Nick Sirianni

Q. After seeing RB Saquon Barkley’s production and workload in Week 1, how much thought goes into managing him throughout the season and making sure he’s fresh at the end of the year, and is it a season-long plan or is it week by week? (Dave Zangaro)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you do everything you can do to win each football game, and so once the game is in the flow, you think about how you’re going to win that game. And whether that’s [RB] Saquon [Barkley] getting 20-whatever touches, whether that’s us throwing the ball to [WR] AJ [Brown], [WR] DeVonta [Smith], [TE] Dallas [Goedert], whatever it may be, you try to manage them more within practice.

So, something like that, with Saquon having that many touches, we’ll have a plan for that this week in practice where we can take some of the load off him there. Every time you go into the game — every game is so important in the NFL that it’s hard to say — and when he’s got a hot hand like that, too — to say, ‘Hey, you don’t want to keep giving him the ball.’ You’re trying to win every single game that you play.

That’s our job as coaches to manage that throughout the week during practice. Games will take care of themselves as they go. There will naturally be a game where we throw it fifty times or [RB] Kenneth [Gainwell] or [RB] Will [Shipley] will have a couple carries.

So that will take care of itself throughout the year. As of right now, we handle that through our practice.

Q. You talked about LB Zack Baun’s motor and toughness during camp. How did you see those traits show up as he was executing all of his responsibilities in his first start, especially considering that he hadn’t had many starts at inside linebacker in his career? (Olivia Reiner)

NICK SIRIANNI: I think one real good shot of his incredible motor was when he came off the edge on a play, and they threw a little bubble screen to their running back and he peeled off. Then [S] Reed Blankenship made the guy cut back in and [LB] Zack [Baun] came and hit him right on the side and got a hit in on the ball that jarred it a little bit.

Guy did a good job hanging on to the football. But I think that was a great example of how he’s played throughout camp and why we mentioned it during camp. And then that shows up during the game. A great indicator of how you’re going to play in games is how you practice. You know, he’s been relentless to the football. Relentless effort. That really showed up. That showed up with a lot of production in this game on Friday night.

Q. The Packers averaged a high number of rushing yards before contact. From your offensive perspective, what did you see there in reviewing the tape with Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio? (Brooks Kubena)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you know, one thing that we know we have to clean up is our tackling. I know what you’re asking, you said before contact. But one thing — we have to make sure that we’re not giving them extra yards. That’s something that’s on our mind. We worked a lot of it throughout camp, but we have to keep working it and being really diligent about that.

As far as your question, Brooks, as far as the yards before contact, that’s just going to be different types of schemes that they have of when you get hands on. I don’t know exactly — to me it’s like when you play run defense, are you getting knocked back on front? Then are you getting to the ball and tackling?

I definitely saw at times we were getting that knock back. I thought [DE] Brandon Graham did an awesome job of controlling the line of scrimmage with his hands and knocking the tight end back. There were definitely performances there. They got some push on us at times as well that led to some of those rushing yards.

But, at the end of the day, we have to tackle better than we did on Friday night.

Q. Just wanted to ask what you saw after watching film from G/T Mehki Becton and C Cam Jurgens, making their first career starts at new positions. (Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Good question, Reuben. I thought they did a nice job. [G/T] Mehki [Becton] is so big, and what you saw there with Mehki on Friday night was he was controlling the guy — he was going against good players, right? That’s a good front.

He was controlling them at the line of scrimmage and there wasn’t a lot of pushback into [QB] Jalen [Hurts’] face because he is so big and so long that he was able to control there. So, I thought he did a really nice job, particularly in the pass game, of keeping the pocket firm inside.

[C] Cam [Jurgens] had some really nice plays. You know, Cam, there were a couple plays where Cam’s getting that initial hit, whether he’s working with [G] Landon [Dickerson] or working with Mekhi, and then getting off to that second level. The one play that really comes to mind is Saquon’s touchdown run where it looks like him and Mehki are working a combination block and Cam gets that block in with him, that made-block as we call it, in with him to get him up into the second level.

I thought those were really good plays there.

And, obviously, any time you put the ball on the ground two times, there is a miscommunication there. We can’t put the ball on the ground two times. Cam and Jalen touched the ball on every down, so we have to make sure we’re taking care of that football.

But as far as those two guys playing their first game at those positions – now, Cam played that position his entire life. It’d be fair to say that Cam was, not out of position, but playing a new position last year. So, center for Cam is very natural.

But I thought Mehki did a really nice job his first game starting at guard.

Q. We always talk about how many weapons this team has. We’ve seen openers where former Eagles RB D’Andre Swift has one carry, WR DeVonta Smith has no catches. It looked like it was a pretty good job distributing the ball in terms of targets for WR AJ Brown, WR DeVonta Smith, touches for RB Saquon Barkley. How challenging is that to be consistent in that approach as the season goes on? (Ed Kracz)

NICK SIRIANNI: It’s impossible to be consistent in that. Every game plan runs through those guys. Every game plan in the pass game will run through AJ, DeVonta, and Dallas, and the run game plan is going to run through Saquon.

To be consistent with that would mean that teams aren’t going to focus their attention to one guy. So the great part about having all these different weapons — and [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] and his staff have done such an unbelievable job of building this roster — but the great part of that is when they take one guy away, they make themselves susceptible to another guy.

I think that was shown in the four-minute drill. We were running a four-minute drill and we liked the match up there that DeVonta had. [Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore] made a really good call. It was that second down call after we lost a couple yards. It was like 2nd-and-11 and we hit that slant to DeVonta.

Why did we do that? Well, it was something they were doing defensively with AJ — I won’t get specifics of that — but with AJ that they weren’t doing as much with DeVonta. You shift him around to take advantage of what the defense is doing.

Our personnel gives us the ability to do that because we have so many different weapons that you can do that.

So it’s important that the game plans go through them, but also understanding that when it goes through them, there is going to be different circumstances that take balls away from them, and that’s where it’s going to be so important, the selflessness. That’s why you get so excited when you see AJ and DeVonta celebrating with each other after a big play, after a touchdown. Or how enthusiastic Dallas and AJ are when they’re getting blocks for Saquon during his run.

Because it truly is ‘Who is going to have the hot hand that day? What is the defense focusing on? Where are they giving you these opportunities to go with the football?’

And it’s going to take all of them to have the type of season that we want to have and to be consistent. It’s going to take every one of them to be consistent there and to be able to handle the highs and lows throughout the season of how the ball comes to you.

Q. You were just talking about the four-minute there that turned into seven and a half minutes. From QB Jalen Hurts’ perspective– (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Isn’t that a great thing, John? When you say four-minute and that much time came off the clock, that’s like one of the coolest things that we have. We look at each other as coaches and are like, ‘That was awesome.’

I think we had a game like that last year against Tampa if I remember right. Go ahead, sorry, with your question.

Q. From QB Jalen Hurts’ perspective, I’m sure he wanted some throws back, some plays back. You always talk about that next play, next play, forget about the last play, but that’s easier said than done. You look around the league, how important is it to have a quarterback who really seems to be able to forget the bad, even in the biggest spots? (John McMullen)

NICK SIRIANNI: Man, to be able to be successful in those drives, you have to be able to do a little bit of both, right? You have to be able to run it efficiently, pass it efficiently when that’s called upon.

Jalen was so calm and cool in that area. Yeah, he’s definitely going to want plays back. We all do. He was solely in the moment of ‘How do we go close this game? We had a two-point lead. How do we go close this game?’

We gave them the ball back with 24 seconds left down five points with no timeouts. That’s pretty tough to do. I know as an offensive coach you look at that, like, man, it is going to be really hard to score a touchdown.

So, Jalen, that throw on the shallow to Smitty [WR DeVonta Smith] on the second down earlier in that drive and then the slant, he made just really good plays there on both those second downs to get those first downs and continue that drive.

That was something I saw from the entire team, the dog mentality, the mental toughness to be able to push through the adversities we were going to see. We knew — there will be adversities all season. It’s going to be within games, it’s going to be week to week, it’s going to be within practice. But it is so critical they can focus their attention on the next drive and the next play, and Jalen did an unbelievable job of that that really helped us seal that victory.

Without that dog mentality, without that mental toughness that Jalen had, it would’ve been hard to close that game out. And so, again, we couldn’t have started that game any worse either. We were down 6-0. How about the mental toughness of the defense to respond with a short field to stop them for six points?

How about the mental toughness of Jalen to put us up 7-6 when we couldn’t have had a worse first quarter to start our season as an offense. So it just happened day in day out.

Again, I really believe that you get what you preach, and we talk about that a lot. The guys talk about that a lot. To be in that mindset of having a clear mind to play the next play. The guys did that. It’s a tribute to the character of the guys we have on this football team to be able to do that in the first game of the season in front of the entire world to see.

Q. What factored into DE Bryce Huff getting fewer snaps than DE Brandon Graham and OLB Nolan Smith? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, just the way the snap counts went for that day. You know, sometimes you’re in a drive — there are different reasons for how the drive is going, and they were going on the ball at certain points so some of those plays can kind of build up.

In that game, with the style of game it was, and with some of the tempo that was happening, you know, those guys — I don’t know exactly how many more reps was it, Jeff?

Q. I think just a couple for DE Brandon Graham and one for OLB Nolan Smith. (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: (Shrugs shoulders.)

Q. Well, you know, this is a guy that you gave 51 million dollars… (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: I know, but when it’s that close, one more or two more, the context of that, I don’t know exactly what it was. But it’s a couple more. Just like with the catches or with the touches, that can go different ways each game.

I knew it wasn’t that much more. Okay.

Q. Yeah. I know that you’ve said that, and maybe Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio has said this too, that it’s a new scheme for him. (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Sure.

Q. And DE Bryce Huff didn’t really produce much. I know it’s the first game, but are you guys concerned? (Jeff McLane)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, no, not at all. Again, like I said, Jeff, just sometimes the way it goes. Again, you want to keep guys fresh . That’s how it goes throughout the game.

But sometimes that’s very similar to how the touches on offense go as well.

Q. When it comes to the brotherly shove, what made former Eagles C Jason Kelce so good at his role there? What are your thoughts on the transition this season, and what gives you the confidence that it’ll be an almost automatic play for you guys moving forward? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I mean, it has been an automatic play for us as we’ve been through these last couple years together with it. [Former Eagles C] Jason [Kelce] was really good. I won’t give away any secrets because obviously Cam is going to use some of them. Jason was obviously a phenomenal football player in everything that he did.

As far as the way that game went, there are circumstances that – I’m trying not to give too much away — there are circumstances that go into that play being successful. There are different things that go on to make that play successful.

And some of the things we were challenged with on Friday night made it a little bit more challenging to be successful on that play. I think we converted the one — I think two of four at the end of the day with that; is that right?

Q. Yeah– (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: One of them was on third down and we converted on fourth and we fumbled the one, yeah.

So, I was pleased with the way we were getting some push on some of them. We have some things to clean up. I think going too much into this — Tim, I respect your question and I want to be able to answer it as best I can, but I also will keep some things close to the vest for us.

Q. You said after the game that you know you’ll be asked about the pre-season playing time. Now that you have some context and perspective to it, how do you balance what you admitted was some sloppiness, whether it was procedural, early in the game, compared to the competitive advantage and the health that you get not playing the guys in the pre-season? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, again, every year we’ll go back and refocus ourselves on what we need to do better. We actually do that each week. We do it after training camp, we do it during each week during training camp.

You know, the availability of our players is highly important, right? AJ Brown is a special player, so you want him there for the long haul. [T] Lane Johnson is a special player. Jalen Hurts is a special player. We have a lot of special players. All these guys. Brandon Graham is a special player. So, you want them to be as fresh as they possibly can be going into the season because we know it’s a long season.

Like I’ve said to you guys, Zach, we are practicing, you know, highly intense practices. We’re treating these like games, coaching them like games, and correcting them like games, and players are taking accountability like games.

Again, a great indicator of how you’re going to play is how you practice if you practice your butt off. I know we’re getting the work we need during practice. Week 1 of the season, I think you can probably look around the league and see sloppy football all the way around. You’re trying to control as much of that as possible.

I don’t think it matters who played their starters in the pre-season, who didn’t play their starters in the pre-season. I saw sloppy football out of both sides yesterday. I won’t get into ‘This team was sloppy and this team,’ whatever. I got to sit and watch football yesterday and there was a lot of the sloppy football.

Just like we had sloppy football. That’s something you’re constantly trying get better at through the season as you go.

I’m pleased with how we’ve started here. I’m pleased with how we’ve gone about our process. We’ve started fast. Now, the only way to go 2-0 is if you go 1-0. That’s our next focus. We’ve done our evaluation of the pre-season and what we will do better next time and the things we thought we did well.

But it prepped us to get an opening day win against a very, very good opponent who went to the divisional round last year. Again, I have a lot of respect for their coaches and that team.

So, to beat a good opponent — and, yeah, by the way, I think someone brought this up to me also. We haven’t had a home game in four years as openers. So, to be able to go on the road — I know this one was considered a home game, but I believe it was the farthest we’ve had to travel. Atlanta wasn’t as far as this.

But, again, to be on the road and be that far away from home, I’m pleased how we went out and performed.

But, a lot of things to clean up.

Q. I was wondering if you could — specifically I guess, what did you see in QB Jalen Hurts’ two turnovers and how concerning is that for you, especially considering the training camp that he had and everything like that? (Martin Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, obviously we’re hyper focused on the football. We talk about the football a lot.

Jalen touches the ball every down. Obviously, you never want turnovers. He’s trying to make a play. But we have to take care of the football.

He’s going to want those plays back. You know, both of them are in third and long scenarios, so being able to take what the defense gives him in those scenarios is going to be key.

Not concerned. He made a lot of good plays in this game. Like we talked about, the four minute, even with some of those plays that didn’t go his way, he made a lot of really good plays. You know, bunch of throws that — the touchdown throw to AJ, the touchdown throw to Saquon, the four-minute throws to DeVonta. Like there are a bunch of plays there.

There was a fourth down throw that he made, 4th-and-3, where I thought he made a really good throw to keep the drive alive on our two-minute drive at the end of the half to DeVonta. So he made a lot of good plays.

Listen, we all have a lot of things to clean up: Myself, coaches included. We have a lot of things to clean up that we want to do better. But, just in those scenarios, being able to take what the defense gives us is going to be probably the main coaching point that we talk to him about.

But, again, he made a lot of big-time plays in that game that helped put that game in our favor.

Q. You mentioned watching all of the other football action yesterday. If you look around the league, it seemed like rookies, in a lot of ways, played like rookies, like you would expect. That did not seem to be the case with CB Quinyon Mitchell. How do you think he was able to avoid that? What is it that you saw when you went back and watched the film from CB Quinyon Mitchell? (Rob Kuestner)

NICK SIRIANNI: Again, the moment is never too big for him. He’s just very calm and very confident. Which you need to be as a corner. You need to have short memories, you need to be confident in yourself. Because you’re on an island out there the entire game. At times during the game. I know there are times where you have help over the top and this and that.

I just thought his poise in his first NFL game, not surprising. He doesn’t get too up, he doesn’t get too down. And you saw that during camp. Again, great predictor of how you’re going to play in the games is how you practice.

So, he’s been able to go against AJ and DeVonta throughout the entire camp. That’s obviously a huge advantage that he has over different guys, that he gets to play against two of the best receivers in the game every day at practice.

He got to do that for OTAs, he got to do that for training camp.

But like I said, the moment is not too big for him. He’s very calm and poised when the ball is in the air and it’s coming his way.

Q. During that last drive, you called a timeout with 5:31 left, somewhere around there. The clock was running down. Are there things that you feel like you can do now in this role that are a little bit different? That you couldn’t before that maybe you can do better. And is clock management one of them? (Bob Brookover)

NICK SIRIANNI: The reason I gave up the play calling to [current Indianapolis Colts Head Coach and former Eagles Offensive Coordinator] Shane [Steichen] a couple years ago was because I wanted to manage the game better. I felt like we’ve already been on this step of, ‘Hey, this is why I gave this up initially,’ is the game management portion of it.

So I think that’s similar from the years past. Because I wasn’t calling it the last three years, I was still being able to manage the game. Same thing here. I’m not calling it and I’m here.

I think one thing it does, though, is instead of having to be in every offensive meeting — and I’ve talked about not just going to the offensive meetings but also going to the defensive meetings, to hear what’s going on in special teams meetings.

But also, when we go to a Tuesday, which is our game plan day — which will be messed up this week too because we play Monday night — it gives me an opportunity to look around the league and do some game management things while the offense is getting ready.

I’ll pop in and out of the offense to hear the game planning, to give my expertise into that. But, what it allows me to do is ‘Okay, I don’t have to be in there at all times.’ I can study fourth down decisions throughout the league. I can study two-point decisions throughout the league. I can watch all the four-minutes throughout the league and two-minutes and all those different scenarios throughout the league.

It’s just like practice, right? You’re putting yourself in those scenarios so you can think through your process. Then you have to go back into the offensive meeting and say ‘Here is what I’m thinking here in these scenarios.’ Not necessarily play-wise, but whether it’s run, pass, aggressive, not aggressive. These different things. And so that’s where I think — you know, really good question.

That’s where I think it’s different. I have a little bit more time to study that on Tuesday as opposed to what’s different on game day, if that makes sense.