Eagles - 27, Steelers - 13
Q. What did you think of the passing game?
NICK SIRIANNI: It was pretty good. I thought Jalen did a great job of taking what the defense gave him, getting the ball -- we had two 100-yard receivers. I always think that's cool when that happens, and Jalen was in complete control. Just another good day by him. Yeah, it was good.
Q. You've said repeatedly that you guys have been able to throw the ball when you need to. Do you feel like today was a chance to silence the critics?
NICK SIRIANNI: I would say look how efficient we've been passing the ball for the last nine weeks, through this little stretch that we've been in. I think it kind of gets a little bit blown out of proportion. Jalen's quarterback rating has been over 100 most of the games. I don't know what he was today, but most of the games he's been over 100. We're averaging 8.5-plus in the pass game.
I just think a little bit has been blown out of proportion as far as because we've been running the ball so well. You can't have all the yards rushing. There's only so many yards you're going to get in a game. You can't have all the yards rushing and have a passing game. Or have all the yards in the passing game too.
I think we've been super efficient. Today we needed our passing game even more. So it is just another good -- I know you guys may look at yards a lot. Like it was just another good day of passing game because I think we've been super efficient. Like I don't think you understand how hard it is to be -- have that yards per attempt number, that quarterback rating, and take care of the ball and be explosive, which we've been.
So, yeah, today was really good. We threw for more yards, so I know that's going to be -- hell, the passing game is back. I don't think the passing game was anywhere. I think it's been a little bit blown out of proportion because of how efficient we've been. You guys will check the numbers after I say that, and you'll probably agree.
Q. The conversation between you and Jalen Carter, what transpired?
NICK SIRIANNI: I'll never get into the conversations that I have with players, but he made a play that is not part of our standard, so my job is to correct that. Regardless of what it is, we're going to correct the things that we need to do better and praise the things we need to do well.
In that moment, that's what that was. I love Jalen Carter. I love what he brings to this football team. Right there he needs to be smarter in that situation because it could have gave him the ball back. It didn't give them the ball back, but it could have. So we're going to need to get better at that.
That's what you do as a coach. Again, he played a good game, and I'll watch the game to see how good of a game he played, but we need him to be better in that scenario and be the consistent player he's been for the entire year.
Q. A.J. said that beyond their meetings, they've been spending a lot more time together this week to be on the same page. What did you see throughout the week, and how did you see that play out?
NICK SIRIANNI: I just saw a great job of our players. These players -- again, I've mentioned this prior to this. They're just so locked in and focused to getting better, and that's it. That's all they want to do is get better because they know, if we continue to get better, we can win the football game.
I just saw an effort to get better through the midst of, again, what seemed like chaos on the outside, but it was just something that we used as something to kind of galvanize us and get better from, and they did that today.
Q. (Indiscernible) both said there were uncomfortable conversations that were had. How good is that that they could have those conversations?
NICK SIRIANNI: Again, everything you do is to get -- when you have everybody in the room that just wants to improve and do the things that we know we're capable of, that's special. Again, conversations all week, and the guys worked really hard this week in practice. The guys worked extremely hard in walk-throughs. The guys worked extremely hard in meetings.
Jalen, again, just did such a phenomenal job. Again, like I said, to have two guys over 100 against a really good defense, can't tell you how much respect I have for that defense. You lose sleep over 90. You lose sleep over 97. You lose sleep over 51. You lose sleep over 56. You lose sleep over 39. They've got so many good players. You lose sleep against a Mike Tomlin coached team.
So to come out and have a performance like that, to gain over 400 yards and put 27 points on the board and be efficient like we were, that was a good win.
Q. When something comes up, like the Jalen-A.J. thing comes up this week, is there any part of you as a coach that says -- I don't know if relish is the right word, but it's a challenge for you to try to deal with that. Is there a part of you that likes that?
NICK SIRIANNI: Again, every opportunity to get better, you use. I'm not for one minute saying that all the turmoil on the outside was a good thing. We want to make sure that we're locked into what we're doing, and that's what I felt like.
When there was chaos from what I feel -- again, I have to do media, so I understand there's chaos on the outside with Bob getting me ready for that and the questions you kind of asked me. But if during chaos you can have calmness during that, that was huge.
Our guys, we got great leaders. We got great coaches. I thought our guys came to work every single day. We had fun -- I thought we were loose throughout the entire -- kind of after that was all over. Like I said, we were really done with that on Wednesday.
I know that kind of -- again, you guys have to do your job, and I know that can linger through the week as far as what happens, but our guys were -- I just felt extreme locked in and focused through the entire week, through what could have been a time where people could say what's going on over in Philadelphia?
Q. To give up two fumbles and the 29-yard punt and to get just six points out of that, how much does the defense increase your margin of error?
NICK SIRIANNI: We talked all week about winning the turnover battle because we knew when the Steelers lost the turnover battle, they had a hard time winning the game. We didn't win the turnover battle, so that part of the game plan didn't come together.
I think we had a couple things -- Nakobe had one knocked out that could have tied it. Then we also had one with A.J. that Smitty got on or he stepped out of bounds, I don't know. Say part of your question again.
Q. Defense holding them?
NICK SIRIANNI: Defense did a phenomenal job of holding them. That goes back -- they played good red zone defense. We've played good red zone defense the entire year, going back to early in the year when we turned it over in the game and held Green Bay to six points, and they did a good job there.
Again, Pittsburgh has thrived in these scenarios when they've been able to get turnovers, and they did. Watt, the punch -- the way he comes after the football is pretty special. Man, I can't say enough about how good of a football player he is and like how he got that ball away from Jalen. He's just got a great -- like I'd hate to be in a boxing match with him. First of all, he'd kill me. Secondly, he's just going to connect on -- he's going to connect because he has such a good feel for it.
I can't tell you how much respect I have and how cool it is for the league to have a matchup like Lane Johnson versus T.J. Watt. Again, just great job by everybody.
Q. 23 targets for your top two receivers, people looking at numbers, everything that happened last week, and saying, oh, this is you guys compensating for that. How much is that, and how much is it they were just stacking the box to stop the run?
NICK SIRIANNI: It's what we need to do to win this football game. I promise you, if Saquon -- if we were getting big gains with Saquon, it would have been probably a different story. Who knows how that game would have played out?
But they did a good job on the run game. Saquon still got loose. I don't know what was his final, 75 yards or something like that? 65? So they did a good job of doing that.
Yeah, Jalen did a great job of when it was -- when we couldn't get the run game going the way we wanted to. I'd say, again, Pittsburgh held teams to 90 yards rushing, and I know we had more than that. So we still were able to run the ball against a very good front, very good defense.
But we were able to throw it in those scenarios. Again, we're going to focus on what we need to do, not what everybody else thinks we need to do. Our focus and our main thing for each and every week is how do we win this football game? Today we had to pass for 290 yards, and that was just, again, a great job by our guys.
Q. Counts the same, do certain games like this one, the Ravens game -- as much as each win counts the same, do games like this, the Ravens, offering measuring stick games for you going into the playoffs?
NICK SIRIANNI: Every game is the biggest game we play. We'll go into this next game as the biggest game that we need to play. Every team in the NFL is hard to beat. Every win is hard to do. To have ten of them in a row, which this city's never had -- I really take a lot of pride in that. You can't win 11 in a row until you win 10 in a row. So I'm so excited about that.
That's a great football team. It's been a great football team for decades. It was a good win.
Q. When you look at the record right now, you and the Lions are tied for the best record in the conference. You mentioned how you play one game at a time. How do you balance that knowing you have that big carrot in front of you?
NICK SIRIANNI: I know this is boring to everybody, but we're focused on the next game. We'll enjoy this one. I've got some family in unto. We'll all enjoy this one tonight, and we'll be back to work tomorrow.
We can't control anything about the Lions, so our main focus is to control what we can control. I know that's boring. I know that makes for zero press for you guys, and I apologize for that, but our focus is the next game. Our focus is locked in in front of us. Our focus is now Washington Commanders.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports