Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni (Post-Game Transcript)

What was going on on the sideline there with WR A.J. Brown and QB Jalen Hurts and all those guys? (Mike Sielski)

NICK SIRIANNI: I don’t know. I didn’t see what was going on with that. We were just trying to manage the game.

 

The TV showed that you kind of interjected there. What did you have to say to A.J. and Jalen? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: The conversations we have on the field are going to be private, and the conversations we have in our locker room are going to be private. You don’t need to know what was going on right there.

 

How fortunate do you feel being 2-0 and obviously you haven’t played your best games yet? (Howard Eskin)

NICK SIRIANNI: It’s way easier to correct when you are 2-0 and no one’s feelings are in it. So, we can really press in this meeting tomorrow that we are going to have with the players and hold ourselves accountable as coaches and hold them accountable as players, and that’s what we’ll do.

Obviously, we didn’t play our cleanest game. I think the first week was a cleaner game for the defense and not as clean for the offense and vice versa with tonight. You are right, we are 2-0. A lot of teams would like to be sitting 2-0. Like I said, when you are in this position, and guys don’t know that we aren’t playing to the best of our abilities, that’s when you can make a lot of growth.

 

What did you see from RB D’Andre Swift in the running game tonight to really get going? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, it was pretty good, huh? He showed vision, explosiveness. I thought the offensive line did a phenomenal job of pushing them off the ball. Was really pleased that he protected the ball. Protecting the football is not an easy thing. You saw the opposite of the ends today. We did a great job of taking it away. Would have had another turnover there at the end on defense had we not been offsides, then and our guys did a good job taking care of it besides the interception.

And so that was a lot of touches, too, so, again, not only pleased with how he saw it and how he hit it, but also how he protected the ball, especially when they’re coming after it in situations at the end of the game like that.

 

On that first half second quarter drive when you’re running 13 of the 16 plays, did you anticipate running it that much, or was it like, hey, it’s working first and second, let’s keep on going? (John Clark)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you go in thinking, hey, they’re doing this and you’re trying – the good thing about us is you’re always trying to put the players in the best position to succeed while also doing what you do well. What we are fortunate enough to be able to do is that we do run the ball well and we do throw the ball well, and we were able to do — in those scenarios you’re able to do either one. We went in with the notion that we were going to run it a little bit in that set and we did, and that’s the credit on the offensive line and [RB] D’Andre [Swift] who was getting the bulk of the carries.

 

I think this is the tenth time since you’ve been here you went over 200 rushing yards. (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: I love that stat. Come on, baby.

 

C Jason Kelce always talks about offensive line; G Landon Dickerson just said, I would rather punch somebody in the face than get punched in the face. When you have that kind of success running the ball, why does it take you so long to get there at times? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: I’ll have to look at how many plays we had before we got into that. Similar style defense we were playing tonight that we played last week, and I think when we got ourselves a little bit out of our rut in offense last week it was to pass the ball.

We had a pretty good second quarter rushing the football. I know everyone wants it to happen immediately, but our offensive coaches did a nice job of getting to the run game in that second quarter, and we ended up getting a six-point lead going into the half.

So, a lot of credit to our offensive line and D’Andre, and [RB] Rashaad [Penny] had some good carries, and [RB] Boston [Scott], too.

 

You had a lot of emotions at the end of the first half when you guys were down by the goal line. Minnesota ended up calling the timeouts. What was the point of angst there? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: I was upset — we were trying to go fast and they kept standing over the ball, and I first was mad at the officials for standing over the ball.

Then they told me it was because somebody had stepped off the sideline, and then I was mad — we wanted to go fast there; somebody stepped on to the field, so they treated that as a substitution and stood over the ball and took our advantage of going fast away.

I was more upset with our operation there as coaches and players of not staying back there so we could go fast.

 

That was one example. Seemed like a lot of emotions on the sideline all night. What did you attribute that to? There is always some. It seemed elevated. (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: I wouldn’t say I was any more emotional. I know you all aren’t just watching me out there, so I don’t want say I was any more emotional than I normally am. I’m not going to stop being who I am as a football coach.

Yeah, so I didn’t feel like — maybe I’ll have to reevaluate tomorrow and see what it was like, but I didn’t feel like it was any different than I normally am.

 

Throughout your coaching career, especially as a wide receiver coach, how in general have you tried to address it, smooth it over, whatever, when a receiver might not be happy about not getting the ball? (Mike Sielski)

NICK SIRIANNI: At the end of the day, we have really good players with really good guys on this team. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy coming into work and spending time with these guys. If I’m spending the time away from my family with anybody, I want it to be these guys.

Sometimes there is emotion within the game. Again, I know that’s speculation of not getting the ball or anything like that. I’m not going to go into any of that.

I guess what I’m saying is I’ve lived this. There are going to be ups and downs throughout the season. It’s about stepping in tomorrow and getting better from this tape.

I do know this about this team: They genuinely like being around each other and one of their greatest motivations is not wanting to let each other down. They want to make plays for each other, do the right thing for each other, and I have no doubt that we’ll be in a good spot tomorrow and moving forward.

 

The Vikings WR Justin Jefferson fumble at the end of the first half, and the way you guys came back with the field goal, how much did that kind of boost you coming into the second half? (Chris Murray)

NICK SIRIANNI: First of all, excellent hustle by [S] Terrell [Edmunds] to finish on the play, right? Just a phenomenal hustle effort by Terrell Edmunds to get that ball out going into the end zone.

Then obviously that’s a touchback. We get it not at the 25, but at the 20. We just wanted to see what was going to happen there, and [RB] Boston [Scott] sprung two out and ended up getting in position for [K] Jake [Elliott] to hit a huge –hey, when your kicker hits a 61-yarder that’s pretty exciting, right?

So, I think that, I don’t know, to say going up six at the half as opposed to three, sure, six is better than three, so we were excited about that. But I think the operation there was outstanding by our offense and then the operation of the field goal was outstanding by our special teams.

 

In the passing game, what are you seeing through two games? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: These two defenses have done a really nice job of keeping everything in front of them and limiting some of our explosive plays.

As coaches we have to — you want to take what the defense gives you, but you also want to be patient, but you also want to hit some explosives. I don’t know what the stats say of what we were explosive play-wise today, but I just would credit the two defenses we played. [Patriots Head] Coach [Bill] Belichick and Steve’s defense with New England, and then also with Coach Flores’ [Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores] defense tonight. Did a good job of keeping things in front of them and limiting our explosive plays.

So, of course we want to be able to create some more explosives. Obviously, we had the two big ones to [WR] DeVonta [Smith] to put him up over 100 yards. I have to go watch the game tonight and figure out how we can create some more explosives.

 

You mentioned S Terrell Edmunds there a little bit. Also, CB Josh Jobe had to play. You were banged up. LB Nick Morrow had to play. They seemed to hold up pretty well. What did you think of that? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, again, I’ll watch the tape and see what happened. I thought they did a nice job. Next-man-up mentality. We’ve had already probably a little more injuries than we had a year ago, so I’m just pleased with the depth that we have. Coaches have done a nice job developing the depth, and those guys have done a nice job being ready to play. [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] has done a nice job having the right guys in here to be the depth.

So, we’ll just keep getting better and hopefully get some of these guys back.