Nick Sirianni

Q. Through six games, you guys had two takeaways. The last 10 games, you have 23. What factors do you think went into the turnaround in that area? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: We sure spent a lot of time on that. On takeaways, on protecting the football. It’s an emphasis in every meeting that we have. Every time they’re out on the field, guys are doing a great job of getting after the ball.

And sometimes that’s just the way this goes. You have a streak where you open up some turnovers, guys get confidence on how to do it and the techniques and all those different things that play into it. You just kind of get on a roll, and I guess that’s kind of what happened.

Q. Now that you guys are locked into the 2 seed, have you made a decision if you’re going to play the starters next week and give RB Saquon Barkley a chance to set the record? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

NICK SIRIANNI: Still not there. Obviously I gave the players off today. They’ll be back in a couple days. By the next time I talk to you, they’ll be back in. So I’ll always inform them before I inform anyone else.

I know you guys are going to want that answer as soon as you guys can get it. I’ll try to help you guys do your job as much as I possibly can, but I’ll always inform our players of things first. But still sorting through things right now at this particular moment.

Q. Is QB Jalen Hurts yet out of concussion protocol? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: No new information there. Haven’t met with our medical team yet. Still going through our game evaluations today, and then we’ll move on here to the Giants. But no new news for you guys on the injury front.

Q. If he does come out this week, I know you say you haven’t made a decision, but what do you weigh in a final game? Him being out this past game, going into the playoffs, whether you think he needs on-game experience before getting into the playoffs? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: You take everything into account. Try to do the best thing for the team and try to do the best thing for each individual player as well. So that’s where we’ll be. No decisions yet on anything.

Q. How do you guys attack this week? You have one of two potential playoff opponents in the Packers and the Commanders and obviously the Giants in Week 18. How do you sort of divvy up those responsibilities as you’re looking ahead towards the playoffs? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: Getting ready for the Giants. Everything we need to do in a normal week, we’ve got to do this week and get ready to play the Giants on Sunday.

Q. You don’t do advanced work this week? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: We take one day at a time, one week at a time. Getting ready for the Giants.

Q. I want to ask you about C Cam Jurgens. I know the season started with a lot of questions about former Eagles C Jason Kelce retiring and how C Cam Jurgens would do. Now that you’ve had a full season with him as the starting center, what are your thoughts about him, and how he’s played, and how he’s been able to fill those shoes? (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think he’s done a really nice job. It’s never easy to replace a legend, which we all know how special of a player and leader [former Eagles C] Jason Kelce was. So he’s had to step in and fill those shoes, and I think he’s done a really nice job.

Obviously you look at everything first. You look at having 13 wins. [C] Cam [Jurgens] is the center of a 13-win football team. He’s got to play good for that to happen. He’s played good for us to be able to do that.

You’ve got a 2,000-yard rusher, which is special. The center’s got to play good for that to happen as well.

I think all the writing is on the wall of how good of football he’s played and all the good things he’s done based off what this team has done. And never easy to do what he had to do there, but he’s really played good football through these 16 games.

Q. QB Kenny Pickett said after the game that he was going to get more tests done on his ribs. How is he doing, and does his injury give you any pause about playing him for any amount of time against the Giants this weekend? (Olivia Reiner)

NICK SIRIANNI: We’ll see where he is as the week continues. Again, haven’t met with him yet on the injuries or anything like that. So I’ll have more information for you the next time we talk. But [QB] Kenny [Pickett] sure showed toughness to be able to go out there.

He was able to go out there and play really good football to help us win that football game through something that is very painful. It just shows you how tough of a competitor he is and how tough of a person he is that he went out and did those things.

So, really excited for him of how he played. And I’m sure he’s sore. I’ll let him answer that. Again, I don’t have that information. But I’m sure he is.

All I can say is we’ve got a group of tough football players in here, and that shows in a lot of different ways. That shows through your mental toughness, your physical toughness, and your ability to play through things and play through pain. At this point in the year, everyone’s playing through pain. But Kenny, really just a special performance through the circumstances.

Q. This week, if you’re able to get some second- and third-string players snaps, what’s the value in that for them and also for the team? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, I don’t know where we are with that yet. But anytime anybody’s able to play game reps and meaningful snaps in the NFL, that’s huge. It gives you an evaluation process. It gives those guys an opportunity that haven’t gotten an opportunity to play to play meaningful reps.

That’s always huge when you can do that. Like I said, we’ll see where we are with that, but a good opportunity if that is the way we go.

Q. This is your fourth time coming to the end of the season, reaching the playoffs. Understand you’ve got Week 18 to go. But you’ve been in different circumstances. How much of your approach has changed over the years, or has it? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: You try to grow each year and each day that you go through this thing. Try to get better from the mistakes that you’ve made and try to even get better from the good things you felt like you’ve done.

My message to the guys is constantly grow every single day. I’m not just saying that to those guys; I’m saying that to myself, I’m saying that to our staff – players, coaches, and myself.

You think that you go through this enough and you go through these things – you’re never going to have it all figured out, that’s for darn sure. You’re learning something new every day on this job.

But it’s just a matter of, can you get better from all those things each and every day? Every day I’m on this job, I feel like I’ve gotten a little better each day. So I guess to answer that, I’m four years better, I guess is what I’m saying.

Q. Getting back to QB Tanner McKee, obviously he was able to get into the game the other day. How important is that for his development, obviously since he really hadn’t gotten into a game in just about two full seasons? And what did you think about the way he played? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Obviously he had, what, 3-for-4 with two touchdowns. That’s pretty darn good. Then threw another one that [WR] A.J. [Brown] made probably one of the best catches I’ve ever seen on. He just happened to be a little bit out of bounds, but the ball was in the right place. He went [to] the right place with the football.

Accurate with the football. Ran our offense well. Got us in and out of checks. Was sound with his communication at the line of scrimmage and in the huddle. He did a lot of good things.

Anytime these guys get to play in these situations, in game situations – and preseason, you do your best to simulate that, but it’s huge when you’re able to get one of these 17 games in and play in that. So anytime any player’s able to do that, that’s huge, especially at the quarterback position.

So, [QB] Tanner [McKee] did a lot of really good things as I mentioned, and we’re excited about him. We’re excited about him and Kenny.

Really love that room with [QB] Jalen [Hurts] and those two guys being his backups. Really have a lot of respect for that room and how they’ve been able to continue to get better as the year’s progressed.

Q. CB Darius Slay said that QB Kenny Pickett’s ribs were broken yesterday after the game. I know he’s not a doctor, but is that the case? (Bob Brookover)

NICK SIRIANNI: Kenny was hurting. He had rib issues. Yeah, I mean, he was dealing with rib pain for sure.

Q. The other thing I wanted to ask you, you’ve had decisions to make at the last game of the season all four years here now. Your first year, you guys couldn’t improve any on the seeding. The other two years, you were still alive for something. How much did those things play into those decisions at that time? (Bob Brookover)

NICK SIRIANNI: Every year is a little different and every team is different. I believe that first year, we were locked into the 7 seed. So we decided to do what we did in that game.

In ’22, if I remember right, we were playing still to win the division and the 1 seed at that particular time. I think we had won 13 games at that point and Dallas had won 12. And I think Dallas lost at the end of the year and we won. But we had to win that game to get the 1 seed and get the division. So a little different scenario there. The Giants rested players in that game, if I remember correctly.

Last year, there was still a chance that we could have won the division. In that, it was kind of a little bit like ’22 because we still could have won the division there had the Cowboys lost and had we won. So it was kind of the flip there.

And this year, we’re locked into the 2 seed.

Every year has been a little different. I would say it’s still not handbook of, ‘Hey, if we’re in this, I’m going to do that,’ and ‘If we’re in this, we’ll do that.’ Every team is a little bit different. Every year is a little bit different.

The situation may be similar. You use those past experiences to help you. But you’ve got to feel where your team is and those different things to make the best decision for the 2024 Eagles and the individuals on that team.

Q. What went into the decision to have K Jake Elliott handle kickoffs? And do you think suggesting that P Braden Mann would remain the kicker on Friday played a role in the success you guys had kicking off? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: With that right there, we knew we had a big job to do with [Cowboys WR KaVontae] Turpin back there. He is a special, special football player. So we wanted to do something there with some of the ball placements that we were doing and where the ball was getting kicked.

We thought [K] Jake [Elliott] gave us the best opportunity to do that.

And I can’t say enough of how good the special teams unit – Turpin was able to get out of there one time, and they had a hold on that play to help him do that. But he’s a dangerous player, and for us to do what we did on kickoffs with all the kickoffs we had to limit his big-play ability, and also on the punts, I think [P] Braden [Mann] and Jake did an excellent job there. And our kickoff units and punt units there.

So, again, really was really pleased with the way the special teams units went out there. And anytime you have a player like that on the other side of the ball, you’ve got sleepless nights as a coach, and you’re thinking about that an awful lot.

So anytime you’re able to do that against one of the players like Turpin in this league, hats off to our special teams guys, special teams coaches – [Special Teams Coordinator] Coach [Michael] Clay, [Special Teams Assistant] Coach [Tyler] Brown, [Assistant Special Teams Coordinator] Coach [Joe] Pannunzio. Great job by them, and then great job by our players for going out and executing.