Nick Sirianni

Q. What’s the plan for Thursday night with the starters and then with QB Jalen Hurts, are you going to get him out there to play? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we’re still talking through that. We’re still talking through that every day. We don’t have exactly — again, there are guys — everybody is in a little different scenario.

For me to say, ‘Hey, the starters are playing ‘this’ many –,’ we’ve discussed everybody, and everybody has their own little scenario that we’re doing.

Expect everybody to play for the most part, and yeah, that’s in constant discussion.

Q. Can you talk about the quarterback rotation at all? How do you see that playing out? (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, same way that’s been playing out in practice. Jalen will go with the starters and then [QB] Joe [Flacco] will go in after him and [QB] Nick [Mullens] will go after him.

Q. Who will be you lead running back Thursday night? (Zach Berman) 1:05

NICK SIRIANNI: We’re still looking at that. We still got another practice to evaluate and see who we want to go in there. But, again, yeah, we got another practice to see who it is. Not going to name that right yet.

Q. The preseason used to be the last game when there was four, the starters almost never played because there is so much time in between and the third game was usually a big game, is your approach different this year for that third game? (Howard Eskin)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, yes, we talked through all these things. We have a plan in place. I don’t want to tell you, ‘This is what they’re playing,’ because that could change; things change every day.

What I do know is we have the joint practices too, to me count like pre-season games as well, you know, against the Patriots and Jets. So, we have a lot of time to still think about that. I have a plan in place, but I just don’t want to disappoint you if I don’t follow through with what I’m saying.

Q. When it comes to in-game management stuff, it’ll be your first time handling in-game management in a game. How much thought has already gone into that and how much do you view this pre-season as a trial run for you? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, it’s definitely a trial run. As far as game management goes, let’s talk about the two-minute drill. We’ve been together, [Eagles passing game coordinator] Kevin [Patullo] and I and [Eagles tight ends coach] Jason [Michael] have been together for a while, so we know what we want to call with time on the clock, when our timeout scenarios are, when we are clocking it as opposed to getting up and running on the ball.

So, there are things that — there are a ton of situations that go into that, right, so feels like every time we sit up there and watch plays — like for instance, we watch about 500 plays, end-of-game plays the other day, and just like the scenarios inside of it. Something always pops up.

So, we’re really prepared, really, really prepared, but there will be things that pop up, and I look forward to the trial run on Thursday.

Q. Specifically with Jalen Hurts, how fluid will you be from your plan based on what he does and how the different drives go? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you know, with Jalen, I think I’m going to answer your question, so if not, I’ll come back, but with Jalen, there are things, too. One of the things we have to our advantage is that nobody really knows what we’re running. To say we’re going to show everything on Thursday or the following pre-season game or the following pre-season games, it’s just not going to be the case.

That’s an advantage that we have that other staffs don’t because we don’t have any tape out there of us. Am I answering your question?

Q. What I mean is just as far as just his playing time on Thursday night. Like if he comes out and you have an 80-yard touchdown drive to open the game, would you get him out of there? That kind of thing. (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: [Smiling] That would be great.

Q. Or a couple three-and-outs. How much will you adjust his playing time? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, that’s why I don’t want to tell you guys, ‘This is how many series,’ because exactly what you’re saying. If we go out and have a seven-play drive, then we reevaluate, just like in a game. If we go three and out, then we reevaluate.

Yes, everything is on — I don’t want to say sliding scale, to say, yeah.

Q. From the open practice and all the other workouts, what would you like to see the starting offense improve upon for Thursday night? (John Clark)

NICK SIRIANNI: Just be consistent with moving the football and be consistent — you know, kind of eliminate anything that — we always talk about eliminating the mistakes that require no talent, right?

So the not lining up right or false start or something like that. That requires no talent to lineup right and to not jump offsides. Let’s let our talent take over and eliminate those things.

So, you know, because I thought the practice over at the stadium went well, as far as offensively speaking went well for them, but there were some sloppy things with pre-snap penalties. [WR] Quez’s [Watkins] big play came back because we weren’t lined up right.

So just eliminating those things, really honing in on, ‘Hey, here is what we’re running, here is what we are going to do,’ and go out there and not have to think a lot because we’re doing that and let their talent take over.

Q. The overriding philosophy of the pre-season, guys are in uniform, there is live reps, lights are on, so to speak. Do things get different? Is it easier to evaluate? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think particularly at different positions. Again, we want practice to be like the game as much as possible. We’re trying to put ourselves, and you can see out there how the guys are practicing, they’re practicing hard. But we aren’t taking people to the ground, right?

It’s always interesting for a running back to get out there, because out here you’re like, ‘Did he slip that tackle? Did he not slip that tackle?’ Some of the defensive coaches are saying, ‘We tackled him right there.’ The offensive coaches are saying, ‘Nah, we slipped that one.’ You get to find out when the lights come on and it’s live to the ground.

Q. How valuable is it to be able to see a lot of the young guys play, last year, obviously no pre-season games, teams weren’t able to do that. How valuable is that? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, I mean, we just treat every practice so much like the game that we feel like we’re going to no exactly what’s happening coming out here. We got ideas what’s going to happen.

But there are always some people that surprise you when the lights are on. I know, I can think of one guy that’s just in my mind that I’m thinking of is Austin Ekeler at the Chargers. He was kind of buried on depth chart, and the lights came on and it was that running back scenario we just talked about and was making all sorts of plays, and then we couldn’t keep him off the 53-man roster.

So that is what you’re excited about. Yes, everything with do in practice is preparation for the game, and we like it think that we’re going hard, hard in practice, and we are.

But you always — there is always something that pops up when the lights come on and when it’s tackle to the ground. That’s the defense, too, because now they got to secure those tackles as well.