Nick Sirianni

Q. When the tush push survived the attempts to get it banned in the offseason, did you anticipate that it would come up again throughout the year? I don’t know what your reaction is to when all this is going on, how do you plan to deal with it throughout the year? (Jeff Neiburg)

Nick Sirianni: We don’t have to deal with it right now. We have enough things that we have to deal with now, and so obviously, you’re always working to improve the play. You’re always working through different things to compliment it. They’re always working through different things for if you don’t have it. Right now, we do. That was that. Again, I try to only control the things I can control, not anything that’s out of my control.

Q. The double positives, you’ve been talking a lot about that, and the turnover part of it has been great. The explosive plays haven’t been there yet. Those two things are sort of out of balance at times. You may have to take some chances to get some explosive plays. How do you sort of balance that? (John McMullen)

Nick Sirianni: You can still be protecting the football. It’s not just in the passing game. Any concept we have has different elements to it where you’re pushing the ball down the field. Sometimes you’re throwing it short, sometimes you’re pushing it to the intermediate level, but that’s when you trust [QB] Jalen [Hurts] in those scenarios to make the right decisions with the football. He’s done a great job with that and has been very efficient. I think it’s everything. The explosive plays are not just in the passing game, they’re in the running game, and they’re in the screen game as well.

First and foremost, we always want to try to take the football away and protect the football. That’s always first. Then, with the explosive part of it, is just taking what they give you when they give it to you in the run game. You can do both. I think throughout the years, we’ve done a really good job in both those areas. It just happened to be through our first two games, we’re a little bit lower than what we’ve normally been, and we’re working like crazy to make sure that we can be efficient and be explosive.

I think that’s the goal of a lot of offenses, all offenses, to be truthful. We’ll go out there and practice. That’s where you get the confidence in the game is from practice to run the plays that you run, and call the plays that you call, and the players have the confidence that they have.

Q. With the run concepts that involve QB Jalen Hurts, Offensive Coordinator Kevin Patullo said those are in the playbook. Going into the season, did you know that that really wouldn’t be in the opportunities in how the first couple games were set? (Brooks Kubena)

Nick Sirianni: Again, that’s two games in. I try not to get into– When we do self-scout, or when we do scouting of the opponent’s defense that we’re playing, you look back on last year’s stuff. You also, because there’s such a small sample size, have to remember that this is a 17-game season, and not to overreact to things that have happened just through the first two games. We found ways to win the first two games, and we know we have to get better at a lot of things, but there’s a progression to it. That’s what our goal is and our focus is right now.

Q. The job the offensive line has done protecting QB Jalen Hurts. I mean obviously you guys invest a lot of money and resources in those guys and they’ve got credentials, but I mean have you been even more impressed from what you’ve seen these first two games from them than you thought? (Martin Frank)

Nick Sirianni: We always talk about winning the game upfront. We talk about the double positive, but we also talk about winning the game on the offensive and defensive lines. It doesn’t matter what level of football you are at. It starts with those guys.

Speaking of the offensive line, obviously [T] Lane [Johnson], [G] Landon [Dickerson], [T] Jordan [Mailata], [C] Cam [Jurgens], and [G/T] Tyler [Steen] have done a great job. [T] Fred [Johnson] got in last game and did a really good job on the play that he was in. He’s given us good moments as a backup and so has [G/T Matt] Pryor across the league, and so just have a ton of confidence in them. [Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Jeff] Stout[land] does a great job of preparing them for the things that they’ll see during the game. What we naturally see as offense are things that you don’t prepare for, because you get a lot of unscouted looks. I really think that speaks to their ability to think as players.

Obviously, they are these great physical specimens. I can’t tell you how many times I’ll see somebody in public, and they’ll be like, ‘Oh, you’re a lot taller than I thought you were.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m six-two, but I stand next to Jordan Mailata, Lane Johnson, and all these guys.’ But what you see from those guys is that obviously, they’re phenomenal football players, but they’re able to think through things on the fly. That’s really important at every position, particularly at that offensive line. They’ve played good football to date, and we expect that because they’re really good football players. I can’t speak enough about what they mean to this football team, all those guys.

Tyler stepped in and has done a really nice job so far. I think that’s a tribute to Tyler. Obviously, he and the work that he’s put in throughout the last couple years being here, but particularly this offseason. I can’t tell you how many times you’re in a lift in OTAs, ‘Hey, how did it look down there?’ and [Director of Player Performance and Sport Science/Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Fernando] Nando’s [Noriega] telling me, ‘Yeah, Tyler Steen had another great day,’ so he’s really worked his butt off to be the new guy in there, and the guys have confidence in him.

Q. Hey Nick, what did you see on film from TE Cameron Latu in the handful of snaps he played and could you see a bigger role for him if TE Dallas Goedert is unable to go? (Reuben Frank)

Nick Sirianni: Cam, obviously, is playing fullback for us, and he is a physical dude. It’s exciting– physical plays that show up on tape and that show during the game, that brings a lot of energy to your team, and I think that he’s done a nice job. Even back to preseason games, he did a really good job on special teams, and you could see that physicality. You see it in practice; you see it in the game. We love the physicality he plays with. Strong, big dude that loves to play physical. There’s always room for guys that play with that physicality on a football team. I always love those guys that play like that, and he’s doing a nice job.

Q. Experience with the backs. You’ve had big years, whether it was RBs Jamaal Charles, Melvin Gordon, what’s that next year like in terms of the way defense is played next? (Zach Berman)

Nick Sirianni: I think a lot of defensive coaches are focused on how to stop the run first. That’s the first thing they go through. How do we stop the run? We’ve had just since I’ve been here, [former Eagles RBs] Miles [Sanders] made the Pro Bowl off a great year in 2022, then D’Andre [Swift] made it in 2023. [RB] Saquon Barkley made it in ‘24. When you know you have that weapon in the backfield, you’re going to get stuff, some unscouted looks, kind of what we talked about earlier, and that’s natural. That’s the reality of having good players and good offenses. You’re going to get some unscouted looks. Being able to sort through those things in game, having smart guides out there like we talked about with the offensive line, and– I don’t get too wrapped up into one year looked like this, the next year looked like that.

Saquon’s a phenomenal football player. He’s not any less of a football player because he rushed for 2,000 yards last year. He’s the same guy getting better, he’s continuing to get better, and so yeah, I guess I don’t ever look at it that way. We have to find ways to be able to get a run started because we haven’t hit the 50-yarder yet. I think he led the league in them last year, but those come, especially with a guy like Saquon because he’s able to do things in the open field that other guys can’t.

Q. Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio said DT Jalen Carter needed to get in better shape and yet he played 80% of the snaps. Did you guys know going in that conditioning was an issue? Should that have affected the amount or was it partly also because of the heat and humidity? (Jeff McLane)

Nick Sirianni: We knew that it was going to be all hands on deck for that game. We prepared for that. It was going to be a little bit hotter and there ended up being some cloud coverage that was good, but we were prepared for that.

He’s working his butt off to be in the best shape of his life just like all our guys. We know that if we’re in great shape, then we can play with relentless effort and we can play with great detail. It’s hard. It’s hard to play with great detail and relentless effort when you’re not in great shape. That’s always a work in progress for every player throughout the year, is just to get yourself into game shape. Getting yourself into game shape and then maintaining it because there is no substitute for the games. You can run as many gassers as you want, or be on the versa-climber, or the bike as much as you want, but there is no substitute for playing in the game. You get in better shape as you play.

We prepare them as much as we possibly can to get them there, knowing that they’re not going to play a full game ever in practice or in the preseason, if at all in preseason. But that’s what you’re trying to focus on. Whether we do long drives, or whether we do a conditioning drill as far as the way we play because there’s no substitute for playing live scenarios. You just try to simulate that as much as you possibly can.

Q. This is kind of a big picture question, but when you and Offensive Coordinator Kevin Patullo were building the offense for coming into this year, how do you balance, ‘This is what me and Kevin believe in and we want the offense to look like,’ versus, ‘Let’s build an offense for the players that we have and what they’re best at?’ (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

Nick Sirianni: It’s always players. That goes back to, if you go back to [former Eagles Offensive Coordinator] Shane [Steichen], myself, and Kevin and all the guys, [Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Jeff] Stout[land], and [Tight Ends Coach] Jason [Michael], like Shane’s offense in San Diego that he ran and the offense that I was involved in in Indianapolis looked different. It’s always got to be about the players, and there’s a lot of great schemes across the NFL. I think the best coaches, in my opinion, are the ones that have core philosophies of their scheme, but fit that to their players, because that’s what it’s always about. I learned that from [former Mount Union Head Coach] Larry Kehres a long, long time ago. ‘You may think that you want this,’ he always says, ‘Players play formations,’ and you may want to run this certain scheme, or you may want to run that certain scheme, but does it fit your players the best?

I’m bragging on my brother for a second. My brother, Jay [Sirianni], went far in the playoffs in the Pro system, got a new group of guys, ran a spread system, won two state championships that way. Those guys graduated, didn’t have the same type of guys, and then they went to the state championship running the Wing-T. That, to me, is how I was raised in this. To me, it’s always players over plays. Always, always, always, always.

Q. With the Rams this week, that might be the best wide receiver duo that you see all year. What is it about them individually speaking that just brings them to a different level? (Pat Gallen)

Nick Sirianni: Yeah, really good group. I have so much respect for [Rams Head] Coach [Sean] McVay. I think you see it all over his tape, the offensive mind that he is. Then you can see it with the detail that his team plays with. You can tell that with the receivers he’s coached, and I know they have a good receiver coach, too, but his receivers are really coached up, and you can see Sean’s background that he does that with receivers. So, I’ve always thought that about Sean’s guys. You also have two really good players there, and [Rams WR] Tutu Atwell is really good too.

[Rams WR] Puka [Nacua] is a big, strong, physical guy that uses his body strength really well. [Rams WR] Davante Adams has been doing what he does for a long time in the NFL. I always thought he and [Rams WR] Keenan Allen were very similar type players, and obviously I coached Keenan. Their ability, their quickness in and out of breaks, their ability to get off the line of scrimmage, their ability just to catch the football.

This is a challenge that we’ll have to be ready for, and [Rams QB Matthew] Stafford can get all those guys the football. They have good running backs, they have good tight ends, and a solid offensive line. Just so much respect for this football team, and so much respect for Coach McVay and their staff. We’ve worked with some of those guys too on that defensive side. It’s been a while, but I thought [Rams Defensive Coordinator] Chris Shula was a hell of a coach, [Rams Defensive Line Coach/Run Game Coordinator] Giff Smith, and [Rams Inside Linebackers Coach] Gregg Williams. When you put on a tape and you have that type of respect for their coaches, and you can see it early on.

Q. How well equipped is Offensive Coordinator Kevin Patullo to deal with the criticism that comes with being in that OC chair? (Dave Zangaro)

Nick Sirianni: One of the hardest positions to coach is the position that your coordinator, or your head coach, played and coached. Kevin has dealt with a lot of my criticism throughout the years, and he has thick skin. You have to have thick skin because you have to control the things you can control. You can’t focus on anything else.

We know there’s going to be criticism, and we know what we signed up for, and I think Kevin’s got a great mindset on that. He always has. Full transparency, he can be my mentor at times as far as helping me get through things. That’s one reason I value Kevin so much. The football mind, all those different things are why he got the job, but I’ve always used Kevin to talk through things, and we all need that. We all need to be able to talk through things. I have no question in my mind that through the past eight years with Kevin, he’s built for that.