Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni (Post-Game Transcript)

[Regarding how much time the offensive line gave QB Jalen Hurts to throw to WR Jahan Dotson.]

NICK SIRIANNI: Obviously, great protection, and that takes a lot of patience for a quarterback when in that particular case, when you’re not on rhythm but you’re not getting pressured to actually stay and go. He did that last year at Tampa to OZ [former Eagles WR Olamide Zaccheaus]. They were very similar plays. I remember how cool we thought that was that there wasn’t pressure, he was able to just sit in there and find what happened and not get — he was just very calm, cool, collected. Obviously, a great job by the offensive line to keep the protection for that long. Then Jahan found his way — he fought through some contact and found his way to get open. It was a full team effort there. It really was a spectacular play by Jalen and the offensive line there and then Jahan finishing it.

The turnover on the opening kick, what did you make of that?

NICK SIRIANNI: It was a tone setter. [LB] Oren [Burks] has been a really good player here for us the entire season. He went in there and played well. When [LB] Nakobe [Dean] went down at linebacker as well, he played well last week at linebacker, but he’s always been a spark for us on special teams. I remember [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman], when we signed him, he said, ‘Hey, this guy is one of the best third, fourth linebackers in the NFL,’ and we were so excited to get him. He’s a special teams stud, and he’s shown that. I think he’s forced two fumbles now this year on special teams, but that was a big time hit. Big emphasis for us this week because [Packers CB Keisean] Nixon is a phenomenal football player. I have so much respect for their special teams coach and their assistant coach, who I actually had a chance to work with as well. They’re really good coaches. I just can’t say enough about Green Bay and their players and their coaches. That’s a good football team. But just a big time play by Oren and [K] Jake [Elliott] by placing it in the right place. Jake was phenomenal kicking the kickoffs today. Then we just beat the blocks that we needed to beat in that particular case and made a big time play to — you can’t start a game better than that. Last time we played them, it didn’t start great for us. It felt like two years ago, but it didn’t start that great for us.

What have you seen in the growth from last year to this year in OLB Nolan Smith?

NICK SIRIANNI: Nolan has just continued to get better. I gave him a game ball in there just because of his efforts. I love Nolan Smith. I mean, my kids aren’t going to play defensive end, I know that. My two sons aren’t going to play defensive end. They’re not going to have the genes to do so, but I want my sons to play football like Nolan Smith. Before my kids go out to play any sport, I say, ‘Have fun, play hard, be physical.’ That guy is the definition of those things. He has fun out there. He has fun with his teammates. His teammates love him. He plays hard as I’ve ever seen anybody play, and this dude is a physical, physical, physical guy. I can’t say enough about the way he plays this game. He loves this game. You love guys like that, and you love when they — that’s a credit to Howie and his staff for the guys that they have brought in here because we’ve talked so much about the guys that love football, the guys that are tough, the guys that have high football IQ. Those guys have a tendency, God willing, to reach their full potential, and I think that’s what you’re seeing. The intangibles for Nolan Smith are there, so you’re seeing him get better each week and each time he steps on the field because when you have those intangibles particularly, you have no choice but to get better. You just get better. [Defensive End/Outside Linebackers Coach Jeremiah Washburn] Wash has done a great job with them. [Defensive Coordinator] Vic [Fangio] has done a great job positioning them to succeed. Howie does a great job of getting them in here. I think it shows you and everybody patience. Guys might not come in and just be world beaters, even though they were ones in college. They might not be world beaters right away. It takes some time to do it. We’ve seen Nolan grow into this player with the things he was able to do today to help us win a playoff football game. I can’t say enough about Nolan. I could go on all day about that.

What did you think of the offense?

NICK SIRIANNI: As an offense, we struggled a little bit. I don’t think we had the game that we wanted to have on offense, but Jalen I think did a lot of good things. First of all, Jalen is a winner. He wins. I mean, no one can argue that. The other thing is we know when we take care of the football, the things that happen when we take care of the football, and Jalen’s on this pace of the efficiency that he’s played with this year with his quarterback rating, with his yards per attempt, and all those different things, to be able to do that while also taking care of the football is huge. Again, do we want plays back that happened today? Yeah. But one thing that I loved about what happened on the offense is that it wasn’t going great, and like this was the case for our entire team. Like Q [CB Quinyon Mitchell] gives up a PI on third down, and then Q comes back and has a big third down stop on a four-point play on third-and-nine from the nine. That’s dog mentality. Jake misses an extra point, and then Jake puts the game away with two huge field goals after that. That’s dog mentality. The offense isn’t going the way we want it to go, but somehow, some way, when they cut the lead to six, we find a way to put it back to two scores. Then I think it came back to another possession again, and we found a way to put it up — actually, whatever it was, but we found a way to score again. That’s just the ebbs and flows of a game. We’re going to go back to work tomorrow. No victory Monday for us. We could play Saturday, too. We don’t know. But no victory Monday for us. We’re going to go back to work because we do have a lot of things to clean up.

TE Dallas Goedert’s catch and run, what does that do for the team?

NICK SIRIANNI: We talk a lot about just physicality, and our core values: tough, detail, together. Tough, detail, together. Well, toughness isn’t just the physical plays. It’s the mental toughness I just talked about. It’s the relentless effort that I talked about, and then it is the physical toughness. On offense, you don’t get those opportunities for those big hits sometimes that the defense is able to get. [S] Reed [Blankenship] came out of the sky and made a couple big ones today. So, you do it with your blocking. You have to do it with the way you run with the football in your hands. Nobody in this league is as violent and as physical as Dallas Goedert with the ball in his hands. Did he have two or three stiff arms on that play? It really reminded me of the play that he made in the 2022 playoffs early in the game where he had a stiff-arm and ran somebody over against the Giants. You could see the spark it gave to the sideline. It was the same thing here. Again, our toughness and our physicality were on display on that play, and Dallas is a physical player, and that was a big-time play. I thought Jalen did a great job of getting to that play. Jalen got to that play and made an unbelievable play and an unbelievable check that you’re going to know about because I’m telling you about. That’s not going to be seen to everybody that he was able to check out of a play and get to the right play and get a ball to Dallas where he could go out and make the play that he did.

The lowest point total the Packers have had all season. What stood out about the way the defense played and the way that Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio called the game?

NICK SIRIANNI: I thought we were very physical. I think we had some tackles that we missed that we’re going to want back. I will say this — it wasn’t a perfect game for us. It’s not baseball. We’re not ever going to pitch a perfect game, right? It’s not going to happen. That’s the beauty of this sport. It’s never going to be a perfect game. But, why did that happen? Why is it like that? That’s a great football team. That is a great football team. [Packers Head Coach] Matt LaFleur is a phenomenal coach. His staff are phenomenal coaches. You can just see it ooze off of their tape with how good of coaches they are, and they’ve got really good players. I can’t tell you how much respect I have for that organization, for Coach LaFleur and the players on that field. They forced things to happen. [Packers RB] Josh Jacobs is a phenomenal football player. He forced things to happen at times. So that’s what happens in the playoffs. Again, it’s going to be about how you play the next play. How do you go on and move on from that? I don’t know if I answered your question. I kind of started babbling a little bit, but that’s a great football team. The reason it was hard and the reason that it didn’t look perfect — we have a lot to clean up — is, one, it’s never perfect, but that’s a good football team.

TE Dallas Goedert stiff-arms, and WR DeVonta Smith was wide open. What’s the adjustment to get to that point?

NICK SIRIANNI: Great call by [Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore]. Phenomenal call by Kellen. I won’t get too much into it. I don’t want to give up too much information, but I thought it was a great call by Kellen. We got on the perimeter. Jalen made a phenomenal throw. Smitty [DeVonta Smith] made a phenomenal play. How about DeVonta Smith and the toughness? He may not have the stiff arm that Dallas had, but every time — he’s 175 pounds, and every time he’s on the sideline, he finishes the play for extra yards. DeVonta Smith is so tough. I find myself week in, week out just praising how tough he is as a football player. Again, when you have guys that are tough and love football, that makes a team special.

You mentioned going back to work tomorrow, but there’s a chance you don’t know who you’re going to play.

NICK SIRIANNI: We’ve got to clean up the stuff from this game. Sorry, I cut you off. Go ahead.

Especially if you play on a Saturday.

NICK SIRIANNI: Saturday, obviously things could change if we play on a Saturday. We’ve got to correct this tape. We have things that we have to get better from, from this tape. If we play on a Saturday, then the day off has to be tomorrow. We’ll find a way to get the corrections to them and review that on Tuesday. But if we play on Sunday, we’re coming back to work. We’re going to get our lift in. We’re going to correct the things we need to make as coaches. We made errors as coaches, and we made errors as players, and we’re going to go back and get those fixed. All that matters is the next game, and all that matters for that next game is that we get better from the things that happened in this game and repeat the stuff that we did well from this game.