THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Having been around Saquon, in terms of his character, can you tell fans what kind of person you've encountered?
KELLEN MOORE: Yeah, obviously Saquon, you get to see the player on Sundays. We get to see the person every other day during the week.
He's special. At the end of the day, he's a special teammate, special person. The way he connects with everyone, rallies everyone together. He's one of the best.
Q. I don't know if you saw Nick's comments after the game about Jalen when he said something about game manager, BS, he's playing at an MVP level. How would you describe the way Jalen has been performing?
KELLEN MOORE: Jalen's just done an excellent job of operating at a really high level, making big-time plays when we need them.
Obviously the tendency has been to run the ball a little bit more down the stretch in some of these situations. Jalen is a part of that, as well. Him running the football, as well, just alongside Saquon.
He's done such an incredible job protecting the football. A huge aspect of this game. He puts us in really good situations throughout the game. A lot of stuff that not everyone sees, people take casually what he does at a really high level.
Q. Saquon's 25-yard touchdown run, explain everything that had to work for that play.
KELLEN MOORE: Guys got to the line of scrimmage. Jalen made the communication to get to the play call. Grant first and foremost on the backside had a really challenging block. It was a six technique. He was going to have to cut him off. He did an excellent job there.
The frontside of the block between Mekhi and Lane was excellent. Jordan was the polar. He got to the second level. The receivers running those guys off, eventually becoming blockers. We've talked about that in a few of these big plays, how critical these receivers are to making these home run plays. They're running guys off. Eventually they do have to become blockers. There's that flip and find term that we've mentioned, where you have to find those guys, get the blocks, and it allows Saquon to really be running on the post safety, which is a huge advantage for us.
Q. Have you found the play-action game to be more productive than the drop-back game in recent weeks? If so, why?
KELLEN MOORE: I think our guys have done it at a really high level. Guys are making excellent decisions. Every week presents different challenges and opportunities. Some of those plays have come up the last few weeks. Each week will take a different path. Certainly we feel comfortable with it, feel like we're heading in the right direction.
Q. To counter what has happened early in games, have you thought about not doing scripted?
KELLEN MOORE: We've navigated this in different ways. We'll talk about it again this week to find us the best way to execute. L.A., felt like we had a good drive going. Ended up short in the red zone. This past week, one first down, got stalled out.
It's a frustrating thing. We'll keep working.
Q. I understand most coach also have scripts. Is there more flexibility, perhaps, you want to build in so that it does counter what a defense may show you contrary to what you were thinking?
KELLEN MOORE: It's definitely something we've had a lot of discussions about. Different ways that we can attack the defense play to our strengths, focus on us, make the adjustments as the game goes that we need to make. Obviously it's something that we've started slow unfortunately for too many games. Something we've got to do a better job of.
Q. Do you think we make too much of the slow starts?
KELLEN MOORE: Certainly feel like we build as we go. Certainly we've had a lot of success as the game has progressed. I think our guys do an excellent job of hanging in there.
I think the cool thing is in these first quarters, as frustrating as it can be, I think our guys handle the adversity really well. We don't want to face that adversity every single week.
I think our guys, one big strength of our guys, has been the finish aspect of this thick. They're doing an excellent job in the second halfs.
Q. How much has Mekhi improved since he moved to guard?
KELLEN MOORE: Incredible experience to see what he's done through this whole transition. Big-time player making big-time plays. His ability to move people at the line of scrimmage, at the second level, working with Lane in tandem so many times. Those are special players.
Q. He embraced the move?
KELLEN MOORE: Yeah, I think obviously all the credit goes to Mekhi, his willingness to go for it. That's kind of the beauty of offseason programs. Sometimes things like this happen. You get an opportunity. You jump in there and take advantage to it. More opportunities present theirselves. He's a great example of that.
Q. What makes Tyler an ideal fit for the extra blocker?
KELLEN MOORE: We just went down in a goofy situation. Lost Dallas. We had two other tight ends. Felt like we needed to get heavier with bigger bodies. Traditionally that would be with three tight ends.
There's a couple offensive linemen that we have that always know there's a potential that if we needed them, they can pop in there. Fred has done it as well earlier in the year.
Tyler did an excellent job. To be honest, other than walking through maybe a couple of those plays, he's never run at full speed. For him to hop out there, handle that, create the movement. His first one was an excellent combination block with Lane. It was big-time to see.
Q. If Dallas ends up missing some time, what are of thoughts on the rest of the tight ends options?
KELLEN MOORE: We'll see how this week progresses. It's December football; a lot of guys are banged up. That's how these weeks now naturally progress.
We feel fortunate that we have a number of guys with Grant obviously playing an excellent role when he hopped up when Dallas was down earlier. E.J. and C.J., have both played a few games this year. They're ready to go. We feel fortunate to have the depth that we have. We'll see how it progresses.
Q. The lack of having Dallas and the two receivers together, hasn't happened very much, has played a role in not being maybe as dynamic in the passing game?
KELLEN MOORE: That's a good question.
I think certainly we feel like we've been really efficient in the passing game. I think we've protected the football, we've been explosive, we've created those plays. Obviously the attempts are down. Naturally yards are down because of that.
I think associated predominantly with the run game, the success we've had there. I think our guys have done an excellent job when guys need to hop up and play different roles because, like you said, a number of these guys have been in and out throughout the season. Guys have played a lot of different spots. Within the game we've had to make those adjustments. The guys do a great job of doing that.
Q. Carolina, is that an organization you've kept an eye on? What did you gain from that interview?
KELLEN MOORE: Anytime you get an interview with an ownership and an organization, you get to grow a lot as a experience, you get to grow your experience around the NFL.
Awesome experiences each and every time you get to do those. You get to connect with great people, people you continue to have relationships with in some capacity. It will be fun to see some of those.
Q. With Grant Calcaterra filling in that fullback slot, what did you make of him in that position? Can he fill in for Ben?
KELLEN MOORE: Really big credit to him just because Ben unfortunately was a late concern as the week progressed. So for Grant to be able to hop in there again with very limited to almost no reps as far as full-speed reps out there, his ability to go in there and handle those situations. We have a number of guys that can play those different roles. That's the fun part of this week. We're going to let this thing progress with a few different options, see how it progresses.
Q. What are some concerns you might have about their defense coming up?
KELLEN MOORE: I think they're playing really good ball the last four weeks. The numbers all show it. They're playing really good. I think having the edge rushers back, secondary, really good corners, they're really physical, aggressive guys.
I think you can tell they're playing well connected naturally because they're getting guys that are playing together now for a number of weeks together, which contributes to guys being on the same page, communicating, playing at a high level. They've played really well.
Q. How much does the athleticism of the offensive line expand your playbook?
KELLEN MOORE: Certainly we feel like our ability to pull these guys in a number of different ways is a huge advantage. All five guys can pull, play in space. When you have those opportunities, you're certainly not limited.
Q. Around the league there was a scary moment with Trevor Lawrence. Slid the way it was taught, but took a devastating shot. Do you have to rethink or reteach in any way the sliding that Jalen does or any quarterbacks?
KELLEN MOORE: That's a great question. I haven't watched it thoroughly to give a great answer on how the outcome of that one particularly went.
Jalen, fortunately for us he's done an excellent job. He's always done a great job. He gets the yards he needs, slides down, puts himself in a protective situation. Done a really good job.
Like every week in the NFL, there's always lessons to be learned. Something probably as the week progresses as we watch around the league, study those things for the whole team, we'll look at.
Q. The first touchdown drive, you took advantage of the short field. You also used some tempo. What goes into saying this is the point where we're going to go to tempo?
KELLEN MOORE: Tempo is only something that we've utilized a lot this year. Guys I think are comfortable in it. You play fast, just play decisive. Obviously you got to find your rhythm to create tempo. Once you earn first downs, those different situations.
I thought our guys did an excellent job. We got an earned first down on a run on third and four. After that we went three plays on the ball in a row. Our guys did a really good job there.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports