Nick Sirianni
Q. How do you think your team is going to fair in a snow game? (Dave Zangaro)
NICK SIRIANNI: We’ve practiced in it all week. Practiced in this last week, the elements. I know our guys are tough. I know our guys are physical.
There are different things you do in a snow game depending on how the snow is, just like there are different things you do in a rain game, just like there are different things you do in a wind game.
So I know our guys will handle the elements regardless of what they are this weekend.
Q. Has the uncertainty of the forecast impacted game planning at all? (Jeff Neiburg)
NICK SIRIANNI: No. Like I said, you have different things you do in all these situations, just like you do if a guy goes down, just like you do if they play a different style of defense than you were anticipating.
You have contingency plans for everything.
Q. It’s reported that Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore has three interviews over the next few days. How involved are you when it comes to making sure he’s still in all the meetings, doing as much work, but also allowing him to do the interviews? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, he’ll be in all the meetings and doing all his work, there is no doubt. He has been all week, and he has done everything the way he’s needed to do it to get us ready for this.
I think there is sometimes a misconception of coaches, that at the end the week you don’t get any time to relax. There is a time on Fridays and Saturday afternoons where you do that.
Those are the times that, in these scenarios, guys have earned the right to interview for jobs. I think that we’re not the only ones in this position. There are a lot of teams that are still going this weekend that are having guys do this as well.
[Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore] is ready, has our team ready. He’s handled it big time all week. I really never thought that he wouldn’t. He’s handled it like a pro.
Q. In the off-season, you were talking about how you talked to several coaches, former Villanova basketball Head Coach Jay Wright, University of South Carolina basketball Head Coach Dawn Staley, leaning on them for advice. Now that you’re in the playoffs, what do you lean on most from those conversations? (Brooks Kubena)
NICK SIRIANNI: I think you just take all the information and all the things that you gather and all the mentorship that you get, and that’s something that you use Week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Again, you don’t get to the playoffs and say, ‘Here is what it I’m going to do now.’ So those conversations with those coaches that you mentioned and every coach that I’ve had have been helpful throughout the entire year. They continue to be helpful at this particular point.
Again, you don’t do anything different once you get into this mode. It’s been business as usual. But I’m very appreciative to [University of South Carolina basketball Head] Coach Staley and [former Villanova basketball Head] Coach Jay Wright, [St. John’s University basketball Head] Coach [Rick] Pitino, [former Mount Union football Head] Coach [Larry] Kehres, all the people that have helped me get to that position and all the people that have helped me while I’m in this position.
Q. How would you say Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio has helped influence the overall personality of the team since he’s been here? (Tim McManus)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, he’s tough, he’s hard-nosed, he’s east coast. I love all those things about him. He’s very detailed. You can see our defense is very detailed.
[Defensive Coordinator] Vic [Fangio] is a great coach and just has our defense playing really well. He’s been a great coach in this league for a long time, and his players have played well for a long time.
The players have to play well to play great defense, so it’s a combination of what Vic does and how he motivates the guys to get them to play to the highest level that they can.
Just got a ton of respect for him and sure glad he’s here.
Q. In the beginning of the offseason, you said that Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore’s offense would be a blending of his with yours. A year later, how much did that pan out? (Jeff McLane)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, still pretty much exactly how we talked about it. I wouldn’t say, ‘Hey, this is 50% this, 20% that.’ I can’t do the math on that.
But as you watch the tape, there are different things that we’ve been doing that have really helped us. There are some things that are similar to what we’ve done in the past because we’ve been good at those things.
And then there are things that are new to both what we’ve done and Kellen’s system as well.
Like I said, Kellen’s done a phenomenal job of handling all those things, putting our offense in positions that we been successful in.
Can’t say enough good things about both coordinators.
Q. Going back to Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio, you talked before about how he calls a game and how well he can call a game. I guess especially in a matchup against somebody like Rams Head Coach Sean McVay, what stands out about his feel in-game and being able to adjustments? (EJ Smith)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, first and foremost, [Rams Head Coach] Sean [McVay] is a heck of a coach and been a heck of a coach for a long time. I admire Sean a lot because of, looking at it from afar, how he leads the football team, how he leads the offense.
He’s just a really good head coach. A lot of respect for that. When you go against good coaches, you’ve got to be on your game. And everybody is a good coach that we go against. We know how good the players are in this league. We know how good the coaches are in this league.
Vic has a great feel, again, on how to call the game. I’m not going to get into how I think that or anything like that to give up anything, but he just has a good feel of what to call in certain situations, how to put the players in positions, how to adjust, all the things you think about when you think about how to call a good game.
Q. You seem less focused on the counting stats with QB Jalen Hurts. What qualifies as a good game from your perspective? (Zach Berman)
NICK SIRIANNI: The what stats?
Q. The counting stats, like how many yards he has. What qualifies as a good game? (Zach Berman)
NICK SIRIANNI: Wins. Wins.
He just, again, just continues to do everything he needs to do to help our team win the game. Bob shared with me what he talked about. Not really concerned about stats. [He’s] concerned about wins.
What I admire so much about that is [QB] Jalen [Hurts] is very selfless and just wants to do what he needs to do to help this team win football games.
Sometimes that’s going to be a ton on him. He’s always touching the ball and always having to get us in and out of good plays, so it’s always a ton on him. That’s the nature of the quarterback position.
I love the fact that that’s what he had said, it’s just the wins. Because, again, it just shows you the selflessness of Jalen Hurts. It shows you the selflessness of the team because we do understand that everybody on the outside is going to look at this or that, these numbers, whatever it is. We look at wins and losses. We look at something that directly affects wins and losses, which is our turnover differential.
Again, he’s played such efficient football. I think it’s a shame that nobody is talking about that – I don’t know if they are or not. Shouldn’t say it that way. But he’s playing such efficient football and putting our team in positions to win. And that’s the goal of any quarterback, is to win the game.
He’s just done a great job of that. Yeah, I think I obviously answer the questions a lot with Jalen and this and that, but he wins. He’s been playing efficient, and we do what we need to do to win every game. And Jalen does what he needs to do to win every game.
We’ll continue to do that and not apologize for it. How we win this game and how you go into a game trying to win might not be always be how you do it while you’re in the game. You have to adjust. So we’ll see how the game goes. I think Jalen has played great football.
Q. Rams OLB Jared Verse came out and said he hates Eagles fans. Did he make things more difficult for himself coming in here? What’s your reaction to that? (Ed Kracz)
NICK SIRIANNI: Everyone’s got opinions, so I really don’t get myself wrapped too much into that. I’m sure the Philly crowd will – regardless of what anyone said, they’re going to be hyped. They’re going to be rowdy. They’re going to make it challenging for the opposition to operate in the noise.
I’m sure glad that we have the home field advantage that we do.