Q. , you went against the Cowboys last year, and returning back there again, how much of is that a guessing game with Michael Coffey, trying to think what he's doing, what you're doing
KELLEN MOORE: It's a good question. A lot of coaches, players, they all have overlap. We've all worked together in some capacity, so no different than a lot of guys that go to different places.
Obviously there's familiarity. There's some of that but at the end of the day once you get in the game, you play the game, and some of that stuff kind of takes care of itself. Obviously excited about the opportunity. Big division game and all that fun stuff.
Q. What did you like about Cooper Rush when you were around?
KELLEN MOORE: Coop is a really smart player. He has a great feel for the game. Anticipation. Vision. Feel for what the defense is doing. I think he puts himself in a really good position. He can handle volume from an offensive game plan perspective. Obviously when Coop is not in there, he's had success. Still be a challenge for us.
Q. In terms of your game plan preparation, you took an Excel course? Why did you do that and how has that helped you?
KELLEN MOORE: I'm not quite familiar with that. But I do spend a lot of time on the computer.
Obviously me being slightly younger than some other guys, I spend a lot of time. So yeah, a lot of times I do the call shoots and the scripts just because I find familiarity with when I type it. It's similar to people who say like the more you write something, the more you remember it; the more I type it into the call sheet and put it in certain situations, I can find it quicker during the game.
So certainly it's something that I've always enjoyed doing, and enjoyed kind of piecing it together, and Kevin and I spend a lot of time piecing all those things together and making sure the call sheet is ready for game day.
Q. Do you remember being part of a game with that many individual spectacular plays?
KELLEN MOORE: It's a really good question. There was definitely some big time plays. It was really a special night for so many guys and for different guys to do it, multiple guys to do it, it just showed the depth that our team has the and the ability on the field, so it was awesome.
Q. How much more insight are you able to give Nick and maybe Vic as far as the Cowboys personnel? Obviously play them twice a year, so they probably know them pretty well. But are you able to give more insight?
KELLEN MOORE: Being a division opponent, there's already a lot of familiarity and then obviously being two years removed from a place, rosters change quickly. And so obviously there's certain players that have been there that I'm familiar with but there's certainly a handful and a number of guys that have come in over the course of the last two years.
Obviously it's a division game in the sense that both teams know each other very, very well and it will be fun.
Q. Seeing the quarterback sneak not working as effectively as you want it to be, what's the thought process between trying to stick to it or going independent or abandoning it and trying something else?
KELLEN MOORE: Just trying to take it case-by-case and evaluate the why, and certainly that's something that within the game, you have to make quick decisions. Ultimately it wasn't successful for us and we kind of steered -- shifted gears there and tried to do the movement on fourth-and-one.
So obviously you're going to second guess yourself every time when it doesn't work and try and evaluate that. But from the standpoint of game planning, can we make any adjustments with it, is there anything else that we can add to the package within that situation, and so you know, just continue to evaluate it.
Q. I'm sure you guys looked at it pretty extensively. Was it something the Jaguars were doing or execution errors?
KELLEN MOORE: We'll continue to evaluate it as the week progresses. Usually we get into our short yardage packages later in the week.
I think a combination of, certainly, things we can on our side. And I thought they did an excellent job from their standpoint of creating some movement and some push there. Obviously wasn't successful and we'll evaluate and find our next solution.
Q. Are you surprised at ought all the variations off that haven't worked that well and you haven't been able to get an explosive play off? And do you have any theories as to why?
KELLEN MOORE: Great question. Continue to evaluate it. Obviously the QB sneak has been obviously a very valuable piece for us and we continue to have those different tools that hopefully can create and generate a big play off it. But it's just some hasn't popped yet this year, and sometimes takes time and hopefully we'll find something at some point.
Q. You guys are running it more on early downs post-bye than before the bye week. Is that a situational things with the opponents, or something in the bye week you guyed decided you want to do more?
KELLEN MOORE: We are constantly trying to evaluate our rhythm throughout each and every game and felt like some of the run game on early downs has obviously generated some very positive situations. I feel like we've put ourselves in more manageable third downs because of how we've played first and second down.
The play-action game is obviously still critical to those situations. I think when you are able to tie those two together from a presentation and a threat standpoint, huge advantages. Obviously we are running the football well at times, and so when you do have that ability to control the line of scrimmage, and our guys can just run off the ball and play physical, you definitely want to embrace that.
Q. When it comes to making a big-time change in terms of you need to run more in early downs, how involved is Nick in those conversations?
KELLEN MOORE: Every single one much us is together on those things. It takes everyone having those conversations and talking through it. And sometimes games take different flows.
We go into games with certainly the ability to throw it a lot or run it a lot. We have an indication of how we maybe want to go into it.
But yeah, sometimes those adjustments have to go within the game and it's certainly, when you are running the football as successful as we have been on a couple of these games, not every single time. But when we have those successes, hopefully we can build on them and continue to attack the defense in that manner.
Q. Plays to players -- seems like that helps to generate some motivation from them -- why do you think that is kind of your approach? Is that from your playing career? What led to that approach?
KELLEN MOORE: I really think this is a collaborative effort at the end of the day. Certainly you have got to make decisions as a coordinator and make those decisions and make those calls during games.
But I think the more that people are tied together and buy into it, the players ultimately make plays. When they believe in something, when they have a belief and when we have a willingness to have those conversations and share their perspective, I think it just strengthens our conviction and what we want to do.
So we have a lot of veteran players who have done an excellent job and played a lot of big time football, and they have a lot of experiences that we can live on.
Q. Saquon is such a violent runner and he embraces contact. He's had 22 touches per game. Are you good with that number, and how closely do you monitor that?
KELLEN MOORE: Saquon has done a phenomenal job, especially in some of these games where he's had higher workloads. Obviously something that we'll have to monitor and be aware of during the week.
I think we do an excellent job through the week as far as getting him ready to go on Sunday. He does an excellent job with his preparation. Really impressive preparation the way he handles it, and we'll just see how it goes.
Q. You were excited and animated when Saquon scored on the third and 17. Why did that play excite you so much?
KELLEN MOORE: It's a third and 17 run. Those don't happen a lot for touchdowns (laughing).
Q. What made you go to that call right there?
KELLEN MOORE: Yeah, we just felt like we were in a goofy spot there a little bit, with the situation of, you have points, you can be a little bit aggressive.
We felt like the run had a chance. We worked it the last couple weeks, putting ourselves, if we get in one of these goofy spots there's a handoff opportunity here. And see if we can at least get it started and get some of the safeties blocked, then we can try to get to the corners. Fortunately it played out as we had hoped.
Q. Were you excited when you saw the lineman that came out before the play was run? Looked like it was --
KELLEN MOORE: We certainly felt like we had a chance as long as we can get through the first level, and then it was really about the receivers occupying the defensive guys. And as soon as all our guys kind of went to the middle of the field and everyone kind of chased them, we felt like, okay, there's an edge, we can go.
Q. Jalen has not had a turnover since the bye. What goes into making sure he doesn't put the ball in harm's way?
KELLEN MOORE: So much credit to Jalen and just his process. He's doing an excellent job throughout the week, preparing, making excellent decisions on game day. He's aggressive.
He's still aggressive. He's giving us opportunities downfield, and I think we have created some really, really positive explosive plays in the pass game. And we haven't lost any of that while he's still protecting the football, and so all the credit goes to him and making excellent decisions.
Q. When you have a player as talented as Saquon what does it take from a player like Jemal Singleton to help him maximize that talent?
KELLEN MOORE: Jemal is obviously a huge aspect of this. Jemal does an excellent job preparing him throughout the week from the film and the classroom standpoint. But also, you know, when his volume maybe is a little bit less on a Wednesday or Thursday, on an occasional week when he needs to kind of physically recover as the week goes on, and so credit those guys. They do an excellent job preparing him, putting him in the best position to be successful and ready to rock and roll on Sunday.
Q. When you look back at the two fourth down attempts, do you feel like those were the right two play calls in that moment and why do you feel like they didn't work out?
KELLEN MOORE: Any critical situation we are always going to evaluate those. We have had a ton of success this year on fourth downs, similar games where they shifted the gears of a game at New York and Cincinnati, all those different things. It didn't work out.
So obviously you're going to be hypercritical of yourself, try and put ourselves in the best position to be successful and maybe adjust the play call or how can I put ourselves in a better situation.
So ultimately we didn't get it done, and we'll continue to find new avenues to take.
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