Q. Hey Nick, after watching Jalen Hurts play with some limited mobility over the last couple weeks, do you think there are some lessons he can take from those games?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think any game you play in there is going to be lessons that you learn just depending on -- and I don't think that depends on your limitations or whatever it is.
Like no matter if you played a really good game, a played a really bad game, you're always going to learn. And that's our mindset, of how we can take each game that we play, each practice that we have, each walk-through that we have, and how we get better from that.
That's just Jalen's mindset, that's our mindset as a team, and that's what we're striving to do each and every week.
Q. Happy New year.
NICK SIRIANNI: Happy New Year.
Q. With the possibility of you guys clinching a playoff spot if you guys win and a couple other things happen, do you have to talk to your guys about keeping focus on Washington, not thinking ahead to all the kind of possibilities or they pretty much know that anyway?
NICK SIRIANNI: They know that, but my job as a coach is to remind them of things that sometimes are very obvious. So every scenario that I'm being told that we have to clinch a playoff spot, you know, and so like when I first heard about it it was every scenario, Okay, if this happens and this happens and this happens we're in. All right, what else? If this happens and this happens and this happens we're also in, right?
But every one of those things requires us winning and that's all we can control. That's been my message all week. That's been our leaders on our team's message all week, and we're doing everything we can do to go 1-0 this week by the way we practiced all week, the way we walked-through this week, and by the way we studied tape this week.
Q. An off-field question for you. With connect being one of our main core values, I wanted to gather your thoughts in the importance and how you view the Social Justice Leadership Council and the issues that they address?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you know, as players and as coaches we have such a huge platform to inspire change in our world and communities. I'm just so happy that our guys are involved and we have so many people in this organization involved and so many players and coaches involved.
I think that just shows you about our team, of about how they connect with each other and how they look to connect with our communities and make it a better place. Just so excited for our guys that they're involved in that.
Q. Just ask you about you have a pretty clean injury report except for Jordan Howard. Wonder what his status is? And then also how has Kerryon Johnson's return to the fold there, how has he looked this week?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, Jordan is questionable, you know, and we obviously don't have to make that decision yet. He's still got two more days to get better, so he's questionable right now.
Kerryon had a good week. Again, I think somebody asked me this earlier in the week just he knows the offense. He did some really good things when he was here in the off-season, and so we have confidence in him if his number is called.
Q. Without getting ahead of ourselves, have you given thought I guess big picture what your philosophy would be if you clinched ahead of week 18 what you would do with your starters?
NICK SIRIANNI: Not even a little bit. You're getting ahead of ourselves.
Q. Got to ask.
NICK SIRIANNI: I'll let everybody else think about that. Again, like I said, only thing that matters is Washington. Only thing that matters was our preparation today.
We're going to go up there and have a meeting with Jalen like we do ever Friday. That meeting is the next step. The walk-through and the meeting is tomorrow, and then the game against Washington is all I care about, all I'm thinking about.
I'll have plenty of time next week to think about other scenarios.
Q. Your team is rushing, No. 1 in the NFL in rushing right now. When we asked the offensive linemen about why, they always seem to reference Stout and they talk about the standard that he demands. What is that standard?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, it's just the technique. First of all, we do everything we can do to put them in position to succeed. That's our job as coaches, is to put them in a position to succeed. That doesn't mean you're always going to have the perfect play every time, but our job as coaches is put them in the position to succeed, and then coach the heck out of details of technique and fundamentals of how we succeed within each play.
And then it goes over to the players of how they execute that play and how they execute the unknowns. And so, yeah, obviously a ton of credit goes to Stout because he is helping come up with -- and he's really one of the main guys to come up with the run plan, and this guy understands angles of the offensive line better than anyone I've ever been around to help put these guys in are good position.
He's such a technician. That's what you want out of your coaches. You want guys that can get the guys better fundamentally and then know how to help them succeed by putting them in the right positions. That's all you can ask for in a coach.
Then it goes over to our guys of they got to be the ones that go out there and execute, right, and have their bodies execute it. With the talent we have on the offensive line, led by Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson, you know, with the talent that we have, right, you're always going to look like a better coach when you have talented players like we do on the offensive line.
They're the ones out there executing it. We do our part of helping them, and then they do go out and execute. So the execution, that's the biggest part. And I know those guys love Stout. They love him, and that's a big part of it, too. You're always willing to go a little bit further for the guys that you love, and that's why connecting is so important to us as an organization.
Q. How has Kenny Gainwell handled any adversity he's faced year, being inactive, maybe dropping down on the depth chart, some of the turnovers he's had, et cetera?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know what? This is a guy I feel like he's unfazed. He's able to put behind him things that -- bad things that have happened and good things that have happened and just work on getting better.
I want to say I think after he was inactive, I remember him coming up me and saying, Anything I can do to help this team, I'm here. You just admire that in guys that even through is difficult time, you know, where he's inactive, he's still willing to do anything he needs to do to help the team, get himself better so he can help the team.
I just think that's the type of high character guys that reach their ceiling. I really truly believe that. I think you guys have heard me say that before: Guys that love football, that are tough, and have high character, they're going to reach their ceiling as football players.
Now, there are other things that contribute to potentially not reaching your ceiling, but those are the guys in my past that have reached their ceiling as football players, and I have no doubt that Kenny Gainwell will be able to that here as an Eagle.
Q. Happy New year. With the quarterbacks being isolated, what have you learned about yourself coaching virtually that maybe kind of didn't click with you when you're coaching in person? I guess obviously there are advantages and disadvantages to both, but what have you learned about yourself as a coach in coaching from a digital standpoint?
NICK SIRIANNI: That my jokes might not be as funny as I thought they are when I'm coaching. You get no response and it puts you in a little bit of a -- when you make a joke when you're coaching to kind of -- you can't just be all boom all the time. You got to throw some jokes in there. You got to do some things there to keep their attention, and sometimes I don't get the laughs I want.
But in all seriousness, what I learned last year, because I think -- you know, I'm just convinced last year when we were with the Colts we did it better than everybody else. We knew there was a challenge of being virtual and we fought like crazy to find different ways to make sure we kept them engaged when there are so many distractions that are present when you're virtual.
When you're virtual there is distractions, right? I mean, my kids are running down stairs at times. We're not at home this time, but you just find different ways to make sure you're keeping them engaged.
So we took some of the experiences we had last year and we used it here, so a lot of that learning was done last year.
So, yeah, hopefully I answered your question there, Mike, as best I could.
Q. Nick, Lamar Jackson appears to be hurt again this week; Kyler Murray has been hurt; Jalen Hurts has been hurt. Running quarterbacks. With these things that happen, do you rethink a little bit the way you call your offense to protect your quarterback more when you see what happens with running quarterbacks?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, Howard, that's a great question. I think you always -- because he's your quarterback, you always want to protect your quarterback. Now, that doesn't mean you don't run him, but you do some different things and we do some different things to make sure that he's led in protection, right? Led in -- I don't know how to say it, but like where he's not taking the hits.
First of all, Len does know how to not take a hit. He knows how to not put his body at harm, and then we do our best, and this is from day one, of making sure that he understands we don't want him to fight for some unnecessary things and that we're going to do our best to help make sure we protect it by the way we block things.
And, again, I think if I go too much more into that, Howard, I think it takes a little bit of a competitive advantage away. Love to share it with you guys at a different time.
But we're always thinking that of how we protect Jalen. He's our starting quarterback, so you don't just aimlessly throw him out there and say, you know, Run and take these hits because we know like it's a physical game. You just don't want that to happen.
So it's always been on the front of our mind. Regardless of what's happened in the NFL throughout this year, what's happened to Jalen, we just want to protect him because he's our starting quarterback.
Q. Thanks. Good luck, and Happy New year.
NICK SIRIANNI: Thanks, Howard, you too.
Q. Few games this year, the road team fans tend to be a little bit louder and certainly you guys are closer than any of the other teams that have been down there. Do you kind of talk to the guys about, Hey, let's get a jump here and almost treat this like a home game, use the noise to our advantage, particularly defensively?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, obviously always want to start fast. As we all know, you want to have the lead and play from ahead. What I value about our fan base is that from game one in Atlanta, right, we had a huge supporting cast there.
It just seems like it's been like that each and every week. Like there was a bar outside of Denver that when I was with San Diego, when I was with the Chargers, I would drive by that bar. It's just this little bar out in front of stadium and I would see all the Bronco fans.
This whole thing was green when we played at Denver. Our fans do a great job traveling and really do a great job being in a stadium and taking it over. I can't -- I will never forget this clip that after our Atlanta game somebody sent me of Bow Wow, the rapper Bow Wow complaining in the sense that -- when he was in Atlanta, he's an Atlanta fan, right, and I know he's from Columbus so I'm surprised he's not a Cleveland fan or a Bengal fan, but of him complaining, Like what the heck? This is our home opener and is I'm hearing Meek Mill playing in the background. This is crazy. We were just laughing. We had a great time with that.
But it just shows you that there is Eagle fans everywhere. If there are tickets left, I don't have, like I don't have any family members coming to this game, right, but if there are tickets left, I know our fans are scooping those things up and getting down there to make this drive down there.
If there are still tickets left, fans, I encourage you to go get those tickets, scoop 'em up, and I want to hear here the E-A-G-L-E-S after touchdowns down there. I can't wait.
I hope you guys hear it in my voice how passionate I am about our fan base. I think early in this the year people were asking me, You guys are winning on its road more than you're winning at home. Well, when we were on the road at times it was like it felt like we were at home, and, so, again, just can't say enough about our fans and how passionate they are and how excited I am and our team is when we see and hear them at away games.
Q. You talked about being in position to clinch this weekend. When you got off to the rough start...
NICK SIRIANNI: I didn't talk about that; you guys talked about that.
Q. Okay. All right. I'll talk about it. When you got off to the rough start, and I know you're positive, but did you have moments where you were losing faith, and how did you keep the faith, keep believing, and also make sure your team believe that you would be in this position with two games to go and be in a position to clinch a playoff spot?
NICK SIRIANNI: I think when you look at something as a whole or you think about the past, if you're not a process oriented team where you just care about the process, the results can really mess with you. If you're thinking too far down the road, too far back, right, that can mess with you.
Your goal is to get better every day. When you get better every day, when you grow every day, right, eventually good things will happen. And so that's just been my philosophy for some time.
Obviously I was able to be a part of that Indianapolis and I know that's Frank's philosophy as well of just come to work every single day and get better. There is going to be times of adversity where people are telling you you stink and there are going to be times of triumph where people are telling you you can't do anything wrong.
Your job in all that is to not ride the wave of the season; your job in all of that is how you do the things you need to do to get a little bit better every day, right, so you put yourself position to go 1-0 that week.
Like I said, it's okay that you -- you guys know I'm going to say that by this point, right? Like I say to the players sometimes, it's okay that you know what's going to come out of my mouth. It's okay that you know I'm going to say this right he here. In fact, I think that's good coaching, right?
So you guys, when you ask me a question like that you know what you're going to hear from me, so I think that's good coaching. All I think did about, right, is how we get a little bit better each day. That's all I want our players to think about, and that will help you get through times of triumph, help you get through times of tribulation.
Q. Did you ever lose faith?
NICK SIRIANNI: Never.
Q. Good luck.
NICK SIRIANNI: Thank you.
Q. Hey, Nick, Happy New year. Last question of 2021 for you.
NICK SIRIANNI: You got it, John, this is it. Better be a good one.
Q. There is a lot of stuff. The run game, because there is a little bit of uncertainty at running back. Miles is out; Jordan Howard you mentioned is questionable. When Miles was out the first time what did you kind of learn about the backs, and how much did things change, or is it just next man up, we're good at this, we're just going to run the football?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you know, again, I always think it starts up front. That's not taking anything away from our backs, but it always starts up front, and we know what type of up front we have.
And then you go into the type of depth that we have on the back. To be able to lose a caliber player like Miles Sanders and be able to come in, and those guys with Boston and Jordan and Kenny, to be able to rush the way we did when we lost them, I mean, that speaks to the depth that Howie and his staff have put together here.
That's what you love as coaches. I don't want to say, again, the next-man-up mentality. Well, you can only do the next-man-up mentality if -- and we always will live that way -- but like you got to have players behind them that are ready to go and are talented, and that's what we have.
I think somebody sent me something the other day of you could wake up -- I thought it was really cool. It was about Boston Scott. Like you could wake up -- I think I want to say Merrill sent it. I can't remember exactly. Somebody sent it to me and your. I apologize, Merrill, if this was you and I'm not giving you the credit you deserve.
You could wake up Boston Scott in the middle of the night, lead him to the stadium, and there would be a game going on and he would be ready to go. I love that about players. I absolutely love that about our players, and Boston Scott, you know, in particular.
And so they're ready to go. They prepare like they're the guy each week. Credit to Jemal Singleton, his position coach, to prepare him like he's the guy each week, and the players, Boston and Jordan and Kenny like they're the guy each week, and credit to the players for preparing themselves like they're the guy each week.
So unbelievable depth by Howie and his staff. Unbelievable offensive line. Then just unbelievable character guys that have talent behind Miles. So a lot of credit to go around for why we're able to do the things we did when Miles got hurt the first time, and we're looking to duplicate that this time around.
Happy New year everybody.
Q. We've asked you about the growth of a lot of the players this year and this past week. Where would you say you've grown the most in your first year as head coach?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, just as a leader. I think, again, if you come in each day and you want to get better at your job and get a little bit better each day, that's my main job, is that and to be in charge of the offense.
But just as a leader. I feel like I've getter better at that each day. And, again, I've had good leaders to learn from a with my college coach, with my dad, with Frank Reich. With Larry Carris (phonetic), Frank Reich, and my dad.
So I had a good -- and my brothers -- so I had a good background in doing that because I just been around really good leaders.
But you have all these things in your pocket of what you learned, but you've never done it yourself, and so there had to be growing there, and I guess that's where I feel like I've grown.
But always want to be leading in that way as far as if I want the guys to get a little bit better every day, I got to get a little bit better every day, and hopefully they see that, because I felt that throughout the year.
Q. Did you see Bill Belichick get asked about his New Year's resolution after the loss the other day? I'm jumping in here to get the last question, but what's your New Year's resolution?
NICK SIRIANNI: I'll tell you this: I never have had a New Year's resolution because like you got to think of how we think as football coaches. I know tonight is New Year's Eve, but I got to work tomorrow. I'm not staying up until midnight unless the Michigan-Georgia game is going on.
Our resolutions don't usually start -- like as a football coach, our resolution don't normally start until the season is over, so I'll think about it then.
I'm heavy right now, so I'm assuming at some point -- you know, I'm 10, 15 pounds overweight right now, so at some point it's going to be something like that, but that doesn't go into effect until after the season.
And I really got to think that way because I got the Jersey Shore right here, it's so close in proximity, I got to make sure I lose a little bit of weight before that.
Thanks, everyone.
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