Q. I want to ask you about Rodney McLeod playing again and what's he done for that Colts defense?
NICK SIRIANNI: Rodney brings a lot of defense to any team that he's on. He's a great person, great player, great leader, super smart, and you can see that he's identifying plays that are coming and that he's a step quick to it because of how his accelerated vision works and how smart of a football player he is.
So we need to know that and we do know that and have to make sure we put some seeds of doubt in his head. So a lot of respect for Rodney. Look forward to saying hello to him after the game, but he's playing good football.
Q. Why do you feel the need to add two to your defensive line?
NICK SIRIANNI: We are always looking to improve our team and add depth to our team and we felt like two guys that were really good players, we were able to do that. Now we have some guys banged up as you know and so adding depth to a positions that already a strength was big for us and especially with the injuries that we have right now.
Q. How long is that? What's the plan --
NICK SIRIANNI: I'm not going to get into how long that was in or anything like that. We'll see how long it goes. We'll see where, you know, how quick it is till he's ready, all those different things. We have some time to work with them and teach them the defense and everything like that but we'll see how that goes.
We don't have to give any information on if he'll start this week, if he'll play this week. Probably not getting that from me, right. Don't -- one, there's a little bit of an unknown; and two, I don't want the Colts to know anything.
Q. How much does it help in that Linval has played a lot of football? How much does that help to get them up to speed this late in the process?
NICK SIRIANNI: The fact that they have been on different defenses and different teams and they have been forced to learn multiple defenses, that's huge, right, in the sense of these guys are professionals. They have been in this a long time and they know what it takes to get themselves ready, not only their bodies ready but their minds ready to go to go out there and rip it.
Q. Do they add toughness -- not that you lack toughness, but Suh and Linval, what can you say about them?
NICK SIRIANNI: One thing when you are looking at toughness of your football team, you are looking at how you're blocking, how you're knocking back blocks, how you're tackling, how you're protecting the football. Those are all things that you're looking at.
And so these guys can do that, and they definitely add toughness to the football player, of a team that, like you said, has already got a lot of toughness and we think that that's one of our main identities in how tough our team, IS right. The guys that we have in this building are tough, right, and they play through things. They are mentally tough, physically tough. These guys just add to that.
Q. Four D-tackles, Pro Bowl resumés, established players. Imagine they are going to be on the field. How do you navigate that?
NICK SIRIANNI: You just go through and make sure the guys are getting the reps that they need. The good thing now with the guys that we have right now, we are a little thin on it.
So don't have to worry about that right now. So that's something that we all -- that's something, too, there's a lot of things to worry about. We also have to worry about who we are going to draft this off-season but that's not in the thought process at this particular point, and we'll manage that when we need to manage that.
Q. Are you worried about chemistry?
NICK SIRIANNI: I'm not.
Q. Having those guys can trickle down to young guys like Jordan Davis, even though he's not playing, Marlon, even though he's on IR, how much can that benefit?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, just the same way you say Fletch and Kelsey benefit Cam and Jordan, right, or Javon benefits Jordan, right.
Now you're able to not only watch the tape of techniques or things that are fundamentals that are happening on tape, you can actually ask the person that is performing on tape how that looks, right. Because you know on our teach tape, you're going to have Fletch on there and Hargrave on there and you'll have different guys throughout the league so you'll have Suh and Linval on those tapes and you're able to talk through different things with them and grow as a football player.
Q. How familiar with the 2017 season, the front office added a bunch of players that had won Super Bowls in the past, and is that a factor in any way?
NICK SIRIANNI: Again, just looking to add. It's a bonus, that's for sure. First of all, you're looking to add a player that's going to help you, their talent is going to help you. You're making sure that the fit is the right fit.
But last year, or not last year, pardon me, you always want guys that know what it feels like to put the flag at the top of the mountain, right, whether that's college football, or whether that's professional football and we obviously have guys here that were on 2017 team, and now you have guys that have Lombardi trophies on different teams and you also have guys, that's why we've really, you know, these last couple years, have really valued the Landon Dickerson, the DeVonta, Nakobe and Jordan because they have done it in the college level and that's huge. That's a really big thing to have guys with that experience that know how to win.
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