Q. Early in the season when things weren't going as well and you were facing a lot of personal criticism, how were you able to trust in yourself and your process?
NICK SIRIANNI: You don't pay too much attention to anything except for your process and just try to stick to that. That's what we talk about all the time. I say that to the players all the time, and if it's in a scenario like that, if I'm not practicing what I preach, then those are just words, not actions.
Our culture, our habits are about our actions, not just our words -- not our words, but our actions, and you just try to live by that.
Q. Last couple years you had to prepare for Aaron Donald, Chris Jones, Dexter Lawrence all the time of course. Just curious how you think Jalen Carter compares to guys of that level, and also what do you think of the way he played yesterday?
NICK SIRIANNI: He did a lot of good things yesterday, a lot of things that we need to clean up. That's all of us as a team. A lot of good things we did and a lot of things we need to clean up. Jalen is part of that, but a lot of good things.
I don't get into the comparison things with him. Jalen Carter is Jalen Carter, and we're happy he's on this football team and happy with the way he's playing with the effort and the toughness and the skill that he's playing with.
It's different when you go and you're actually game planning against the guy, and any play the guy makes, you have to think about that. We obviously don't do that with Jalen because we don't have to game plan against him. So I stay away from the comparison. Jalen Carter had a really good year, had a really good game yesterday, and we're looking for him to continue to grow as a player.
Q. You've had versions of Vic Fangio's scheme here. I know you had him in as a consultant for a year, but now that you have him in the building and you see and hear how he calls plays, what difference has he brought to the defense this year?
NICK SIRIANNI: He has a really good feel of how to call the game. I really feel that. He's always on top of it, has a good feel for what's coming, has a good feel for how he needs to adjust, how he needs to adapt.
He's obviously done a great job of leading the defense in so many aspects. So happy that he's here. We have one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL as our defensive coordinator. I can't say enough good things about him and what he's brought to this team and what he's brought to this defense.
Yeah, ecstatic that he's our defensive coordinator and look to continue to grow as a team. I know Vic will continue to do the things he needs to do to continue to excel at his position. I think that's what's so cool about Vic is that he's been a defensive coordinator for a long time, and sometimes -- you know, he just is always looking to grow, always looking for new trends and different things like that. Can't say enough -- there's a reason why he's been a good defensive coordinator for decades in this league. It's because he's always growing and always getting better.
Again, that's what we want our players to do, and he's constantly doing that. What a great example for our players.
Q. To follow up on Vic, obviously you want to be physical in whatever system you run, but how does it particularly show up in the way that Vic runs with this defense, the players that you have to game plan towards the physicality you wanted on Sunday?
NICK SIRIANNI: Like you said, any style of defense you're playing, physicality shows up with how you play the game within your fundamentals. So when we talk about being physical, we talk a lot about -- we talk a lot about how you tackle and the hits that you get on as you tackle and being fundamentally sound with that.
If you're not taking the right angles or if you're leaving your feet too early, it's hard to be physical. So it's about taking the right angle. It's about running through contact. So you talk a lot about that in your tackling.
You also talk a lot about that with how you get off blocks and how you beat blocks, where you really can show your physicality in that. You talk about your physicality with how you take the football away and how aggressive you are at the football.
Then finally, one thing that is huge for your physicality is your effort and your relentless effort to the football to get those extra hits. Chauncey had some extra hits on ball carriers yesterday because he was flying to the football. Josh Sweat, Nolan Smith continually fly to the football, and as the guy's going down, they get legal hits on the player that's on their way down because that's where you can jar balls out when the guy's going to the ground.
Again, that's where you talk about it a lot on defense is your style of physicality could be through any scheme, but you talk about it through your fundamentals and guys being physical as the nature of who they are too as people.
Nolan Smith's physical. He was physical in college. He didn't just turn physical. He was physical in high school, and I imagine he was physical when he played at Pee Wee football. That's huge to have guys like that on your team that seek out to hit and want to hit and know the way the game changes when you deliver hits.
Q. When it comes to Isaiah Rodgers, how would you assess the way he played yesterday? Played up to the role? Exceeded it? How is he compared to the role that was given to him previously during the season?
NICK SIRIANNI: I thought Isaiah played a solid game yesterday, did a lot of good things yesterday. Made two tackles that were big on our sideline, one on Lamar on a third down that put them into fourth and one, and another one on hill on the sideline where Chauncey kind of came up and forced the play and he came up and made a good low tackle on Hill and then did some good things in covering.
I think that Isaiah was off football for a while, and he's come back, and he's given us a lot of good plays. I think that with Isaiah you have an -- against Cincinnati, he comes in for a brief moment in Cincinnati and creates a pass breakup that creates an interception for Chauncey. Comes in against -- he comes in with Tampa on a field goal block -- pardon me. An extra point attempt, and he blocks the kick that Kelee returns for a touchdown.
He comes in for a couple plays when Slay was out in Los Angeles game and creates a fumble that changes the tide of that game.
Yesterday back to field goal block, you can see him come off the edge on one of the misses that Tucker had. He comes off the edge, and he's right in the picture. That's unsettling. When a kicker sees that and has that vision of a guy, that's unsettling, and we put a lot of stock into that.
So Isaiah's made some -- has had games where he's been really steady, but then he's made these splash plays that have really helped us this season. I think he's done some really nice things. We're really happy that we have the depth that we have at corner with Isaiah being the first guy off the bench, and he's given us great minutes, and he's earned the playing time he's had.
Isaiah's done a great job, and we're here happy to have him.
Q. Just talking about Vic a little bit there, on the other side, Kellen, I think a lot of people looked at him and where he was before and maybe it looks a little bit different. What can you say about him in building the offense around the talent he has now and how he's been able to morph his scheme and system?
NICK SIRIANNI: I would say that's what good coaches do. They work to the talents of their players. I was always taught players formation plays. So you're always thinking about that. You're always thinking about your players. That's where Kellen's done a great job. He's just done what we need to do to win football games.
But that doesn't mean, when we need to throw it 50 times, we won't -- that we'll do that. I know Kellen will adjust to how the game's going. I think him and the offensive staff have worked so well together. He's got Doug here with him, who's been with him a long time, but I love the relationship that Kellen and Kevin Patullo have, Kellen and Stout and A-Mo. Kellen's done a great job of using the guys that we have, using the players we have, building a relationship with our players that are his players.
He's done a great job of how he calls -- he's very in control in the game of how he calls it, has a feel for how it's going, what he should do in certain moments. I've been very impressed watching Kellen call and lead the offense.
Q. Playing off your post-game speech where you said we're working tomorrow to the players and you got a positive response from them in that moment, what went into you implementing what seems like an increased workload during the week for the players? And why is that important to the fabric of your team?
NICK SIRIANNI: Just so you continue to get better. You always look at each season, and every year you're adjusting to the team that you have. Same thing we just talked about with the offense, like every year is different. So one schedule doesn't fit all, right? What you used in '21 or '22 doesn't necessarily mean what you should use in '24.
If you look at '22 and how healthy we were, I think that's something that you could very much look upon like this is the way to do it. Well, there's different factors with the 2022 team as there is with the 2024 team, the experience, things like that. So there are things you need to continue to get better at.
That's just about getting better each day, and sometimes it is to put the pads on and work on Wednesday. Sometimes it is to give them a walk-through on Wednesday. Sometimes it's somewhere in the middle of both things.
What I love about this football team, this team is determined, it's hungry. It's so locked in and focused, and I think back to last week, when you have different things in different schedules that could be a distraction, I just felt like our team was so locked and focused on Thursday.
I keep calling it Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is such a good holiday, and I keep calling it a distraction. It is. For me, it is until the end of the day.
So our guys were just so locked in, and they came back on Friday. Again, where there was a possibility of not being locked in, bam, they were locked in again. I know there's times that you want a victory Monday, and the guys want a victory Monday, but this team's so determined. They're hungry. They're locked in. They're laser focused. They wanted to work. We wanted to work.
Today's a big day -- and there's time and place for victory Monday. I don't want to be next week I give a victory -- or a couple weeks and we give a victory Monday. Everything has a little bit of a reason why, and you can go off schedule. But a big part of the process is reviewing the tape, seeing the things that you did well, seeing the things that you didn't do well, getting the guys in here to refresh their bodies and kind of get the flush of a lift and everything like that. I mean, a lot of those things go into it.
Again, love the fact that this team just wants to work, put their head down and work.
Q. Yesterday in your press conference you said that you're boring. Is that something you kind of had to learn to become? How good is it to be boring? What are the advantages of that?
NICK SIRIANNI: I think just what I meant is like there's not -- it takes what it takes. I love when Jalen says that. Winning takes what it takes. Success takes what it takes. The grind takes what it takes.
It's not like this aha moment, it's just putting your head down and working. That might not always make for the most glamorous story, but it's the work, it's the hard work that gets results, and that's all we're trying to do is be hungry, be humble, and put our head down and work.
Q. I wanted to ask about Tristan McCollum, a guy that hasn't played a whole lot since he got here last year. What have you seen behind the scenes from him that gave you the confidence to have him in that? Obviously he was the next guy up, but what have you seen from him behind the scenes over the last couple of years?
NICK SIRIANNI: I thought he had a really -- we got him, and he's just a really good athlete -- fast, physical. Then everyone here thought he had a great training camp, and it gave us a lot of confidence. He's been a special teams contributor because of that athletic ability and his toughness.
Then yesterday he's put into a situation where he's got to go in and compete, and he makes a huge fourth down PBU, where he's close to the receiver and can get a pass breakup. He makes a couple big tackles, one on Derrick Henry, who's a phenomenal football player, where he kind of got through the first and second level of our defense, and then here comes Tristan and runs his feet through contact and gets a knock-back tackle, to the side tackle.
Just, again, great athletic traits, tough, dependable. So as bummed as you are to see Reed go out and you're bummed about that, but always cool when the guys take advantage of their opportunities and go in there and make plays. That's what Tristan was able to do yesterday.
Q. It seemed every day this spring or summer, players were talking about conditioning. Same thing with you, position coaches. 12 games into the season, how have you seen that materialize?
NICK SIRIANNI: We talk a lot about playing with relentless effort. It's impossible to play with relentless effort unless you're in great physical shape. So you see our guys fly around to the football. You see a Grant Calcaterra running to the football that can scoop up a loose ball on a fumble. You see crazy pursuit to the ball on a screen play they had yesterday, where there's eight guys in white jerseys around the ball yesterday, where we were able to get the stop.
You see Parris Campbell and Jahan Dotson run off on a run where Saquon gets the touchdown yesterday. You can't do that unless you're in great shape. That's been an emphasis. Our strength and conditioning coaches have done a great job of simulating things because you've also got to be aware of their legs, but they've done a great job of simulating things that really get their heart rate going and putting them in game-like scenarios without taxing their legs before and after practice Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The guys do a great job of pushing themselves like that, and also getting the extra work on their own. Not just the stuff they do in practice or in the weight room, but the stuff they do extra to get better.
Being in great shape, again, if you want to play -- and we say this a lot. If you want to play with great detail, where your fundamentals are on and you know what to do and you're in the right spot, being tired creates mistakes, and not being in good shape creates mistakes. If you want to play with great effort, it takes -- you have to be in great shape.
I feel like we'll continue to work to be in good shape because that's a constant quest to make sure your bodies are ready to go and you can run all day. Again, can't say enough about the guys and how they've pushed themselves, our strength and conditioning staff for how they've pushed them and our coaches for how they've pushed them to get that extra work.
But all the credit goes to those guys that their bodies are weighing what they're supposed to weigh and they're where they need to be and getting the extra conditioning so they can go that little extra bit to make plays early and late in the game.
Q. I was just wondering what the latest is on Dallas Goedert and his injury and if he has to miss any portion of time, what you've seen recently from Grant Calcaterra as he's continued to evolve into a bigger role and even into a bit of a fullback role in the absence of Ben.
NICK SIRIANNI: We're still in the evaluation phase right now. We'll have more information for you guys as the week continues. Obviously you saw Dallas not come back in for a little bit yesterday.
We know Grant, as Dallas has had to miss some time a little bit this year unfortunately, Grant's done a nice job of really making plays not just like -- I think last year, if you go back last year, if Dallas missed a little bit of time last year, you didn't see some production from the tight ends. We kind of spread that around a little bit, gave A.J. a couple more touches, gave DeVonta a couple more touches, put four wide into the game a little bit more.
I think what Grant's done is given everybody the confidence in him that you can stay 11 personnel. You can still keep those plays in for Grant because he can contribute. Not that we didn't believe that last year, it's just he's giving you the belief that, hey, I'm going to make a play if you throw me the football and if you have some things designed for me in this game.
That's where Grant gives you confidence is his growth as a football player. A lot of credit to Jason Michael, his tight end coach, and Grant himself and how hard he's worked, and that room. I love that room. That room really cares about helping each other get better. That's a great room of teammates right there with Dallas, with Grant, with C.J., and with E.J. They push each other hard, and they're their biggest fans in that room as they make plays. It's cool to see.
A lot of confidence, if Dallas is to miss any time -- again, early in the evaluation process, not ready to go there yet about anything there. But if, then Grant's ready to step up again like he had earlier in the season.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports