Nick Sirianni

Q. On those two long RB Saquon Barkley runs yesterday, it looked like QB Jalen Hurts made some checks at the line. How much does he have on him in those situations, and how much has he grown in that part of his game? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think he’s been phenomenal at that part of the game, being able to get us in and out of plays versus different looks.

That’s obviously super important for your quarterback to be able to do that. [QB] Jalen [Hurts] really does a great job of thinking and doing the things he needs to do to get us in and out of plays at the line of scrimmage.

It starts with him and [C] Cam [Jurgens] putting everybody on the same page. Then it goes down to the efforts of everybody else to make those long runs happen.

I think what you saw on those was excellent blocking up front and displacement up front by our offensive line. But you also got really good efforts on those two long runs also from receivers blocking.

[WR] A.J. [Brown] on the second one had a really good block. Then A.J. and [WR DeVonta Smith] Smitty on the first one had great blocks. I think the way I said it in our team meeting today, on the first one, A.J. gets the block on the nickel, and then Smitty has kind of a textbook stalk block.

If you were in receiver school 101, you would use that clip of Smitty on the stalk block for the touchdown.

What I mean by that is stalk blocking, there is an art and technique to it. You have to break down and not get locked up with the defensive back too soon. Because if you get locked up with the defensive back too soon, he’ll shed you, but Smitty kept space. Then when he felt the ball getting up on him, he locked on and made the play.

So efforts by everybody to make that thing go. Obviously that yardage goes to [RB] Saquon [Barkley]. He’s phenomenal, as we’ve all seen, but it truly takes everybody. And it starts with Jalen to get us in and out of the right play.

Q. DT Jalen Carter gets a lot of attention for his athleticism and his brute strength, but what can you tell us about his football IQ? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: His football IQ and instincts are very high. I think you see he has a knack for being able to get the ball out – he’s done that a couple times this year – and hitting the right spot of the football when he’s getting the ball out.

He has an ability to field double teams and be able to beat double teams, as you saw yesterday. His football IQ is very, very high. It takes more than talent to be a really good player in this league. It just does, right? Talent is a starting point. You need to have talent to be a great player, but there are other things that go along with it.

And Football IQ and football instincts are high, high up on that list. He has those. Doing the right things off the field, making sure your body is in shape and you weigh the right [amount], like I talked about yesterday, he’s done that to elevate his play.

And just loving football, which he obviously loves football because he works at it so hard. The talent, the football IQ, the love for football, the toughness that he has, being in great shape are all the reasons why you’re continuing to see him raise his level of play.

Q. It seems like whatever is going on with the offense, TE Dallas Goedert always shows up, clutch catches. Obviously I guess seven games this year you didn’t have him. How big has he been these last two games? He’s got eight catches on eight targets. What does he mean to this offense? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: He has a knack for making plays in big moments, that’s for sure. And he makes these really big splash plays, too, where sometimes they’re not even more a lot of yards, but it’s so energetic. The physicality that he brings to it is huge.

He ran a route yesterday on that 30-plus gain. We had great protection on the play. Jalen puts a good throw on him. But [TE] Dallas [Goedert] did such a good job of getting open on that route against man coverage. It was a really great route, just a defined route. Just got into it, stuck the defensive back the opposite way, put a seed of doubt in his mind, and then continued on.

And then there are all the things he does in the run game for us, which are so important. Having to hold down the C gap on the backside or on the front side against guys that are huge players on the other team.

So I can’t say enough about what he brings to this football team. You’re right, he has an ability to make plays in big moments. I think that just speaks to how calm, cool, and confident he is. When you’re confident in yourself in those moments, you shine in those moments.

He’s been really good. He had a great game yesterday, run game and pass game. Yeah, he’s just been playing good football.

Q. Were the checkdowns where you wanted them to be against the blitz yesterday? What went into some of the problems you guys had, do you think? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: With checkdowns – sometimes when you’re in a six-man protection and they blitz, you lose your back, so you lose some ability sometimes for your back in the checkdown.

Now, there are different ways you scheme things up to make sure you’re holding underneath defenders to hit things over top or vice versa. Guys were in the right spots where they needed to be yesterday. Sometimes you lose the checkdown though. Sometimes they cover the check down and something opens up over top. There are all different things there as far as that goes.

But it’s never just one thing when it doesn’t go right against the blitz. It’s never just one thing when it does go right against the blitz.

Yeah, sometimes you lose that back when they bring the guy that he’s responsible for in protection.

Q. Wanted to talk to you about the offensive line as a group. I think everybody knows RB Saquon Barkley is having a historic season. I’ve heard some comparisons over the past week or so with this offensive line. Do you think they’re having a historic season? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Obviously any time you run for that many yards, yeah, of course. They’re the guys that make it go up front. Saquon is phenomenal, but he can’t be great without the greatness of others.

I love that about the offensive line, the selflessness. They don’t score touchdowns, and sometimes on an offensive line – the stats that you keep on an offensive line are how many pressures you gave up and how many sacks you gave up.

Those are the stats that we all know as an offensive lineman, so sometimes you only get focused on for the negative thing. But I love offensive linemen. I’ve always loved offensive linemen because of that selflessness they have. They’re protectors, right? They’re there to protect and serve other people.

That’s the best thing you can say about a human being, is that you want to do well for yourself to do well for others. I just see the selflessness of the group.

Obviously, we’re highly talented there. We have really good players, and [Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland] Stout coaches his butt off to get them to perform at a high level. So of course, yeah, I see them as having a historic season, being able to send three guys to the Pro Bowl, having two guys on the All-Pro team.

That’s a result of just all the hard work that they do. And I love when they get recognized because, again, like I said, sometimes you don’t get recognized for that.

I was able to go to [former Eagles C] Jason Kelce’s show the other day. What an awesome experience that was. I thought it was phenomenal. I don’t know if you saw it, but they had a conversation on there like, why do we give an offensive MVP, a defensive MVP, player of the year, but we don’t give the offensive line award? I don’t remember who said that, but I’m like, man, they should do that. What a great idea that is.

I know who my vote would be for if that happened if they gave me a vote. There is a reason they don’t give coaches votes. I would vote for [T] Lane [Johnson] for sure. If I had three votes, I would vote for all our guys. That’s probably why they don’t allow us as coaches to have votes on the Pro Bowl for our own team or All-Pro or anything like that.

But, yeah, just to answer your question, I think they’re having a great season, and we want to continue that.

Q. Just to ask you about DT Jalen Carter and OLB Nolan Smith. We talk a lot about them, but we saw pretty big plays from DT Moro Ojomo yesterday and OLB Jalyx Hunt, sacking Rams QB Matthew Stafford. Just their development. It seems they get better each game. (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: Can’t say enough about those two guys.

I want to talk about [OLB] Nolan [Smith] and [DT] Jalen [Carter] for a second. Because when you said that about those two in the same sentence, I think you saw something yesterday of how good they worked a stunt together. That doesn’t just happen. They spend a lot of time doing that together, Nolan and [DT] Jalen [Carter].

So you appreciate the time they spent together in college working those different games and the connection that they have together to be able to work that.

But then answering your question, [OLB] Jalyx [Hunt] on his sack, I just thought he gave relentless effort. I think he really has taken to that. He’s been giving us a lot of good reps, Jalyx. He started off as a really good special teams player for us because of his motor and how hard he goes.

I would love to just sit here and talk about how hard Jalyx plays. I could talk about it forever and keep giving you play examples. But he has this relentless effort to the football, and relentless effort to beat blocks, and relentless effort to tackle.

That’s what was a result of yesterday. We had a good match in the secondary on that play, and Jalyx continued to hustle. It was a play that [Rams QB Matthew] Stafford had to extend a little bit more, and Jalyx just continued his approach and finally got to him.

With [DT] Moro [Ojomo], yeah, it was exciting. We see him in practice all the time, just giving great looks when he was on our scout team, but [also] in practice when he’s with the defense. I’m thinking back to last year of how many good looks he gave us on the scout team of how he can rush the passer.

It was good to see all his work pay off. He played a good game yesterday. I know he’s recognized because of the sack, but I think he played all in all a really good game yesterday in the run game and the pass game.

And I’ll say this: To be able to create that pressure that we were able to create in those conditions – I know they’re playing under them, too, but sometimes it’s harder for the defense in those conditions. Our guys did a really nice job being able to create that pressure when that snow was piled up on them.

I can’t say enough about [VP of Equipment Operations] Greg [Delimitros] and our equipment staff, of how much detail and how much effort went into making sure those guys had the right footing. I asked Greg earlier this week to write up everything he has that he’s ever done for a snow game in his career. The detail that he came back to me with was outstanding.

Again, just goes to show you it takes everybody. Just so appreciative to [Eagles Chairman and CEO] Mr. [Jeffrey] Lurie and this organization that we have the right guys in place in each department. Greg and his guys were on full display yesterday of how good they did.

I mean, shoot, the pressure we got at the end ended up helping us win the football game.

Q. QB Jalen Hurts’s legs are obviously such a big weapon for him. We saw it again yesterday. When he’s not capable of running as well as he has, how much does that change, and how much do you have to consider that as you put together a game plan, when and if that’s the case? I guess last year, there were times where he wasn’t able to run it quite the same. (Bob Brookover)

NICK SIRIANNI: Everything is always accounted for. You try to account for everything. That’s our job as coaches. When you get out there in the game, these guys have to make split-second decisions. And that’s us as coaches, too. We have to make split-second decisions.

So the prep that you’re doing all week tries to account for everything that you could encounter, from whether Jalen can go, run, or not, whether it’s snowing, whether it’s raining, whether it’s windy, whether they’ve got this player on the other side or that player on the other side, or you’re without this player, or you’re without that player, how many times you’ve played the team.

All those things are accounted for. That’s our job as coaches throughout the week, to make sure all those things are accounted for.

Q. I was wondering what your level of concern I guess would be with WR A.J. Brown? He’s had three catches for 24 yards the last two games. Obviously the weather being what it was yesterday probably had something to do with it, and also his knee. Also in general with the passing game, haven’t been that many explosive plays with passing. Just what you see going on there. (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we’re doing everything we can do to win each football game. I think you saw yesterday we were able to win the turnover battle. We were able to take care of the ball in the elements.

They had some turnovers that we were able to create yesterday. So, again, you do everything you can do to win each and every game. There is going to be a game that we’re going to have to throw a bunch, and there’s going to be a game we have to run a bunch.

Again, I wouldn’t say I have a level of concern of anything there. I know we’re able to win both ways. I know we can win passing the ball. I know we can win running the ball. Just so happens a little bit more this year, we’ve won running the football.

We’re in this position now to play in the NFC Championship Game, which is special. I know we’ve got the right people in place all the way on our offense, our coaches. Yeah, we’re doing what we need to do to win each game.

Like I said, if that means throw it 50 times, we’ll do that. If it means run it 50 times, we’ll do that as well.

Q. How did QB Jalen Hurts and CB Quinyon Mitchell come out 24 hours later? And then at backup quarterback for the playoffs, what made you decide to stick with QB Kenny Pickett? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, we’ll have more information for you. Obviously still going through the process of the day here. I know those guys will do everything they can do to be at their top part of their game on Sunday. I’m confident in our training staff. I’m confident in those guys. We’ll see how that goes as the week goes on.

As far as the backup quarterback goes, [QB] Kenny [Pickett] played really well when he was in, and [QB] Tanner [McKee] played really well when he was in. Makes you have tough decisions, and that’s a good thing to have.

But the entire year, Kenny was our backup. When he played, I thought he did a really nice job and put us in positions to win games. When Tanner played, he did a really nice job and put us in positions to win games.

We have three guys that we’re so excited to have on this roster.

Q. QB Jalen Hurts will throw the ball away when he’s out of the pocket, but rarely from within the pocket. Is there a team philosophy against that? Also when he doesn’t like what he sees downfield, obviously you don’t want to take away his ability to scramble, but how do you balance that versus chucking it at somebody’s feet and living to see another day? (Jimmy Kempski)

NICK SIRIANNI: That’s a good question. If you throw the ball away when you’re in the pocket and you’re under duress in the pocket and there is nobody there, it’s going to count as a sack anyway.

I think you’ll probably see more quarterbacks have throwaways when they’re on the run more so than when they’re in the pocket. Jalen has a unique ability that when something happens within the play concept, whether that is a breakdown in protection, whether that’s somebody not getting open, whether that’s our coaching error of not getting guys open in a particular spot, whether it’s a misread, whatever it is, he has this unique ability to get out of trouble and create plays.

I think what you see is, it’s easy to look at, oh, ‘He got sacked this many times’ or ‘He got sacked that many times’ and not account for all the rushing yards that he’s had when he’s been able to extend. It happened three or four times yesterday when one of those things happened that I mentioned.

Again, whether it was a breakdown, whether it was a coaching error, whether it was a receiver not getting open, whatever it was, where he scrambled and got a big play out of it and got a positive play out of it.

So you’re going to have a little bit of that balance that there will be times where they finish on the sack as well. And it’s got to be a balance, right? But I know how many plays he’s made with his feet. That doesn’t mean you just extend and make a play running. It’s also the ones that he extends and throws and finds the guy down the field.

Conditions yesterday were sloppy, as we know, with the way the field was. Both teams had to play in it. Their pass rush did a good job, too. I thought our O-line did a really nice job protecting. We had a couple breakdowns here and there. But again, like I said, just like when you make a big play, like Saquon’s run, it’s not just on Saquon. It took everybody.

It’s the same thing when there is a sack. It’s on everybody. It’s every part, coaches, players. It’s just the greatest team sport there is. You can’t pin it on anything. Like I said, I know he takes some heat sometimes about taking sacks, but we don’t account for all the times he makes big plays out of it as well.

It’s just a unique ability that he has. There are not a lot of the guys that have it. He’s unique in that and has an unbelievable feel of how to extend plays. And, again, the efficiency that he’s playing quarterback with and the way he’s taking care of the football gives us a chance to win every single week.