Kevin Patullo

Q. Can you run us through the two-point conversion? Seemed like maybe there was a little confusion on that play. (Tim McManus)

Kevin Patullo: When you have two-point conversions, they have two ways of doing it. They could say, ‘Hey, we’re going to go all out pressure, we’re going to do max zones.’ When you design those kinds of plays, you want to make sure you’re in the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, we had a little bit of a miscommunication on that play, and so that’s what we’ve got to continue to work through. We had a few too many of those and we know that’s part of all of us. That’s coaches, that’s players, that’s everybody. We’ve got to make sure we’re on the same page, so those things don’t happen anymore.

Q. You mentioned the miscommunications, and QB Jalen Hurts mentioned not being on the same page with WR DeVonta Smith on that one play. Where’s the breakdown in miscommunication, in particular on those types of plays when it’s a choice route? (Jeff McLane)

Kevin Patullo: Sometimes on those kinds of plays, it’s a matter of just making sure they’re seeing the same thing. We try to do the best we can as coaches and players, putting everybody in those moments, whether it’s in the classroom, in walkthrough, on the practice field, because it is important. You can’t simulate everything in the heat of battle because ultimately, everybody on the field, they’re human. You’re processing at a fast rate, the clock’s going and you’re seeing it. You’re trying to make hand gestures and try to get everybody on the same page.

When things like that happen, you’ve got to go back to, where was the breakdown? Did we cover it? Has it been talked about enough? Ultimately, it was just a mistake, and that’s what’s hard. It’s hard to have those. It’s hard when those happen because the guys, whether it’s coaches, players, we all take them to heart. It’s disappointing because we knew we missed one, but we’ve also got to learn from it. We’ve had a few too many of those and we know that. But as we go, we’ve got to continue to push through that so those don’t happen and we can be on the same page. And if it does, why did it happen? There could be a human error, and then we’ve got to move on.

Q. In light of the incident at your house, how has the week been? (Mike Sielski)

Kevin Patullo: At this point, we’re ready to focus on winning the game. Unfortunately, it happened. I’ve been here for five years now and it’s been awesome. I mean, this is such a unique place to coach and play. It’s very special. We’ve been to two NFC Championship games we’ve won at Lincoln Financial Field, a Super Bowl. The parade is just, it’s an amazing atmosphere to be a coach and a player.

And as coaches and players, we all know that part of our job is to handle criticism. It’s perfectly acceptable to sit up here and talk about what’s going on, how to fix it, what we’re going to do going forward, and we know that. But when it involves your family, obviously it crosses the line. That happened, and at this point, we’ve just got to move on. We’re trying to win. That’s all we want to do is focus, whether it’s my family, whether it’s the team, all we’re trying to do together is focus on this week. We’ve got a long week, which has been good to have an extra day of preparation, and go out to L.A. and beat the Chargers.

Q. Being in that chair, how have you learned to deal with the criticism that comes with it? (Dave Zangaro)

Kevin Patullo: When you first start coaching, you know it’s always there. As you start to develop your career and you move up and you move up and you move up, you’ve got to learn from people. [Head Coach] Nick [Sirianni] does a great job with all of us as coaches, just preparing us for these kinds of moments, and different mentors you have. You know that the pressure’s there, but we all accept it because we ultimately want to be at the highest part of our coaching career and continue to work through that. This is part of it. It’s a challenge, but it makes it fun. When you look back on it, you hope that you have more good than bad memories. And when you go through the process like this, it defines you as a person in your career but not as an individual, not as your family.

I think when you look at the big picture, it’s just a piece of who we all are as coaches, who I am, who my family is, and ultimately, it’s fine. It’s a great career that we’re in. We get to do something that very few people get to do. I mean, we’re one of 32, I am, Nick is, we all are. In the world. When you look at it that way, we’re very fortunate and it’s exciting. There’s nothing better than winning a game in our stadium. There’s nothing better than going on the road and winning a game in front of all these Eagles fans. It’s very unique and it’s fun.

Q. In terms of the offense, Head Coach Nick Sirianni was saying that you evaluate everything, it’s every area that we need to improve on, but over the weekend, what was your role in evaluating everything? Just in terms of what to improve on in every area. What hasn’t worked that you thought would? (Zach Berman)

Kevin Patullo: We’ve had a couple of these little mini bye [weeks] now. I think I’ve talked about this before. We’ve done a good job– and Nick’s obviously heavily involved, and he has been every year of just self-evaluating and seeing what trends are, where we’re at with things, what we need to improve on, whether it’s coaches, players, scheme, every little detail like that. I think these are good assessments for us to work through, and we’re all involved and that’s what’s kind of cool. He’s not just somebody that says, ‘This is what I want, this is how it has to be done.’ It’s all of us together working through this as an offensive staff with him. Every coach has a big role in it.

When you process through information, you’ve got to decide, is this something that is a schematic issue? Is it an execution issue? What is it? What are we doing well? What do we have coming up down the line? Whether it’s defensive schematic issues or things we know that we need to improve upon. It’s a lot of stuff. It’s a lot of information, but I think it was very beneficial to go through that the last couple of days. And you have to be honest with yourself. You can’t just be like, ‘Well, we could have done this if this would’ve happened.’ Well, that’s not how it works. We want to fix it and we’re trying to fix it. That’s what’s encouraging is that we’ve found good ways.

Q. You mentioned the full staff. Obviously, we talk to you and Head Coach Nick Sirianni a lot of times for a reason, but what is the collaboration like with the full staff? How do you utilize them? Where do they fit in their roles leading up to the game? (Brooks Kubena)

Kevin Patullo: Everybody, just in general, we meet a lot together as an offensive staff. We were just up in there right now going through protection meetings and things like that. It’s important to do everything together so that we’re all on the same page and everybody has a voice. There’s really not one person that you can say that can’t contribute to any conversation. That’s what’s important to having a good staff. I think Nick promotes that and he’s done a good job of that throughout the years. No matter what our staff has looked like, whoever’s been the coordinator, whether it was me or [former Eagles Offensive Coordinators] Shane [Steichen] or Kellen [Moore]. We’re all in this together and we all have to talk through these things because when we get out there on game day, the communication has to be at premium.

Q. The other side of that coin of having that extra time has been the short weeks, which have not been as successful. Is there any theme that you guys have seen with that? (John McMullen)

Kevin Patullo: Not so much because previously we’ve been pretty good in those spots. I wouldn’t say that’s been anything– we have not changed as far as how we’ve done things with the scheduling and the walkthroughs and the reps and the installations, and that’s something we’re going to continue to evaluate. We have obviously another one the following week when we get the Raiders. There hasn’t been anything specific that’s come up.

Q. What does it mean to you when Head Coach Nick Sirianni repeatedly says you’re going to stay the play caller and that he has your back? I mean, how important is that for you to hear? (Martin Frank)

Kevin Patullo: I think when you go back to when he and I got here together, we have a strong working relationship, and I know he trusts me and I trust him. I think it goes back and forth to where he puts all of us as coaches in spots where we can be successful. That’s what’s important. It does say a lot. He knows that we’re going to do everything as a staff that we need to do to get the win and get the job done and continue to improve. I think just him having confidence in all of us together really says a lot.

Q. We’ve asked you a few times this year about QB Jalen Hurts’ running. Is there a reason why he’s not running as frequently? Then when you see that your most productive drive happened when he ran, is that something you want to tap into now? (Zach Berman)

Kevin Patullo: I think we’ve talked about this before. I think as we go forward, he’s going to continue to be a part of the offense and some of these design runs, and we just have to pick and choose when they’re available and when they present themselves. Sometimes they do in moments, and he’s done it the last couple of weeks, and we’ve got to continue to lean into that.

Q. How much of the playbook is being utilized on a week-to-week basis? (Jeff McLane)

Kevin Patullo: As far as the overall playbook, I think when you look at it, there’s certain things that we generally like to do from week to week, and there’s other ways. We’re trying to find new things to try to help create explosives or do different things. I think when you look at the overall game plan, depending on what the defense presents and depending on what we think we can put in in that amount of time, it varies. The call sheet, obviously throughout the years, has kind of been similar as far as the volume numbers, and it just depends on whether or not it materializes in the game. Unfortunately, the other day we didn’t have a lot of plays in the first half the way it went. So, in the second half, we had to throw it more and it got a little bit different. It’s been a funny year as far as that kind of stuff. The game flows have been just different. We haven’t been in a lot of normal flows, only a few times like the Giants game, the Vikings, where we’ve had a consistent flow where plays are just kind of coming off the call sheet.

Q. And how much are the fact that certain concepts, obviously the crossing routes, digs, stuff that haven’t been as prevalent, is that related to QB Jalen Hurts and what he’s comfortable doing or what you guys think that he’s best at doing? (Jeff McLane)

Kevin Patullo: I think if it presents itself that week, we usually have it in and it’s just whether or not we get to it in the game.

Q. What adjustments have you seen from defenses recently when it comes to the QB Sneak? (Tim McManus)

Kevin Patullo: There’s not a huge thing that’s going on. We’ve kind of tinkered with different things and we will continue to kind of explore and experiment with different ways to get that done. Sometimes it is just luck of the draw. The other day, it was just unfortunate that the ball popped out. We’ve gotten pretty good movement in the last couple weeks on it. We’ve just got to continue to work through it.

Q. Head Coach Nick Sirianni has said you’re still calling plays. In terms of the way that you approach that role in the game planning of it, any of the responsibilities that you do or maybe delegate, have you changed any of those things? (Brooks Kubena)

Kevin Patullo: No, no. I’m still calling the plays.

Q. The incident, did it leave you shaken? I mean, if it was my house and my family, I’d be scared, I’d be angry, and I would take measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Were you scared? Were you angry? And have you taken measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again? (Marcus Hayes)

Kevin Patullo: When you talk about what happened, I mean ultimately, you want to be able to separate your job from your family. We talked about it before, I said it before, that line was crossed. It was an unfortunate incident and that’s part of it that it happened. Us as a family, we know we’ve got to stick together. To be honest, there’s a lot of great people in the community. I have great neighbors. So many people have reached out to my wife and I and our family, and so it’s not anything or one specific person. It happened and we’ve got to move on from it at this point.

Q. You’re not uncomfortable being there? You’re not uncomfortable being in that neighborhood? You’re not uncomfortable with sort of continuing things as they are? (Marcus Hayes)

Kevin Patullo: I mean, no. We’ve had a great experience here and that’s what I was alluding to earlier. We’ve had a great experience here in Philadelphia and it’s a very special, unique place to work. I look forward to all the more games we have and finishing strong in the season.

Q. Someone suggested that maybe there’ll be some benefit to you moving up to the booth to call plays. Do you see any validity in that, or why is it still beneficial to be on the field? (Dave Zangaro)

Kevin Patullo: I think the communication with the players is important. I’ve been on, since I’ve been here in ’21, I’ve been on the field every time. I think there’s a lot of communication with players, coaches on the field, making sure adjustments are done correctly. I have conversations with Jalen, with the O line, with the receivers that are very important. I’ve been on the field for a long, long time. I don’t think I’ve been in the box since maybe 2011 as a coach. So, it’s been a while. I think just the relationship I have with the guys and the communication has been good, and we’ve just got to continue to improve in other areas and we’ll be alright.