Nick Sirianni

Q. What are your big takeaways from the game? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: I told the team, obviously I have to watch the tape and look and see everything that happened, but I thought it was a very crisp first half. A lot of good things in the first half. Again, there are things to clean up, but the first half, I thought we looked pretty sharp there. Then, the second half just got sloppy and that was my message to the team. Again, you have to go back and look at the tape, but again felt like crisp first half, sloppy second half.

Q. What was your satisfaction with the way QB Jalen Hurts played those two series from everything you have seen not only from OTAs and training camp, but then tonight? (Jeff Skversky)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I thought he handled it well. He made a really good check and great throw to [TE] Dallas [Goedert] for a big play. He saw what defense was coming and checked the play. A ton of credit to him for that and making a perfect throw there. I thought he went with where we wanted the ball to go versus the defenses they were running. He had a couple drops in there, so I was really pleased with him.

Then you got to see him, he kind of lost [TE] Zach [Ertz] in the middle there, you got to see him break contain and make a play that way with his feet.

Q. In RB Miles Sanders’ case, what kept him from playing tonight? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we just felt like we have seen him, we know what he is, we know that we’re excited about him. We’re really excited about him, wanting to be keep him fresh and we’ll revaluate and look at next week and if he’ll play next week.

Q. No injury there or anything? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: No injury.

Q. Was he disappointed? (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: He’s a Pittsburgh kid. No, he was fine. I explained to him, talked to him. His running back coach Jemal [Singleton] talked to him. We thought it was best for the team that he sat that one out. He had a couple big runs against Pittsburgh last year, right? So, his people in Pittsburgh saw those big runs last year.

Q. With not seeing the film yet, what is your takeaway from QB Nick Mullens, and what is your concern level with him? (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Well, I know the first interception we were hot, and we lost the back in the backfield. He was supposed — he kind of got held up and got tripped up with the defensive end. Those things happen. So, he had to throw it on time and [TE] Tyree [Jackson] just wasn’t there yet. So, I’m not concerned about that.

The second one, you know, I would like to see him hit the check down, and he wants that one back, too. No concern. He’s been having a good camp, and just got to learn from the mistakes and get better.

Q. The WR Quez Watkins touchdown, I saw your excitement. Was it because you called the right play and maybe that Quez Watkins did everything right? (Howard Eskin)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, that’s a play right there that’s very important to our offense and there is a lot of — everybody really has to do their job. That’s why this game is so awesome, right. Everyone has to do their job for it to work, and they did. Quez made a great play, [QB] Joe [Flacco] made a great throw.

As a matter of fact, Joe made that check, same thing. I just get excited because football is exciting, and football is an emotional game and that’s what we do. That’s fun. I’m not going to take that part out of my game just because I’m the head coach.

Q. How important was it tonight for your offensive and defensive communication to be as crisp as is it seemed to be in the first half? It seemed like there was no confusion. Seemed like defensive players were in the right spot. Seemed like everybody was on the same page. With a new coaching staff, young quarterback and a lot of moving parts, are you pleasantly surprised? (Marcus Hayes)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah. Again, like I said, that first half I just thought was really crisp both offensively and defensively. Again, there is going to be things to correct, but that’s what we’re striving for every day, just to have that sharpness on our offense and defense.

It’s the same thing. We can’t get too down on the bad plays that happen and we can’t get too high on the good things that happen.

We just have to play the next play, the next game, over and over and over again.

Q. What about you? Was it business as usual or was there a different feel being the head guy? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Honestly, it felt business as usual. Really did. Again, I’ve said this all along, like what’s the difference? I’m adding job titles to what I already do, so it just felt like business as usual. It was great communication on the offensive side of the ball.

As far as with [Eagles offensive coordinator] Shane [Steichen], myself, [Eagles passing game coordinator] Kevin Patullo, [Eagles run game coordinator/offensive line coach] Jeff Stoutland, [Eagles tight ends coach] Jason Michael all the way around. Just really did feel like business as usual.

Q. If I could ask another Quez Watkins question. He was also pretty open, and got behind the defense and everything. Are you kind of seeing the speed that he possesses so far in training camp and what kind of weapon is that for you? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, well, any time you get a guy that can run like Quez can, that’s obviously a very big threat to the defense. Softens them up. We have seen that, right? You guys have been at all the practices. You’ve seen him get behind the defense, make some plays on the ball. That’s what impressive with Quez, he has good strong hands that can go up and make plays. He has that speed and can go up and make plays.

So that’s a weapon that we’re hoping to continue to develop. He got behind the defense on the one, made the run after a catch, and that’s what you look for, a guy who can — now we just want to see him separate in the intermediate game too, and then you would’ve seen all three.

But excited about his development. [Eagles wide receivers coach] Aaron Moorehead has done a great job developing him, and Quez has done a great job of just getting better every day.

So just look forward to correcting the mistakes that he made tonight and growing from the good things that he did tonight.

Q. Was that screen something you specifically felt you would run tonight going in, or was that an answer to Pittsburgh kind of being aggressive there? (Geoff Mosher)

NICK SIRIANNI: Both. Yeah, both. Again, Joe [Flacco] made a great check. They brought the slot off of Quez [Watkins] and offensive line did a great job getting out. Again, like we’ve run that play so many times. I’ve been a part of that play so many times, and it really takes all 11 to make it go.

So I’m excited. And obviously you don’t see that — you don’t see it live. It obviously worked and Quez made it work with the burst and he just kind of glided and really outran the defense. I look forward to seeing how everybody did their job on that play.

That’s a staple in our offense and I’m glad we were able to execute tonight.

Q. From a situational aspect, third downs weren’t very effective. A lot of moving parts. When you look at that, I don’t think you guys converted – (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we were 0 for 8, yeah.

Q. Pittsburgh was really good. How do you look at that? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: You know, I felt like — I was talking to a couple of the coaches after and it felt like we dropped — we had some drops on third down and they weren’t routine catches, right.

But they’re definitely the type of catches we anticipate our guys making. We work those low balls, right? We work the traffic catches. And we’ve just got to go — you know, a little bit of you is like, good, you’ve got to get more reps of these. You dropped the ball, now if you drop the ball here low, go work that more, know what we’re telling you with those drops, they come up, and they still count as drops.

It just felt a little bit sloppy there, a little bit on defense, too, especially in the second half. They had some time back there, as we all saw. In the first half I saw a couple times in that first half where the quarterback had to hold on to the ball because of the coverage and the defense got the sack.

So, again, just a little bit too much time on defense and then some drops that I was disappointed in on offense.

Q. WR Jalen Reagor had a drop on the first drive and a couple unlucky bounces as a returner. How do you think he responded to that in the second quarter? (Mike Kaye)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you know, that’s what we talk about. We talk about dog mentality all the time. All that means is play the next play. You can’t get too high on one play and play the next play effectively, and can’t get too low and go play the next play.

So, again, that was one of the drops I was talking about, that low ball. We’ve got to have that. We’ve got to put it up on him a little bit more, but we’ve also got to have that ball.

So it was good to see him respond, because I played wide receiver and that can get in your head. A drop can get in your head. It was great to see him respond. He ran a great route on that bench route. Really got a lot of separation and made a big explosive play for us after that.

And then the guy in the screen kind of fell out. Again, haven’t seen the tape. I’m just — some of things I’m remembering. The guy played out into it. He kind of hit it pretty hard on that screen.

So I was pleased that he didn’t let that drop get to him and came out and continued to play hard, and I’ll see more from the tape. I was impressed with that bench route he ran.

Q. You talked about communication with the other coaches. Is there anything you’re going to change going into the next game or did you like the way everything flowed? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I like the way things flowed. I mean, there were some things here and there where we talked about, ‘Hey, I wish we would have done this on that,’ and it was right when we came in the locker room, or, ‘Hey, on the call sheet give us a little space to write here.’

Because you’re always trying to improve your process no matter what. That’s growth, when you’re trying to improve what you do, improve your process. So there are things that we’ll talk about. There are a couple things that — nothing major, but just little tweaks here and there that will improve our process, and we will just try to do that every time. Evaluate ourselves as coaches obviously just like we evaluate the players. We’re no different.

Q. It looked like you said you got behind the defense, looked like there was a blitz, it was picked up mostly by the offensive line, what was that throw? Was that just a timing issue or was that just a bad throw? (Jimmy Kempski)

NICK SIRIANNI: You talking about the one backed up?

Q. Yeah backed up on your own two where Quez got separation behind the defense? Was it a timing issue or a bad throw? (Jimmy Kempski)

NICK SIRIANNI: Oh, okay. Yeah, well, you know, again, I got to look at the tape and see if there was pressure. I know Pittsburgh only had 10 guys on the field. They subbed in late and only had 10 guys on the field there.

But we got what we wanted on the outside with them. I’ll have to look at the tape and see what happened. Quez did a good job of saving room on the sideline and getting open.