Q. Do you expect Jalen back at practice today?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, he'll be out there today. We'll get you the injury report after practice. See how it goes, but get you the injury after practice today.
Q. The decision to go outside today and go over to the stadium, what led to that?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, the field is frozen outside. We've tried to get outside as much as we possibly can. I really think we play outside, so unless it's a torrential downpour or the wind is completely out of control, we're going to go outside.
Can't go out there today as far as our facility because the field will be frozen, so we will go over to the stadium.
Q. With Jalen missing most of pre-game, are you worried about rust with him?
NICK SIRIANNI: No, I think I answered this to somebody, I can't remember who, earlier this week. That's why you practice. This is why you go through the process of practicing and all the things that you do at practice to get on the same page and do everything there.
We feel like we practice at a very high intensity level. Yeah, this is why you go out there and do those things.
Q. The two weeks also given his finger a chance heal? Is that much better?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, he's continuing to get better.
Q. In the time away, did you give him any kind of project to look forward to? I know didn't know the Packers until Sunday.
NICK SIRIANNI: He's always working on different things and getting himself ready to play the opponent, getting himself -- self-scouting things. He constantly works at that.
Q. Are you back in the pads, and will Wednesday's practices be different than in December?
NICK SIRIANNI: Always depends on the last game. Today we'll be in pads. For me to say right now, hey, through the playoffs we'll always be in pads, you just don't know how each individual game goes.
So you play that based off the circumstances, everything like that. Today we'll be in pads to play. I think that's really important. We're going to play a very physical team against the Packers. I mean, I can't tell you enough how much I think how well coached they are and how good their players are.
Got a lot of respect for this team. You can tell on the film how much they talk about fundamentals. You can tell on the film how much effort they give, and that's a direct reflections of their coaching staff and players.
Q. Are there any restrictions on Jalen today?
NICK SIRIANNI: We'll give you a practice report when you get out there.
Q. Nick, it's such a long season, 18 weeks. To be at this point, fully healthy it looks like, what does that say?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think I feel like the main thing that you want to do is make sure you're getting better throughout the year.
And so you always push it, push it so you're practicing, doing the details and fundamentals in practice, while you're also very conscious that it's an 18-week season. It's a balance that a lot of people contribute to.
Ultimately I have to make the final decisions on what I think is best for the team of how we practice, but get a lot of different contributions from strength staff, the training staff, doctors. Couldn't do that without them. And then you also talk to the players, how they're feeling and always being in constant communication with them.
But at the end of the day, yeah, sure, luck has something to do with it because there are some unlucky situations what happen where you lose guys. But you can't say enough about how much the guys have put in to taking care of their bodies from the nutrition, being at the weights that they're supposed to be at, you know, to how they pre-hab, rehab, all the different things that they do.
You go down there and there is always guys doing stuff with the strength staff to get ready for practice and the pre-hab. That's where we give them a good amount of time before practice. That's why we moved you guys until after practice. So they could have ample amount time to get themselves ready for practice.
Again, you can have all the right people in place, and Mr. Lurie, so appreciative we have all these guys in place and the organization we have. At the end of the day these guys got to go out and do it. They've really taken a lot of pride in taking care of their bodies and themselves.
Q. The Packers are No. 1 offense in terms of explosive pass plays; your defense is No. 1 in limiting explosive pass plays. What will it take for you guys to win that battle? What do they do so well that gives them the opportunity to...
NICK SIRIANNI: First and foremost, again, I can't tell you how much I think of Coach LeFleur and his offensive staff and offensive mind, putting the guys in positions to succeed. I've just watched him have success year in year out. He's done it with different players.
I just have a lot of respect for him and all the things that he's done in this league. You know, and then you see they're able to run the football and to be able to do some different things that come off that.
They've got good players. Again, they have good schemes. It's good on good. It's good on good in everything we talk about. It's good on good in the explosive play differential. At the end of the day when you take offense and defense the way we number it up, we're No. 1, they're No. 3, 4, 5, somewhere in there.
Then in turnover differential, I believe we're very close there as well. I know we are very close there as well. I went over that with the team today.
It's good on good in the things we really stress. Obviously you can see when you watch their tape they stress the same things. Again, it's going to -- when you're talking about giving up big plays on defense, it always starts with being on the same page.
You know, we got to work our butts off in this meeting or in our meetings and walk-through and in our practice today to make sure we're on the same page for the different problems that they create.
You know, tackling, so you can get -- if they do check the ball down, you get the ball carried down, that's a challenge against these guys. They have really good guys that are dangerous with the ball in their hands as far as the pass game goes.
And so, again, always comes down to that, being in the right positions, being on the same page, tackling, and effort to the football.
Q. How do you set the tone this week with your players through your messaging?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, one thing we talked about, main thing we really talked about was like as you come in here, you don't say, hey, we won 14 games, won the NFC East. Now here somewhat we're going to do.
Sometimes you go through different things, different schedules that the NFL challenges you with. You have kind of notes what you would do here, you do there. Really at the end of the day it's getting back to our toughness, detail, and together and understanding that our process through the week is what gives you a chance to win a football game.
Doesn't guarantee you a chance to win the football game, but gives you a chance to play at the best of your abilities. It gives you a chance, again, to win, a better chance to win the football game when you go through the week like this.
That's been the message all year.
Again, I don't think you want any of your guys going, all right, now it's the playoffs. Here is what I'm going to do now. Doesn't work that way. A winner's mindset is the same week in and week out. That's what our message was today and will be the rest of the week as well.
Q. The goal is to always have your team playing the best going into the postseason. Obviously with the quarterback changes you had, the week off, are there things you have done to make sure you keep some momentum going that you did have?
NICK SIRIANNI: Ask me that one more time.
Q. The goal is have your team playing the best football going into the postseason. With all the changes over the past week, injuries, week off, do you still feel like you're playing your best football?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think we've gotten better as the year has continued on. What do you attribute that to? You attribute that to the way you practice.
Same reason I'm not worried about rust in that scenario, because I know how we practice and the emphasis we have in walk-through and the meetings that you continue to get better.
And so it's the relentless effort by our scout team in practice and the relentless effort by our team in practice, and just that vision of how you get better is in the forefront of our mind.
We looked at some numbers today of where we finished in some different stats. Every little report might be a little different, but we were in the top 10 in all our detail stuff. We were in the top 10 of our tackling. We were in the top 10 of takeaways. We were in the top 10 of giveaways. We were in the top 10 of drops. AJ led the NFL in least amount of drops percentage-wise, which I don't think you can get better than zero. So 97 targets and no drops, which is quite impressive.
Then we talked today about how, hey, if we did a stat on block destruction, if the NFL took a stat on block destruction, we feel like we would be in the top 10 there. Or combination blocks between offensive lineman, we feel like we would be in the top 10 there.
My point is you just always try to get better at those things. We felt like we didn't start off -- obviously we where were low on the takeaway and the giveaway early in the year. We've gotten better at that.
You know, we didn't tackle real well against Green Bay when we first played them. Kind of put ourselves in a hole. We've gotten better at that.
So you see that through the fundamentals and the guys being on the same page. You see that -- again, you see that with how the guys interact with each other. Connecting is such a big deal here. We feel like we've continued to get better. We got to go out and show it.
Q. (Regarding a college-like feel here.) A, how do you perceive that? B, is that an objective of yours?
NICK SIRIANNI: I love that. I love that. Again, I think at the end of the day I got my start, learned as I was growing up from a high school coach. And then kind of in the college world is where I started.
We talk a ton about culture and connecting, and I always thought of it this way. Like when you play in high school, like the guys that came to my -- to our game a couple weeks ago were my high school buddies. I knew them my entire life growing up. You have a natural connection with them.
The guys you go to college with, you're all away from home for the first time, right, and ya'll are living right in the same dorms or whatever it is, hanging out with each other. There is a natural connection here.
There is a lot of different things that challenge connection in the NFL. Some guys live in Jersey. Some guys live in Philly. Some guys live in Mainline. Some guys live in DelCo. I don't want to leave anybody out.
You know, so some guys have families. Some guys are single. Some guys have girlfriends. So it's everybody in a different stage a little bit in the NFL. You have to work at that to create that.
I think that's what you appreciate so much of these guys, is how much they've worked to connect with each other. I know this: At the end of the day if you're a connected football team, doesn't guarantee you win anything, but it guarantees that you don't want to let that person down.
Lane said it perfectly a couple week ago. We're so committed to being together and having a tight football team that we have a little bit more on the line that we don't want to let -- I'm paraphrasing -- we have a little bit more on the line that we don't want to let each other down.
That's the key to it. I want there to be joy when they walk in here and see their pictures on the walls and video screens. I want them to have success and root for the success of the other guys there.
So that doesn't happen, all those things I just talked about doesn't happen without special people. We have some special, special guys here that make that happen. Culture is your habits. Your habits are what happens by the team. We have some special guys that accomplish that.
Q. You got some young guys on defense going to be experiencing the NFL playoffs for the first time. How would you describe how it changes the intensity, especially home game?
NICK SIRIANNI: Who did I answer that earlier with? Same process. Same everything. Everyone is going to tell you how much bigger that atmosphere is and how much bigger that is. Will there be more people on the -- I always notice there is a little bit more people on the sideline; couple more former players on the sideline, in broadcasting, right?
Yeah, normally I would see there being a couple new faces in the media here. Not today. You guys have been here all year. So I don't see anybody new.
It's really don't do anything different than what you've been doing. Like when the stakes get higher, game gets bigger, you need to lockdown and do the tough detail, together -- got to lockdown and do the preparation that goes throughout the week.
So you got to go and do your business to put yourself in position to succeed. That's it. These guys, too. Like when you really sit down and think about it, these guys are at the pinnacle of their sport. Some of them have played in state championship games. Some in national championship games. Some played in rival games that are bigger rivals than anybody has ever played in, right?
Iowa-Iowa State is a big rival for Coop. That doesn't mean one is bigger than the other. You go to a high school football game, you go to Southwestern versus Falconer and you tell that -- Southwestern is my team; Falconer was our rival. You go to that school and say, this game is not as important as a playoff game in the NFL, those kids are going to -- that game is important to me. There is nothing big for me than this game right now.
These guys been playing in these their entire lives. I want them to stick on their process, stick with what got us here, and not think about anything else other than, hey -- again I don't think it's a winner's mindset to be like, here is what I'm doing different now, here is how this game is going to be different.
Screw that. It's about with what we do all week. It's about us.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports