Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni (Post-Game Transcript)

On the DT Jalen Carter situation:

“Yeah, obviously, we had some personal fouls today. I want these guys to play with great energy, great tenacity while doing it, within the rules of the game. So we’ll address that. We talked about that, obviously, at halftime because I felt like that’s a really good offense and every one of their drives in that first half that resulted in points were all penalties.

Now, a PI, that’s different. That’s in the heat of the game. Those are going to happen. But I know we had one with [OLB] Nolan [Smith] and one with JC [DT Jalen Carter], and that creates short fields for an offense. Again, we want to be there. We want to have great energy, tenacity, all those different things, but we’ve got to do it within the rules of the game, and we will address that. We’ll go through that, but we’ve got to get better in that scenario. We need that guy on the field. He’s a really good player.”

On his response to DT Jalen Carter’s actions:

“I’m going to keep all our conversations and all my disciplinary things in-house, but we have to fix it as coaches.”

On whether or not he will take disciplinary action against DT Jalen Carter:

“Again, I will keep everything in-house, and you won’t ever get that from me. Everything will always be handled in-house. Just like private conversations that I have with players. None of that will ever be out to you guys. I’m sorry.”

On what needs to be done to prevent DT Jalen Carter from doing this again:

“Yeah, like I said, everything that we do is going to be held in-house. Again, he knows, and we needed him out there today and he wasn’t out there against a really good offense. I was really proud of the way the guys stepped up and played.

To give up 20 points against a really good team, a really good offense, I think– again, they’ve got good offensive line, [Cowboys QB] Dak Prescott’s a really good quarterback, two really good wide receivers, a really good tight end, running backs that can make plays with the football. I thought BY [DT Byron Young] came in and had that strip, which was huge. Again, goes back to when we win the turnover battle, good things happen for us as a team. We talked about that at halftime, and then the other halftime that we had that– because I know [Cowboys Defensive Coordinator] Coach [Matt] Eberflus does a really good job of preaching coming after the football and I thought they had some good strip attempts and our guys did a good job of carrying it. We got the one out, which was all the difference in the game in my opinion.

I thought [DT] Jordan [Davis] got some good pressures. [DT] Moro [Ojomo], I’ll have to watch the tape there, but I know he played stout in there. [DT] Gabe Hall came in and gave us some good reps. But, we need Jalen Carter on the field and, like I said, we will keep everything in-house, but we have to get all these things corrected as a whole. As you guys know, I want them– you see how I coach with emotion, and I want them to play with emotion, and that’s what I kind of say all the time is you have to do it within the rules of the game. We need everybody out there to help us be successful.”

On Offensive Coordinator Kevin Patullo’s first game as a play caller:

“Man, I mean the first half, right? I think what you saw that first half was three possessions, three touchdowns. So obviously, a really good start. Can’t start much better than that. I thought he called it really well.

Again, the communication. Kevin and I have been together long enough and through all these things where the communication was great, we did what I wanted us to do in certain situations in game management situations as far as run, pass, or set up or whatever that is. Kevin’s calling it. But obviously, we talked through a lot of those things, and we were on the same page there and I thought he did a good job.

I think both offenses struggled a little bit coming off the long break and the defenses kind of stepped up on both sides of the football, there wasn’t any scoring after, I think it was 4:44 left on the clock when the clock stopped. So, we’ll go back and look at that. I think Kevin did a really nice job of calling the game the way the game needed to be called today. But again, you have to go back and look at the tape and reevaluate everything. But I’ve got a lot of confidence in Kevin and the job that he does.”

On WR A.J. Brown’s lack of targets in the game:

“Yeah, that’s a good defense and defensive coordinator. Matt Eberflus has been a long-time defensive coordinator, has a lot of experience calling defenses. They did a good job of matching some of our routes. They did a good job of matching some things and taking away A.J. We had some different things to him that [QB] Jalen [Hurts] had to get through some progressions, and I think Jalen did a really nice job getting through his progressions tonight and then made some plays with his legs as well.

But credit to them, those are two really good corners over there and then another first-round pick who’s still developing as a player. I just think that they did a good job on defense doing that, and when we needed it, we needed to– So many times here, we’ve won the game because of our four-minute offense and different ways to play that.

Being aggressive– I thought we were aggressive and A.J. got a ball that set us up for a third-and-three that helped us win the football game. So, when we talk about roles, I tell those guys there’s going to be games like this is going to happen, but to be what we want to be. A.J.’s obviously going to have to be involved more in the offense, but some games go this way. I get that will be a story and everything like that, but there are games that go this way. Look at [WR DeVonta Smith] Smitty in 2022 against Detroit. A.J. has, whatever, eight for 155 yards, and then Smitty has zero, and then the next game he has eight for 175 yards and a touchdown. So, that’s the way it goes. I know that A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith and [TE] Dallas Goedert are selfless, very selfless, and they want to do everything they can do for the team to win.

They know things go like this sometimes, but they also know that they have to be involved to help the team win. So, you love that about them. I think some of the proper questions that no one’s asked me is, ‘Man, how about [WR] Jahan Dotson coming and making some huge plays today.’ A huge third-down catch that equaled points on a third-and-really long, a 51-yard gain, another one on a scramble.

I get it. You ask a lot of the negatives, but man, there were some positives, too. Jahan, that is such a huge ability to have when you have the other guys that they’re keying on, and then Jahan comes in and makes the plays that he does. Again, I know the story will be A.J. only got one target until the fourth quarter, but how about Jahan Dotson, who played a heck of a game?”

On how QB Jalen Hurts played despite WR A.J. Brown’s lack of targets:

“If you guys can tell me exactly how somebody played immediately after the game, that’s pretty impressive. I’ll have to watch the tape, but I think Jalen played a really efficient game. He made a lot of plays with his feet when things weren’t particularly there. That’s such an advantage that– Jalen, there was a third-down, they took away his first read, he resituated his feet and put the ball to Dallas. To say I know exactly how he played yet would be hard because I want to watch the tape.

I thought he played really efficient and I thought he played really well, and he’s a big reason why we won that football game tonight, the game that he played. Again, I know that it’ll say that we threw for 152 yards. ‘What’s going on? Why didn’t we throw [more]?’ But, Jalen played really efficiently and really [well] from what I saw and made plays with his legs, his mind, and with his arm.”

On what the Eagles’ defensive plan was Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb, and how CB Quinyon Mitchell was used in this plan:

“Yeah, I’m not going to get into exactly what our plan was, but [Cowboys WR] CeeDee Lamb and [Cowboys WR] George Pickens are both really, really good players and [Cowboys QB] Dak [Prescott], I got a lot of respect for him. We’ve seen him a lot, we’ve seen him an awful lot and he can get the ball to his guys and can make a lot of plays. You always are going into a game saying,’ How do we take out their best players,’ whether that’s scheme, whether that’s matchups, whatever it may be. They got [WR CeeDee Lamb] him the ball quite a bit today. I think he had a hundred plus yards and probably had some more plays even out there. But that’s the way first games go. I knew coming into this first game that there’s going to be a little bit more missed tackles than normal. There’s going to be a ball on the ground and it just happened to be by them and not us. There’s going to be drops both by the offense and by the defense because you block and you block destruct live in practice. But those things, when you’re getting hit and tackled, those become live. Watching our first games from the last three years that I spent a lot of time on, there was a lot of drops. Not necessarily by the Eagles but by our opponents because it’s different. It’s different now. It’s the same for our defense, right? I’m not sure I count [Eagles S] Reed [Blankenship] was a tough catch, right?

“I’m not sure I expect Byron Young to make that play. He doesn’t go through that catch circuit with us, but I want him to make that play off that collision or off that pass breakup by [CB] Quinyon [Mitchell] and then Q’s got to have that one. But those are some of the things that happened in the first game and you’re just thankful coming out of the first game – I’m thankful that you can correct a win. There’s a lot to correct. Obviously, you guys asked me about the personal fouls, that needs to be corrected. There are some things being on the same page. There were a couple of same page things, operation things. We had to burn a time out. Man, that always gets me when we have to burn a time out, especially in the second half. So a lot to clean up.”

On the Eagles linebackers carrying coverage down the field and how that looks from an offensive coach’s perspective:

“I think my first experience with that in the NFL was with [former NFL LB Darius] Shaq Leonard. Just his length and his speed created a lot of turnovers and passing windows closed really quick and it’s hard to get the shots. Those guys had some nice plays, downfield on some deep shots on some chunk plays. It forces you to check it down more, it forces the passing lanes to be closed a little bit more. When they have that speed and that length like those guys have, I can’t tell you how many times in practice that happens with those guys. Then the same thing with Darius [Shaq] Leonard. Those windows, I remember [former NFL QB] Philip Rivers one time, that window closed. I was open, and that window closed fast. As a quarterback, it gets you better when you go against those guys in practice. But it puts a lot of stress on the offense when those passing lanes close, when they’re able to clear the coverage up, and not to mention, they take away the deeper route and then they rally up to tackle and they’re short tacklers, right? You guys would know better than I did. I think [CB] Quinyon [Mitchell] had a missed tackle. I can’t tell you another one that we had. I’m sure we had one or two, but those guys did a great job there. I think what an effort played by [LB] Zack Baun on [Cowboys RB] Miles [Sanders] long run.

That was our message all week, relentless effort. When you’re more susceptible to miss tackles or the ball being on the ground, you need your teammates back. Zack had our team’s back right there. I mean that’s a seven-point tackle, really at the end of the day, is what it is, because then a couple plays go by and we force the fumble after that. So great effort, I felt the same great effort by [LB] Jihaad [Campbell] and [S] Drew [Mukuba] on the missed tackle by [CB] Q [Quinyon Mitchell] on the little check down to [Cowboys WR] [KaVontae] Turpin, who’s another phenomenal player. I know you guys didn’t ask me this, but I’m going to say it. But our special teams, [Special Teams Coordinator] Michael Clay just did a great job with his plan today, and [Assistant Special Teams Coordinator] Joe Pannunzio and Tyler Brown [Special Teams Assistant], they did a great job of their plan and our kicker, [P] Braden [Mann] and [K] Jake [Elliott] did a great job of placing the ball where it needed to. Our coverage units, I was really pleased with how we defeated blocks and how we tackled when we had to tackle because Braden put some placements on some balls that were really good. So that was really good. But like I said, a lot to clean up. Some positives, some negatives, more negatives than I would like, but some weird circumstances tonight, and I’m glad we came out with the wind.”

On letting K Jake Elliott kick from 58 yards:

“That’s why you practice. He’s had a great camp. I think he rebounded. How mentally tough is Jake Elliott? This is a guy that, it’s not all on him, but it appears to be all on him every single time he kicks. Had some misses in the Rams game, and I think he had one in the NFC championship, and then he does what he does in the Super Bowl, and then he’s had a great off season. Then this week, we charted all his kicks, and I had a lot of confidence going into the game. Just watching him kick all week, and what he did all in the preseason. As you know in the preseason, we had a couple of those against the Jets that we kicked really long as well. That builds your confidence. When you’re third or fourth and long in those areas, it’s awesome that you can count on him. He’s one of the most clutch guys I’ve ever been around. His mental toughness is something that kids and all sorts of athletes should study at all times and say, man, how does this guy handle the ups and the downs? Everyone’s saying how bad he is, and then he comes back and he responds. That’s what it’s about; being able to respond, learn, and get better from. That’s what I think he saw with Jake and his mental toughness. This game’s about physical toughness. There’s a lot of mental toughness in this thing as well. So, it’s great. Jake doesn’t get a chance to show his physical toughness, but he does a great job of showing his mental toughness and for our team.”