Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni (Post-Game Transcript)

Have you seen a wide receiver play at this level that WR A.J. Brown is playing? (Chris Franklin)

NICK SIRIANNI: A.J. is a phenomenal player. He just has this unbelievable ability to come down with the football. Nobody catches the ball as pretty as A.J. Brown. I am just in awe of good wide receivers and the skill that they have. Nobody goes and snags the football like him. Nobody I have seen. It’s so much cooler in person to see that and when it’s someone on your team. He’s on a tear right now.

The other guys are playing good too. Why is he on a tear? Because [WR] DeVonta Smith is on one side and [TE] Dallas Goedert is in the middle and [RB] D’Andre Swift is in the back field and now [WR] Julio Jones is out there. So appreciative of [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman]. I thought I would never say this, but I think this week at practice, A.J. was having an unbelievable practice, and I went up to Mr. Lurie [Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Lurie] and I go –- there’s no way I ever thought this would come out of my mouth — “thanks for the hundred million dollars to pay A.J. Brown. I really appreciate that.” A guy from Jamestown, NY, I never thought I would ever say, “thanks for the hundred million dollars to pay A.J. Brown.”

 

How did you keep the No. 1 ranked offense to just 17 points? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: We have a good defense. Great job to the defensive staff first and foremost to put them in positions to make plays, but at the end of the day, it’s about the players making the plays. We made them one dimensional. I can’t tell you how much respect I have for [Dolphins Head Coach] Mike [McDaniel] and his staff and those players. Talk about the guy with the prettiest catch in A.J. Brown. I never saw anybody as fast as [Dolphins WR] Tyreek Hill in person. I mean, damn, he’s fast as hell.

But great job by our DBs. We knew he was going to get some plays and this and that, but starts with our defensive line and being able to apply pressure, which I thought we did, and the DBs did a good job making him hold the ball a tick when we were able to get home.

But it started with making them one dimensional. I think you saw some good things there with [LB] Haason [Reddick], with the way he kind of stopped the toss crack play and set the edge, because they have been highly successful on that play.

Mike did a good job of getting it going, because they ended up hitting a couple by disguising it and not tossing it and handing it behind.

I can’t tell you how much respect I have for that staff. Great job by our defensive staff and great job by our players.

 

What does that say about Eagles Defensive Coordinator Sean Desai though that he’s been able to do this with so many injuries in that secondary? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you see why we hired him, right? We knew the type of guy we were getting. I just think he’s done a phenomenal job. What I think he’s done such a good job of is what I admire of any coach: Adapting to the personnel that you have.

I think he’s done that, and we’ll continue to look to climb. Sean has done a great job of putting the guys in positions to make plays and our defensive staff, they all contribute to that.

So, hats off to all of them, and obviously hats off to Howie, because it’s all about the players, and we’re really doing a great job up front.

Again, Haason Reddick doesn’t have to sack the quarterback to affect the game. [DE] Josh Sweat, same thing, being able to — again, I’ll have to watch the tape, but just live it looked like those two guys had an unbelievable game.

 

On the fourth and one play from your own 26, looked like you needed a little time to think about whether you wanted to go for it or not? (Mike Sielski)

NICK SIRIANNI: I didn’t know what the down and distance was exactly. I think initially I thought it was a little bit further back than it was, and then I got a good look of where the spot was.

I didn’t love that I had to call a timeout there. I had to get a second look at where the spot was. I thought initially it was two, but it was more like a yard. I thought to myself, well, I would being crazy if I don’t go for it on fourth and one with the type of guys we have.

Again, goes back to the dudes that we got and making the play.

 

What kind of psychological edge do you think it gives you guys that you can run that play… (Mike Sielski)

NICK SIRIANNI: It’s first and nine every down. Every first down, it’s first and nine.

Knowing that if you get to fourth and one, shoot, a lot of faith in that play.

So, it was awesome. Again, [C] Jason Kelce starts it off. [QB] Jalen Hurts was right there. Because you’ve seen it across the league that people can’t do it like we can do it. They can’t do it like we can do it.

So, I’m making my plug right there. Like don’t ban this play. Like if everyone could do it, everybody would. Where is the camera? If everybody could do it, everybody would do it.

 

QB Jalen Hurts looked like he got banged up there. AJ alluded to it. (Rob Maaddi)

NICK SIRIANNI: Rob, I know you’re not here every day with the local media. I’m probably not giving you that information. We’ll see. Got to talk to the trainers, talk to Jalen. We’ll get him in tomorrow. John is going to ask me tomorrow. Eliot will ask me tomorrow, how is Jalen? I’m going to say, I got to see him a little bit more. I’ll let you know Wednesday.

Wednesday is going to come. It’s going to be before practice. They’re going to ask me again and I’m going to say, I have got to see how it’s looking out there and I will get you some more information on Friday. Friday we’ll see if he’s on the injury report or not.

When Friday comes, they’re going to ask, what do you think? What’s going to happen here? I’ll say, we’ll get you the injury report later in the day. [Jokingly/laughter] I just string them along.

 

I know in general how you handle injuries, but since this is the franchise quarterback, people are concerned. Anything else you can give in terms of did he put a brace on at halftime? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

NICK SIRIANNI: He played the rest of the game and played at a very high level. You have to ask Jalen. I thought he played really outstanding. Man, he is a competitor. There is nobody else I would rather be our quarterback. He played his butt off tonight. He’s tough.

You all saw that he was going through a little something. So he is tough. He is tough, tough. This game always comes down to physicality and toughness. Always does. No matter what. Because it’s hard. And that’s physical and mental toughness, and Jalen Hurts has both.

 

After last week’s game, is this the kind of response you expected from your guys knowing their makeup, knowing their drive, how they work? (Reporter)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you go back to work each week. It’s dawg mentality. No matter what happens, you go back to work each week. That’s the same message it’s going to be this week. You just want to keep improving so you’re playing your best ball at the end of the year.

So, I expect them to respond to this game like they did last game, because that’s the type of guys we have.

 

Had a bit of a turnover drought. CB Darius Slay made that big play. Kind of peeled off and looked like a wheel route. I don’t know how good of a look you saw, but is that a football IQ play, athleticism? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Slay has it all, right. Football IQ, athletic ability. I can’t tell you how good of a leader Darius Slay is. He’ll be mad I said Darius Slay, but I can’t tell how big of a leader he is. I’m so glad he’s on this football team, that he’s a captain, because he works at it. He works to bring the young guys up.

Shoot, I’ll say it, he brought – [CB] Zech McPhearson’s down, right? When you go through injuries, you’re going to be down. It’s tough. He brought him to the baseball game the other day to spend time with him. Like that’s something you guys want to know and I feel comfortable saying that, because I want people to know how good of a leader he is. Everyone knows how good of a player he is.

He’s tough. I just want everyone to know how good of a leader he is. When you have good leaders on your football team, you’ll be able to handle the ups and downs of a season. Man, we got great leaders on this football team.

 

In the locker room the players kept talking about physicality. How did that factor into your messaging this week? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Our whole talk this week was about details and physicality. We did some things last week detail-wise that we want back. When we talk about details, it’s like, hey, we got all the talent we need in this room. When the details are on, the talent can shine. Sometimes when the details are off, it doesn’t matter how much talent you have.

So it was about details, and it was about physicality, about being able to come out and lean — like I always feel like when we play our best is when we’re leaning on — obviously Jalen playing great — but we’re leaning on the offensive and defensive lines.

So, I felt that completely the time that we had to throw, the way we stopped the run, you lean on those guys. So that was the message this week. But, shoot, those guys went out and did it and they played their butts off.

 

Looked like Jalen Hurts was a little late coming out after the half. QB Marcus Mariota was warming up. Was there anything to that? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: You know what, Marcus might have just been throwing. I didn’t tell Marcus to warm up. I knew Jalen was coming back in the game. He may have been in getting an IV. He gets IVs sometimes at halftime, so sometimes when you don’t get the ball to start the second half you can finish the IV.

It was pretty hot out there. I might need an IV next time. I think that’s all that was about.