Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni (Post-Game Transcript)

What happened with the run defense?

Nick Sirianni: Obviously, it’s never just one thing when you give up a bunch of yards like that. We’ve got to do a better job coaching. We’ve got to do a better job executing, getting off blocks, tackling. We had a couple missed tackles, but it’s always going to be about block destruction, playing on their side of the line of scrimmage, and then us putting them in positions to succeed. I give them credit. They played a good game. Hats off to them.

 

You mentioned the missed tackling. Is there a common theme you’re seeing with that?

Nick Sirianni: I won’t get too much into that, but we look at every tackle that we’ve missed and evaluate it and come up with, ‘Hey, this is the problem,’ and then try to rep those things in practice and in drills. So, that’s always what we’re looking at and trying to not only put them in positions to succeed, but give them the tools and give them the practice opportunities to be able to do that. That’s my job to be able to do that and I’ve got to do a better job of that.

 

Where do you think the lack of defensive pressure originated from?

Nick Sirianni: Again, give them credit. They did a good job. I think they were ahead of the sticks quite a bit and in manageable third downs. When they were in third downs, they were able to keep us off balance there with the way they ran it and then some of their play action game. So again, credit to them.

 

If I could follow up on that though, it’s been kind of like a season-long thing with the pass rush. If you look at the pressure rates, quick pressure rates are just not good compared to most other teams. Is that just a byproduct of playing a lot or is there a trend with the —

Nick Sirianni: Again, there’s never just one thing. Again, when you’re not getting pressures, you’ve got to try to simulate them in some way. So again, it’s always a version of, how are we executing? How are we putting them in positions to succeed? Because all that matters is that it goes out onto the field and we try to give ourselves the best chance to win. In this game of football, just like anything, I think we always want to pin it on something, but there’s multiple things that contribute to it. We’ll look at that, look at some of the common themes and see what we need to do to get better.

 

What went into the decision to have RB Saquon Barkley play and what was the communication like on whether he was going to be in or out of the lineup as the game was going on?

Nick Sirianni: Obviously, you saw that he was on a pitch count out there today. There was constant communication to see how he was feeling, see where he was, and obviously, he came out early in the second half. Again, when you go into something like that, you make sure that the player’s health is first and foremost. Is he ready to go? Do they feel ready to go? Do the doctors and trainers feel like they’re ready to go? We felt like that was the case today, but obviously wanted to keep a close eye on him, and he’s tough as heck. He wanted to be out there for his teammates, probably had to slow him [down] as far as — he’d be out there every play because of the person he is and the teammate he is and the player he is and the toughness that he has.

 

So, we tried to be smart with him there, but it was good to have him back out there. He obviously had a nice game and was very productive when he touched the football.

 

Was the pitch count changed at all? He said he tweaked the back on his first run, so the big 29-yard run. Was it changed?

Nick Sirianni: Yeah, he obviously got out of there on that and did a good job of protecting himself. I think that’s a play that, normally with Saquon, you see him break out of that and it’s hard to catch him in those situations. I mean, you change as you go. Obviously, I think he probably played a little less than what we initially thought. He definitely played a little less than what we initially thought. But like I said, he’s tough as heck and it’s good to have him back out there, just to have his presence out there and then his play making ability.

 

How’s that affecting you guys? You finished the game down six day-one starters on offense and it’s frontline players. How’s that affecting the team right now?

Nick Sirianni: That’s life in the NFL. We feel good about our process of giving guys that maybe aren’t starters opportunities for developmental periods and things like that. But I think that’s the league. It is our job to bring depth in and it is our job to develop that depth. With that comes opportunity on my end, the opportunity to give them opportunities to grow with practice time, with how we review film with them, everything. But that’s life in the NFL. I’ll never use that as an excuse because at the end of the day, all that matters is if we won or lost and if we continue to get better, and we didn’t do that. No one’s going to feel sorry for us and our job is to get whoever’s on that field ready to play in the game that’s going to play every Sunday or Monday.

 

What worked offensively early on? Some of you guys had some good scripts and some good play calls.

Nick Sirianni: I think when you’re able to be efficient in the run game and set yourself up on third down, we felt like we were able to kind of run some of the things, what we wanted to do coming into the game and coming into the season where we keep run, play action, stuff like that. We were able to get some tempo calls going into it. I think you just got to see a variety of things that we want to do because we weren’t behind the sticks and we have to keep up with that script.

 

Obviously, we did a good job finishing in the red zone. Sometimes it was because some penalties extended the drives, but also being able to run it in down there was key, was obviously good for us. But I think it was just staying in phase, being able to hit explosives in the run game and being able to convert on third down. I’m not sure what we were throughout third down. I think it was over 40%, but we still even want to do better there. But yeah, we’ve still got a lot of things to correct and work on.

 

You have some young guys in the locker room who have won, who’ve been successful in the short time they’ve been here. Can you as a coach do anything to get them to be, I don’t know, more serve as leaders? You’ve lost some leadership in the locker room, whether it’s T Lane Johnson, injuries, departures, things like that. Can you help some of those guys take a step forward in any way?

Nick Sirianni: Absolutely. Yeah. That’s something that I think about quite a bit is how do I — I’m always thinking about how I coach the team, whether it’s situational football, whether it’s fundamentals. I’m always committed to making these guys better men. With the guys that I think are leaders on this football team and coaches, it’s my job to help them become better leaders. I think the first and foremost thing that you do in those moments is you lead by example and you walk your talk. But we do talk, myself and the captains quite a bit or other guys just on the side and try to give them pointers on things like that without getting too much into that. But that’s my daily thought process of how to do that. It’s not like one size fits all with what you [are] going through at this particular time and can you help them lead through that? When you do that, it helps me too. As I think about what to tell them and how to lead, it helps me as well.

 

Are you getting enough from DT Jalen Carter and DT Jordan Davis?

Nick Sirianni: I think you’ve seen those guys be disruptive and you’ve seen those guys make quite a bit of plays. Obviously, we’re all going to want plays back from tonight and moments back from tonight. Like I said to you earlier, when you give up the yards rushing like we did today, it’s not just one thing. [Defensive Coordinator] Vic [Fangio]’s going to want plays back, [Senior Defensive Assistant/Defensive Line/Associate Head Coach] Clint [Hurtt]’s going to want plays back, Wash [Defensive Ends/Outside Linebackers Coach Jeremiah Washburn] is going to want plays back, [Inside Linebackers Coach] Bobby [King]’s going to want plays back, and so is every player at their position. But I think you’ve seen them make a lot of plays throughout the year, and tonight, hats off to the Cowboys.

 

What’s the message that you told the team number one? And in terms of RB Saquon Barkley speaking, what did you take out of that?

Nick Sirianni: We just talked about being the same version of yourself every single day. All that matters is we improve. I think back on the 2021 season, the way we finished that year — and I didn’t say this to them, but I’m thinking about it right now — The way we finished that year propelled us into the future Eagles way that we’ve been the last four years. Growth is important. We talked a lot about being the same version of ourselves regardless of the circumstances and that football is going to deal you some tough hands at times, but can you get up and keep fighting? Life’s going to deal you some tough hands at times. Can you get up and keep fighting? We talked about that. We talked about being the same guy every day. We talked about being grateful.

 

I mean, shoot, in the national anthem today, I was thinking to myself, ‘this is something I prayed for and dreamed of when I was a kid and even as a young adult.’ I wouldn’t ask many questions about who I’d be coaching, where I’d be coaching, what our record would be, anything like that. I’d have been grateful to be there and we are all blessed to be coaching and playing in the NFL. We know that this opportunity to get better, we’ve got 10 more games and then we’ll see after that. But just continue to be the same version of yourself. I though Saquon did a great job of talking and letting everybody know he was going to — We got ourselves in this hole and it’s our job to get out of it. No one’s writing off anything. I think the division’s wide open. Obviously, it would’ve been nice to get one tonight in a division game, but we didn’t and hats off to them.