Nick Sirianni

Q. Do you have any update on CB Darius Slay and CB Avonte Maddox? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: They’re day-to-day. Both of them are day-to-day. We’re just going through the process of in the training room and everything like that. But they’re both day-to-day. We’ll see what happens as the week goes on.

Q. You said Monday you’d have something on G Brandon Books today. Do you have any update? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: No new update. I’m sorry. I got nothing new there for you. Again, we’ll see as the week goes on. I think he’s doing well.

Again, he’s in there in the training room, he’s still in meetings. Just like seeing him every day in those meetings because he gives good perspective to what’s going on.

Q. DE Josh Sweat and OL Landon Dickerson also seemed like they got banged up on Sunday. (Bo Wulf)

NICK SIRIANNI: Josh is in the concussion protocol right now. And then Landon is good. Landon will be all right.

Q. We saw TE Tyree Jackson get his feet wet a little bit last week, 14 snaps or so. What kind of role do you envision for him over these next eight games? (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, we did some things out of 13-personnel that game. And so, that gave us an opportunity to play all three of the tight ends with [TE] Jack [Stoll], and [TE] Dallas [Goedert], and Tyree.

Jack’s coming along nice. And so, we still want to continue to get him reps. But with Tyree, again, that’s something that we have that a lot of teams don’t know what Tyree is or what he can do. So, we’ll keep that close to our vest.

Q. We saw the Chargers call time-out when you had him out there on the goal line. (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: You know what, I think what they thought when we put in the two tight ends, I think they thought we might have been in 12-personnel.

I just know it from being on headsets for a long time. You throw two tight ends out there, you don’t see the back come off, you think that probably thought, hey, they got 12-personnel in, and it was — we really were in 0-2 personnel. And so, that was probably the confusion right there.

Q. You guys reported that you activated RB Jordan Howard to the 53. What has he kind of given you, especially the last two weeks with RB Miles Sanders out? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: He’s done his job when he’s went in there. He’s hit the holes nice and downhill. And he’s a big man.

And to have to tackle him — what did he have, 19, 17 carries? To have to tackle him 17 times in a game, that will wear a defense down.

And so, he’s just given us a good spark there in the run game and the way that he runs hard and he’s just being himself.

And so, running hard, seeing the hole, hitting the hole, and being hard to tackle because he’s a big man.

Q. As an offensive coach, what does Broncos Head Coach Vic Fangio — he’s been doing it for so long. What couple things does he do that makes things so difficult for offenses? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: I’ve probably been on teams that have played him a handful of times. And so, you always go back and look at all those tapes and your notes and everything like that.

I always think with him, you see where they are ranked in run defense, they’re always going to try to stop the run first.

And he does a good job of that, of taking away the run game or trying to take away the run game and do the things he needs to do to do that. There’s a lot of different ways to do that.

And so, you always see his guys play hard. So, the team probably really follows him. I haven’t been around him, but probably a good leader.

They play hard. They’re technically sound. Again, any time I kind of think about, ‘What do I want another coach to think about my team,’ I always want them to think we’re fundamentally sound because I just think that’s the biggest compliment you can give somebody. So, I always see his teams being fundamentally sound, stopping the run, and playing hard.

Q. You spoke about how the offense has changed and evolved here. What prompted that and why wasn’t the offense something where in other situations, you said, ‘We’re going to double down on what we do.’ Why was the offense not that case and you did make that change? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Well, that’s a process. I don’t think — again, you’re never going to say, ‘I’m going to double down on scheme,’ because scheme changes based off who your players are over and over and over.

And so, that’s not something that typically happens overnight, right? There’s an evolution to it and there’s a process to get to it.

And so, sometimes the answer comes fast, sometimes it doesn’t. And that’s just been my — you know, you want it to come as fast as you possibly can get, you want it to come in the offseason. That’s just not a reality sometimes.

And, again, I think what I’ve said in the past, is, like, schedules can change, schemes can change, et cetera. You know, some of those things can change.

But here are the things we’re doubling down on. That, to me, is never scheme. Because scheme is just always about who your players are, what they can do, figuring out who you are as you go.

And so, that’s something that can change and that — I don’t want to say you don’t double down on it. You double down on figuring out what your players can do well.

Q. You said that QB Jalen Hurts made some plays that you didn’t think other quarterbacks could make in that game. Which plays were thinking about and what skill set does he have that you think others don’t? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: Some of the things he did when he escaped the pocket on some of those third downs, there was — particularly, you think about the one play where he did the flip over the top of [Chargers LB Drue] Tranquill and made a really nice play there.

You think about the one where they went blitz zero on us and this was one he scrambled. [Chargers OLB Joey] Bosa came free off the edge, just because we couldn’t block everybody, they brought one more than you could block. Bosa came free off the edge, he spun around and got a big play off the sideline.

I mean, those are things that are — it’s tough. They had every gap filled and you had an all-pro guy coming off the edge free, that he made him miss.

And so, those are the two that really stick out in my mind. Again, I thought he did a good job delivering the football. And 11 of 17 with a good quarterback rating. I’m not sure what it was — 115, maybe.

And so, he did a good job of playing quarterback and doing things, but — and so, he made some strikes when he needed to. He had a good throw to [WR] DeVonta [Smith] on the sideline. Or DeVonta slipped the tackle and went out that he threw it on really good rhythm.

But it was those couple plays that’s just with his feet, those are plays that I know a lot of guys can’t make in this league. And he made it and he made it look — I don’t want to say he made it easy, because it wasn’t easy.

But he just has so much athleticism to get around there. Again, when Bosa comes free, again, it’s not like you can pick and choose when a team goes blitz zero who comes free, you protect the inside first, and the outside guys come free. And it was Bosa.

And I was around Bosa for two years and seen him make a heck of a lot of plays. There was no shortage of tape that we watched last week, and we saw him make a ton of plays. A ton of respect for him. But unbelievable play by Jalen.

Q. When you evaluate Jalen Hurts, how do you weigh those plays he makes with his legs versus his ability to pass the ball? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, it’s not going to always look normal, I guess to say. It’s going to look different. But he’s being very efficient with the football.

And so, again, we talk about this all the time. There’s going to be sometimes where you are going to be like, ‘Man, I want you to rip it in there,’ but he sees something, and then he goes around the edge.

Again, there’s got to be a happy median there. We still got to make the throws in the pocket when he can. But I thought the ones he left in the pocket this week were warranted when he needed to.

And so, yeah, you don’t want to make him somebody he’s not. But you don’t want to get — you just want to make him as well-rounded as a player as we can. And he wants to be as well-rounded as a player as he can be.

And so, there’s a fine line. I think I said this before that — I’m not ever trying to make him somebody he’s not. So, I got to be careful, too. Like, ‘Hey, hang in there and make this play.’

Well, he sees stuff and there’s a gap or an edge, whatever edge it might be. And so, that’s instincts. And so, I think that’s always something that’s underrated in players.

Like, you always look at their skill and what they have. And instincts is a big, big piece of this, right? I think we’ve been around players — in my past, I’ve been around players that have all the skill in the world, but they lack a little bit of instinct. And that instinct is a big-time separator in making plays.

Q. What kind of adjustment has that been for you? We’ve talked about how you didn’t have an athletic quarterback like him before. So, for you calling plays — and if the offense is being efficient in a different way than you’re calling the plays, has that been a learning process for you officiating that? (Bo Wulf)

NICK SIRIANNI: No, not really. I got excited that we’re adjusting and that’s just what I was always taught growing up is – again, when you grow up with a high school football coach and your brother is a high school football coach, right, the talent in the town changes from year to year.

And so, I think I mentioned this about my brother. My one brother, Jay, he went to three state championship games, he won two of them.

And one time they went with a pro system and one time they went with a spread system, and they won those two. And then the third time they went in the Wing-T.

I don’t know, I just was kind of raised in that. I think I’ve told a story about my college coach before where I left Mount Union, I came back to interview for the offensive coordinator job at Mount Union when Matt Campbell left, who’s the head coach at Iowa State, and I started talking about what scheme I might run.

And my head coach slammed down his hand and said, ‘You don’t even — it’s all about the players, it’s all about the players, all about the players.’

And so, I’ve kind of been taught this my whole life. But you feel like you’re doing what you — again, that’s not anything you pat yourself on the back with.

It’s just what I was taught in the coaching world is it’s always about the players, it’s always, always, always about them and finding what they can do and can be successful at.

Q. Do you have a different reaction though if you call a play, Jalen Hurts gets it out on time, it’s a 15-yard completion versus he scrambles for 15 yards? (Bo Wulf)

NICK SIRIANNI: 15 yards is 15 yards, is 15 yards. I’m excited either way. And I’m doing, first down.

No, I have no reaction there. And, yeah, just as long as we’re being efficient on offense and doing what our players can do and getting them better fundamentally, protecting the football, creating explosive plays, that’s what we look to be.

Q. What’s been Eagles Quarterbacks Coach Brian Johnson’s influence in terms of Jalen Hurts and how we’ve seen the offense kind of cater more to his skill set? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: I don’t know if you guys have noticed this, but Brian has been on the field the last two weeks with us to be able to talk to Jalen on the sidelines so [Eagles Offensive Coordinator] Shane [Steichen] and I can talk through the next series and this and that.

So, I think he’s been a great influence on Jalen on the sideline. And then, yeah, I mean, Brian just brings a wealth of knowledge in a lot of different areas; blitz protection, quarterback play, different styles of quarterbacks.

So, yeah, Brian’s a major, major key. And I just think we have a really good offensive staff. Can’t say enough about our offensive staff and who we have in that room.

There’s just a lot of guys that have called plays. And Brian’s just another contributor, he contributes a lot to a lot of different aspects.

Q. Why did you decide to move Brian downstairs? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, so Shane and I — really, in between a set, I have to be there with the defense and looking at the defense. And anything that’s going on right there, and Shane and I are talking in communication.

And so, for the first couple weeks, Shane was — again, we adjust things to make it work, the best process. Shane would be spending time with Jalen on the sideline, looking at the pictures, and was, you know — we weren’t able to get to some talks every time, like, if it was a quicker three and out or whatever it was.

And so, now Brian can look at the pictures with him, Brian can talk to him about things they talked about all week. And Shane and I are in every quarterback meeting, too.

So, we’re all in the — but Brian can have that main communication with him. We can say things to Jalen when we need to, and Shane and I can really talk about the next set. And so, that’s the why behind it. And that’s what we’ve been doing these last two weeks.

Q. Getting back to Bo’s question, 15 yards is 15 yards after the play. But when you’re game planning, when you’re getting ready for the game, can you count on off schedule stuff? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: No. I mean, you can’t. There are some things you do in the run game, some different things you do with some of the things where it may look like it was off schedule, but it might not be. But, no, you can’t plan for that way.

Again, that’s instinct. That’s somebody, — again, you don’t plan on, like, ‘Hey, we’re going to leave Bosa unblocked,’ right?

But, no, it’s kind of — it’s pretty awesome for a coach because you’re, like, ‘Oh, my goodness, we set it up for this, it didn’t work, boom, go.’

And so, that’s a nice avenue to have. Some quarterbacks do that in different ways. There are different quarterbacks who do it in different ways. Some quarterbacks go, like, ‘Hey, did you give me what I wanted? No. Check it down.’

And we want to continue to build that into Jalen’s game. ‘Did they give me what I want? No. Check it down.’ It just so happens with Jalen, ‘Did they give me what I want? No. Boom. I’m running.’

That looks different in different ways and sometimes that check down gets 10 yards. But sometimes when he gets that 15, 20 yards, I mean, I think — I saw something that someone shared something with me that we’re No. 2 in explosive runs in the NFL. And I think we’re at No. 8 in explosive passes based off of something that someone told me.

Some of those explosive runs come from Jalen just making exciting plays. But they still count, right? They still count.

Q. Jalen Hurts mentioned a couple times over the past week that the communication between coaches and players has improved as of late. Do you feel like there’s been a breakthrough there? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, I think you get more comfortable with each other, and you talk more. Jalen and I we talk every single day. And then Fridays he comes in and we just talk about it. Fridays, after everything and everybody leaves, we come in and we just talk about anything other than football.

So, I just think you grow your relationship, the connection grows, the relationship grows, and everything grows. And as that grows, the communication gets better, the chemistry gets better. I think that’s just a part of growing as a football team.

Q. In the second quarter, you guys ran 13 with an empty backfield and then ran the draw. With Jalen Hurts’ mobility, how many options does that give you and why does that look so dangerous to a defense? (Mike Kaye)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah. Obviously, he just gives you a lot of different abilities here based off different looks that the defense will give us.

And so, you could have a three-way check on a play, you could have different things there that are hard to defend.

And so, yeah, he just gives you always the ability to run the football. Then when a team is going to try to keep him in the pocket, that slows down the rush a little bit. There are all these things that defenses have to react to based on who Jalen is and who is he as a player.