Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni (Post-Game Transcript)
You did a lot of rotating of the quarterbacks today. What was the thought process behind the playing time and who you put in when?
Nick Sirianni: We wanted to get both of them reps, and get both of them reps with the twos and also with the threes. So that was the thought process of why we rotated them within that series. Again, wanted them to both be able to play behind the [number] two offensive line with the number two pass catchers and also with the number threes.
What went into the decision to not play Eagles QB Tanner McKee? Knowing you’ve typically played your backup.
Nick Sirianni: Yeah, he got a lot of good work in that joint practice. Sometimes we only get one joint practice. This week, we were able to get two joint practices in there. It was really good work all week, and we felt like in that situation we saw a good chunk of Tanner there and that was his work for this week.
How would you assess the play of both Eagles QBs Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Kyle McCord?
Nick Sirianni: I felt like it was just not great complimentary football today. When you have the heat like that, you want to be able to– defense had some long drives, offense had some three-and-outs and you want to be able to play complimentary football in that area. I have to watch the tape. Obviously, they had some good moments and had some plays that they made, but also we missed some plays. But, that’s not always just on the quarterback if there was a misplay. I’ll have to go watch the tape. It wasn’t good enough out there on the field today. Coaching, playing, anything.
Defensively, when you have a player like Eagles S Andrew Mukuba making plays, how much does that give him confidence? How much does that mean?
Nick Sirianni: I always thought that he has a knack for the football; how he practices, watching his tape whether it was at Clemson or at Texas, and he has the ability to take the ball away as a playmaker. Any time you go out there and make a play, that’s big. That was exciting, the interception. And even the one when he was there for the fumble recovery after they had a missed exchange. Guys that have a knack for the football just find ways to be around the football and I think that’s what we saw today.
How difficult are some of these decisions going to be at safety? That job is open with Eagles Ss Andrew Mukuba and Sydney Brown, and then cornerback and a couple other jobs.
Nick Sirianni: I feel like we have good depth to– I know you guys are waiting for us to be like, ‘Here’s the guy who’s starting.’ I think it’s also a good thing that we have a bunch of guys that we feel good about that are still battling all the way until the end. That’s what we’re excited about, and it’s always tough decisions whether it’s cutting a guy or whether it’s deciding who’s starting and that’s why I have training camp and that’s why we have preseason games, though, to help us out with that.
When you’re making those decisions, do turnovers like that carry a higher weight in your evaluation versus other things?
Nick Sirianni: I mean everything, whether it’s taking the football away, whether it’s tackling, whether it’s block destruction, whether it’s just getting everybody on the same page, of course, yeah.
All those things play into it. You know how much we stress the ball and taking care of the football and taking the football away. So that always goes into it. I mean I think you look at the first half, we obviously didn’t play a good game in whole. We really didn’t play a good first half either, and we’re winning 13-12 because of two turnovers, right? Two turnovers to none. The ball is always at the forefront of our mind, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t account for everything in it as well.
With Eagles WR Ainias Smith, there wasn’t a ton offensively, but he was able to get separation on a couple occasions and in the touchdown. How much different is he this year? He’s dealing with that shin.
Nick Sirianni: I think you’ve seen his explosiveness that we saw at Texas A&M, and his ability to get out of breaks. I felt like I started to see that as well last year as he started to recover. He’s got the ability to separate, he’s got ability to make plays, and he made a couple nice plays. He had a third-down conversion early in the game and then he had the third-and-nine at the nine where he separated and had the touchdown catch. He has the ability to separate because he has good body quicks.
We talked to you before the second practice but not after. It looked like the offense struggled. You’re obviously without Eagles WR A.J. Brown and a couple offensive linemen. What’s your level concern or assessment of how that–
Nick Sirianni: That’s practice sometimes. What I felt like is just, even though you’re not scoring points in practice I guess to say, it’s hard to score points when you move backwards and I just felt like we had a couple too many that we moved backwards on, and that’s for different reasons. Whether that’s a pre-snap penalty, whether that’s a negative run, whether that’s a sack, all those things stall drives out. That’s what I felt like with that second day of practice more so than anything.
Was this the plan for Eagles QB Tanner McKee or did the way he played last week kind of sway you?
Nick Sirianni: Like I said earlier, what we felt was that he got a lot of good reps in that week in the joint practices and everything’s case-by-case. Everything’s scenario-by-scenario and that’s why we went with the way we did today.
Eagles OLB Azeez Ojulari was active in this game. What have you seen from him as the summer’s gone on?
Nick Sirianni: I think you saw his ability to be around the football, rush the passer, make some plays in the run game. We like the things that he can do. He’s been productive in this league and we’ve gotten to see him two or three times each year when we have to prepare for him. So, I think he’s coming on and had a good game today.
Eagles S Andrew Mukuba’s interception came after he got beat on a play downfield. His interception in joint practice came after he got beat on a play. How much when you’re evaluating a rookie does having that short memory go into it?
Nick Sirianni: That’s a good observation. We want that for all of our guys to be able to play the next play, to be able to go out there after an interception and play again or after a big play. That’s part of the mental toughness of being able to be in the moment and fix the mistakes later. We always talk about having the same attitude, effort and energy regardless of the circumstances. That doesn’t mean you don’t go back and fix it afterwards and talk about the things that need to be better, but you have to be able, in this game, in this league, to be able to– and this is coaching, this is playing, to be able to have a short memory and move on so you can have your full focus so you can coach and play with great detail and you can play with great effort.