Nick Sirianni

Q. There was a report that QB Jalen Hurts got pretty limited sleep the night before the game in London. I was wondering if you could take us behind the decision, between the limited sleep and being diagnosed with the blood clot the day before, why you felt it was safe he could play in that game. (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

Nick Sirianni: With all that, I think that reporter [that] put that out came out with another report. I know you guys saw that. The health of our players is always at the forefront of our minds, and we leave that up to the medical experts, but we always, always care deeply about our players. When you are completely focused on together and connection, you’re always thinking about the well-being of your guys, and that’s where we were in that situation.

Q. Just to sort of wrap that up, and I know you don’t want to go backward, but QB Jalen Hurts and the lack of rest, even though he was able to get some sleep at the stadium, it is a very mentally draining position. Did that affect the game planning in that game when it came to scaling things back? (John McMullen)

Nick Sirianni: I think we’ve talked about that. You go through the game plan the way you go through it every single week. Everything in that game plan was thought through the entire week. Then, you’re also thinking about the things that go into the game as well. I don’t think that had any effect on how we game planned or anything like that.

Q. Understanding that your number one priority is care for the players, I was just wondering if there’s anything you feel like you guys could have done differently or should have done differently during the whole ordeal. (Reuben Frank)

Nick Sirianni: Guys, I’m not a medical expert. I lean on our guys in all those situations. I’m a football coach. I lean on our medical experts in every situation. I have full trust and full faith in them. It’s not just me that has major care for our players; it’s them as well. We are all there, and I’m glad to be part of an organization that cares about the guys the way our guys do.

Q. Why was QB Jalen Hurts allowed to fly home despite the team knowing that he had a blood clot? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: Again, I’m not a medical expert. Same deal there. We get medical information from our guys, and we always put the players’ health first and foremost in every situation, and that’s where we were there.

Q. Were you briefed by the medical team before you did this press conference on why he was permitted to fly despite the blood clot? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: Yeah, guys, I talk to them a lot —

Q. Can you give us the information? As a spokesman of the team, we’re just hoping you give us some information for the public. Thank you. (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: Guys, I’ve addressed this. I’ve talked to you guys about this. Again, the medical experts are there, and I think I’ve answered this question multiple times. We put out a statement for you guys to [have], put out multiple statements for you guys to [have]. I told you guys that last week that I was going to leave it at that with where we were on that because we put out a detailed statement for you guys to hear and to understand.

Q. I understand you’re not the expert on the medical side. I’m just curious who was all a part of that conversation, people that you’re listening to, to trust who — Is there any clarity you can give on that? (Brooks Kubena)

Nick Sirianni: I understand that you want this information on this. I fully trust the people that are involved in helping us all make these decisions, and we have great people here. We’ve had the same — I think I’ll put it this way, the same doctors and trainers that helped 21 of our 22 starters be available in the Super Bowl are the same guys today that deeply care about our guys to help them.

Again, don’t have much more to say about that. That’s why we put the statement out, and also [have] full trust in those guys and always, always, always the players’ health is at the forefront of our mind. I don’t know — That again goes down to our connection and our team, kind of feels like you’re questioning that. I know you guys have a job to do, but I’ve got the relationship with the players that I have because of the time that we spend together and because of the care that we have for each other. It’s always at the forefront of our mind. Again, I get all the questions. I know you guys have questions about this, but we care deeply about our guys.

Q. Given how much the defense has had to play in recent weeks, is there any concern that the offense’s struggles to stay on the field could cause some sort of a rift within the team? (Dave Zangaro)

Nick Sirianni: This is why it’s so important. There are ups and downs in every season. Obviously, we are in a rut right now. I don’t think there’s any question [about] that. We’re in a rut. This is why you work in the offseason to come together, because every team is going to go through ups and downs here and it’s important to have that relationship and build those relationships so when you go through down times, it doesn’t tear you apart. You’re banking all those reps of togetherness and the things that you’re working on there to pull you through these tough times. In tough times, you have to double down on the things that you can control, the things you can control [are] all the things that we talk about on a daily basis that you’ve heard me say ad nauseum.

In this great game of football, nobody’s on an island. No coach is on an island, no player is on an island, not one side of the ball is on an island. It is about locking arms in these scenarios. That’s my job as a head coach, to get us to lock arms in these scenarios and fight through it together because without your teammates, it’s tough. That’s why, again, you have all the bank reps of togetherness and the connection pieces and the dinners and the talks in the locker room, whatever it may be, to pull you through these tough times.

Q. With QB Tanner McKee being the quarterback presumably now for the rest of the season, what kind of things, or how does the offense have to change or evolve to better suit his skill set as opposed to what you guys have been doing for QB Jalen Hurts? (Martin Frank)

Nick Sirianni: Every time you go into a game plan, you’re looking to see how you can attack a defense. You’re looking to see the things that you do well and try to repeat those things. You’re looking to see what your players do well and try to repeat those things. There’s a little percentage of that each and every week. Of course, with change of different positions comes slightly different things, but there’s still the — I think I answered this for you guys last week, but you still have your core things that you want to be able to do and the things you do well that you want to be able to do, and you’re trying to repeat those things. Of course you’re always looking at your players. I think it always starts there of what your players do well and try to repeat that and do those things because they’ve got to go out there and function at a high level against the best in the world.

Q. How is QB Jalen Hurts doing and how did he take the news that he would be out for the year? (Tim McManus)

Nick Sirianni: I’ll let you guys — I always talk to our guys, and I never put our conversations out there. I think you guys can understand that. [Those are] private conversations [between] myself and him. I can just say to you, I haven’t been without Jalen for an extended period of time. I have the utmost confidence in Tanner, but I miss him. I miss him and I know that will be the case because Jalen and I have been together, head coach and quarterback for six years, so that’s natural – Or, five and a half or however many. That’s natural right there, but I don’t want to speak for him in any sense of the matter, but I just deeply care about him and hope that he continues to improve with what he’s going through.

Q. With Sean Mannion at offensive coordinator, what’s your confidence level in him as he tries to lead this thing with Tanner McKee at quarterback? And from what you’ve seen from him through six games, where is your confidence level in Sean? (Johnny McGonigal)

Nick Sirianni: I have a high confidence level in everybody in this building. Sean, that’s why I hired him, the position coaches, the players. Right now, we’re in a rough spot as we know. It is about controlling the things that you can control in this moment and figuring out what the next steps are. I think we’ve got to find out what the things are that we have to get better at and what we have to do well or what we do well. That’s what these next two days are for, and we get an extra day here on this end, but my confidence level in our guys is high. I know you guys only get to see a portion of this with the game and that’s the thing that counts the most, obviously, but there are other reasons for hope and why I feel that way with how these guys show me who they are on a daily basis. Like I said before, no man is on an island in the game of football.

Even when we talk about corners and it’s like, whatever island, I think Q [CB Quinyon Mitchell] has an island named like [former NFL CB Darrelle] Revis. They still need their teammates to go out and rush the passer, you know what I mean? It’s like that with everybody, right? Coaches aren’t on an island, players aren’t on an island, one side of the ball, special team’s is not on an island, offense isn’t on an island. We do this thing together, that’s why it’s the ultimate team game. We have to fight the urge to let — because I get it, everybody wants an answer of exactly what’s going on and how do you fix that and how do you do that? It’s not just one thing. We have to be able to look ourselves in the mirror. It’s so important for a football team to not fall into the trap that it’s just one thing. We all have a hand in it. We all have a part in it.

It’s just like the other portion of it, when you play well and everyone’s telling you how good you are, it’s the same thing in this. When you play well, it’s a trap to say, ‘Hey, you’re playing really good, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ Now you’ve got to refocus on the next game. There’s a trap when you’re not playing so good and not coaching so good. The danger of that trap is, ‘Hey, it’s this guy’s fault. It’s that guy’s fault.’ That’s not football. Everybody in this building has to fight that urge that is going to be fed to us. We all have a portion in it. We all have a hand in the wins. We all have a hand in the losses. Right now, with four losses in a row, we all have a hand in that, and we all have to get better and it’s never just one thing.

Q.  If I can ask directly, is Offensive Coordinator Sean Mannion still calling plays going forward? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: Yes.

Q. You said everything’s on the table yesterday. What is different going forward? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: Again, not going to get into too much of that. Obviously, we are looking at everything, right? Again, I think those are conversations that I’ve had with the staff this whole morning and everything’s on the table. ‘Oh, but we’ve done this.’ ‘Yeah. Well, maybe this isn’t working quite as good.’ ‘All right, so this is on the table.’ Without getting too much into scheme, I’m saying to you, obviously it hasn’t looked the way we wanted it to look and we’re not scoring enough points. So, everything is on the table. Again, I’ll do everything we can do. Our coaches will do everything we can do to help us win football games. If I said, ‘Hey, this is all on the table, but this isn’t,’ everything’s on the table. As far as who’s coaching the positions and who’s calling the plays, that will remain the same. We’re looking for answers and we’re looking for solutions.