Cowboys

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he would like to see OLB Von Miller get more playing time, as he can help generate more pass rush.

“I think that’s [among] the things that you start looking at when you’re not having the success you want to have,” Jones said, via Cowboys Wire. “[Have] you got the right people out there with the right amount of play time? And he’s a prime one to look at because he’s got such an outstanding record in his career, and we do need pressure.”

Miller added that he would like more defensive reps but said he’ll make the most of the opportunities he gets.

“I want to play some more, but that’s what it ended up being,” Miller said of the low snap count. “Whatever opportunities I get, I got to shoot my shot while I’m out there. If it’s 10, it’s 10. I would love to play more. But I just want to win the game. I’m going to take advantage of any opportunity that I get.“

Miller added that he’s not disgruntled and won’t become a locker-room problem because of limited playing time.

“I’m not going to create a problem,” Miller said. “I want to be part of the solution. So for whatever they feel it should be is what it should be and I’m going to take advantage of my opportunity.”

Eagles  

The Eagles lost to the Jaguars 19-17 in Week 5. Philadelphia HC Nick Sirianni reflected on the last minute of the game, when K Jake Elliott hit a 48-yard field goal with eight seconds left before Jacksonville’s game-winning 57-yard field goal by Cam Little.

“Leading up to Jake’s kick, we practice that situation every Wednesday. Every single Wednesday, we practice what we call two-minute to four-minute. It’s a little more complicated than I think people understand. My opinion is that people stop trying — you get to around the 35, you’re in range, and people stop trying to advance the ball forward. When you advance the ball forward, you make the kicker’s job easier. We are all trying to do our part to help each other be at their best. You guys can look up the percentages when the ball gets in certain spots on the field leaguewide,” Sirianni said, via Zach Berman. “Because if you don’t make the kick, nothing else really matters. So, in that situation, you’re trying to move the ball forward. Running it is an option, obviously, but with what Jacksonville was doing in that particular case, it wasn’t going to be an option. You saw what happened when we ran it on the third down. I never think that it’s something that you can say, ‘OK, I’m going to wait till third down to pass the ball.’ You have no idea how many times it’s going to take you to advance the ball a little bit more forward.”

Sirianni mentioned that he’s studying how their offense executed its final drive. 

“We didn’t get any yards and got an incomplete pass on the first play. We gained yards on the second play, and then on the third play, we ran it and lost yards there against a full-out pressure. You have to gauge what the defense is doing — I end up watching those situations each week and any two-minute to four-minute from a — Not only do we practice it, I’ll study those situations throughout the week, whatever I deem kind of came up that way in pro football. In my opinion, I think you see a lot of times teams take their foot off the gas there. Now, you’d love for the last play of the game to be your kick, but you’d also say, ‘Hey, if I can get that clock under 20 seconds, you’re accomplishing that as well.’ Leading into that last play, I said what I said yesterday. I stand by that. I did not make the decision that I wanted to make there in that particular case, and it cost us. There’s nothing else to be said about that.”

In the end, Sirianni thinks they “did what we needed to do as an offense.”

“But leading up to Jake’s kick, to answer your question, that’s my thought process there, to bring you inside that a little bit without giving too much information. That’s my thought process in that situation. I stand by what I did in that situation, had eight seconds left to go in the game once we gave the ball back to them, and that’s where my decision is that I regret what I did then after that. But to give them back the ball with eight seconds left, I think we did what we needed to do as an offense, and you obviously saw the success of Jake’s kick in that particular case.”

Giants

Giants QB J.J. McCarthy appeared in five snaps of their Week 5 tie against the Commanders. When asked about the benefits of slowly working McCarthy into their offense, HC John Harbaugh said it provides their system a “change of pace,” and they want to find opportunities to use all their players. 

“The benefits of it? It’s a change of pace,” Harbaugh said, via PFT. “What you saw is probably not all we have for him right now. Whether or not he’s out there or not will be determined based on whatever happens. But we’ll see if it’s something that can help us. One thing about it, to me, it’s like, what’s the benefit of not doing everything you can to use all the guys you have? We’re always going to be searching for opportunities to use our players, give them an opportunity to help us win games. I think we’d be negligent if we didn’t try to do that.”