Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni (Post-Game Transcript)
What made your decision to pass up the 55-yard field goal?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, the wind was a little bit more than people think there. We hit those two backed up punts last week against Baltimore, and we did a great job of putting them backed up; almost got a safety.
[Panthers QB] Bryce Young got out of there. I thought Bryce did some good things. But he ended up getting out of there, but it was more about the wind being a little bit more than I think was understood. I mean, you could feel that.
And then just the success that we’ve had in the plus-50 punt game.
Going for it there wasn’t part of the–
NICK SIRIANNI: It was fourth-and-nine.
Second week in a row where passing offense, the numbers haven’t been—I don’t want to say like last year—the year before. What do you think has to be done to correct it?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we did the things that we needed to do to win today. We’ll look at the tape. It’s hard to say off just watching it, but everyone is going to have a part of that when you don’t pass it the way you want to.
Again, I’ll have to go watch everything. We’re definitely capable of playing better and coaching better in the pass game.
It seemed like there were a couple deep shots that were drawn up specifically for WR A.J. Brown, the first play being one of them. Why weren’t those passes successful?
NICK SIRIANNI: Well, there are different reasons for each one of them. There are so many things that go into making a play, a deep shot like that. Different reasons for each one. I’ll have to go back and look at it.
Again, I think we’re all going to come away from this– coaching, playing– and say, ‘Hey, there are things we got to do better in the pass game.’
But you know, our running game was able to do some really good things. I think that’s fair that the questions are about our pass game right now. How cool is it that [RB] Saquon Barkley – we have a team rushing record in week [14].
So, we were able to run the ball well today. [QB] Jalen [Hurts] had some really good runs. Saquon did a great job. Offensive line did a great job blocking. And our defense played — you know, it was kind of that ‘bend don’t break’-type defense.
So, they got some yards and were able to move the ball, but we got some stops when we needed to in critical moments. An interception by Chauncey [S C.J. Gardner-Johnson], and Chauncey kept fighting through and got back into the game. I just thought it was an unbelievable play to end the game.
We talked a lot about playing for 60 minutes with relentless effort. And what do you see on the last play that’s not a kneel down? You see [DT] Jalen Carter come off the ball like a crazy man. You see [OLB Josh] Sweat put pressure on him. Then you see [CB Darius] Slay diving to make a pass break up.
I thought our guys– even though there were times it was ugly, it’s hard to win in this league. That team has been playing a lot better week in and week out. I have a lot of respect for [Panthers Head] Coach [Dave] Canales and the job he’s done. Our guys played their butts off for 60 minutes. It’s the NFL. It’s tough.
But our guys played hard, and they played hard for 60 minutes and it showed up on that last play.
What do you tell your team after a game like that?
NICK SIRIANNI: Enjoy the victory. Don’t be a prisoner of your expectations. Enjoy it.
But we’ve got a lot to clean up. There is no doubt about that. So, enjoy it for the night. I can enjoy it for a couple hours because I’ll go home and start watching it. Those guys can enjoy it for a little bit longer because we’ve got to get back to work tomorrow.
One thing I said to them is, ‘Remember how it feels when you lose and everything,’ — and I think I might have said this to the coaches – ‘How much it hurts when you lose and how down you are when you lose.’
You’ve got to enjoy a victory, no matter what the expectation was. My expectation was that this was going to be a hard game because this is a team that keeps getting better with the Carolina Panthers. So, enjoy it and put your head down and work.
And then what I said to the guys was, ‘Everybody has the will to win. We all want to win. Are we all willing to do the things that winning requires?’ I think that this team does. That’s just my way of saying to them, ‘Hey, it’s going to be about the work again next week going to play the Pittsburgh Steelers.’
S C.J. Gardner-Johnson goes back in the game, it looked like late in the game. It looked like Safeties Coach Joe Kasper maybe tried to get him off the field, he said no. How many players—I’m assuming he might be one of them–have the autonomy to say, ‘No, I’m going to stay in the game?’
NICK SIRIANNI: C.J.? Yeah, I don’t know if that happened. I think he was trying to maybe get him — Chauncey plays every play. I don’t know if it was about the injury when he was down. I’m not going to get into injuries. I haven’t talked to these guys yet, but I don’t know if it was about that or not.
Yeah, so I don’t know the answer to that. Sorry. I respect the question, but sorry I don’t have the answer for you.
On S C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s interception, it looked like DB Cooper DeJean was signaling something. It was a slot fade, I think. When you talk to Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio, just about the young defensive backs, their ability communicate, this time S Tristan McCollum in there and that’s what Vic’s defenses are known for. How impressive is it that those guys can–
NICK SIRIANNI: They watch a lot of tape and put themselves in a lot of different scenarios. I think you saw it with [LB] Nakobe [Dean] a couple weeks ago of the interception he had against Jacksonville and talking about, ‘Hey, I was waiting for this one,’ right?
That’s so cool about the preparation that you put in all week that that happens a bunch. That happened with [LB] Zack Baun last week on a big third-down stop against Baltimore.
When these things happen and you see it, that’s huge. But we also understand that the offense is going to show you looks that they’ve run in the past and do something else, so it takes good playing and good recognition, and our guys– I thought that was really good play.
DB Cooper DeJean has to deal with a lot of different styles of receiver in the slot. What do you think specifically he can take away from going against the Panthers WR Adam Thielen today?
NICK SIRIANNI: A lot of respect for Adam Thielen. Respect how he got into the league. Respect how he made a way for himself. Respect how he’s turned into one of the better receivers in the NFL. I’m a big fan of his and how he plays this game.
What he’ll be able to take from that is the craftiness of him because he finds ways to get open. You know, a lot of experience to not quite as much experience.
But you get an opportunity to learn from everybody you play against. That’s our job, to make sure that we get better, win, lose, or draw, every time we step on the field and after every time we play and get better from it.
Coop has been doing a really good job of that no matter who he goes against. A lot of respect to Adam Thielen and the career he’s put together and the game he played today. A good player.
Is there an opportunity for QB Jalen Hurts to use his legs more when the passing game isn’t clicking?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, he is just a good all-around player, so he has this ability that if things aren’t — again, like we talked about, we didn’t play to our standard in the pass game, but he’s able to make plays in different ways. That’s a huge asset that he has as a quarterback.
That was a huge third-down and I think 8 he ran and got us a huge gain. It was around mid-field. He got us a huge gain. It was the last play of the third quarter. What a big time play that was to help set up a scoring drive right there.
I said what I said about him last week, he deserves to be in the MVP conversation. I stand by that. He’s done a lot of really good things. Like I said, as a whole, coaching and playing, as a whole, everybody, it wasn’t quite good enough in the pass game, but you’ve got to give the Carolina Panthers credit for that.
What did you see on the Panthers WR Xavier Legette play when he dropped it?
NICK SIRIANNI: He had his back to me and the scoreboard never showed it, so I got some information from upstairs, that they thought the ball hit the ground. I thought it was a great call by the official. But, no, they said — because sometimes you worry that maybe the official didn’t see it clean and they’re going to review it, and the information I got upstairs is, ‘No, they made the right call there.’ I said, ‘Damn right they did.’
What were your emotions like at that point? There are 52 seconds left to play. You’ve had victory snatched from the jaws before. What’s going on in your mind?
NICK SIRIANNI: In my mind is, ‘Okay, if he caught it, he scored a touchdown because he rolled into the end zone; we have three timeouts and 52 seconds to go. Let’s go win.’