Nick Sirianni

Q. I have a list of injured guys here, if you can give an update for some of them: K Jake Elliott, T Jordan Mailata, CB Darius Slay, G Isaac Seumalo, CB Avonte Maddox. (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: We’ll let you know on Wednesday. We’re still sorting through some things there as far as getting with the trainers, letting them get some rehab, and we will give you more information on Wednesday.

Q. Are any of them significant at this point? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: We think that everybody has a chance to play this weekend. But, you know, I don’t want to come out and say that quite yet just in case some things happen.

But we do believe everybody has a chance to play this weekend.

Q. Hey, Nick, I think you touched on this after the game, but for the guys like T/G Jack Driscoll and CB Josiah Scott, CB Zech McPhearson, those guys don’t know when they’ll be playing, if they’re going to be playing, in some cases, where they’ll be playing. What goes into that mentally, just being ready when your number is called? How challenging is that especially for a young guy to always be ready, not knowing if he’s going to play or not? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think that is definitely a challenge that they’ve got to come in every single day understanding that they’re one snap away from being the starter, right?

They know that we use a lot of different guys. Whether you’re contributing on special teams — all 53 guys, and the guys on the practice squad as well, are vital to winning football games.

So they know they got to prep just like the starter does knowing that they’re one play away.

I can’t give enough credit to the guys that you just mentioned. [CB] Zech [McPhearson] and [S] Andre [Chachere], [T/G] Jack [Driscoll], and [G] Sua [Opeta], all these guys, and [CB] Josiah [Scott], that came in and filled a role and being ready to play.

That’s just a tribute to them, that when they do get reps they make the most of it, a credit to their coaches for preparing them to play as well.

Unfortunately, it’s a long year in the sense of guys get injured. You’re going to have to have depth. So we’re doing our best to coach everybody hard and get them ready to go.

And I know we got the right guys on this team that if they’re not a starter, they know their role and they’re contributing on special teams and they know they’re one play away from going in.

Those guys did a nice job yesterday during the game.

Q. On the contingency plan front, are you guys going to bring in a kicker just in case K Jake Elliott can’t go this week? With T Andre Dillard, what’s your understanding for how close he is to a return? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: Obviously we will not ever leave a stone unturned, and we’ll be ready in the case [K] Jake [Elliott] isn’t able to play. Like I said, we’re hopeful that he will, but we will be ready if he doesn’t. You can take that how you need to take that. We will be ready, though.

And then as far as [T] Andre [Dillard], again, don’t have to do anything quite yet. Still working through some things. We will get you guys some more injury reports on Wednesday. But he’s really attacking his rehab. You know how I am, I don’t like to put a timetable on anything, but he’s doing a great job, trainers are doing a great job of working with him. He’s doing a great job of working like crazy to get back and he’s attacking his rehab with everything he’s got.

Q. You guys usually convert third downs at about a clip of like 40% a game. Yesterday it was around, 26-27. Conversely you had a lot of success on fourth downs. What were the Jags doing to stop you on third down, and what gave you the confidence to go for it on fourth down as much as you did? (Chris Franklin)

NICK SIRIANNI: First of all, I think that defense is really well coached and I think they got some really good players. Some really good players on that defense.

When they’re stopping us, as we all know, they get paid too, and that’s a top-notch defense that’s shown through three weeks that they were a top-notch defense.

Obviously, we’ll never use weather as a reason or anything like that, because I think our guys did a really good job playing in the elements. Were we as high of a passing team as we were in the last three weeks? No. I mean, the elements are going to change and dictate different things.

And some other things, [writer] Chris [Franklin], too, you know — in a situation you know you’re going for it and you say, ‘Hey, it’s third and six. Let’s get a couple yards here and try to bust one out here and then let’s see what happens after that.’ Knowing that you’re comfortable making that call.

The very first thing of why we go for it on fourth down, or why we went for it on fourth down yesterday, I trust our guys. Who do you trust? I trust [QB] Jalen [Hurts] to make the right decisions with the football. I trust Jalen if it’s a pass. I trust Jalen that if it’s a run that he creates an extra gap for the defense. I trust the heck out of our offensive line and I trust our guys on the perimeter to make a play with the football in their hands. I trust our defense if we don’t get it that they’re going to get a stop.

That’s a big part of it. You heard the first guy I mentioned, right? I trust Jalen. I trust Jalen. I trust Jalen, right, because he’s going to be touching the ball every single time.

We do a lot of work that goes into it, into the four-down things that we’re doing, what we’re going to do on third down, what we would do on fourth down. So myself, [Passing Game Coordinator] Kevin Patullo, [Offensive Coordinator] Shane [Steichen], [Quarterbacks coach] Brian Johnson, that’s the guys that we’re sitting in there a lot talking about third and fourth downs.

[Tight Ends coach] Jason Michaels in there as well and [Wide Receivers coach] Aaron Moorehead. We’re sitting there and talking a lot about that, and so when you spend a lot of time talking a lot about it and you’ve got a plan and understand what the mode is, you have conviction, right?

So that always starts with the trust in the players and then goes down to our preparation and how we do that. You’re convicted. I think sometimes what you see is that there is a lack of — I don’t want to say lack of conviction, but it’s like, ‘Hey, what are we going to do in this moment?’ I think we have already talked about a lot of those things about what we’re going to do in that moment.

So I learned a lot of that from [Indianapolis Colts Head Coach] Frank [Reich]. He was great at planning that. So, again, everything that I feel like that I’m doing I got from somebody else, a good coach that I’ve been around in the past.

Q. We watched the two QB Jalen Hurts runs on third and goal to 16 in the fourth down. What did the coach think of those runs and what did the offensive schemer think of those runs? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: What did I think about it and what did myself and [Offensive Coordinator] Shane [Steichen] think about it?

Q. What did you think about it in terms of a head coach and as an offensive mastermind?

NICK SIRIANNI: You know, I know that there is — again, you don’t want [QB] Jalen [Hurts] taking big hits at any time, right? It’s a long season and you want him to be healthy. But he does understand how to take care of himself in those scenarios.

He got popped pretty good on that touchdown one, but I do believe that, again, it goes into trust with Jalen. I know he knows how to take care of himself and part of it is taking care of yourself, and another part is he knows how to get — he can get wiggly and not take the hits that other guys are going to take.

So don’t ever want him to get hit, to be quite honest with you, but honestly we were high fiving and going nuts that we were in a big hole there and Jalen dug us out of it.

Q. If I can bring you back about four plays before that, the penalty, what did you think of the call on TE Dallas Goedert and what’s the learning point or the teaching point from that play? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, that’s a good question, Zach. I think if I get too much into that I’m giving a little bit too much away. I would love to give you guys every — I try. You guys know I try to give you guys as much as I possibly can without giving the competitive advantage. I want to give the fans everything I can without giving the competitive advantage.

So what I would say there is I’ll never question the — you know this too. You’ve heard how I talk about — I know sometimes you guys disagree when you ask me about a refereeing decision. What am I going to say? You guys know. They’ve got hard job and they got it right. So I’ll always say that.

And it was. I thought they made the right call there. I actually really did there. I thought they made the right call.

As far as the coaching point on that play, I take full responsibility for that play right there. There was a slight timing issue on it, and again, I’m going to take responsibility for that. We’ll coach it up and get it the way we need to.

But with what happened on that particular play, again, I don’t want to give too much information away. I just think I need to do a better job of coaching that first and foremost, and we’ll get better at that play because of that.

Q. If I can ask a quick follow-up to that. On that ruling, TE Dallas Goedert can’t engage until the ball leaves the hands or the ball crosses the line of scrimmage? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: When the ball leaves the hands.

Q. Okay. (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Now, college rules, Zach, something with the college rules it’s about the line of scrimmage. I think. Only reason I know that is because I get some information from my brother on plays that he runs, and we diagram plays back and forth to each other.

But it’s when it leaves the hands.

Q. I was curious, obviously you guys have quite a bit of depth on the offensive line. When Isaac went out, I was wondering, just how — the decision there to put in G Sua Opeta as opposed to C/G Cam Jurgens, and how close Cam Jurgens might be to being able to play. (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Sure, yeah. Good question, Martin. With [C/G] Cam [Jurgens], Cam’s spending a ton of his time learning with [C] Jason [Kelce] and with [Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line coach Jeff] Stout [Stoutland] as far as the center position. That doesn’t mean that he’s not getting some cross training at guard. He definitely is.

[G] Sua’s [Opeta] played a lot of good football for us at guard. Sua started in a playoff game at guard for us. Sua has been on that wall in the indoor as far as being parts of players of the game.

We’ve got a lot of faith in both of them. Just right now, at this particular time, Sua is the next man up at the guard position. Sometimes you do that because of the amount of reps, the amount of time that the guys are getting at the certain spots. That’s just what we feel best about it at this particular time.

Q. Good afternoon. Given the opponent this week, I was just wondering if you had any favorite memories with former Eagles TE Zach Ertz, and when you think about his time here specifically since you got here, how he put TE Dallas Goedert in a good position to lead the room upon you guys trading him? (Josh Tolentino)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think the play that [former Eagles TE] Zach [Ertz] made, I know I wasn’t here for it, but I definitely have seen the Super Bowl play on the slant. Was it fourth down or third down? That I don’t know. But I always think so highly of that play, of what he did in a one-on-one coverage against the Patriots on that slant that [former Eagles QB Nick] Foles threw him.

Zach is a really classy guy. He works his butt off. So my memories of Zach is the hard work he put in every single day to be at his best. I thought that you saw that every day at practice. You saw that every day at a game, that he worked his butt off to maximize his potential. Obviously he’s still playing at a very high level.

When guys work like that, that’s contagious and other guys see it, and obviously Dallas was able to see that. Again, I was only with the two of them for about five months, but I know that Dallas obviously saw the great playmaking ability that Zach has made in the past and how Zach’s an all-time Eagle, and I think Dallas saw the way — you guys can ask Dallas, but I think naturally, I saw it, you know, the way Zach worked.

Zach worked his butt off, and I’m sure he still works his butt off, and that’s why he’s still playing at a high level. A lot of respect for Zach Ertz.

Q. There were probably a lot of moments yesterday that you could look at as kind of pivotal moments, but one that stuck with me was CB James Bradberry leaping to make that interception down near the goal line. You were only up six points at the time. How relieved were you to see him do that? It strikes me that he’s been such an incredible addition to come along so late. He wasn’t part of your free agent plan in the winter. Just kind of fell into your lap really and seems to have been a pretty important addition. (Les Bowen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, [CB] James [Bradberry] is a very important addition. I try to make sure I tell him once or twice a month, or once every other week how happy I am that he’s here, and I know I definitely said that to him yesterday I think in the locker room afterwards. That was an unbelievable catch and an unbelievable play by him that he made that play on that.

There was a lot that went into that play. Just kind of talking through it with the defense and watching it on tape, it was a big-time play. And then on top of that, the intelligence of the play that he made, the sheer athleticism that he made on that play as well.

Yesterday’s game was some of the toughest conditions that I’ve been a part of in the NFL. I can only think of maybe one game that was comparable to how nasty it was in there. It wasn’t particularly cold, but that wind was blowing, the rain was going, and he made the type of catch that you would expect a wideout to make.

He dove for the ball and then he did a really good job getting to his back. So that’s something that you teach the receivers, that you catch it and then don’t let the ball hit the ground. Don’t let yourself hit the ground there.

Get to your back and protect the ball. That happened in a game yesterday, and I know exactly what game it happened in. You guys can figure it out. It happened to a receiver in the game yesterday where he caught a ball, he hit the ground, and the ball popped out, and they took away a big catch from him.

I just thought that was unbelievable by James to get to his back and play with that type of technique and fundamental. Like I said, the football IQ of it was outstanding.

So happy he’s here, so happy that he’s an Eagle, and it’s pretty cool like how we added him late. Sometimes it’s not — like we say, I think early on in free agency it was like, ‘They only got [LB] Haason Reddick. What’s going on?’ I think that was the sentiment. Hey, the way Haason has been playing, if we would’ve only got Haason Reddick, that would’ve been pretty good, too.

You got to let things progress, and [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] did a great job of that, of just letting things progress. Look at some of the pieces we got from doing that. If that happens next year I’ll try to remind everybody about that.

Q. Real quick, if I understood his explanation correctly, he came off his man, saw the guy running the wheel route underneath, and correctly figured out that’s where the ball was going. Was that your understanding? (Les Bowen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. A lot of times players just make unbelievable plays. It’s a players’ game, and they make unbelievable plays. That was an unbelievable play. Really he’s had some big ones for us this year so far.

Q. Kind of going back to your fourth-down answer, you trust QB Jalen Hurts, you trust Jalen, curious how much… (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Three times, John.

Q. Yeah, three times. Sorry. How much has that evolved this year? Like if we were going back to last year, would you be the same guy? Obviously he’s playing at such a high level. So I’m curious, how much more do you trust QB Jalen Hurts right now? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Sure. I think trust grows as your relationship grows, as your reps with each other grow. I think that’s like any relationship. Your trust grows based off of past experiences. I think I said this to somebody earlier today, it’s not just a blind trust. It’s not a blind faith. It’s reps built up, it’s built-up trust.

Obviously, when I say it like that, it is, it’s built up over the past year because he just continues to make the plays necessary when they need to be made.

Does that mean we’re going to be 100% in those scenarios? No. We were, what, 60% yesterday, right? But I still have that trust in him, and of course that is built through practice, that’s built through the reps you have at practice, that’s built through the reps you’ve had together in games, and that’s built through the conversations that you have throughout the week and throughout the months and throughout the years that you have together.