Q. Nick, any decision on what you're going to do this Sunday with the starters and Saquon?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we're going to rest some guys. We're locked into that No. 2 seed, so we're going to rest some guys. Going to be some guys resting. Some guys that are in reserve roles. You can't obviously rest everybody with the schedule. Pardon me, with the roster.
And so, yeah, that's our plan moving in here forward.
Q. Saquon going to be one of them?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, he'll probably be someone who rests.
Q. The bye was early this year. Playing 12 straight weeks.
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, that definitely played into all the decisions here. Our bye week being week five, very early bye week, and so it's very valuable to be able to be in this position to do that.
And so, again, we want to use this week -- this isn't our first time having to do this. We've had experience with this. A lot of that went into planning all these things.
We want to use this week to continue to get better, whether we're playing in the game, whether we're not playing in the game, whether we're playing in a reserve role, whether we have a big opportunity ahead of us.
We want to use this week to get better because of our goals moving forward.
Q. Coaches publically said they find it difficult to tell players that they'll be playing versus other ones. What is your response to that? How do you tell the players, you know, the ones that are playing don't feel like they're...
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you just try to have a communication with all the guys. You know, that communication can look differently whether you call, text, position coach, myself, and so you just go through that.
But we have a very selfless team. I will say that. Like I've told you guys, we have videos after their game about some of the things they've said in the media promoting team, the celebrations that they have together.
Just listening to that last game, I think Lane said something really cool. He said, the relationships that we have make us -- he said it somewhere along the lines of the relationships we have with each other make us not want to let each other down and this and that.
I thought that was cool. Our guys that are not playing in the game will use this as an opportunity to, again, rest their bodies and to help their teammate get better. The guys that are playing, again, some of them will be in a reserve role; some will play more than they have in the past; some less than in the past.
Everybody is in a little bit different scenario and everybody was thought of individually. You know, it's not, hey, here is the book on this. Everybody was thought through. Each and every person was thought through individually.
Q. With Saquon specifically, what was the consideration allowing him to pursue that record and ultimately deciding not to?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, again, not going to get into all that. Obviously a lot plays into that. Obviously it's a very special record that's been standing for a very long time by a great player.
It's a team record. You know, it's a team record that everybody is involved in, so you weigh in all those things.
At the end of the day you just try to do what's best for the team. You know, again, the bye, when the bye was, how guys are feeling, the bumps and bruises we can take care of.
We put ourselves in a position to be able to, you know, be in this situation. And so, you know, our goals are to have success and to play good the next game we play.
Not only New York, but whoever we play after that. We think this plays into that. It's not easy. It wasn't the easiest decision to go through, but we have great people in this building and had a lot of input from a lot of different people, players included.
Howie and I discussed a bunch. Of course coaches and coordinators and I discussed a bunch. I discussed with players. We have selfless guys that want to do what's best for the football team. Getting some guys some rest who have been grinding for the past, what did you say, 12 weeks, we thought was in the best interest of the team.
Q. Did you talk to Saquon?
NICK SIRIANNI: Of course I talked to Saquon, yeah.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we'll see as the week progresses and where we are as we continue on. So we'll see.
Q. What was your conversation with Saquon like?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I'll keep my conversations private with these guys. Just discussing with him and where he was and what he felt. You know, you guys can talk to him, but I always keep my conversations private with these guys.
Q. Players who won't play on Sunday, how do you want them to handle this week?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, get better this week, just like we do each and every week. Want to go out there and try to win this football game. Just like we do every week. What an opportunity for some of the guys that are going to be playing that maybe don't get as many reps.
So huge, huge, huge opportunity for some people to do it like in an NFL regular season game.
Again, this isn't the first time we've been in this scenario. You look back at your notes on that. You always grow from different things that you go through.
Excited for these guys and their opportunity to go out there and play.
Q. How is Jalen Hurts doing and is he still in concussion protocol?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, he's still in there. We'll see as the week progresses through.
Q. You started Dallas' practice window. How important is it to get him back in the mix, and how quickly do you think that's going to be possible?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we'll see. It's hard to tell. You can't ever really tell. Get him back on the field and doing things, start his window, and it'll be super important to have him back. He's a great football player that has helped this team win a lot of the football games.
So really excited for the possibility to get him back. Like I said, we'll see when that happens. Just good to get him back on the field and get him practicing again, seeing him out there. He is a presence for our offense.
Q. Nick, you mentioned talking to Howie. Was Jeffrey involved in the conversation?
NICK SIRIANNI: I talk to everybody about everything. Use all input. Of course I talked to Mr. Lurie about everything. You know, that's what, again, communication, good communication is what good organizations do. We have so many resources here to be able to discuss and talk.
You use all those. Ultimately I had to make the decision what I felt was the best for the team. Luckily we have great selfless guys on this football team. At the end of the day I had to make the decision what I felt was best. This is the direction we went.
Yeah, so many good resources Mr. Lurie -- and we've been in this since I've been here, but Howie and Mr. Lurie have been in this same situation multiple times as well in addition to the past four years. So they have a lot of experience in this as well.
Of course you use all resources that you have at your hands to help you make the best decision for the football team.
Q. Can you tell us if Jalen is progressing through the protocol?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I'm not sure how that -- I don't think I talk about the protocol. Protocol is what it is. I don't have the -- again, we listen to the doctors, we follow the doctor's advice. They do this by design, so the people that are involved in the concussion protocol are the ones handling those things.
Again, we take it day by day and see where they are each and every day.
Q. (Indiscernible). How do you frame what Saquon has done this year without it?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, awesome. I mean, I guess I didn't really know exactly who those nine guys were on that list of 2000 yard rushers. I mean, I have an idea because I saw it, but those are -- are they all Hall of Fame players? Most of them Hall of Fame Players? Henry is obviously...
Q. Jamal Lewis should be in there but he's not.
NICK SIRIANNI: Okay, so Jamal Lewis. Who else?
Q. Chris Johnson.
NICK SIRIANNI: Okay, so he's not in.
Q. But he'll be in. (Indiscernible.)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, there you go. So you hear the list, right? You hear the list. A lot of really phenomenal players. Barry Sanders on it? A lot of them in the Hall of Fame, and so that's a special thing for the team. That's a special thing for Saquon.
You know, you think back and I think there's probably been about four or five quarters -- if you add up all the time, you know, that -- if you add up all the time that some of our starters have missed through the year with us having leads in the fourth quarter, that's almost a game, too.
So you look back at that and you're like, well, you really go through those things and say, this is the best thing you could do for these guys at the time to make sure that they're healthy.
I think that, again, all those things add up. Having the bye 12 weeks ago is part of that process. You think about all the times they've had off in this fourth quarter and it does allow you to be -- we've noticed through a ten-game winning streak that some of those games that you have off, like we were able to have a little bit of time off before we played.
Pardon me, we were able to have a quarter off before we played Washington on a Thursday. That mattered, right? All those quarters that they had off during that win streak, those matters for the next game and they mattered for the next game.
Again, I can't tell you how selfless this football team is. I won't get into each and every discussion I had with everybody, but I know that the common denominator of what was coming out of all their mouths was, let's just do what's best for the team.
Man, that's a special group of guys that we have. You know, really, really fortunate to be associated with these guys.
Q. Do you think back at all to the conversations you had with Saquon up in New York? You said up to you?
NICK SIRIANNI: Oh, yeah, no. I didn't really think about that. But, yeah, again, he's awesome. Awesome teammate. You guys have gotten to know him. I think it's pretty obvious how special this guy is.
Q. What's different this time either with the situation or with you as a coach compared to '21 when you had DeVonta play early in that game to get that record?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, it's different positions too. There is a lot that goes into it. Every team is different, and you have -- again, you have past situations you've been in, and you take all those things into account.
At the end of the day every team, every individual is different. You know, you always got to weigh all those things in there.
It's a different situation, scenario that we use '22 and '21 as a guide, but, also, again, just like you treat every individual different, you do every situation as well.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports