Eagles 35, Titans 10
Q. Was this you think your most complete performance of the year?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, obviously we played good at every phase of this game, right, offense, defense, special teams. Obviously we have things we got to clean up, pre-snap penalties, so we'll get better from that.
There are some ways we can do that and clean up. So I got to do a better job coaching it and we'll clean that up.
Yeah, pretty complete game for us and I think that's a really good football team. I have a lot of respect the for players, I have a lot of the respect for the coaches over there. I just think that's a good football team.
Q. What does it say when you can score 35 points with 11 pre-snap or holding penalties?
NICK SIRIANNI: It makes you pissed that you have 11. I think it just makes you mad that you had that many pre-snap penalties, because that's always a reflection of me. Like I said, I got to do a better job coaching that.
But as far as just the performance by Jalen and by the offensive line and protection, and then by Jack Stoll getting going and then having two guys with 100 yards, that was pretty big.
It was pretty sweet for AJ to have that game. I know that was important to him. You know what was cool was he didn't -- I didn't feel him press all week. I just felt him going through his normal process. And that's what it takes, right, because you can't get up for one game and not another game. You got to treat them all same.
I saw AJ do that and handle it like a pro this week.
Q. (Regarding 30 yards.) What did you see from the defensive front against...
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, that guy is a phenomenal, phenomenal player. Derrick Henry is a phenomenal player. We knew we couldn't let him get to that the second level, so the defensive line were going to have to work. We got a good array of defensive linemen and just keep throwing guys in there and they're fresh, so they all did a nice job.
Obviously have to watch the tape, but I thought we tackled well. I thought we came after the football well as far as our strip attempts. I thought we played well up front. I saw our secondary players closing the gaps once they got cracked on, so I say Slay get in there on tackles and James get in there on tackles and Marcus and Reed, and so it was a good overall defensive game and it has to be against a well-coached team and a great run team like the Tennessee Titans.
I've seen him up close and personal plenty of times and seen him run for a lot of yards. It was good to be able to contain him today.
Q. One of the things that seemed to sick out about Jalen today is that even the throws he made down field didn't seem risky. It wasn't as if there was much of a chance there would be an interception anything like that. What do you attribute that to? Him? His judgment? Play calling? What's allowed to you guys to marry...
NICK SIRIANNI: I think that's what has been happening all year. He has three interceptions on the year so he's been pretty careful with the ball while still being aggressive. That's the art to it, right? Be aggressive and be able to create explosive plays while taking care of the football.
That's why only so many people in this world can play the position that he plays. Because you want to be aggressive. You know explosive plays are key to your success on offense, but you also know turnovers can doom you as well.
So there is an art to that and he's done a good job of that all year. Today particularly a lot of the throws were outside. When a lot of the throws are outside, there is usually only one guy that can get it. It's our guy or their corner.
Today AJ and Devonta went up and got -- the guy on our sideline on the deep ball that Avonte made a really nice play, but other than that, I think our guys went up there and got after the ball.
That's what we -- we know they can do that. We know AJ has a special ability to catch the ball no matter the circumstances. He made some catches today that I'm not sure I've seen that many good catches by one guy in a game.
You know, Jalen gave him a chance and they went up and got it.
Q. (Regarding Devonta.) How important is that for you guys?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, I think Devonta has been going the whole year. I know there has been things that been brought to my attention because of the questions you guys ask about, well, does Devonta need to get going. He's been going. He's been a steady -- besides the first game where he got shut out.
You know, I think Devonta has been going the whole year. He's been a steady -- he is just very steady. This guy is a phenomenal route runner. That first third down, the thing he did on that route shows you just what -- go back and look at that. I mean, I'll see -- someone will send me that this week zeroed in on that and someone writing a article about that because it was beautiful.
He came across and came back out and it was just -- he's clean out of the break. He is really -- you saw the one where he -- the yards after catch. He does everything well.
And so Devonta has been going the whole year. He's had some really big games. So it was good. Any time you get two guys that have 100 yards that's pretty sweet and makes you feel good as a coach. Makes them feel good as players that whole room is contributing.
Quez had nice plays; Zech had a couple nice plays; Jack Stoll made some really nice plays. I think everybody this played their role very well today.
Q. Nick, it seemed like you guys downplayed AJ facing his former team. What I saw in the field he actually had a little more juice. Did you notice he had a little more?
NICK SIRIANNI: Human nature is going to take over there. You know, he's going to -- you try not to get any more up or down for any game. He's had big games like that before. Looked like that Pittsburgh game, very similar. The Detroit game, very similar. And I do, I thought he handled his business like a pro.
Of course he got himself up a little bit more for that. As much as we're telling him don't, don't, just let it happen naturally, human nature is going to take over there. I felt like he went through his process throughout the week to get himself ready to play. That's what's important. You got to go through that part.
Then you go through that part and then you get some more emotions in a game. That happens. Look at me on the sideline sometimes. I'm pretty emotional on there, too. Again, he played a great game. It was good to see him go out and play the game against his old former team.
Q. He didn't show his hands until like the last possible moment. We can all see like how big and physical and fast he is, all the obvious things with him. That's kind of one the subtleties of his game. What are some the other subtleties?
NICK SIRIANNI: That's a hard thing. That's always something I want to be able to coach and you can't. Like it's really hard. It's hard to run, run, run, boom, and rip it out there. I think some subtleties of his game are just how quick and explosive he is out of breaks for the size, for how big he is, and then just how powerful he is with the ball.
You can see him constantly, he is kind of like a Derrick Henry type when he catches it because he gets those extra yards, right? When guys have him wrapped up he's going to get some extra yards out of that. I think that's a subtle thing.
He might not have the craziest yards after catch numbers. He's got good yards after catch numbers, but he gets these extra yards on some of the throws that guys don't get extra yards on, so I think that's really subtle.
I think last game I said I thought he blocked his butt off last game. He really worked hard to spring some long runs last game in that big -- when we ran for all those yards. And what people don't know about him, he's just a great person. Phenomenal person that really cares about his teammates, really cares about this football team.
He's just going to keep getting better and I'm so happy he's on this football team.
Q. To go from the way you guys ran last week to the way you passed today, what does that say about where you are as an offense and what you can do going forward?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I think it says we'll do whatever we need to do to win the game. If the pass game gets hot, then pass game gets hot; we'll keep going with that. If the run game gets hot, we'll ride that. Shane did a great job calling it, offensive coaches did a good job putting the guys in position, and then obviously the most important thing, the guys went out and executed it.
All I felt like was whatever we called was working because the guys we have out there on the field. It starts up front. The protection was awesome today against couple really good rushers in Simmons and Dupree. So the protection was good all day. Jalen just found the ball, the right place to go with the ball, and we have some good weapons over there to help us make plays.
Q. With four weeks left in the season Jalen may not himself want to talk about this...
NICK SIRIANNI: I don't want to talk about it either. What are you going to ask me about?
Q. Do you see him as a legitimate MVP candidate?
NICK SIRIANNI: That is something we have no control over. Shoot, you always want something -- like you want your players to be acknowledged for the successes that they're having, so, yeah, we want that for guys.
But all we can control is how we go out and work this next game, then the next game after that.
So we'll enjoy this and then the focus will shift to the Giants, and he'll go and prepare like he did this week to get ready to play a really good team in the Giants.
Q. You like where he is right now though?
NICK SIRIANNI: I love where he is. But the MVP stuff is for you guys to decide, right, of where that is. He just has to do what he has to do to play good, give us a chance to win each week, and all that matters is next week. He's probably going to say the same thing to you.
Q. What did you think of the special teams today?
NICK SIRIANNI: Awesome. Thanks for asking that. What a bounceback game, right? So we had those three kickoff returns that really sat with us all week, and then it was just a great bounceback game. Nakobe came down and lit somebody up. Britain Covey. We got a lot of good production out of our rookies and our second -- year players. Christian Ellis, Britain Covey, Nakobe, Shaun Bradley, K'Von, Andre, all those guys came out.
I'm missing a bunch of guys. Kyron. But they went out there and they were hungry to bounce back. I think, right, we're going to have some ups and downs in this the season. When you have a down, can you pick yourself back up off the ground and rip it. Tribute to Coach Clay, Coach Panunnzio, and Coach Brown that they got those guys ready to play and the guys went out there and really played their butts off for Coach Clay.
What our special teams did today gave us a spark. When you start at the 40 yard line consistently, I mean, obviously that's huge, and so it was just a spark that we really needed. It was. That's why it felt like just a complete game by our entire team today.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports