Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni (Post-Game Transcript)
Is this a game where you feel like you played to your offensive potential?
Nick Sirianni: No doubt we had a good offensive and defensive game, good team performance. Excited to be able to do that, and look to build upon that.
In Eagles QB Jalen Hurts’ case, what did he show?
Nick Sirianni: He’s resilient. Always has been resilient and thought he was really good running the offense, being in command out there, just making good decisions with the football, good runs. He had a good game.
It seemed that there was a commitment to the under center approach. How do you feel that worked out in reflection of it today?
Nick Sirianni: Every game calls for something a little bit different. Obviously, we’re successful when we’re in front of the sticks and able to convert on third down. When you get drives going and you convert on third down and are explosive, take care of the football, good things happen. That’s why you can get the amount of runs that you get and all those different things.
How was Eagles QB Jalen Hurts throughout the week able to keep focused and flush that situation?
Nick Sirianni: You control your own confidence, you control your own joy when there’s a lot of noise out there, you control all that. What I saw from the entire team for the last couple weeks, regardless of the circumstances, [is that] we’ve been committed to playing Eagles football and doing the things we need to do to play Eagles football. That’s tough, detailed, together, and that happens during the week. If we rode the wave of the outside noise, then you’re not able to do that. I just thought we did a great job the last couple of weeks of zoning in on what we needed to do and going to work every single day and not letting outside circumstances dictate anything about how we feel.
The Raiders’ 75 yards, I believe, was the lowest total since the early ‘60s. What do you make of how the defense played?
Nick Sirianni: We were able to stop the run and get them in pass situations, and then we were able to get after the quarterback. Really good team defense, but [Eagles DE Brandon Graham] was the first one to say it in there, sacks don’t happen without great coverage in the secondary, so it was just great team defense by the entire crew. [Eagles Defensive Coordinator] Vic [Fangio] did a great job and coaches did a good job of preparing them and putting them in positions to succeed, and our guys did a good job of executing.
The defense overall, the level they’re playing, do you feel like this is the way they need to play to carry you into the postseason here?
Nick Sirianni: Yeah, we don’t think about that. We just think about the next game. Our focus, after we enjoy this one, will be Washington and they’ve stacked some good games upon each other and our defense has stacked some good games upon each other, and we’re not thinking about postseason or anything like that. We have work to do. We have to continue to get better to be playing our best football by the end of the year.
The way you guys play offensively, more under center, and some more the RPR and RPO game. Do you feel like these are things that you can build off of?
Nick Sirianni: These are things that have been staples in our offense for a long time, and we’re just continuing to use things that we think fit for that week. I haven’t watched anything on Washington, but next week we could come out and it could be a completely different game. We have core philosophies and visions of our identity, but we’ll see. You want to do those things, but we’ll see how this week plays itself out.
There’s been that search for that identity. How much of a step forward was that today?
Nick Sirianni: I think when you don’t have the results, sometimes from the outside perspective, you think, ‘Hey, it’s a search for identity,’ but we know what our identity [is], what we want to be in. That doesn’t mean you force it on things, game in, game out. But there are core principles and core philosophies of what we want our identity to be because of the players that we have. We did a good job of executing. We did a good job of scheming today, and that was a good win.
[Regarding the joy of on-field success.] What can this game do in service to where you’re trying to get to?
Nick Sirianni: We’re just trying to play a good game next game. I know that’s boring guys, but I’m not really thinking too much where it’s going to go. We’re just looking to build and stack days upon each other, stack games upon each other, and we’ll look to repeat our success that we had today next week.
The red zone play design for Eagles TE Dallas Goedert. What goes into freeing him up as much as you are this year?
Nick Sirianni: Dallas is a weapon down there, but we’ve got a lot of weapons down there. Jalen’s a weapon, [Eagles RB] Saquon’s [Barkley] a weapon in the run game. [Eagles WR] A.J. [Brown], [Eagles WR] DeVonta [Smith], and then Dallas. Sometimes you catch a wave of guys that get a hot streak down there, and I think about that with [former NFL TE] Eric Ebron back in 2018, but we know that that will lead to guys keying in on him in the future. He’s a guy that can do what he needs to do to get in the end zone because he’s a powerful runner. I think you guys see that and have seen that over his career. I know he’s sick about the one that he dropped, but it was good for him to have those touches down there to get us in the end zone.
[Regarding the defensive shutout.] How much of a cushion does that give you guys to have a unit like that?
Nick Sirianni: We’ve had so much confidence in our defense this entire year. We’ve done a great job there. Like I said, Vic’s done a good job of putting the guys in position. Our coaches have done a good job of coaching up the fundamentals and the plan, and then our guys have done a great job executing. You always feel confident when they go out there. They play with a lot of energy, play with a lot of excitement, play together for each other. That’s the key in a team game, the ultimate team game like football. You can see how much excitement the guys had when [Eagles DE Brandon Graham] had a sack, right? The excitement when he broke the team down today, they’re genuinely happy for each other that they’re making plays because when [Eagles LB] Nakobe [Dean] makes a play, it’s good for [Eagles DE Brandon Graham] and vice versa. That goes for everybody.
I said this earlier before you got in here, but one thing [Eagles DE Brandon Graham] said was just after when he was breaking the team down, it was like, ‘Man, I don’t get a sack unless the secondary is glued in the secondary.’ So, great job matching routes, good job playing good complimentary football within the defense, and [I’ve] got a lot of confidence there.
When Eagles QB Jalen Hurts runs the football in design runs, does that make the offense a little bit better for him and just for the offense in general?
Nick Sirianni: He’s dynamic of being able to be a passer. He is dynamic to be able to be a runner. He is a dual-threat quarterback, and we had some good designs there today and he did a great job of reading things and seeing things and getting the yards that he needed to get a couple big third-down conversions. He did a nice job. He did a nice job with that today.
You mentioned Eagles DE Brandon Graham broke the team down. How much of a boost is he for you guys on and off the field?
Nick Sirianni: He’s been awesome coming to work every single day, doing all the things that he does and brings to the team, and it was great to see him go out there and have the statistical performance that he had today.
What’s the message you had for them in there?
Nick Sirianni: We will always keep those things in-house, but one thing was it was good to get a win.