Eagles 22, Panthers 16
Q. Nick, what about your decision to pass up the fifty-five yard field goal?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, wind was a little bit more than people think there. Hit those two backed up punts last week against Baltimore and we did a great job of putting them backed up; almost got a safety. Bryce Young got out of there. Bryce did some good things.
But he ended up getting out of there, but it was more about the wind being a little bit more than I think was understood, I mean, out there as far as what it was, and you could feel that.
And just the success that we've had in the plus-50 punt game.
Q. The score there weren't part of the...
NICK SIRIANNI: It was fourth and nine.
Q. Second week in a row where passing offense, the numbers haven't been...(indiscernible.)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you know, we did the things we needed to do to win today. We'll look at the tape. It's hard to say off just watching it, but everyone is going to have a part of that when you don't pass it the way you want to.
Again, I'll have to go watch everything. We're definitely capable of playing better and coaching better in the pass game.
Q. Seemed like a couple deep shots that were drawn up specifically for AJ, the first play being one of them. Why weren't those passes...
NICK SIRIANNI: Well, sometimes there are different reasons for each one of them. There are so many things that go into making a play, a deep shot like that. So different reasons for each one. I'll have to go back and look at it.
Again, I think we definitely -- we're all going to come away from this, coaching, playing, and say, hey, there are things we got to do better in the pass game.
But you know, our running game was able to do some really good things. I think that's fair, the questions of our pass game right now. How cool is it that Saquon Barkley -- what was it Bob?
BOB: Team rushing record.
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we have a team rushing record in week we're in week, week 13. So we were able to run the ball well today. Jalen had some really good runs. Saquon did a great job. Offensive line did a great job blocking. And our defense played -- you know, it was kind of that what do they call that, bend, don't break type defense.
So they got some yards and were able to move the ball, but we got some stops when we needed to in critical moments. Interception by Chauncey, and Chauncey kept fighting through and got back into the game. I just thought it was an unbelievable play to end the game.
We talked a lot about playing for 60 minutes with relentless effort. And what do you see on the last play that's not a kneel down? You see Jalen Carter come off the ball like a crazy man. You see Sweat put pressure on him. Then you see Slay diving to make a pass break up.
I thought our guys, even though there were times it was ugly, it's hard to win in this league. That team has been playing a lot better week in and week out. I have a lot of respect for Coach Canales and the job he's done. Our guys played their butts off for 60 minutes. That's what you -- it's the NFL. It's tough.
But our guys played hard and played hard for 06 minutes and showed up on that last play.
Q. What did you tell your team after the game, after a game like that?
NICK SIRIANNI: Enjoy the victory. Don't be a prisoner of your expectations. Enjoy it.
You know, but we got a lot to clean up. There is no doubt about that. So enjoy it for the night. I can enjoy it for a couple hours because I'll go home and start working it. Those guys can enjoy it for a little bit longer because we got to get back to work tomorrow.
And then it was just about getting back -- so, again, you got to have -- one thing I said to them is remember how it feels when you lose and everything -- and I think I might have said this to the coaches -- how much it hurts when you lose and how down you are when you lose.
You got to enjoy a victory, no matter what the expectation was. My expectation was this was just going to be a hard game because this is a team that keeps getting better with the Carolina Panthers. So enjoy it and put your head down and work.
And then what I said to the guys is everybody has the will to win. We all want to win. Are we all willing to do the things that winning requires? I think that this team does. That's just my way of saying to them, hey, it's going to be about the work again next week going to play the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Q. Cooper DeJean goes back in the game looked like late in the game; looked like Joe Kasper maybe tried to get him off the field, he said no. How many players assuming have the autonomy to say no? (Regarding CJ.)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I don't if that happened. I think what you're probably talking about is that -- I don't recall Cooper saying no. I don't think he did.
Q. CJ.
NICK SIRIANNI: CJ? Yeah, I don't know if that happened. I think he was trying to maybe get him -- Chauncey plays every play. I don't know if it was about the injury when he was down with whatever. I'm not going to get into injuries. I haven't talked to these guys yet. I don't know if it was about that or not.
Yeah, so I don't know the answer to that. Sorry. Respect the question, but sorry I don't have the answer for you.
Q. On CJ's interception, looked like Dallas Cooper was signalling something. It was a slot fade I think. When you talk to Vic, just the young defensive backs, their ability communicate, this time Tristan in there and that's what Vic's defenses are known for. How impressive is it that those guys can...
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, they watch a lot of tape and put themselves in a lot of different scenarios. I think you saw it with Nakobe a couple weeks ago the interception he had against Jacksonville and talking about, hey, I was waiting for this one, right?
That's so cool about the preparation that you put in all week. That happens a bunch. That happened with Zack Baun last week on a big third down stop against Baltimore.
When these things happen and you see it, that's huge. But we also understand that the offense is going to show you looks they've run in the past and do something else, so it takes good playing and good recognition, and our guys, again, I thought that was really good play.
Q. Cooper has to deal with a lot of different styles of receiver in the slot. What do you think specifically he can take away from going against the Thielen today?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, a lot of respect for Adam Thielen. Respect how he got into the league. Respect how he made a way for himself. Respect how he's turned into one of the better receivers in the NFL. I'm a big fan of his and how he plays this game.
What he'll be able to take from that is the craftiness of him. He finds ways to get open. You know, a lot of experience to not quite as much experience.
But you get an opportunity to learn from everybody you play against. That's our job, to make sure that we get better, win, lose, or draw, every time we step on the field and after every time we play and get better from it.
Coop has been doing a really good job of that no matter who he goes against. A lot of respect to Adam Thielen and the career he's put together and the game he played today. A good player.
Q. (Regarding the passing game.)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, he is just a good all-around player, so he has this ability that if, you know, things aren't -- again, like we talked about, we didn't play to our standard in the past game, but he's able to make plays in different ways. That's a huge asset he has as a quarterback.
That was a huge third down and I think 8 he ran and got us a huge gain. It was around mid-field. Huge gain. Last play of the third quarter. What a big time play that was to help set up a scoring drive right there.
And so, yeah, I mean, again, just think I said what I said about him last week, he deserves to be in the MVP conversation. I stand by that. He's done a lot of really good things. Like I said, as a whole coaching and playing, as a whole, everybody, it wasn't quite good enough in the pass game, but you got to give the Carolina Panthers credit for that.
Q. What did you see on the Legette play?
NICK SIRIANNI: He had his back to me and the scoreboard never showed it, so I got some information from upstairs, that they thought the ball hit the ground. Just like I thought it was a great call by the official. But, no, they said -- because sometimes you worry that maybe the official didn't see it clean and they're going to review it, and the information I got upstairs is, no, they made the right call there. I said, damn right they did.
Q. What was your emotions like at that point? There is 52 seconds left to play. You've had victory snatched from the jaws before. What's going on in your mind?
NICK SIRIANNI: In my mind is, okay, if he caught it he scored a touchdown because he rolled into the end zone; we have three timeouts and 52 seconds to go. Let's go win.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports