Nick Sirianni

Q. I wanted to ask you about a game like this, when things start snowballing. What steps can you take mid-game, in the game, on the sideline, to try to get the thing back on track? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: You’re just trying to make adjustments that you can make that give you a chance to put the guys in positions to succeed, first and foremost. I’m assuming you’re asking me the coaching perspective of it.

First and foremost, you’re trying to put guys in positions to succeed and make adjustments that you need to make. And then, there’s a time where it’s hey, encouragement and hope, and there’s a time where it’s try to yell and inspire or do something on that element of it.

And so it’s one or the other in that.

But, first and foremost, it’s trying to get the guys in positions to succeed and adjust to the things that are going on, and then the other things I said.

Q. How do you know which direction to go with that? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: It’s just got to be a feel. Obviously, the feel that I had yesterday wasn’t the right one because we didn’t kick out of it.

But, again, I don’t think there’s a – you go into things sometimes, Reuben, it’s like, ‘Hey, here’s what I want to run against these coverages, and here’s what I want to do against this offense, and here’s what I want to do here.’

And that’s – when you’re dealing with Xs and Os, you can do that. But when you’re dealing with human element and people, there’s not a blueprint on that. There’s not a ‘coverage beater list’ for that, if that makes sense.

You can lean back on past experiences, but you try different things to try to get it going. We were down in a hole right from the beginning. I think – I was watching the offensive tape again today, and we had 6 plays, and we were down 21-0. Well, that’s a product of everybody.  That’s, first and foremost, coaching, and then offense, defense, and special teams.

And so, again, there’s just so many different variables, different thoughts that you have based off prior experiences and things that you’ve learned from different coaches.

But not something that you say, ‘This is what’s going to work in this particular case.’

Q. With LB Ben VanSumeren in there, was that because of numbers, or is he a fullback for you guys? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we’ll see. I don’t think that’s something that the opponent is going to know, and I don’t think that’s something I’ll discuss here.

So we’ll see what’s going on there with him. I know he’s been doing some really good things on special teams, and he has great athletic ability.

To me, [LB] Ben [VanSumeren], when we were pointing out our roles at the beginning of the year, Ben was a guy I looked right at and said, ‘You’ve got to be one of our best, top five core special teams guys leading the charge with your athletic ability, your toughness, your physicality.’

And he’s done a nice job of that so far, and we’ll see where that leads.

Q. And it’s clear that, throughout your team, you’ve had people take personal accountability: players throughout the locker room were saying that, QB Jalen Hurts was saying that, you yourself have taken personal accountability. Do you feel like there are still times to pick spots as a disciplinarian? How do you see that approach, in terms of accountability, lead to action and change on some of the mistakes that have been happening? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: Sure. Brooks, you’re only getting a piece of what’s going on, right? You’re seeing what I’m telling you in these interactions, you’re seeing what the players are telling you in these interactions. But we’ve got a lot of time in there, too, where the mistakes are being corrected.

And we’re going to take accountability first and foremost, because that’s the only way you can continue to, but that doesn’t mean as a coach that you’re not – yes, as a coach, I’m going to go up there in front of the team, first and foremost, and say what I screwed up. But then, I’m going to tell them what I feel like they screwed up. That’s my job as the head coach. And I’m going to tell the coaches what I think they – the coaches before the players even get there – what I think they screwed up.

And it’s not an indictment on anybody. It’s all in the attempts to get better. And so, again, accountability is key if you’re going to fix mistakes. And you’ve got to look at yourself first. But then, as leaders on the football team, you’ve got to point out what the mistakes are.

That’s my job as the head coach, that’s the coordinators’ jobs, that’s the position coaches’ jobs, that’s the leaders of our football teams’ jobs: to point out the mistakes that are happening.

So, I do want you to see in public that it’s only us taking accountability for ourselves and not pointing the finger at anybody else, because that’s where it starts. And then, what we can do behind closed – there’s a lot that you don’t see, obviously, behind closed doors of how we get things fixed.

Q. With a veteran defensive coordinator, I’m just curious your role in developing the game plan on that side of the football? And then what did you make the game plan defensively yesterday? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, they’ll do the majority of the work and come in to me. And then I’m going to ask them, ‘Hey, what are we doing here in this scenario? What are we doing on that scenario? What are we doing against this type of run?’

So there is a long checklist of things that we cover, as far as after they go through the game plan process. Because you know that I’m involved with the offensive game planning. And then it’s just – there are different things, situational things that I’ll have a vision on.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that’s everything, that I’ll have a vision on how we’re going to do this or how we’re going to do that. But there are certain things that I have a vision of how I see our team playing.

But I obviously hired [Defensive Coordinator] Vic [Fangio] to do a job, and he’s done a good job being a defensive coordinator in this league for a very long time. I think the game plan, whenever you play like we did yesterday, you’re going to look first and foremost and say, ‘Could we have put these buys in better positions?’ If the answer is yes, you take those notes. If the answer is, ‘Hey, we had them in good positions, and they didn’t succeed,’ that’s noted as well. I think any time you play like that, there is a little bit of yes to both.

So the question you’re asking me, how do I feel like the game plan was yesterday. Well, obviously I don’t feel good about the game plan yesterday because we didn’t play good. And we didn’t coach good. And that’s why we lost.

That’s where I am with that.

Q. Ask you about WR Jahan Dotson. I know he’s only been here, what, six weeks? He just doesn’t seem as involved. Third team receiver, your top two guys are out. He didn’t seem to have as big of a role yesterday in terms of targets. What needs to be done to get him a little bit more involved? (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: It’s hard to force feed someone the football based off – again, as an offensive coach, you always want to be on the attack. Bu there is being on the attack, and then there’s also taking what the defense gives you.

The ball went to him when it was supposed to go to him yesterday. And there were some times where the ball could have gone to him where something might have happened that took that away.

And so, again, you’re a product sometimes of how the defense is played as a wide receiver. It’s a little different sometimes, at wide receiver, of how the ball gets itself to you.

Yeah, again, the ball didn’t find him as much yesterday. And it hasn’t these first couple weeks. But that doesn’t mean we’re any less high on him than we were when we first got him. I think he’s got great play-making ability, great potential, and we’ve just got to find ways to figure out how to use that potential.

Q. I was curious if you could give us your assessment of how QB Jalen Hurts has played in these first four games? And more specifically, what you see – if there is any common thread between the turnover problems that have been happening? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, again, I think as a football team – I know there’s going to be a lot that’s always brought onto the starting quarterback. Obviously, we understand that. But as a football team, I think it’s just been consistency, right? Offensively, defensively, it’s just been our consistency. And that’s something I’ve got to do as a head coach, is make sure our consistency is there.

We missed one tackle last week. We missed 14 or whatever this week. Again, just the consistency of third down, consistency of red zone. We haven’t been great in the red zone, and then yesterday we were a little bit better there.

So again, it’s just that consistency thing of the entire team. And myself, [QB] Jalen [Hurts], offense, defense, special teams, it’s all of us.

As far as the turnovers, Eliot, that will be something that we really dive into on a bye week this week and spend a lot of time on that. Again, I’ve told you guys that it’s not sustainable that we’re – 6 [in the turnover differential]. That’s not a sustainable stat.

You’re going to be – shoot, I’m not sure you’re 2-2 when you’re – 6, many times. Somehow, we are. But we’ve got to make sure that that makes a big change, both taking the football away as a defense and protecting it as an offense.

So that would be something that, when you go into your bye week, you study everything. You study the turnovers, you study negative plays, you study sacks, you study third down and all the different scenarios in there. You study two-minute, you study four-minute. You study everything. Everything is on the table. You study anything that you deem yourself insufficient at as an offense and defense. You study everything you think that you’re good at to try to make sure you’re finding your identity and doing what you do well.

So, everything will be on the table. As far as the turnovers again, that will be a big emphasis this week of what, why – I mean, we’ve got on idea obviously. We’ve got a good idea because it’s only four games into it. But we’ll be looking at it even more in depth with the what, the why, common threads amongst players, common threads amongst plays, play types, down and distances, situations, all that stuff.

Q. To follow up on Dave’s question about the defense and the game planning, you and I were talking a little last week about Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio and his experience, something you haven’t had before. And if you go back to 2021 with Former Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon and the slow start, you made some adjustments and went in there. Curious of that experience with Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio. I don’t know the right word – if you hesitate at all because he’s done it for so long, or is it something you need to do no matter what? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, that’s my job as the head coach. Again, the product that’s on the field is a direct reflection of me, and I know Vic feels that way about the defense.

But I still, as the head coach, yeah, if something is on my mind, I’m going to tell Vic about it. You know, obviously you guys spend time around me on here, but I’m not real shy about telling people how I feel about different things. Because at the end of the day, all I care about is us winning.

And that would be malpractice on my part if I was feeling something about the defense, [former Eagles Defensive Coordinator] Jonathan Gannon, Vic Fangio, you name the coordinator, if I didn’t say anything about what I feel.

So, again, you have visions of things of how you see it in different scenarios. But we watch that tape together. We sat in there today, watched the entire tape together, went through all of it. Talked about what the issue was for each play that we failed on, what the answer, what the solution [is]. We discussed different things, players, personnel, past experiences of what has worked against those different things.

So that’s an organic conversation. That’s, like we talked about with the offense, everybody is involved in that. Not just Vic, not just me, not just Vic and I, but the entire defense.

Q. On the strip sack in which QB Jalen Hurts fumbled, you did mention this after the game, but how much of a situational awareness should he have had on first down in that situation? Also, in some of the sacks that he held the ball too long and took, in terms of, again, situational awareness? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Obviously, we’re going to want some of those plays back. There are different reasons for why. On the one that was a fumble, they did a good job of clouding up the picture to that front side.

Then the back was eaten up in protection on that particular play, so you don’t have your checkdown. That actually happened on the other sack, too, where they eat your backup and sometimes you don’t have that checkdown.

So there are different things that account for that. Jalen, [RB] Saquon [Barkley] steps up, makes a good initial strike, kind of moved around him.

Again, sometimes it’s hard to see right behind you where it is. I know that we’ve got to talk about that clock in your head, too. So again, there are so many different things. How the defense played, how somebody ran a route. [TE] Grant [Calcaterra] had to go do something different on the route based on where the safety was to attract him and then cross his face, so it took a little bit longer to develop.

And I get it. I get that the quarterback is always going to be the guy that’s scrutinized for the fumble because it goes on him. Same thing as an interception. But there are different things that account for it. I thought the protection was good on the play.

And sometimes it is his fault, right? But I’m not going to tell you, ‘Hey, on this particular one, this was his, or that.’ I’m not going to do that.

There are different things that account for the ball – again, like I said with Grant. But, does he have to have that clock in head ticking? Yeah, of course. That’s part of his job, too, as the quarterback. But there are so many different things that account for a turnover.

Again, you win as a team, and you lose as a team. You turn the ball over as a team, and you protect it as a team. It’s never, ever – you know, you win on a collection of plays, not just one play. And I think that’s something that – we’ve got to put our head down and just grind to make sure we’re fixing all the mistakes, because you never know when that play is going to be. You never know when that turnover is going to be.

But again, this is the greatest team sport there is. And I say that a lot after wins. I know I say that a lot after wins, and how honored I am to be part of a football team.

But that also applies in losses as well, and on bad plays as well, that it is a full, full team effort.

Q. But the quarterback gets paid more than anybody else on the team for a reason. (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Sure, he does.

Q. Right, and QB Jalen Hurts is into his fifth year, his fourth year as a starter. I’m just wondering if that is, when you’re making the corrections, that is something that’s being pointed out to him specifically? That in that situation on first down, maybe take the sack or throw the ball away. (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, again, any time there is a mistake on the tape, the number of that person is put up there. Doesn’t matter who they are. Doesn’t matter how long they’ve played, how many Pro Bowls they’ve made. The number is put on there, because, again, that would be malpractice by myself, Jeff, if I didn’t correct, and our coaches didn’t correct, mistakes that are happening.

Because we’re just trying to get better so we don’t make the same mistakes twice. So that’s the same thing there.

Q. You talked a little bit yesterday about still looking for an identity and everything. I was curious, how long does that typically take? This is obviously Week 4, and you guys have had all of training camp. Just wondering how long it takes, and what you need do to get that identity? What needs to happen for that to happen? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Identity is what you do well, right? Identity is what you do well, what you do consistent, and what you hang your hat on.

That changes year in, year out. What our identity was in ’21, ’22, ’23, all those years had little differences in who you are.

Same thing now. You figure that out as you go throughout the year. I’m not sure you see any team right now that says, ‘This is our identity.’ There are some, probably, but there are not a lot.

You’re figuring out what you do well because it is still a small sample size. And all you’re trying to do is repeat the things that you do well, and hide those things, complement those things. You’re trying to not do the things that you don’t do so well.

Again, it always starts with what the players do well, first and foremost. Not what I like, not what [Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore] likes, not what [Passing Game Coordinator/Associate Head Coach] Kevin [Patullo] likes, not what [Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland] Stout likes, but what our players do well. That’s forever changing throughout the season.

I think your identity you can say is this, but it’s constantly evolving through the season. I know one thing that we can say our identity is as a football team that we talk a ton about is our team, our accountability, our detail, and our toughness that we’re constantly trying to work on and become better at that at all times.

We feel like we have had moments of that throughout every game that we’ve had and shown that. But, like anything, we’ve got to make sure we’re consistent with it.

Q. You mention fundamentals a lot, that fundamentals need to get corrected. And I’m assuming part of that applies to the missed tackling problem. Right now, what is your level of concern or surprise that that’s a problem four weeks in? What do you think is the biggest area of concern specifically with missed tackles? And do you think there is at all a correlation to how infrequent you guys and other teams do live tackling in practice and camp? (Jeff Neiburg)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think fundamentals on defense are tackling, block destruction and how you get off blocks. Those are the main ones that are a defense of fundamentals. How you cover, how you rush.

I really think, though, when I’m thinking true, basic, basic fundamentals: block destruction and tackling. On offense, I think about blocking, the combo blocks that the offensive line does together, and then ball security. Same thing on defense, how you take the football away. How you catch the football.

Those are the things that we talk about every single day, that we drill every single day, that’s in team meetings every single day, of how we’re doing in those different things. So, it is an emphasis of ours that we want to be really good at.

Now, this will be the week, too, that we relook at some of drills that we’re doing. You try to do as many drills as you possibly can do that simulate tackling as much as you possibly can. Tackling is something that’s difficult for the entire league to really simulate how you do that. Because you’re not doing the thing live.

Well, that’s the same thing with ball security. You’re more susceptible to fumble the football as you’re truly getting tackled. So, all these fundamentals – it’s a long season, and I think what you have to do is, you have to put your guys in positions to simulate it while also protecting your guys to make sure that you have your guys every Sunday.

I think what I’ll do definitely this week is, okay, let’s look at, we know that the issue – what are the common themes of the tackles we’re missing? And I’ve got a pretty good idea what they are. How do we simulate that in drills? How do we show it in meetings, from around the league, from us, so you emphasis it?

And that will be the process of what we go through this week. But with the amount of tackles we missed in this last game, it led to a lot of extra yards by them. And you’re going to miss a couple tackles each game, but that wasn’t to our standard. And there were different circumstances of why that we need to get corrected. And any time I talk about – I’m so passionate about details and fundamentals that that hurts me when we don’t tackle well. Because I know how much time we put into it.

I’m going to, again, first and foremost say, ‘What did I not do well enough?’ The things I’m talking about to you guys are the things I didn’t do well enough, and how do we correct that from a coaching standpoint to get better.

And then the different things we do fundamentally is going to be big.

Q. I’ve got another turnover question for you. QB Jalen Hurts, in 2021 and 2022, averaged 0.6 turnovers per game. 2023 and this year, he’s up to 1.4 per game. So it’s a drastic difference. Double and then some. Forgetting what the issues are turnover-wise this year and last year, what worked those first two years? (Jimmy Kempski)

NICK SIRIANNI: Good question. You know, it’s a different product of different things that happened in the game.

Again, it’s never – there are so many different variables that play into it. Sometimes it’s – let’s just talk about it from a quarterback standpoint. Sometimes it’s how you carry the ball when you’re running and carrying the ball when you’re escaping. Then it’s the time to throw, deeper developing plays. Sometimes it’s about the protection and having a hat for a hat. Sometimes it’s about losing a one-on-one there.

Again, it’s going to always – sometimes it’s about the route detail and the route discipline, and how that is affected. Or a missed throw, or a misread.

And the criticism is always going to go to him the most because he touches ball the most, and he’s always going to have more turnovers than anybody else on the team, per se. Now, we’ve turned it over as a football team. Again, I go back to this: we’ve turned it over as a football team these past – again, this year is really all I’m focused about – and ’23 more than we had in ’21 and ’22. And we’re seeing the results of that.

I’ve told you guys, it’s not sustainable winning games when you’re turning the football over. Again, you win as a team, you lose as a team. You turn the ball over as a team, you protect the football as a team.

Again, it’s important that we all understand that. Coaches, players, we’re all in this together. Because the only way to get the win/loss column fixed, the start of it, is the protection of the football.

Q. One of the sentiments among the defensive players out of the locker room last night was that Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield was getting ball out really quickly and that the coverage on the back end needed to be stickier. Why do you feel like there was that shortcoming? Was it more of the coverage that was being called, or was it the execution within the structure of the defense? (Olivia Reiner)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, there are times on those – if you come back and look through it, it is always, Olivia, going to be a combination of both, right? We’re never going to say as coaches, it’s just the players, and we’re never going to say, well, it’s just the coaches.

It’s a team game that takes everybody. There are times that you could say, yeah, let’s be tighter in these scenarios. There were times we were tight, [Buccaneers QB] Baker [Mayfield] got the ball out, and we missed the tackle. There were times we didn’t cover down fast enough in our disguise. That’s kind of both/and. We want to hold the shell and disguise, but then it sacrifices you coming down late, and they can get the ball out.

That’s on both sides of coaching and playing. But we’re in this thing together, and it takes everybody. So the answer on – it’s never going to be 100% here and 100% there, because that’s just not the way this game is played. That’s why it is the greatest team game, and I’ll stand on that it’s the greatest team game whether it’s a win or a loss. But that’s how you continue to come together through the tough times, through the good times, to become a team.

And I know scenarios like yesterday, getting beat the way we got beat yesterday, will bring this team closer together. You’re either continuing to come closer together, or you are falling apart.

Our goal is to make sure we’re staying together through the adversity that hit us yesterday, and just move on and get better from it.