Q. One of the knocks on Jalen Carter coming out of school, I guess you know there were questions about his fitness, his ability to play full set of downs, full set of snaps in the game. What did you see from that standpoint of his conditioning, taking care of himself? He's played 98% of the snaps.
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, takes care of his body and weighs what he's supposed to weigh each week and has himself in great shape. Credit to him and the strength staff and everybody involved in it.
Yeah, he's being a pro, and that's a huge deal. It helps him continue to reach his full potential.
Q. What's he's supposed to weigh each week?
NICK SIRIANNI: I won't get anybody's weight. He weighs what he's supposed to weigh.
Q. Have you seen a big difference from that standpoint since he got here?
NICK SIRIANNI: I actually think since the moment he got here I've had a ton of respect for how he goes about taking care of himself and getting ready to play football.
Yeah, he's been awesome.
Q. Washington defensive coordinator was talking about defending mobile quarterbacks, including Jalen. Said if you guys are going to run them they're going to hit him like a running back, and it's up to you guys to protect him. Have you found that teams go after Jalen while he runs, and when you hear something like that, the impact...
NICK SIRIANNI: No, I mean, every team is going to try to tackle Jalen, I mean, like a running back. He's running with the football. They'll try to tackle him.
Yeah, we already are ultimately cautious with how we use him and how we think about each play because we know how important it is to have him out there.
But I wouldn't expect anything else. Jalen knows how to take care of himself and we know how to help him do that as well as far as the scheme.
Q. Jalen Carter, Vic said he doesn't have as much freedom in the game as we think. There are some times where he (indiscernible) either/or. In terms of not just Jalen but other players, how do you handle players who can transcend what you ask of them and deal with the limitations, where they can pick and chose what they see and how they act?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, everything has structure to it. Every single thing we do has structure to it. You give them the job description exactly. Hey, here is what we want you to do on the job description, but you also don't make it so restrictive that they can't use instincts. You got to use your instincts within the structure, right?
So I know that's kind of saying both things, but it really is that. You give them the job description, has to look like this, and there is some wiggle room for other things to make sure they can use their instincts and do the things they do and do well.
Q. Dallas and Cam in practice today?
NICK SIRIANNI: They will be out there today, yeah.
Q. Was week 16 a reminder how important Chauncey is this the defense?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think he's been just so good at taking the football away and playing with energy. Teammates love playing with him. So he has been great, great for our team. Been great having him back. He has an impact on games.
Q. You have a bunch of -- well, a couple veterans anyway who are going through this playoff thing either for the first time or maybe only got to like a game or two. Guys like Parris and Mehki and Saquon to some extent. What is this like for them? How much do they feed off the other guys who have been through it before?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think obviously -- I mean, you have to ask them how they're feeling. I think I feel energy from everybody in here, and the excitement. But our job is to go through each day to get ourselves better this week to prepare ourselves to put ourselves in a position to win this weekend.
And so there is excitement from everyone. You know, whether they've been here before. Whether they haven't been here before. Regardless of if they won championships or not won championships. I just feel excitement if everybody on this team, including the guys that you mentioned.
Q. With CJ, you think there was a silver lining to that because he's kind of verbalized how important he is to the defense and he understands that now? Any silver lining to what happened with that?
NICK SIRIANNI: As far as?
Q. As far as getting ejected from the game. He seemed to have verbalized that he knows...
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think he's always known how important he is to the defense. We sure do. Yeah, I wouldn't say that. I would just say you learn from every mistake. You learn from all the good plays, learn from all the bad plays, and try to get better from it.
That's really what we're focused on. I can't really -- I guess I can't really answer that question as far as that goes. I know we learn from our mistakes, that's for sure.
Q. How much will Jalen and Quinyon be able to do at practice today?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I'm not going to get into everybody's -- you guys will get the injury report later.
Q. You've been aggressive on fourth down all year. Dan Quinn has been really aggressive recently. When you're going up against a coach that's aggressive does that impact at all how you call it?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, that's a good question. I think the game flow and things like that will have an impact on it, so where the game is once you get into later moments of the game. You go in and do the things that you do and we'll see how the game plays out.
But he's done a good job of kind of going for it on fourth down and they've been really successful. That will be a key to the game on both ends.
Q. Cam Jurgens popping up on the injury report, what are your concern levels for him on Sunday?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we'll see. See where he is. He's -- it's hard to predict these things this far out.
Q. Vic said that Jayden Daniels is probably playing the QB position as a quarterback the best he's seen through his time. Is there a comp that pops to your mind in your time in the NFL, a young quarterback that elevated a team this quickly?
NICK SIRIANNI: I guess I've never really thought about it with him. I just think he's playing really good football. Makes good decisions with the football. He's really accurate with the football. Able to create with his legs and extend also and make plays with his arm.
And no, just got a lot of respect for how he's playing and know we'll have to be on top of our game to stop him.
Q. The AP came out with its finalist for AP Awards, and I recognize that you're focused on the practice today and the game coming up and this is not something you can control, but your record has been really good here over your tenure. Overcame the collapse of last season; some struggles early this season; been a lot of adversity that you've overcome and you're still not a finalist for coach of the year. What your reaction?
NICK SIRIANNI: I don't care about that stuff. I just want to win. I didn't know it was like the Jerry McGuire where he's telling him all the things about himself. I'm not going to cry, Roy. (Smiling.)
No, I don't care about that stuff. I just want to win and we're in a position to be able to if we win go to the Super Bowl. That's pretty dope. That's all my focus is on.
Q. If you think about your career before you came here, you didn't get this far in the postseason; now you've done it twice. To follow up on that previous question, are you aware of like the run that you're on here for lack of a better term? Is that something you appreciate?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, I think back, I've been fortunate to be on a lot of the successful teams. That doesn't just mean NFL. I mean like winning national championships at the college level was obviously a big part of my development as a coach. You know, all those things, all the great things we were able to do at Mount Union, obviously hold that in high regard.
I don't really think of it in that way. It's how we going to win this game. And it's been a good ride, and as far as this year goes, and how we win this game and see what happens after that. I'm boring. I'm sorry.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports