Nick Sirianni

Q. Yesterday, the team put out a video of you giving a team meeting. You said to the team, ‘Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us.’ I was curious why you decided this week was the week to deliver that message? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

NICK SIRIANNI: One thing I talked about on Saturday was like, hey, there are always going to be these keys. But in football, it’s always going to come down to who’s the toughest. It’s always going to come down to who is most detailed. And it’s always going to come down to who has the best team. And I don’t mean players, I mean team, right? That’s just never going to change in football.

That was just one of the things I used to talk about team. I talked a little bit about detail. I talked a little bit about toughness. That was one thing that I used for team. I actually got that from [WR] Johnny Wilson. He had a shirt on that said that. I thought it was pretty cool.

Q. Speaking of toughness, RB Saquon Barkley’s done it, WR DeVonta Smith has done it, WR A.J. Brown does it all the time, finishing off runs near the sideline. How do you teach your receivers to not put themselves in a situation where they could get hurt or lose the ball by continuing their runs after the catch? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you want to be physically tough in everything that you do. There’s a time and place to step out of bounds. There’s a time and place to put your head down and finish the run.

When you do put your head down and finish the run, it brings a lot of energy to the sideline, it brings a lot of energy to the game. Just like a big-time catch would [with] the energy that happens on the sideline.

We show those. We actually show those and are like, ‘Here’s our standard of how we finish on the sideline.’ Now, I’ve had receivers that were smaller receivers that I didn’t want to do that at all times. But [WR] DeVonta [Smith] is so tough, [WR] A.J. [Brown] is tough, [RB] Saquon [Barkley] is tough, [TE] Dallas [Goedert]. I think if you really go back and look at all of Dallas’s clips, when he has an opportunity to go out of bounds or be violent on the sidelines, he’s choosing to be violent. And it sparks your team. It’s like a big hit.

I think a similar question would be how do you teach a guy to knock the crap out of somebody or just get him down, right? It’s the same deal.

As far as the ball security goes, you’re always thinking about how you have the ball on your outside arm. That way you can do what you need to do on the sideline. If you have the ball on your inside arm, it’s hard to play pound on the sideline, or it’s hard to use your stiff arm on the sideline. We always teach the ball security of having it on your outside arm. That way if you do have a fumbling issue, something that pops out, at least it pops out to the side, where the out of bounds is.

Q. You mentioned on the radio that former Eagles and current Jaguars Head Coach Doug Pederson was helpful to you during your transition to head coach. Can you expand on that a little bit? In what ways was he helpful? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, I always want to keep conversations that I have with other people private. I just felt like he was helpful to me with people on the roster, and how the building is, and just everything.

It’s just something that I always admired. I always try to put myself in that scenario, and I’m like, would I help? I don’t know. I just don’t know if I have that in me to do that. I admire people that do.

I’m teasing when I say that. Hopefully I can pay that back for other coaches. I think that’s what’s cool about the coaching fraternity, we all got here because of other coaches and the time that they put into us to help us get better. We need to pay that forward.

I always admired [former Eagles and current Jaguars Head Coach] Doug [Pederson] for that. And I’ll try to do the same.

Q. You talk about the physicality of your team. Does that come from an emphasis on it, or does it come from just having players who are physical? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: Both. Definitely both. I think it starts, for sure, with having players that are physical. But everything you want to be has to be emphasized. If you want to be a team that protects the ball well, you’ve got to emphasize it.

Just like I’m talking about with the clips on the sideline. I’m going to show [WR DeVonta Smith] Smitty lowering his shoulder on the sideline and finishing the run. I know that’s just one piece of it. We’re talking about the finishing on the sideline. That’s just one piece of it.

The slice block where you come across the line of scrimmage and the tight end has to throw his body into a defensive end. That’s part of it. It’s hard to turn it off and say, ‘Okay, on this, I’m going to be super tough. On this, I’m not.’

I have the picture of [TE] Grant [Calcaterra] in my office now of the New Orleans game where he came across and threw his body into the defensive end to allow Saquon to score the touchdown that helped put us up. You talk about that with the way you’re physical as blockers, the way you tackle, the way you get off blocks.

Getting off blocks is a football thing. It’s something that is designed. You have to strike somebody in the chest. And not only that, you have to take your hands, and throw them off you, and finish with an arm rip or whatever you need to do, hand swipes to finish, to be able to go tackle the ball carrier. Everything in football has to do with this.

Again, if I talk about football and it’s always about team, it’s always about physicality, it’s always about detail, then I have to emphasize that.

Again, make no mistake about it, we look for that. [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] and I talk about that all the time. We’re looking for players that are physical football players because we know this is a physical game.

I always feel like we’ve played our best here when we’ve really set the tone physically. But you can’t do that without the players that we have. I do think it’s a both-and. All the credit goes to the players because they’re the ones out there doing that with their body.

Q. In the past, you guys suffered when TE Dallas Goedert went down, receiving yards-wise from your tight end position. TE Grant Calcaterra has obviously picked that up. Was there something you saw from him through training camp or the off-season that has led him to be able to contribute that way? (Bob Brookover)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think it all started with Grant when we first got him and what we liked so much about him. I remember the rookie mini camp, Grant made some really unbelievable plays in rookie mini camp. We were like, yeah, we got something here. And we thought that. That’s obviously why we drafted him from his tape.

In opportunities that he’s had here and there, he’s made the most of them. I think he just had an outstanding off-season. The OTAs portion of it, I think we started to have more and more faith in Grant because of the work he put in, because of the development he had done. [Tight Ends Coach] Jason Michaels has done a great job of helping him develop. Grant has done a great job of developing himself. Dallas takes big pride in helping his teammates become better.

And then he had a good training camp. Now he has this opportunity, with Dallas down, to have some balls thrown to him. He’s done a really nice job.

Again, guys taking advantage of their opportunities is huge. Not only for your football team because guys are going to go down. [T] Fred [Johnson] has stepped in and done a nice job, [G/T] Tyler Steen stepped in and did a nice job, Grant, [CB] Isaiah [Rodgers]. It’s huge for your football team, but it’s also huge for these guys and their careers moving forward.

Q. On G/T Tyler Steen, you entered training camp on right guard saying you didn’t have to make a decision. You’ve gotten offensive production with G/T Mekhi Becton or G/T Tyler Steen in there. How do you view that position when they’re both in the game, and how do you view that position now, seven games into the season? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: We have great depth. Again, credit to [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] and his staff for the guys that they brought in here. Credit to [Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland] Coach Stout to developing that, and [Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore] to help develop that talent. And credit to the guys being ready to step in.

I think [G/T] Mekhi [Becton] has been playing really good football. Tyler played a really good game. Tyler played a good game last year when he stepped in and helped us win a division game last year.

I have a lot of faith in both of them. Those guys having those combo blocks with [T] Lane [Johnson] have been exciting to watch. When those guys have combo blocks with [C] Cam [Jurgens], they’ve been exciting to watch. Again, going back to the physicality of how those guys play.

Q. You just mentioned all the backups who have had to play bigger roles. How do you get guys to buy into being backups and preparing like they’re going to play, even though they might not? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: You talk about it. I think, first and foremost, you tell everybody what their role is. I think that’s just the honesty of being like hey, here is what your role is. But understanding in this game that at any moment, at any time, your role can change, and you could have an elevated role. You could also have a decreased role if you’re not performing the way you need to at practice.

We talk a lot about practice, and how you get better is that high intensity of practice. For instance, Tyler is going against [DT] Jalen Carter, [DT] Jordan Davis, [DT] Milton Williams in practice frequently on the scout team to help them get ready, but also to help himself get better.

Then, you really celebrate it when the guys do come in and they perform. I think back a long time, [T/G] Jack Driscoll stepped in and played some meaningful games for us that helped us win a lot of football games. [Former Eagles and current Steelers G] Nate Herbig, a name from the past that helped us. The list goes. [G] Landon [Dickerson] wasn’t starting right away. And then he came in, and he ran with that. Cam, right? The stories are endless.

Again, you talk a lot about controlling what you can control. You didn’t win this starting job, but now control what you can control and continue to get better. When your number is called, you’ve got to take advantage of that by the preparation.

You never really know when that’s going to happen, so you’ve always got to be prepared. That’s why every week is so critical of putting your head down and working and not worrying about anything else other than the things you can control.

Shoot, I think if you talk to our players, I think that’d be something they would say a bunch. You create a culture and you create a mindset of all these things that are important. I think that’s been one thing that’s been really important.

Q. Some of QB Jalen Hurts’s completions were late into his progressions. Did you notice that – (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Like number two, three, four receiver?

Q. Yes. Have you guys been working on helping him in that regard? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think that is just him getting through his read and getting to the guy that’s open. You always want to be on attack, and you always want to go to where you want to throw the ball, but that’s not the reality of playing quarterback.

I thought it was really good. I thought what he did really well, particularly in this game, was when he had that time. I think there was one where he hit A.J. over the middle that he had to hold onto and let the second window clear. That doesn’t happen without the protection of the offensive line and the run action of the running back and the quarterback.

Then just from that, it’s just something that we’ve seen him do, particularly in practice. I know last week, he got down to his check-down multiple times. It’s awesome when it shows up in the game.

Again, he’s playing quarterback at a high level. Playing quarterback at a high level is not just throwing the ball accurately, it’s going to the right place with the ball. The right place with the ball could be their third or fourth read.

Q. On the conversation on specific roles, what is WR Jahan Dotson’s role? (Bo Wulf)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, I don’t get into with you guys, ‘This is this person’s role.’ That’s something that I have with our team of, ‘This is what your role is, this is what your job description is, this is what we need you to do.’

What I will say, though, is that I know the ball didn’t come to [WR] Jahan [Dotson] on Sunday, but I did notice him blocking his butt off and helping our run game go. There’s a play on Saquon’s bubble that we threw to him that he got a block, played tough and strong, and was able to get that block.

I see him improving every day, just being around the guys that he’s around. [Wide Receivers Coach] Aaron Moorehead is doing a good job, and he’s doing a good job of getting better.

Q. When former Eagles and current Jaguars Head Coach Doug Pederson was helping you out with the roster, did you get a sense of how excited he was, or if he was excited, about QB Jalen Hurts’s future? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, that was a long time ago. I don’t want to get too much into the conversation.

Again, Doug helped me just talk through things. Other coaches, everything. I don’t want to get too much into that conversation.

You’ll have to ask Doug. I think he thought Jalen was pretty darn good, though.

Q. Last year, you said point differential is not something you pay as much attention to. But these double-digit wins from an isolated game perspective, does that matter? Do you think that says something about a team, when it can win big? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think we look a lot at things like man, that team won a really gritty game. And we celebrate that. And I think we celebrate times when you win by a couple scores, and you’re able to get your starters out.

A win is a win. They’re hard to come by in this league. Right now, we’ve got five of them. We’ve got two non-wins. We’re going to continue to try to work this week to get the sixth one.

Q. You mentioned C Cam Jurgens a couple times. Somewhat large sample size now. He had big shoes to fill. We don’t even talk about him now because he’s playing so well. Anything surprise you about C Cam Jurgens and his ability to step into that role? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think there weren’t questions on Cam being able to do that role because we got to see him play last year.

That was a really unique thing that Cam was able to go through. Being [former Eagles C] Jason [Kelce]’s backup for a year, then playing alongside Jason, then taking Jason’s spot when Jason retired.

I think we all expected Cam to do this because we’ve seen him play at a high level. It was going to be a little different that he’s playing a different position.

Yeah, no surprises on our end. Really pumped about how Cam is playing. Just got to keep going.

Q. After the Bengals game, QB Jalen Hurts talked about the desire to have more of an imposing mentality as a team. He said it’s something that he’s been pushing for. What is an example of how he’s pushed for that? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, ‘imposing’. I think we’ve talked a lot about that with our physicality and how we go about trying to win games. Like I said, every time we’ve been good here and played at our best, we’ve been a physical football team because of the men in the room.

We’re constantly talking to Jalen, and Jalen is constantly talking to us about what he’s comfortable with, what he feels good about. You’re just always trying to put him in positions to succeed.

I think it’s just the conversations you have throughout the week with the quarterback and coaches.