Sean Mannion

Q. There were a lot of unblocked guys that were kind of getting into the backfield on run plays. (Jeff McLane)

Sean Mannion: Some of it is just execution, some of it’s fundamentals, but I think you kind of hit it. The biggest takeaway for me from the game was just being able to stay on schedule. We got behind the sticks a little bit. If there’s a guy unaccounted for — we had a free safety pressure early. We’ve just got to communicate a little bit better upfront.

In large part, we always want to have a hat for a hat. We try to avoid those situations. Some of it’s execution, some of it’s fundamentals, but the better we’re able to stay on schedule, the better we’re going to be as an offense. That was the main takeaway from the game. That was some of it. Just a couple instances where it kind of got behind the sticks. The examples you’re speaking to led to at least a couple of them.

Q. Do you think there could have been more done to disguise what you guys are doing pre-snap? (Jeff McLane)

Sean Mannion: I don’t think so. I felt really good about the plan. It’s always a challenge with week one opponents, especially with a new coordinator. There’s going to be some unscouted looks. That’s the nature of the business. We told our guys going into this game, it’s going to be a rules game for us. We’re going to try to lay out a plan. There’s a little bit of projection in terms of what [Commanders Defensive Coordinator] Daronte [Jones] may or may not be defensively coming from Minnesota, and obviously a blend with [Commanders Head Coach] Dan Quinn, who has a background on defense.

There’s always going to be a little bit of an unscouted look in week one, particularly with a new coordinator. I felt great about the plan. We got some unscouted looks, like I said, that we can be a little cleaner on with our communication. All in all, I felt like our coaches, our players, we put together something we felt good about on Sunday.

Q. What’s the challenge of playing for at least a month without G Landon Dickerson and what’s your confidence level in C/G Drew Kendall right now? (Reuben Frank)

Sean Mannion: We feel really confident with all of our guys. It’s unfortunate with Landon, the guy’s a warrior, and we’ve got to get him healthy. In the meantime, we need guys to step up, but Drew’s had a really nice camp. [C/G] Willie [Lampkin]’s had a nice camp. Really, we have a lot of guys on our offensive line with a lot of position flexibility, versatility. We feel good about all of them. Obviously, Landon will be missed in the meantime, but we feel confident that guys are going to be able to step up and fill the void.

Q. What’s your philosophy on shuffling the line in terms of moving positions when you do have a guy missing? (Dave Zangaro)

Sean Mannion: Ultimately, you want to get your best five out there. That’s the beauty with the unit. The guys we have in that room, the guys that [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman]’s brought in, the way Kup’s [Offensive Line Coach Chris Kuper] been training them through the whole offseason, through training camp, is we have guys that can play multiple spots and it allows for you to get your best five guys out there.

Q. Along those lines is moving C Cam Jurgens to guard on the table as you weigh who’s going to replace G Landon Dickerson? (EJ Smith)

Sean Mannion: We’re going to keep that in-house in terms of what our plan is for this week, just for competitive reasons. Like I said, we have a lot of guys up front that can play multiple spots. We’ve been training them at all spots, so gives us some flexibility there.

Q. How did you evaluate QB Jalen Hurts’ performance? (John McMullen)

Sean Mannion: I thought he did a nice job. Obviously, he made some big-time throws — The touchdown to TE Dallas Goedert was in a really tough spot, a 3rd-and-goal from the 17, the big play to [WR Dontayvion] Wicks in the red area, and then a big shot down field. Honestly, the play of the game in my mind might have been that third-and-18 scrambling. Again, behind the sticks was kind of the theme. That’s the thing we’ve got to really correct and improve on, but he was able to overcome it in that instance and made some nice throws throughout the game.

Q. G Landon Dickerson said last night on the radio that he got rolled up a couple of weeks ago. Just going into the game, what was your understanding of his injury and if that affected the game plan at all? (Brooks Kubena)

Sean Mannion: Landon, like I said, he’s a warrior. He’s going to go out there, give it his all. He had a great week of practice. It’s unfortunate, guy gets a little dinged up in the game. The focus with Landon is just to get him healthy and get him back with us here at some point.

Q. You mentioned WR Dontayvion Wicks and a few of the big plays he had. When he was in Green Bay, did you see the possibility of him becoming more? And then two, where has he grown since last time in Green Bay versus where he is now? (Cayden Steele)

Sean Mannion: Obviously my background with Tay, you could always see the talent. It was a deep position group in Green Bay. To answer your question, yeah, we could see him making big plays. He made a ton of big plays. The Detroit game last year was a good example. We had caught a through route really to ice the game in four-minute, we caught a double move in that game.

You could always see it. It was his playtime there or whatever, it wasn’t an indication of his talent level. It was more just the depth of that room in Green Bay in particular. So, now he’s got an opportunity to get some more snaps week one and really thrive with them. I’m not surprised. He’s been working super hard. He’s got a ton of ability. He’s totally bought in to the program here that [Head Coach] Nick [Sirianni]’s laid in place, and it came to life on Sunday.

Q. With WR Dontayvion Wicks, how much more efficient is he in his route running and explosivity? (Brooks Kubena)

Sean Mannion: That’s always been a strength of his. He’s a natural separator. He’s big, he’s strong, made a really nice downfield play as well. He’s got good speed. His separation ability is honestly one of his best attributes. Then you combine it with his frame, his toughness, his position versatility, it opens up a lot of things for our offense.

Q. There was a clip of you throwing your arms up in celebration after a big catch. I was wondering outside of the results of the game, just what the experience was like for you on Sunday. It was your first time calling a game as an offense coordinator, fun parts you didn’t expect, harder parts. What was it like? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

Sean Mannion: It was an enjoyable experience. You’re just so locked into the game and thinking through what you want to call the contingencies, how you’re going to call the game, what your opponent could throw at you. You’re not really thinking of it in terms of a bird’s eye view, but I felt super comfortable. Our staff did a great job communicating. The communication with Jalen was great. I thought operationally we had one pre-snap penalty, but all in all, I thought it was pretty sharp. It was what I hoped it would be in the moment.

It was a cool moment in the end, especially coming away with a win. In the moment, you’re not really thinking about those things, you’re just thinking about, ‘What’s my next call? What’s my next third down? We’ve got to get ready for two-minute.’ You’re just living in the moment there. There were some fun moments in the box for sure.

Q. On that 64-yarder, WR Dontayvion Wicks said that he was the clear-out on that route. Curious how you look at that when you’re talking to the players or evaluating it. Is it just, ‘Good job, QB Jalen Hurts,’ or do you want him to stay within the confines there? I’m just curious how you stumbled — (Tim McManus)

Sean Mannion: I don’t want to disclose too much about our progressions, but it’s funny. Tay had that same exact rep in practice, and he ran full speed, full tilt, great effort, didn’t get the ball. We showed it in the offensive meeting; it’s not an accident. You give great effort at practice with or without the ball, good things are going to happen. I think it was a very emblematic play of what we want to be as an offense, giving great effort at practice, getting your brother open in practice. Then sure enough, you get into the game and the ball finds you. I’m a believer that those types of things happen when you give great effort day-in and day-out. There are so many examples of it, so many examples that go unseen. The protection unit, right? That was one of our cleanest pockets of the night, led to an explosive play.

There are so many examples of how for a successful play to happen, really everybody has involvement in it. Tay ran a great route. The ball found him. It was great protection, a great throw. Again, I think you lay the groundwork during the week with your practice habits, with the effort you give. It was a cool kind of alignment of what we believe in and then seeing it happen on Sunday.

Q. About QB Jalen Hurts’ legs from a theoretical perspective. Having seen it in action now, is it something you can or will lean into more? (Zach Berman)

Sean Mannion: It’s a difference maker for sure. I know I’ve spoken about it. It’s what makes him a unique talent, really. It came to life in the game. You can just see how he can challenge defenses that way. He made a bunch of big plays with the legs. It’s certainly something that really unlocks things for us and makes him a difficult guy to defend.

Q. What were your thoughts on the running game? I know RB Saquon Barkley had that really long run and everything, but there were quite a few where he was kind of stopped for negative yardage and everything. What are you seeing that was going on both good and bad? (Martin Frank)

Sean Mannion: They got us on one early. I spoke about it earlier with, just we need to be a little bit sharp with our communication upfront, but there were some close calls. You want to be honest about it, and I think we’ve got to be more efficient. There were explosive runs. The one there — We had a couple other ones that were pretty close to being explosive. Obviously, Jalen generating explosives as a scrambler, but I think when we look at the tape, we turn it on and you say, ‘Oh, we’re one block away. If we’re just a little bit sharper on our aiming point, if we’re a little bit better fundamentally, if we’re able to stay better on schedule,’ it just unlocks a little bit more of the plan if you’re not behind the sticks. I felt like we ran pretty well, but we can have even more potential in the run game with just a couple corrections.

Q. What were some of the plays that went to WR Makai Lemon and how do you go about getting him in different spots? (Jeff Neiberg)

Sean Mannion: Makai, he’s doing a great job. We’re moving him all around the formation. We’re asking him to do a multitude of different things as a young player. He caught a nice flat route early on. We had a screen that they defended well, really two screens to him that they defended well.

His involvement — Listen, he’s a young player, he’s growing in confidence every day. You can see the talent every day at practice. The nature of the game was one where it was a lower snap count than usual, but we had some explosive plays within that and he’s going to be a big part of what we do moving forward.

Q. To follow up on the camera shot in the box of your celebrations, a two-part question. Since it was the first official game of you calling plays, what do you think that says about your competitive personality that Philadelphia will learn about you as time goes on? And the second part is, since you were a quarterback who played and now, you’re calling plays, how does the satisfaction level of scoring a touchdown compare and differ now that you’re trying to set guys up in the right position to score? (Dave Uram)

Sean Mannion: To answer the first part, I am a very competitive person. I think we all are. If you’re in this business, if you’re in the NFL and you’re working for the Philadelphia Eagles, it’s because you’re a great competitor, you want to win, you’ll work extremely hard to pursue that, to pursue that perfection that leads to winning. I feel like I fit into that mold and the mold that’s been built here by Nick and by this organization. You look across the league, this league attracts those types of people who are highly, highly competitive. I’m happy to consider myself a part of that.

I think the satisfaction of calling a touchdown versus throwing one, I guess, I never really thought about how it’s different. Obviously, it’s a different perspective, but I think it’s pretty fun. Like I was speaking to earlier, when you get to plan for practice, you get to plan for the play that you’re putting in and then you see it come to life, there is a pretty cool part of that where you got to kind of see it made and you had a hand in making it happen early in the week. Then the players go out there and they’re the ones that really make it happen. I guess to rephrase, you’re trying to put together a game plan and get the players ready and it’s so, so satisfying when these guys put in so much work and so much energy, effort, dedication to the fundamentals, and then they can bring it to life. That part’s really cool.

Q. The offensive line said because they took away the outside zone with some of those unscouted looks that you guys went more duo, you had the inside zone run with RB Saquon Barkley. Did that prevent you from trying to marry more of the pass off the run, off play action in this game? Is that going to be a juggling act for you in terms of what this team can do, run and pass? (Jeff McLane)

Sean Mannion: There’s always several variables. We go into games with several different run schemes, if you want to look at it by families kind of like you did there. Defenses will try to combat them in different ways with their front structure, with pressure, with where they’re putting members of the secondary. You always want to carry a blend, and you always want to be ready to adjust. You might go into a game thinking one thing and you’re ready to pivot, and how that plays a hand in your play passes, your keepers — There’s always a little bit of a push and pull between what the defense is doing and how you need to adjust. You go into it with a plan accounting for multiple possibilities.

We were able to pivot the inside zone run, like you said, hit for a good gain on third-and-two. We were able to go to a little bit more downhill schemes. I thought that helped us. There are little things to clean up, but you always go into it with multiple lanes you can drive down. The same thing applies really in the passing game. If the run game changes, it may or may not change how you look at the pass game as well.

Q. How cognizant are you of the target distribution? (Zach Berman)

Sean Mannion: You are thinking of that throughout the entire week. Then when you get into the game, there’s certainly some of that and trying to get guys involved early. Then there’s some instances where you’re thinking more about coverage. We give that a ton of thought throughout the week, and then within the game, you’re making those considerations as well along with the coverages that are thrown at you.