Nick Sirianni Live Eagles press conference — Today at 3:00p

[10:19] Nick Sirianni Live, presented by Premier Orthopedic. [10:23] Especially once you guys had it to first and 10 with 25 seconds to go, [10:27] that he honors the play call that comes in. [10:30] I was wondering from a coach's perspective how you coach the quarterback [10:33] to honor the play call versus maybe do what he thinks is best [10:37] in that instance at the end of game. [10:41] Yeah, you know, yeah, Jalen's playing. [10:44] We're coaching and calling the plays, [10:46] and Jalen's got to go execute what we call in that moment, 100%. [10:50] And so, you know, we're not asking him to make play calls in that scenario. [10:56] He's already got enough to worry about to go out and execute. [11:00] So, you know, that's where we were there and in that situation. [11:07] We'll go to John and then Ruben Frank. [11:09] Hey, Nick. [11:10] Kind of further that with the offense as a whole, [11:13] obviously a lot of adversity, Lane, the trade, some injuries. [11:17] How do you sort of gauge how Sean's progressing as this thing moves forward? [11:24] You know, I think that right now, offensively, we all have to be better, right? [11:30] Players, coaches, myself, all of us have to be better. [11:35] And that's what we're – we're not worried about gauging, you know, [11:40] where this person is or where that person is, we're worried about growth. [11:45] And we're worried about how we – you know, because, frankly, you know, [11:50] obviously it's not – it hasn't been good enough, right? [11:53] And so we're worried about growth. [11:55] We're worried about what we do well, what we don't do well, [12:01] how we maximize those things that we're doing well, [12:03] how we try to eliminate some of the things that we're not doing well, [12:08] whether that's you take things out of your playbook [12:11] or whether that's something that is completely fixable that, you know, [12:15] you continue to work on. [12:17] And so that is what – where we are right now [12:20] and what we are doing right now as a staff. [12:23] Obviously today is about, you know, reflection on what happened yesterday. [12:30] And today is about, you know, the growth of that. [12:35] And then later in the day it will be a little bit more on our next game, [12:39] what we want to do, how we're going to do it, what we do well, [12:43] what this opponent's doing. [12:44] And so, you know, that's kind of how this day will go. [12:48] We'll go to Rube and then Tim McManus. [12:52] Hey, Nick. [12:53] Obviously the last three weeks have been tough losses, not just losing, [12:57] but the way some of these games have gone. [12:59] How do you kind of keep an eye on the psyche of the team [13:02] and make sure that it doesn't spiral and that the guys stay up [13:05] and stay positive? [13:07] Yeah, that's where relationships come into play. [13:12] You know, you're constantly communicating with the guys [13:14] through messages with the team in a team setting, [13:19] but also checking in with guys on, you know, [13:24] as much as you possibly can throughout the week. [13:28] Today, you know, today I'll be doing that, you know, [13:31] quite frankly, every day. [13:35] And that's what you're doing at this particular point. [13:41] And so it has been very early on in the season. [13:45] Right now, we are what our record says we are. [13:48] We're two and three. [13:50] And we know there's a lot left in the season. [13:53] And I don't think that there is any panic on any aspect of any player [13:58] or coach in this building. [14:01] You know, we are, you know, we've had three-game losing streaks before, [14:06] you know, last year. [14:07] And our job is to get up and keep fighting. [14:10] We'll go to Tim and then Christian DeFranco. [14:15] Nick, after reviewing the sequence of plays before Jake's kick [14:19] and then the ensuing kickoff, what are your takeaways? [14:25] Yeah. [14:26] In leading up to Jake's kick, we practice that situation every Wednesday. [14:33] Every single Wednesday, we practice what we call two-minute to four-minute. [14:38] It's a little more complicated than I think people understand. [14:42] And my opinion is that people stop trying. [14:47] You get to around the 35, you know, you're in range, [14:52] and people stop kind of trying to advance the ball forward. [14:56] When you advance the ball forward, you make the kicker's job easier. [15:02] We are all trying to do our part to help each other be at their best. [15:07] And you guys can look up the percentages when the ball gets in certain spots [15:11] on the field league-wide. [15:14] You're doing, you know, because if you don't make the kick, [15:17] nothing else really matters, right? [15:19] And so in that situation, you're trying to move the ball forward. [15:25] You know, running it is an option, obviously. [15:30] But with what Jacksonville was doing in that particular case, [15:34] it wasn't going to be an option. [15:35] You saw what happened when we ran it on the third down. [15:39] And, you know, I never think that it's something that you can say, [15:44] okay, I'm going to wait until third down to pass the ball, right? [15:49] You have no idea how many times it's going to take you to advance the ball [15:52] a little bit more forward. [15:53] We missed on – we didn't get any yards and got an incomplete pass [15:59] on the first play. [16:01] We gained yards on the second play. [16:03] And then on the third play, we ran it and lost yards there [16:08] against a full-out pressure. [16:10] And so you have to gauge what the defense is doing. [16:13] But your job – again, I end up watching those situations each week [16:18] and any two-minute to four-minute from – not only do we practice it, [16:22] I'll study those situations throughout the week, [16:25] whatever I deem kind of came up that way in pro football. [16:29] And in my opinion, I think you see a lot of times teams take their foot [16:35] off the gas there. [16:36] Now, you'd love for the last play of the game to be your kick. [16:41] You know, but you'd also say, hey, if I can get that clock under, [16:45] you know, 20 seconds, you're accomplishing that as well. [16:49] Leading into that last play, I said what I said yesterday. [16:52] I stand by that. [16:53] I did not make the decision that I wanted to make there [16:58] in that particular case, and it cost us. [17:01] There's nothing else to be said about that. [17:05] But that's leading up to Jake's kick. [17:08] To answer your question, Tim, that's my thought process there [17:11] to bring you inside that a little bit without giving too much information. [17:15] That's my thought process in that situation. [17:18] I stand by what I did in that situation. [17:22] Had eight seconds left to go in the game once we gave the ball back to him, [17:26] and that's where my decision is that I regret of what I did then after that. [17:32] But to give him back the ball with eight seconds left, [17:34] I think we did what we needed to do as an offense, [17:37] and you obviously saw the success of Jake's kick in that particular case. [17:43] We'll go to Christian and then Mike Sielski. [17:47] Hey, Nick. [17:47] Sorry my camera's in and out. [17:49] But kind of building off of McMullen's question, [17:55] obviously you and the team never make excuses about injuries, [18:02] but you've had a lot of them on offense. [18:06] It's got to be difficult for a guy like Mannion, [18:09] who seems very confident, knowledgeable, talented, [18:12] and not intimidated by big moments. [18:16] But for him to install a new offense while honestly half your top offensive [18:23] players are out, can you just talk about that a little bit? [18:27] And in general, like I said, [18:29] people on the outside may kind of overlook that fact, [18:33] but can you just kind of candidly say what's going on with the offense right now? [18:39] Yeah. [18:39] Like I said, it's never just one thing. [18:41] It, it, there's always multiple things when it's not going the right way, [18:45] you know, and not the way you want it to go. [18:49] It's very rare in this game of football that it's just one thing, right? [18:56] And obviously that's not true. [18:58] We all have things that we have to get better at. [19:00] We all have things that we're looking to grow upon each and every week. [19:05] And you're right. [19:06] We won't ever use anything as an excuse because, you know, [19:10] we're in similar situations as other teams are. [19:13] And our job is to figure it out. [19:16] And, and in a world where I think that, you know, we look to assign blame, [19:22] look for excuses to, it ain't about that. [19:25] It's about finding solutions. [19:28] And I'll always live that way and do my best to find the solutions to, [19:33] to give our team the best chance that we can win each and every week. [19:37] And I want my players thinking that way. [19:40] And it's never going to be about who's in, who's out, what this, [19:45] we got to find solutions. [19:46] That's our job, plain and simple period. [19:50] And, and I think, right. [19:52] What I said to the guys, like, [19:56] you have to be different to give yourself an edge. [19:59] Um, what I mean by that, you have to condition differently than other teams to give yourself [20:05] an edge. [20:06] You have to, um, you know, work on tackling differently than other teams to give yourself [20:13] an edge. [20:14] You have to take accountability and not look to assign blame and look yourself in the mirror [20:19] first to help yourself get as bad, as good as you possibly can without looking for an excuse [20:25] to give yourself an edge and to do things in the NFL and to win games in the NFL. [20:32] You have to be different than the rest of, you know, than everybody else. [20:38] And that's what we, our goal is each and every week. [20:42] Um, each and every time is an opportunity to get better. [20:45] And, um, we've done that, uh, here. [20:48] Um, but we got to, we have to do, we have to get better at that right now and get better [20:53] in general. [20:56] We have time for two more. [20:57] So we'll go to Mike and then wrap with Zach. [20:59] Hey, Nick, uh, using, um, Makai Lemmon's late catch where he got out of bounds and stopped [21:07] the clock there, uh, where it might've been advantageous for you guys to run more clock [21:12] there and have him stay in bounds as a head coach. [21:15] How do you balance giving guys freedom, you know, to play, they will maybe need to play [21:20] and trusting them as professionals to do the right thing in those situations. [21:24] But also, as you've said, taking responsibility for everything that goes on the field, I guess [21:28] in a situation like you guys are in now, where you have a lot of young guys, guys who are [21:32] playing because other guys are injured. [21:34] Do you and your staff have to drill down more on certain things? [21:37] Do you feel the need to do that? [21:39] Um, because of where you guys are at? [21:42] Yeah, I think, I think if you're, it's a good question, but I think if you're saying, [21:48] Hey, we got, we got these new guys in and we got to be even more detailed than I didn't [21:54] do my job, the, you know, as good as I possibly could do it prior to that. [22:01] Uh, if I'm answering your question, like I, like every, the parody in this league is so [22:08] tight. [22:08] We don't, you know, we don't go play a, a, a, a cupcake game to get ready for another [22:15] game, right? [22:16] That doesn't happen in the NFL. [22:18] And so every, how do I say this? [22:22] I think every day and every, every situation that we, and everything that we do is fourth [22:28] and one. [22:29] I really do believe that. [22:31] And, you know, and so it's, we got to do that on a, on a daily basis. [22:37] Um, you know, in that particular case, you know, us getting a new set of downs on a first [22:41] down, um, you know, is a good thing. [22:44] It would, you know, run the time down to be the last play, um, you know, and the guy [22:50] pushes them out on the route that we ran to get the ball out of our hands quickly in [22:54] a, in a blitz zero situation. [22:56] Um, and the guy pushes them out of bounds in that situation. [22:59] Um, but he inched himself, he got himself closer to the first down there. [23:03] Um, and then, you know, and then, like I said, it didn't work out. [23:10] We gave him the ball back with eight seconds, but, um, and ideally in those situations, you [23:16] want to try to give it to him back with no time, right? [23:18] You ideally want it to be the last play of the game. [23:22] Um, and, but to, to get it down to eight seconds, I thought the offense did what they were supposed [23:28] to do. [23:28] And then as I've explained to you guys, I didn't do what I was supposed to do after [23:33] that. [23:33] I do believe the offense did everything they could do. [23:36] Would we love for the kick to be the last situation? [23:39] Obviously it wasn't in this particular case, but we got it under 10 seconds. [23:43] And, and that to me is not why we lost that game. [23:48] We'll finish with Zach here. [23:50] Hey, good afternoon, Nick. [23:51] Sorry if my connection is chopped, fam. [23:53] I'm on my way back. [23:54] Uh, as far as the injuries, are you, are you expecting some offensive reinforcements with [24:00] Devante and Saquon? [24:02] And if you can look at the running back spot in particular, you're obviously down or in [24:07] that game where down your top three guys going into the season, where that position going [24:13] into Sunday. [24:14] Yeah, we'll see, Zach. [24:16] I think, I think I'm hopeful. [24:17] I'm hopeful. [24:18] You know, I don't get too much into all those things. [24:20] I just think it's, it's hard to say, to tell you one thing and then it, and then it plays [24:25] out differently. [24:26] Um, um, because there's still a lot of time left for this game. [24:30] Um, but I'm hopeful, um, that, you know, these, and I know how hard these guys work, [24:35] right. [24:35] Uh, to get themselves back because, you know, it's killing them that they're not out there. [24:40] Um, and I really felt strong about our running back room going into the season. [24:46] And obviously we've been without Saquon. [24:48] Um, we lost Will at the end that, during that game, we lost Tank. [24:53] Um, so those are three really good players, but, you know, I think everyone saw, uh, everyone [24:58] knows who Damien Pierce is and the things that, that, that he can do. [25:02] Um, and, and had some nice runs in that game, had some really, really, really nice pass protections [25:08] in that game to help us get the ball out. [25:10] Uh, a couple of times, I thought that was really encouraging and awesome because he's [25:14] a tough guy and we'll stick his face in there. [25:17] Um, and then Carson, you know, I think, you know, you saw him in the, in, in the preseason, [25:22] how, you know, what kind of got him onto this team and, um, the things that he can do. [25:27] Um, so I've always been pleased with that group. [25:29] You know, Jaden's, Jaden's worked really hard. [25:31] He brings a completely different dynamic. [25:34] Um, but we'll see where we are at the end of the week, but I'm man, it, you know, at that [25:38] position sometimes, you know, it rains, it pours and when a string of injuries hit you [25:43] at a certain position, but how he did a great job of, you know, bringing in a lot of good [25:48] pieces, um, to this team, um, shoot, uh, you know, I know we had Elijah Mitchell earlier [25:55] too. [25:55] I was really pleased with how he was looking as well. [25:58] And so that was always a strength. [26:01] Um, and we're needing that right now. [26:03] And I'm excited that we have those guys here to, you know, step in when they need to. [26:08] Thanks, coach. [26:10] Appreciate you taking the time for us today. [26:12] Thank you. [26:13] Thanks. [26:16] Nick Sirianni live presented by premier orthopedic.