Nick Sirianni

Q. You seem energetic. Can you give us an update on how you’re feeling, where your status is and also how things have gone for you to run things virtually over the past couple days? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: I feel great. Just waiting for my test to come back and get good news hopefully.

As far as everything goes virtually, it went really well. No problems here. I was just doing everything I do from my hotel room. Now, I need to probably go out and get a walk a little bit because I’ve been in this hotel room for three days, but I’ve been watching a lot of tape and feel good about where we’re at right now.

Appreciate you asking.

Q. Hey, Nick. Obviously, you seem in much better spirits than the other day. What’s the time frame that you’re looking for to try to coach in this game? Would it be tomorrow? Would it be Sunday morning? (John Clark)

NICK SIRIANNI: Whenever they tell me I can. You know, I’m ready to go. So, they tell me – if it’s a minute before the game I’ll be there. If it’s two days before the game, I’ll be there. When they tell me I can go, I’m ready to go. Preparing the same way obviously as if I was in the building all week.

The sooner the better.

Q. What is the ruling or the rules they have about when conversations or communications have to be cut off on gameday, if you’re not cleared yet? (John Clark)

NICK SIRIANNI: You’re asking if like I can have something in [Eagles Offensive Coordinator] Shane [Steichen] and [Eagles Passing Game Coordinator] Kevin [Patullo]’s ear to be talking to them throughout the whole thing? I don’t think they’ll let me do that. I don’t know, to be honest with you. I imagine if I’m not there – well, I know if I’m not there, I’ll still have my meeting with Shane and Kevin like we do before each game in the locker room before, which takes about 45 minutes.

And then from there, I’ll just do whatever the NFL says is the rule. I actually don’t know that yet. I’m thinking I can talk all the way up to kickoff, but I don’t know that for sure. But that’s definitely something we need to look into and we will look into.

Q. If you’re not able to be there on Sunday, have you thought about what that experience is going to be like for you, personally, just having to watch it on TV? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: Not really, I haven’t really put myself in that situation yet. I’m planning on being there, hoping I’m there. I know that that is optimistic thinking, so I haven’t thought the other way yet.

If I’m home, if I’m actually back at the house, then I can imagine – I love my kids and I love my wife, but I’m not going to want them around when I’m watching the game.

If it’s here in the hotel, no one is around here anyway, so I’ll just handle that as it comes.

Q. If it’s not too personal, if you are still in the hotel tomorrow, what’s the Christmas plan with the family tomorrow if you’re not able to be there? (Bo Wulf)

NICK SIRIANNI: Well, we got a nice FaceTime that you can be with your kids when you’re not with your kids and with your family when you’re not with your family and with your wife when you’re not with our wife.

So, I guess a lot of opening gifts while we’re there on FaceTime. Hopefully, I’ll be able to be there with them. If not, we’ll adjust just like we do in football, as well.

So, I got a resilient family that adjusts with the tough times, and we’ll just adjust if I can’t be there.

Q. Glad to hear you’re feeling a little bit better. When you were putting together your staff and Eagles Passing Game Coordinator Kevin Patullo was obviously coming with you, it was clear that you thought of him very highly. Was there a moment in Indianapolis or maybe throughout your time together that you decided, ‘Hey, I’ve got to have this guy on my staff and I want to have him in a predominant role’? (Mike Kaye)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think you always think about that when you’re with different coaches. You’re like, ‘Okay, if I ever get a chance, definitely want him on my staff.’

And so, I don’t know if there was a moment. I think what all of us do as coaches is your work speaks for itself over and over and over again. The same thing we want with our players, just the consistency of being the same guy over and over and over again.

I think that’s what Kevin [Patullo]’s been, is just consistently a good coach. So, it wasn’t like, ‘Hey, boom, there was a moment and I got to have Kevin.’ It was just – quick story about Kevin actually is that Kevin was the quality control for the Kansas City Chiefs the year before I got there.

So in 2008, when I was at IUP – I’m actually wearing an IUP sweatshirt today – in 2008 when I was at IUP, Kevin was the quality control for Kansas City. And then in 2009 when I was the quality control, Kevin was with [former Chiefs Offensive Coordinator] Chan Gailey and Chan Gailey was the coordinator. You know, Kevin was out and I was in because of the new head coaching change and I remember Chan would be like, ‘Hey, call Kevin and get this’ or, ‘Call Kevin and get that.’ And Kevin was so gracious to me when I was in his job and just – so, it just spoke to what type of person Kevin is. That’s kind of why the relationship that I had built with Kevin through the years.

When I got to the job at Indianapolis and we were hiring a wide receiver coach, Kevin came to mind there just because of a situation that had happened ten years prior with just how good of a person he is.

And then, obviously, he’s a good football coach, a really good football coach, too. So, it’s just the consistency of Kevin. And I’m just really glad he’s here. And I know he’ll – if I’m not able to be there with the game management stuff, he’ll do a great job.

Q. I was wondering with RB Miles Sanders and T Jordan Mailata not practicing all week, is it safe to say that’s more of a maintenance thing as far as just they played Tuesday night coming off injuries and stuff like that? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, exactly. Like you said, we played Tuesday, so we’re not on a typical normal week.

They have no designation in the game, but they didn’t practice today. That’s more so about where we are right now as far as playing on a short week.

So, they’ll be ready to go. I’m excited they’re ready to go. It was just best thing for them not to go today in practice. Like practice today too is a little different, because on a Thursday night game you get more walk-throughs.

We had one extra day. We thought it was important to get some full speed reps today and that’s why we did it. Those guys just needed a day to rest a little bit longer.

Q. There has been a lot of talk about fans booing this week. I know TE Dallas Goedert mentioned it, hearing it in the first quarter, he said so after the game, that he hears the fans booing in the first quarter. Jordan Mailata mentioned it today about the players interpreting it as maybe the fans don’t like them, but he understands they’re passionate. What’s your take on this whole booing thing that seems to have grown legs this week? (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: Oh, you know what? I don’t hear much of that. I got double headsets on. I will tell a story about my wife. After we played New England in the pre-season and we had a really bad first half, as everybody remembers, if we remember that far back.

I remember saying to my wife on the way home, ‘Man, they were booing us at halftime.’ She said to me, she was like, ‘Well, what did you give them to cheer about?’ I said, ‘Touché.’ You’re right there. I got tough love at home as well.

I don’t think too much into that with all that stuff. We have great fans, great support from our fans. Love how passionate our fans are. And you know what? I’m passionate. I know our players are passionate, so we appreciate their support, and we need them this week against the Giants to be loud. There were a couple really big third downs in that game, and we were on defense, and I just heard — I actually took my headset, I had a double headset on, took it off just so I could hear how loud the fans were, and it was great.

That poses problems, it’s great to have the passionate fans that we do. Again, I don’t get too much into that. Just don’t hear it that much.

Q. Hey, Nick, Merry Christmas. As far as Kevin goes with the game management, how similar is he to you and how much do you use your instincts or gut during the game as opposed to what’s charted out? And second question is the rest of the staff in the clear health-wise? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, rest of the staff is doing good. Appreciate it. Merry Christmas to you as well, Zach.

Yeah, that’s a really good question, because there were multiple times in the game on Tuesday night that I did not follow that chart because of the way the game was going.

And you don’t — like with anything, you don’t blindly close your eyes and follow. There was a feel to it. So let’s just address a couple of them. We make – [K] Jake [Elliott] makes a field goal. You know, we go up 20 to 10 and they jump offsides and we get it to a fourth and one.

At that particular time, I think we were outgaining them like 400 and whatever to 100 something, right? I did not want to take points off the board in that particular time because the defense was rolling, and the ten points that they had got up to that point was on short fields.

I just knew our defense was playing good. Now, I know they went down and scored, but can you imagine had we not got it and they go down and score and tie the game up when you’re dominating the game that much?

Like the chart is there to help and assist, but we have to have a feel to it. We have a chart of the plays we’re going to run on third down and red zone and the openers and in two minute, but there is a feel to the game that you have to have and that you have to be able to go off.

We’re not robots in this thing. Kevin and I have been in games together where — I think back to a game particularly in 2018 we went for it a couple times against a team and we felt like, oh, shoot. After the game we all talked and we were like, ‘Man, we shouldn’t have went for it there.’

So, again, we were playing a quarterback in an offense that wasn’t doing much against our defense back then, and, you know, it was our Jacksonville versus Indy game in 2018. So, you learn from these things that happen and you try to put yourself back in these scenarios.

There are a couple other things in that game, like we get a fourth and one in our game the other day. We go for it and we run that play, run a play to [RB] Jordan Howard and Jordan Mailata got the holding call, and now we’re in a fourth and four on the 41-yard line.

We had just given them two short fields, right? We had the interception and the fumble and they turned it into ten points. So my chart said in that situation it’s a heavy consideration to go for it.

In that situation I wasn’t going to give them another short field, right? Because the defense started off with a three and out, right? Or maybe it was a four and out to start the game, so I knew our defense was amped up and ready to go and I just didn’t want to give them another short field.

And there was another scenario in that game that I don’t need to talk about right now. My whole point of educating you and telling you the story is the fact that every game is different. Every game has a feel. It matters who is on the other side. It matters how the defense is playing. It matters how the opposing offense is playing when you talk about game management.

Kevin and I have had so many conversations about this, dating back to our Indy days. Kevin and I have a meeting every Thursday. [Eagles offensive coordinator] Shane [Steichen] is involved in it and a couple other guys as well. Every Thursday we have a meeting, every Saturday we have a meeting to talk about these things.

So, you have a chart. You lean on the chart. But there is the element to feel. Kevin is another guy that in the midst of making those tough decisions or making those decisions within a game I bounce that off him. I tell him what I’m feeling and then I see how Kevin is feeling.

We’re very similar. Now, not everybody is exactly the same in every situation. We are very similar how we think about it, and so he’ll do a great job with it because the work has been put in every single day over the past four years together over and over and over again.

He’ll do a great job with it if I’m not able to be there. I know I gave you a very long answer and you guys need to get home to your families. I thought that was a good opportunity to educate though on some of those decision makings, and to answer your question, Zach, of how Kevin and I think similar in that situation.

Merry Christmas everybody.