign they're handling it well.
Q. When we were at practice yesterday...
NICK SIRIANNI: Because we got great captains and we got great leaders and we got great guys on this team.
Q. When we were at practice yesterday, Kelce went into medical tent. Did he ever return to practice?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, as you know, he was limited yesterday. We are hopeful that he's ready to go. We will get you that injury report later.
Yeah, like I said, we're hopeful with him. I think he's on the rise of being ready to go, but we'll take the rest of day today and figure it out.
Q. Where is Andre Dillard as far as his progression, and he close to being -- I know you don't like to put a timetable, but obviously with Micah Parsons, Lawrence, it's important with the banged up offensive line to have everybody.
NICK SIRIANNI: Sure. Yeah, he's close. You know, I think he's got a good chance to play this week.
And again, we got some time to think about it and to keep assessing it, but he's had a good week of practice so far and we're hopeful.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
NICK SIRIANNI: He said one more. (Smiling.)
Again, everybody, we still got some time and we still got to see today's practice, but we're hopeful all the guys you guys have on the injury report from yesterday will be able to play.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports