Q. Hey, Nick, last week after the Falcons game you said you had even more conviction in your fourth down decisions. Curious, 24 hours later how you view some of those decisions from yesterday and particularly that one at the end of the first half?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you know, every time we go for it on fourth down or set ourselves up to go for it on fourth down, I'm doing what I think is best for the football team at that particular time.
You know, not going to get into -- I know I tried to share with you guys as much as I could last week. You know, I don't think -- I'm not going to make that a weekly habit of explaining that to you guys. You know, like I said, I did that last week.
I can say this: Every time I do something like that I'm doing it because I think it gives us the best chance to win the football game; knowing very well that when you don't convert on fourth down, you know, what's going to happen is -- when you don't convert on fourth down that's going to be 100% on me, you know, regardless.
That's my role as the head football coach, that when that play doesn't go the right way, you know, there is going to be blame to be had; that's going to be on me. Obviously we'll fix whatever we needed to fix within our team meetings and within our position meetings and offense and defense meetings to get the things right we need to do.
But any time something like that happens, I'm doing that because, again, I'm making the decision that I think is best for the football team. Sometimes that works out; sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I come back at the end and rethink it every time. In the middle of it, as it's happening, I'm making the best educated decision I can to help the football team win.
Q. If I may follow up, on that one before the half there was 14 seconds remaining --
NICK SIRIANNI: I did what I thought was best for us in that particular case. Hey, it didn't work. Like I said, when it doesn't work there is nowhere else to look but right here, right on me.
I told you guys last night there is nothing to follow up on. I told you guys last night who called the play. That was me. I called it. It didn't work in that situation.
Q. Did you think you would have two opportunities if you did get the first down?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah.
Q. Because you had ten seconds left.
NICK SIRIANNI: I still thought we would get two opportunities.
Q. Because you still have to kick the field goal.
NICK SIRIANNI: I understand that.
Q. Thanks.
NICK SIRIANNI: Thank you.
Q. Hey, Nick, the league reviews plays every play, but has there been anything from you guys to check in with the league on the hit on DeVonta or Darius Slay?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I'll never share information that I'm going to have with the league. I think I've told you this, any conversation with a player, any conversation with Mr. Lurie, any conversation with the league, those are private conversations.
You know, I respect your question. I want to be able to help you do your job and help the fans understand more, but I got to keep those -- there are things I have to keep private.
That will be something -- obviously we'll turn in anything. I guess I can answer big picture-wise. I'll turn in anything that we feel like is a questionable call.
I don't want to get into -- I never am going to challenge anyone's integrity. Those guys are out there playing as hard as they possibly can on both sides of the field. I am never going to question that. I think their guys are -- don't want to get too much into the play but everyone was playing hard on that play.
You know, I love Smitty and I am really sad that that happened to him and that he got hurt on that particular play. You know, just hoping he's recovering, continuing to recover here. But, yeah, that was a tough play to watch on film.
Q. After the injuries two Lane Johnson on and Mehki Becton, how much did the offensive game plan change after that? And when you look at that, do you feel like -- yeah, leave it at that.
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you know, offense you do some different things based off who is in the game, some different schemes here and there. Sometimes it's the same that you run; sometimes you help on protection and sometimes you don't.
But when you lose those guys and you lose the right side, that's tough. Those guys, you know -- what happened was Tyler and Fred came in and played outstanding games. As you continued on with the game, you realize, hey, you can just keep rolling with what you got because they're doing such a good job.
And so, man, credit to those guys. We talk about roles a lot. You know, that's a conversation that we have before each season, as you guys know, of what everybody's role is.
You know, those guys' role was to be ready to go, to be on the field goal unit but to be ready to go if their number was called and they sure were. We played a really good defensive front yesterday. Got a ton of respect for that defense and that football team. We played a really good defensive front.
Those guys came in and really played well. There was some things that were happening, they had some combo blocks together, Tyler and Fred. They're working in unison on an outside zone play that Saquon had a good run on. Fred had a block down, you know, a down block on a gap scheme play on a third down where he really did a good job of displacing the defensive tackle.
He did well in protection.
I mean, just can't tell you how happy I am for those guys. One of the first guys that came in when I was walking up the tunnel, I saw Fred and it was only Fred and I in the tunnel. Just gave him a big hug.
Man, I can see how happy he was, how happy he was just from the way he performed. He's worked hard at that. That's awesome when something like that happens.
And so I was excited for him. I was excited for Tyler; you know, Parris Campbell did some really good things, too, when he was called upon.
So that's a team, right? When you have all that and everyone playing their role, everyone's role is not the same but everyone's role is vitally important.
Man, it was fun to see those guys. Obviously bummed that you lose players that we lost, but fun to see those guys go in there and perform.
That's a credit to the guys that they're replacing as well that have helped them get better. Lane is constantly -- he's such a good teammate. He's always trying to help guys become better football players; he cares about the Philadelphia Eagles.
That's awesome. That's why I love this football team. The people on this team know that we can't be great unless we have the greatness of other people. Our team knows that.
Q. Kind of piggybacking off that, wanted to ask you specifically about Fred. He's talked before about the last couple years working behind the scenes on the scout team and the way his relationship with Jeff Stoutland has developed. What's your vantage point been the last couple years he's been in the building?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you know, first and foremost Fred having the want-to to just get better. Fred is obviously very talented and has something you can't teach: massive size and strength and athleticism. He came here and got a fresh start here, and he's worked his but off.
Stout pushes him. I told Stout last night, when we were coming home on the plane, man, I enjoy going to your -- once a week I've been going to the offensive line meeting room. I have really enjoyed going to the offensive line meeting room and listening to that and listening to Stout coach those guys and how those guys react and how those guys respond.
I know he's pushed Fred. I heard him push Fred on Thursday in that meeting room just to get better. Stout is constantly on the guys to get better. He lets no detail slide, and I love that about Coach Stoutland. Sure glad he's our offensive line coach.
And Fred, that's a combination of Stout refusing to not let -- refusing to let Fred slide in any way. All he cares about is Fred getting better and then Fred putting in the time, the work, putting in all the things that he does to get better.
Now Fred just has to build on that. That's a great steppingstone to build upon, just ride his momentum right there to just continue to go play better football.
Q. With the wide receiver injuries, I guess you're facing the possibility you won't have your top three guys this Sunday in Tampa. Just wondering if you could talk about the guys you do have and do you feel like you have enough at that position to go play a game?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, obviously we'll see as the week goes on. We'll see who is going to be available. We'll plan for everything. Like I said, from the very beginning I really have a lot of the faith in that wide receiver room. You know, Johnny, Pariss; we have Jahan. You know, Jahan hasn't had a ton of catches, but I think he's been playing efficient football. You know, sometimes it's just a matter of seeing it and then going out there and planning some more things for him and doing some more things to get the ball in his hands.
And then we got some practice squad guys what are working hard, and we'll see how this all plays out. I got a lot of faith in the room. You just can look it a lot of different ways. I have a lot of faith in that tight end room and a lot of faith in the running back room as you look at the skill positions.
And so a lot of different things you can do. Obviously really early in game planning and probably wouldn't share it with you anyway as far as what we'll do there, but we got options, that's for sure, just because we feel good about the work those guys have put in and the players and the teammates that they are.
Q. Just to kind of follow up on this receiver question from Roob, Johnny Wilson, had the big catch I think yesterday for nine or ten yards, first down catch. Also got caught for holding. What have you seen from him behind the scenes in his progress in his rookie year?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I just think he's really tough first and foremost. You know, it's about how tough you are. If you're going to reach your ceiling. And so obviously talented and unique. He has unique traits with how big and strong he is.
You know, he's able to do some different things that we need, some dirty work things that we need and then he'll be called upon if we need to to make some plays catching the football.
Yeah, I loved his first catch yesterday, putting his head down. He's a big dude, and trying to tackle him was hard for those guys and he was able to get some yards after catch and get the first down on that. I remember just think I've seen toughness.
He's continuing to learn everything there is to learn about playing wide receiver in the NFL. You know, obviously not going to learn that all in one night or one season or two seasons. That takes time. But he's uniquely talented and got toughness, which I'll take tough guys on this football team any day of the week.
Those are the guys -- like basketball, your shot is not always falling, right? Sometimes in football like you're not getting opportunities or it's not coming your way or going your way. It's the guys that play with relentless effort and toughness that can overcome things kind of not going your way with the ball in your hands.
Q. Hey, Nick, you mentioned the team as a whole having kind of a rough week in getting past that adversity. Specifically with Jalen Carter, what do you think clicked from that standpoint?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, John, I thought we got off the matt pretty quick, because I just think that there was this urgency after the loss of, hey, no one liked that taste in our mouth.
It was handling the adversity of the initial thing and just how you're going to respond to it. So Jalen Carter, he doesn't play his best game obviously against Atlanta, but he came out and was completely dominant in the game yesterday.
Sometimes I share with you player of the game; sometimes I don't. He was our player of the game yesterday, so he gets a game ball for yesterday because of his performance.
But what changed was -- at the end of the day, and I said this last week, right, playing defense is about just your relentless effort. Playing defense is about striking blocks. Playing defense is about shedding blocks. Playing defense is about tackling. Playing defense is all being on the same page.
You do those things well, you're going to have an opportunity to play good defense. So that's what I saw from Jalen Carter, strike, violent yesterday with his hands. He was athletic to get off blocks. Beat blocks every way you could possibly imagine. Played on their side of the live scrimmage an awful lot.
As a result, he let other people make plays. Not only did he make plays, he helped other people make plays. There were multiple plays where I felt like our linebackers were running free because they were hanging on the double team of his block for a little bit longer.
So I loved his response, John. Really at the end of the day, again, you can have a negative mindset or you can have a purpose mindset. The purpose mindset says what did I screw up the game before? This, this, this. How am I going to fix it? This, this, this. And then going out and executing it; he did that.
I think it's a good example for our entire team. There are going to be little losses throughout each game of every game. There will be little wins, little losses. You can't get held up on either of them. You just got to play the next play and learn from the little losses that you have.
That's what I felt like really happened. That's what I said to the team today. I kind of mentioned all of them here. I felt like everyone had a role on that field yesterday and we had mistakes obviously, but we needed everybody with the examples of Fred and Tyler and Pariss.
You know, we handled adversity. We got better from adversity. The way we handled cut blocks, struck on the line of scrimmage, different things like that. I thought we played tough against a tough football team.
You know, I thought we played together as a team. That was so obvious on the sideline, just how much everybody was there for each other through the ups and downs. Hey, we got you. No, we got you. You're going to crack out of this. We got your back.
Whatever it was, man, that's -- and I said that again, those four things to the team about that. It was awesome. It was a good team win.
Q. How often will you decide to call a play on offense and what determines when you do?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, just I don't say a number. Here and there that's going to happen. Regardless of whether it was '21, '22, '23 or '24. We're all coming up with the game plan together. We're all putting in the work together. We got good minds on the offensive side and defensive side, and so you talk through things.
Kellen is obviously the one calling plays, but everything is collaborative as far as the way we go through our process and in-game. Just because I did in that one doesn't mean there is not a play that Kevin Patullo is not saying in the ear of Kellen, hey, what do you think about this there and Kellen going, yeah, I like that idea.
Or Stoutland or Jason Michael on a run play particularly, or TJ on a run play saying, hey, they're doing this in this scenario. What do you think about this?
Now, so like that happens throughout the game over and over and over again. I mean, that's just the way every staff I've ever been on, whether I'm the head coach or offensive coordinator or quarterback coach or whether I was a receiver coach. That's how that works. That's how that work, and I'm assuming that's like that for teams I haven't been on as well.
And so I also understand the scrutiny that will happen when something like that happens. I wanted you guys to know yesterday that in that scenario, that with the questionable call there that I made that decision, right? So that's why I let you guys in on that, because Kellen didn't need to bear that because I did that.
And so that is why I brought you in on that yesterday. Not to open the door of, well, how many times you call this or how many times you call that? Like it's collaborative. In that particular case, I called that one; it didn't work.
When that happens, I'll always make sure that you guys know about that.
Q. You said yesterday that the interception was on you. I know you take responsibility for everything, but what specifically about that interception was on you? And then the route concept there, how comparable was it to the touchdown DeVonta scored a week ago?
NICK SIRIANNI: Good eyes, Zack. That's a good eye by you. It's similar. There are subtle differences and subtle different things there. You know, in that particular case, like when I say that, like did we put -- did I -- put him in position, show him enough tape? We have plenty of plays like that where we really work hard to get in that window.
Yeah, I think in those scenarios, you know, those happen. I always think like that. Did I show him enough times? Because that's something I'll do in team meetings. Hey, here is a mistake we made and here is what it's supposed to look like. Sometimes you show video of your team, sometimes you show videos of other teams.
That's always on my mind, Zach. If I didn't feel like I showed him that, then I missed that one step that I needed to. You know, I don't think I did good enough job showing that route that we were running there against all the different looks you can get.
Sometimes that safety can be outside and that angle looks different and sometimes the safety can be inside and the angle looks different. Sometimes the safety could be middle of the field and that angle looks different. I'm really hyper-critical on myself as far as did I show him every -- and our coaches -- did I show them every look they possibly could be in?
I know there is countless looks, but there are certainties in routes. I'm really convicted on this. Obviously my history as a wide receiver, played it a long time ago, but that and my history as a quarterback coach trying to get the receivers right, and as a wide receiver coach of putting them in every one of those scenarios.
You can only have so many different things, right? Outside, inside leverage, middle open, middle closed, man, zone, soft zone. Yeah, that's where I was feeling on this yesterday, Zach, but I think that's the -- yeah, I think that's what everyone has to go through, those processes of what could I do better to help the team, right?
Smitty is out there busting his ass to make every play he can. What am I doing as a coach to bust my ass to put him in every spot I can possibly put him in. So that's what I was referencing yesterday, Zach. Not just, hey -- it was more I really thought through that as far as how we run that route versus different looks.
Q. Bryce Huff had 18 snaps yesterday, most of them in pass rush scenarios. Seemed like a relatively quiet day for him. What's the biggest hurdle for him to clear in order to become the impactful player that the team hoped to have when they signed him in the off-season?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, just keep plugging away, keep going, keep working hard every day. I really do believe that the guys, sacks and pressures come in waves. When one guy gets hot they start rotating the slide the other way or giving help the other way and then the other guy gets hot.
It's just time. I got a lot of faith in Bryce and the things he can do. Obviously that's why he's here. I'm excited for the time where he's going to just have a big time game. I know he puts the work in. I know he's ultra talented. I got no doubt in my mind that he's going to continue to get better and have a good impact on this football team.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports