Philadelphia - 34, Washington - 31
Q. Can you talk about how he played today?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I thought he played clutch. You know, just clutch. You know, I think that's the best way to say it. Like, whether it was the overtime drive, whether it was the drive where we scored with about a minute plus left.
I just felt like he -- whether it was, hey, we didn't have a lot of possessions in the first half and we needed that end-of-half drive to get it going. Clutch. That's -- I think that's the best way to say it, Mark, is I thought that's where he was.
Q. He seemed to trust in his playmakers, too. DeVante, two to AJ, Dallas recovered, an interfered pass, and D'Andre's was -- you know, it was some good luck from the backfield. That might have been the play that won the game.
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you know, those guys -- that's trust, right? That's trust -- not blind faith, right? But trust that in faith that is built up through the reps that you get. And some of the guys -- you know, with Dallas and with DeVonta and A.J., that's trust over the last couple years. You know, with D'Andre, that's trust that's building. And so, you know, Os had a big catch. That's building.
That trust is building and that was a big third down catch. And that's trust that's built through the work that you do week in week out at practice, training camp, OTAs. And so, that was pretty -- that was sweet.
Q. You guys don't fall behind often in games. I don't think you've been in overtime.
NICK SIRIANNI: Is that right?
Q. I don't think so.
NICK SIRIANNI: In two years?
Q. I don't think so.
NICK SIRIANNI: Oh. Did we have -- who did we --
Q. Cardinals --
NICK SIRIANNI: That's interesting. That's why I asked -- I asked those guys in there today. I'm like, How many times have we been in overtime?
Q. (No microphone.)
NICK SIRIANNI: We won in a different way that we've had to win so far this year. I think that builds character. I think that builds a tighter team. I think that builds trust. Defense comes out, they make a stop, the offense goes out and drives the ball into a position to score and the special teams converts to make a play. Those are all team building things.
Trust me, I don't want -- that's not good for me when we have to win in overtime. There's a lot of anxiety going into all that. But, no, it is good when you're able to win in different ways. It tells you a lot about the character of your football team. And I think we showed that today.
Q. Nick, the third and 11 call --
NICK SIRIANNI: Sorry, Rob.
Q. Following up on one point. I think you'd rather win 50 to nothing week in, week out.
NICK SIRIANNI: Sure.
Q. But when you have adverse situations like this, what does that teach you about your team and how does that set you up for down the road?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, again, when you can win different ways, it just -- you're going to be put in all these scenarios through a long season, right? And so, it just builds confidence that, Okay, we've been here before, we know how to win this way. We've been here before, we know how to win this way. We've been here before, we know how to win this way.
I do -- I guess -- I think it just builds a lot of things. It just builds a lot of things for your team. And so, man, it was -- that was a sweet way to win. Man, Jake Elliott, I said -- I talked about Jalen being clutch, Jake Elliott is so clutch. Like, this guy -- like, I -- I don't watch field goals, I don't care how short they are, I don't know why, I don't watch it.
I look at Coach Clay, he points at me or gives me one of these, like, if we miss. I was looking at him and he hit me with that. And I don't know if I was really even that surprised. Jake's just -- he's clutch. Both of our -- Jalen and Jake just played clutch games today and really happy for them.
Q. On your third and 11 call -- not your call but Brian's call, I guess, in the red zone in the second half, the run to Kenny, is that a situation where you prefer to be more aggressive or is that a call that --
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, last week on that call and a third -- I think it was third and eight against Tampa, we converted. So, hey, we convert on those, we're high-fiving. If we don't convert, I understand there could be criticism there. All those calls -- again, Brian and I make those -- we do those throughout the week. That's what we thought would give us the best chance to get the first down.
And I think there's been a lot of discussion there on that call. It's always a call that we think about. And like I said, last week, the run worked. This week, it didn't. You know, the field shrinks sometimes in there. It's a little bit tougher to throw in there with the field shrinking, you don't have your whole playbook at its disposal. We trust our offensive line, we trust Kenny.
That doesn't mean there wasn't an option to pass the ball there, if the defense showed that we could. You know, we've run that play in the past against that same coverage and scored on that play. Hey, but you know what, it didn't work this time.
But everything we do, like, there's an aggression in everything we do. Aggressiveness -- and I respect your question. Aggressiveness doesn't look the same at all times, right? Aggressiveness can look many different ways. And in that particular case, we thought we were being aggressive there with the play that we had on. And you know what, it didn't work. Credit to the defense for stopping that play.
But, you know, I don't -- I know Brian doesn't regret that call. Because we talked a lot about it. I don't regret that call. But it didn't work this time.
Q. Penalties overall: What was, I guess, the reason for that? And on the QB sneak, what explanation did you get?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, good question, Zack. I got to watch the tape, Zack, to give you a full answer on the -- you know, there was some sloppy things here and there. I have to go watch that. That's a little uncharacteristic for us. I think we started off, you know, in 2021 a little bit -- you're being really good.
You aren't ever like this. Do you want to say anything? Do you want to say, Go eagles?
>>: Go Eagles.
NICK SIRIANNI: But, you know, a little uncharacteristic of us. Okay? But I have to watch the tape. The explanation, you know -- you know, I -- listen, they said we were a little bit offsides ourselves with the guard. And, you know, we got to do -- we got to make sure we're teaching that up and to get the guys back. And, you know, it probably was a penalty. It was tough because we stopped ourselves there.
But -- yeah, so that's -- I won't get into too much of the conversation with the ref and I. But they did a good -- they have a tough job. They did a good job on that so, yeah.
Q. What did you think of Jalen's performance today overall? Was this the best game he's played so far this year?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, I said that in there, I think it was his best game this year. I'd have to watch it and see everything. But I thought it was one of -- it was the best game this year. I thought he was -- again, I thought he was clutch. I thought -- you know, and sometimes in quarterback stats and all these different things can -- you can override anything that's going on with a quarterback when they make plays when the play's needed, right?
And I thought that's what he did today. And I thought it was -- you know, if we needed a completion on that third and forever and he got a completion. We needed a touchdown and he got the touchdown. You know, at the end of the game, and he got the touchdown. So just clutch. That's where I really felt. And I do -- I have to watch the game to give you a sure answer. But I do think that was one of his better games today.
Q. I was talking to A.J. about your postgame remarks and he talked about sort of what you said, we've been able to win different ways. Is that a balancing act for you? Obviously, you want to be able to win in all these different ways. But do you want to figure out that we always call that identity and how quickly --
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, great question. I just want to win. You know, I just want to win and do anything we can do to be able to do that. It's -- I guess what I'd say, John, is it's natural in this league to have to win multiple ways and we've had to.
But at the end of the day, however we need to get to victory -- you know, I've said this a thousand times: If we need to blitz 100 times, if we need to throw it 100 times, if we need to pass it 100 times, whatever we got to do to win, we'll win it that way.
I think that's what you do. You try to put your players in the best positions and you try to do whatever you think is right. And sometimes are we wrong? Heck yeah. But we're doing everything -- what we're trying to do is trying to get the W whatever way we possibly can.
Q. A.J. Brown said after the game that, you know, Jalen's the -- (no microphone) -- you saw some fire from him today. Curious if you've noticed a different demeanor from Jalen or anything like that?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, I'm not with him -- I'm only with him about -- when defense is up and he's on the sidelines. Sometimes I'm -- a lot of times, I'm watching the defense and having to manage the game. I saw the call on this, but I'm not with him all the time, right? So A.J.'s observation -- because he's out there in the huddle with him. I don't know. I can't answer the question. But, man, he played good today.
Q. Through four games, what have you learned about this team? I know it takes a little while, but now that you're in --
NICK SIRIANNI: Man, you know, I think we are truly a team that's in a growth mindset that, you know, we're happy, you know, to be 4-0, but we know that there's work to do. And even I talked to Jason Kelce after the game and I was, like, We're 4-0! Let's go! And, you know, even he said it. Like, yeah, I know we got a lot to clean up. And he's right. We got a lot to clean up.
And so, there's a gratification that we're 4-0. But there's a hunger to grow. And that's what you want. Shoot, that's what you want. Because you want to continue to raise the level of your play so you're playing your best ball at the end of the year.
It's not easy to be 4-0, right? Us and the '9ers. I -- Miami lost today? Us and the '9ers are the only two teams that -- and they got to play. I don't know what their score is or anything like that, but it ain't easy. Obviously, there's 30 teams that would like to be in our spot. We're grateful for where we are right now, at 4-0, but we know there's a lot of work to be done to get better.
Q. How do you balance -- there's a lot of time -- do you have to kind of balance being aggressive there? Was there any thought about maybe running it a little more?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, we -- sometimes -- the main goal is to score, right? Sometimes it happens where -- you know, we ended up getting a big play. We saw a corner that was aggressive. We took an opportunity there and it worked. Jalen and A.J. made a great play.
You know, obviously -- and so, you go in there and score -- you go in there and score and what you don't want is the penalty to give them the extra 15 yards. You know, A.J., obviously, was apologetic about that coming off the field. A lot of emotions in that game. You know, we'll definitely learn from that. It'll be a teaching moment from that.
But, you know, I've seen it played -- you've seen it, a lot of times, that when maybe a team gets too conservative in that area, then they don't score. Right? And so, we saw an opportunity. Did we think we were going to go for a touchdown? We don't know. I mean, we thought it was an opportunity, right?
And even if you don't score on a scenario when you're aggressive, it backs them off for the next play to help you get into where you want to get to. You know, I'm not sure I'm going to apologize for scoring -- you know, scoring too quick ever unless we can help it. In that particular case, I didn't think we could. And I thought Brian Johnson did a great job calling it and the players did a great job executing it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports