Philadelphia Eagles Media Conference

Sunday, November 26, 2023

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Nick Sirianni

Postgame Press Conference


Eagles 37, Bills 34, OT

NICK SIRIANNI: How y'all doing?

Q. Nick, where you were in the first half, 30 points in the second half, what did you learn about your team? What changes did you make on offense?

NICK SIRIANNI: You know what, it couldn't have been much worse of a first half (smiling). We got the run game really going in the second half. Our guys were really doing a good job of executing in that second half. That was an offensive explosion in the second half, right? It had to be because they were good, too.

Man, I think there was a notion that that game could be high-scoring going into it. At halftime, it was going to be a little battle. Then it got high scoring again.

Really excited for our guys on offense that just put their head down and kept going, right? That's mental toughness, right? I already know this team, this Philadelphia Eagles team is physically tough. You get mentally more tough throughout the year when you go through ups and downs.

Man, that was a down first half, but we have a mentally tough group as well as physically tough group that just stuck with it and kept fighting. It turned.

Q. What happened at Kansas City, being down again, to make this comeback, did you sense a confidence from your team?

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, our guys know how to win. Why do our guys know how to win? Part of that's a product of what we've done here the last couple years. Part of that is a product of we've got some guys that are still on the 2017 Super Bowl team. Part of that is we got a lot of guys from Georgia that win a lot, they've won a lot. We got a lot of guys from Alabama that have won a lot.

Again, I think the most important one is that we've done it together, right? You can win at all these different places, but when you find ways to win together, nobody flinches, right?

I just felt like that's what it was. We've been in this situation before. We got the ball at the start of the second half. It didn't go so well. Then we got a stop. Being down just 10, there's a lot of football left to play. Shoot, that's why they play 60 and not 30 minutes.

Q. (Indiscernible) last week on Hurts, made the move to Devonta. Today the touchdown. What was his role that you saw in a big moment?

NICK SIRIANNI: Who is that, Devonta?

Q. Jalen.

NICK SIRIANNI: Just clutch in clutch moments, right? There's going to be plays he wants back from the first half. There's going to be plays that we called that we're going to want back from the first half.

Really made some big-time plays when they mattered the most, none more than three touchdown passes. I thought he hit Devonta, read the defense perfectly. What an unbelievable throw and catch by OZ and Jalen on the touchdown on the scramble. I mean, my goodness, that was a good play.

Man, he made a lot of, lot of really clutch plays in the second half. The big one obviously at the end right there. We did a good job of blocking up front. Jalen got through there for a touchdown in a clutch moment.

Man, I don't think it's anything you learn about him because you know that he's clutch. He's been clutch for us, clutch for this city, clutch for this team for the past three years now. He just kept going and put his head down and worked and made some big-time plays at the end.

Q. When you find out Lane this morning, how did that change your game plan?

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, this morning obviously we found out about that. Brian and I were in here, did some different things with the game plan to account for that.

Obviously Lane is one of the best players in the NFL. There's no doubt in my mind that Lane Johnson is one of the best players in the world.

We have a ton of confidence in Jack Driscoll. Jack Driscoll, I haven't seen the tape, but I have a feeling he played an outstanding game just because of the way the game was going, the rush, all those different things. But when you lose Lane Johnson, he's special, right? He's different.

Yeah, we found out early this morning. Lane wanted to play, wanted to go tough it out. Just didn't feel like he could in that sense. I know that hurt Lane, that he wanted to play badly in this game.

Guys stepped up in his absence. Happened with Zach Cunningham, Christian Ellis came in and made some big-time plays.

When you're playing a team like the Bills, it's going to take everybody's contribution to win. We got everyone's contribution, right? Some different than others that had to contribute more than they might have thought coming into this game. I'm really happy for those guys that were able to do that.

Q. A lot of what they got offensively was Josh on third down running. What is it like watching that from the sideline? Are you screaming? Frustrated?

NICK SIRIANNI: He's special. This is a player's league. There's players that just make plays in clutch moments. He kept making big-time plays. He's an outstanding player. We just ended up with the ball last is really what ended up happening.

To watch Josh Allen live was very impressive. He's a heck of a football player.

Of course, it's frustrating in those scenarios. You got to give them all the credit. I mean, we had 'em wrapped a couple times. We had 'em in open-field tackle a couple times. He's a big, strong man that can change directions, too. A lot of respect for that man.

Q. (Question regarding helping Jack.)

NICK SIRIANNI: We obviously did a lot of our plan looking how we were going to help him, what we could do. Started off a little bit early in the game. He settled in and played a really good game. We felt like as the game grew on, that was our plan, see how the game was going, see if we have to continue there. As the game grew on, we continued to gain more and more confidence in Jack's ability to stop this rush.

Again, it's hard for me to say exactly how he played without watching the tape. Seemed like he played a really good game. Again, big contribution by Jack Driscoll.

Q. You mentioned not flinching prior. What is it like for you, 59-yard field goal...

NICK SIRIANNI: Nobody I'd rather have in the NFL more than Jake Elliott. Shoot, to me he's the best kicker in the NFL. He's so clutch. He's so clutch, right? I guess thoughts of the Washington game were in my mind, right? We actually showed that clip yesterday. We went through the room and talked to everybody about the contribution. I couldn't hit everybody. I hit about 25 guys about the contribution that they're going to have to make for us to win this game.

One thing I said to Jake was, We're going to need your clutch contribution. Nobody else we'd rather have in the world than Jake Elliott kicking a field goal in that. He was clutch.

Because this is the greatest team sport there is, it could be be down without the protection, without the snap by Rick, the hold by Braden and the kick by Jake.

I didn't watch it. I still didn't watch it. I had to get Clay and Fletch pointing at me that he made it. Man, he's clutch. Glad he's our kicker.

Q. Are you more relieved or proud of this team coming back?

NICK SIRIANNI: That's why they make you play 60 minutes, right? Can't look at the numbers or anything like that. You just got to keep putting your head down and fighting. Our guys did that.

That shows the mental toughness of our guys. I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm glad that we can learn from this. I think that's my emotion that I have, I'm extremely happy that we found a way to win this football game. I'm extremely happy that the corrections will be made after a win than after a loss, right?

There's going to be corrections that have to be made. That's what we do here. We make our corrections. We hold each other accountable, starting with myself, then with our leaders. That's contagious, the accountability. That's how you get better.

We got to get better from this. Yeah, happy is the emotion that I have right now.

Q. As frustrating as it was to see Josh Allen doing all the things he was doing, how comforting was it for you that you got your guys to do pretty much the same thing?

NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, Jalen made some big-time plays with his feet today on some scrambles. You can see that he's feeling pretty good, right? He made some big-time plays. When the pass game wasn't going well, somehow he found a way to make plays.

You could see him have that acceleration that we're all used to seeing. We could see the ability to change direction, the power when he makes the cut. You saw all that.

Again, like I said, Jalen had a great second half. He had a great second half. Josh Allen, as frustrating as it may have been, he still made a lot of plays. It was something to watch. I got a lot of respect for him and the plays he made.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
139422-1-1004 2023-11-27 02:04:00 GMT

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