Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni (Post-Game Transcript)

Can you describe your feelings when DT Jordan Davis blocked the kick? (Jeff McLane)

 

Nick Sirianni: I think the only walk off win I’ve ever been a part of was the Buffalo game in ’23 and today, and it’s a great feeling. It’s an emotional game. What I said to the guys today, and I’m sure you guys will ask this question, is it’s an emotional game. You can tell by our faces after the game how emotional it can be, but we have to keep our emotions in check.

 

We know the league is, and rightfully so, cracking down on some of the taunting and the [trash] talking, and that’s what they want. I respect that. We have to do a better job because we had three personal fouls today, so we have to do a better job of keeping our emotions in check. It’s awesome. It’s emotional to win a game like that, but we have to– the same mental toughness that we had in this football game to be able to have everything, not coaching worth a crap or not playing worth a crap early on in the game, to come back and be able to win. That same emotion that you have, that mental toughness, play-in and play-out.

 

We have to be able to have that in moments like that as well, and the blame [for] that is only on me. I know I’m relentless. I’ll do everything I can do to get it fixed. We’ve got to fix that because that will cost you. It could have cost us today, and so again, we have a good framework of our mental toughness, but we have to have that same mental toughness when the emotions are high in the football game.

 

WR DeVonta Smith cited tempo as the reason why the offense went from not being effective in the first half to being very effective later. Why was that effective? (Jimmy Kempski)

 

Nick Sirianni: Tempo is something that is a weapon for us. Sometimes with tempo, it’s hard to go tempo– field position wasn’t great today, and when it looks like that on the field, look at nobody other than me. We didn’t do a great job. I could have done a better job of adjusting faster on our kickoff return, and they’ve got a weapon there with their kickoff coverage and [Rams Head Coach] Sean [McVay] knows that.

 

I’ve not been shy about me thinking Sean’s one of the best coaches in the NFL and they did a really good job on their kickoff, and so tempo sometimes is– when you’re backed up, when you’re not being successful on first down, it’s hard to get to on second down at times. I’m not saying you can’t do it, we did it a couple times in the second half, but we’ve operated well out of tempo in the past.

 

We’ve been pretty good on our two-minute drives, which is obviously out of tempo, and that’s a tool there for you every game, but especially when you’re struggling. I thought [Offensive Coordinator] Kevin [Patullo] did a good job of getting to that, and we did a good job as an offense getting to that and calling it from there.

 

Obviously, the first half, and really the first two possessions of the second half offensively and defensively, it couldn’t have gone much worse. Now, we did a great job on defense holding them to three points and keeping the game manageable where if we just kept fighting and kept clawing, we’d have a chance. Then, got some big stops there in the second half, but that was a weapon for us that we’ve operated well out of, and it worked well today in the second half.

 

From a coach’s perspective, what do you think will stick with you more? The first half, I’m sure there’s some things you’ve got to clean up, or that second half where you come back? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

 

Nick Sirianni: I’ll always remember this win. Kind of similar to what you asked me about the Super Bowl. You’ll always remember the good times there. I don’t remember who asked me that, but you’ll remember those good times there, will be a good moment to remember that. I still remember the Buffalo game from ’23, but we’ve got a lot to clean up. We’ve got a lot to clean up tomorrow– today we’ll celebrate. Tomorrow will be a normal Monday, right? It’ll be a normal Monday, and we’ll get in there. We’ll tell the truth to each other, all in attempts to get better, because we have to get better. We know that and there’s a process to it. Those hard times when you’re in hard times tend to teach you even more than when you’re in successful times. It was sure as heck hard in the first half.

 

They came out ready to play. I know we came out ready to play, it didn’t work what we were doing, but I’m so proud of the guys and the fight that they have. We’re on the ground, and you can get counted out in those moments. Like in boxing, if you get up and keep fighting and keep swinging in this game, you always got a chance. I urged them in the locker room just to remember that because you’re going to go through hard times in life, you’re going to go through hard times in football, and I just urged them to remember that when we’re in another hard time. I urged them to remember that when they’re in a hard time in their life that you just keep getting up.

 

Then, we’ve got relentless guys in there and we have relentless players, we have relentless coaches that just kept getting up when I think a lot of teams would have stayed down.

 

Part of that is the success that we have. A big part of that is the guys that [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] brings in here and the culture that we have. We talk an awful lot about mental toughness and relentless effort, and there’s something dangerous about a team that just doesn’t stop coming after you regardless of the circumstances. We got the win today on that, but I was proud of the guys that they just kept fighting. I’d have been proud of them if they made that last field goal as well that they just kept fighting. Obviously, this is a better feeling, but we’ve got a lot to clean up.

 

WR A.J. Brown in there. What was behind that and then what changed for him in the second half? (Zach Berman)

 

Nick Sirianni: I think one thing is that you don’t have to live your life as a football team, the way people think you should respond. I watched A.J. Brown handle all your questions as a great teammate and with grace. Obviously, he wants the football. Obviously, he needs to get the football. To do the things that we want to do, he’s got to have the season that he’s had the last couple years, the last three years when he has been second-team All-Pro and went over a thousand yards every time. That’s the nature of the position.

 

My nephew– I’m not going to get into that, but he had two touchdowns his first game catching and then he hasn’t had many catches since and it’s like, of course, every receiver wants the football. Of course, every receiver wants to get the football.

 

It’s just a great example of everybody wanting immediate results and we want immediate results, but there’s a process to it. We don’t have to live to what anybody else thinks except for what our standard is. I always respect your guys’ questions, but obviously, he got asked a lot of questions this week where I’ve seen a lot of guys go a different way in that and he handled every one of them that I saw with just so much grace, with so much maturity. I know someone’s going to say, ‘Well, did he?’ Yeah, he did. He said the right thing. I know he wants the football, but he said the right things the entire week and that’s big for a team.

 

I’m just really proud of how he’s handled a slow start as far as stat-wise, but he’s doing the right things without it in his hands to help us find ways to win football games, and today we needed it with the ball in his hands.

 

I just really think he handled it the way we want to handle things as a football team. It’s not about individuals, it’s all over the place, right? ‘Well, you’re not getting yours.’ Well, we’re a team. We find ways to win. ‘Well, aren’t you frustrated?’ Yeah, obviously he wants the ball, but going back to work every single day knowing that it’s going to happen, and what a great example to kids all over the place.

 

Keep going through the process and good things will happen. Obviously, that’s not the case for everyone. We have really good players, we have really good coaches. Again, a ton to clean up, a ton to clean up, but I just think that was a great example of you don’t have to conform to what anyone else thinks, what anyone else asks or questions. He’s a great teammate through it all and we know how important part of offense he is.

 

He did express a desire to have a less of a conservative type of offense. Do you agree with that assessment? (Jeff McLane)

 

Nick Sirianni: I think we did what we needed to do to win the game. We learned a little bit about ourselves today and what we need to be able to do every game, and every game plan finds different things that you have to do. Most important thing is, is you do everything you can do to win each and every football game and get better. When I say that, I don’t want it to be like– It’s everyone get better. It’s our coaches, it’s our players, it’s everybody. I didn’t do a good enough job today. We found a way to win, but we all have to find ways to get better, to put points on the board to make sure stall outs don’t happen. This is football though. There are ups, there are downs, and you just have to find ways to keep moving forward.

 

QB Jalen Hurts seemed very vocal and there was a lot of communication going on. How impressive was the collaboration with Jalen, Offensive Coordinator Kevin Patullo, yourself, collaborating, communicating about finding the stuff that’s working and getting to what’s working? (John Clark)

 

Nick Sirianni: Obviously, in those scenarios, I am not going to take any credit for that. Jalen, Kevin and the offensive staff did a great job of finding things that worked and got us out of the rut that we were in. Any communication with the quarterback’s going to be critical. He’s the one who’s going to give you confidence to call the things that you need to call. Good question for Kevin, because obviously I’m doing things there, I can’t take any credit for that. Those guys did a great job of adjusting and finding the right things to do in that scenario.

 

We’re talking about the passing game and WR A.J. Brown wanting the football. How much does urgency– and you never want to fall behind, but the personality of a game, can it help that click in? (John McMullen)

 

Nick Sirianni: Obviously, this will give us confidence moving forward. We weren’t able to run the ball. We wanted to be able to run the ball today and that’s going to happen sometimes and we’re going to need our pass game to do what they did today, and other times it’s going to be the opposite way. Like I said, there are circumstances that happen.

 

Again, I hear what A.J. said with the conservative part of that, but there are some circumstances that happened in the first half where our field position wasn’t great. Now we didn’t get anything, so whatever we did didn’t work because we punted it back. The defense would stop them and then they’d get three points.

 

But there are circumstances that dictate things, which happened today a little bit at times. We know what we’re capable of, so sometimes it is in the sense, too, that you’re the offense and you’ve got to dictate to the defense of what they need to do and not let them dictate to you what you need to do. I think that’s a good example for us today of that in some dire situations. Good reminders for us.

 

How much did T Lane Johnson going out impact what you wanted to do, and how much did T Fred Johnson coming in allow you to maybe go where you wanted to go? (Bob Brookover)

 

Nick Sirianni: Lane Johnson is, in my opinion, no question about it in my mind that he’s the best player I’ve ever been around. He is one of the best players in the NFL and sometimes it’s hard to see that as an offensive lineman. It doesn’t show itself, but Lane gives us so much ability to do different things because of who he is as a football player. Like I said, he’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen. Obviously, we have a lot of great players on this team and they’re all up there, but Lane is special. We’ve got a lot of special guys. A.J.’s special, Jalen special, Saquon’s special, DeVonta’s special, Zack Baun’s special, Jalen Carter’s special, Jordan Davis is special. I do think that– what a great trade by Howie to get Fred here. I just know that Howie is relentless in what he does of always helping this football team get better.

 

He saw a need for us, what we needed with Fred there and went out and did the things he needed to do to get him. I’m so appreciative of Howie and having a partner in this thing that– I feel like I’m relentless. I know he’s relentless and just having a guy that you trust so much there. Fred did a great job, just like Fred did last year in certain situations, to come in and play meaningful football. It took a couple of series to go there. We had played some things with right left side as far as that goes with where they’ve been training, but offensive staff, [Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Jeff] Stout [Stoutland], Kevin did a good job of saying, ‘Hey [G/T] Matt Pryor’s very important to this football team and the things that he does. Fred would maybe give us a better chance right now,’ and making that change. That’s hard to do sometimes and I credit those guys a lot for that change.

 

You’ve got game changing plays from both DT Jordan Davis and DT Jalen Carter in this game. What are some of the things behind the scenes that you’ve seen from those guys to make those plays possible? (EJ Smith)

 

Nick Sirianni: First of all, obviously, they’re great football players who’ve worked really hard to be great football players. Jordan– I know you guys have talked a little bit because you’ve asked me about this– has worked so hard to get himself in great shape to be able to play the amount of snaps he played and then have all that last [bit] to get a block kick and to scoop and score to get in the end zone. Pretty remarkable.

 

[Senior Defensive Assistant/Defensive Line Coach] Clint [Hurtt] does a great job. Clint Hurtt’s a great football coach, a great football coach, and he does a good job of helping those– and that’s our job as football coaches. Howie’s job is to bring the best talent in here and give us the guys that we need, and our job as coaches is to take that talent and try to take them to another level that they may not have been able to reach themselves. That’s your job as a football coach, so they’ve done so much.

 

Let’s talk about Jordan here. The shape that he’s in and how he is. I’ve seen him walk around with his shirt off a lot more now, which he should. It’s good, and he just worked his butt off. You saw in Training Camp that something like this would happen, and he’s played good football through the first three weeks.

 

When he scooped that, were you yelling at him to go down or were you okay with him rumbling back? (Dave Zangaro)

 

Nick Sirianni: Yeah, obviously in that scenario, you want him to go down. I don’t know if you all recall, there was a minute plus left in 2021. We had a ball that we scooped and scored that is supposed to be a ‘no mas’ there and go down after you get it because you win the game. Then the Jets came back in the preseason, tied up the game on a Hail Mary and then they got the two-point conversion. We ended up tying that game.

 

So yeah, you’re supposed to go down in that area. When there’s no time on the clock and there’s nobody out in front of you, I’m always okay with something like that. I’d have been just as excited had he went down there, but he scored. I guess I’ll say that I was a little more excited, but it will be on the tape to say, ‘Hey, probably go down in this scenario,’ but he’ll probably get Play of the Game for that play.

 

Going back to WR A.J. Brown. When he caught that eight-yard pass, how much did that get him going? How much did that get you guys going offensively because that led to– (Martin Frank)

 

Nick Sirianni: Again, we were behind the sticks a lot in the first half, so to be able to get a completion and then be able to go on the ball in that scenario, that was important. That’s good insight to see that because that kind of got us going because you’re able to get on the ball. When you have an incomplete pass maybe and you think you’re going tempo and it’s an incomplete pass, you could still go on the ball. It’s a little bit different in that scenario, so that was big. That was important. That started off our ability to be able to come back. Again, we have so much to clean up. We very easily could be on the other side of this today. I think the most important thing to leave you guys with is that we’ve got a lot to clean up.

 

We’ve got a lot of things that we need to do better. There are progressions to this thing. We found a way to win. We very easily could have been on the other side of this. We know that and our job is to find ways to win, keep getting better, so we’re playing our best football by the end of the year. Right now, we’re not playing our best football. We know that, but that’s what the process is for.

 

I know our guys respect the process. I know our guys are hungry. I know our guys know that we’re going to get people’s best shots, which will only make us better. That’s a really good football team with really good players all the way around. They’ve done a great job building that football team and they’ve got phenomenal football coaches. They had us on the ropes and our guys found a way to keep getting up and finding a way.