Q. You guys started 2-2 and I think you're 15-1 since. What kind of magic did you come up with during the bye week, and what has it been like finding the identity of your team throughout the season?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, this game and anything worthwhile in this world is not instant gratification. It takes getting better every single day, and that's really what we did. We put our head down. We felt like we had a great training camp, and it didn't start the way we envisioned it. But we just continued to work and continued to put the work in, and put our head down and go.
You know, just continually got better, and I think we're playing our best ball now. So it's because of these guys, just you know with that constant effort of how to get better.
Q. Can you talk about Eric Dickerson, how he's grown as a coach and how he's helped this offense?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, a great question. I love to talk about Eric. Eric's been here with us for four years. Man, he works really hard. Always in there. He's in there at all hours of the night, and in there early, all hours of the night, working through it. He's been on our defensive side of the staff, our defensive staff. He's been with our offensive staff for the past three years. He's worked with our wide receivers. He's worked with our offensive line. He's worked with our tight ends and he's a former offensive lineman himself.
So he has a wide variety of things that he can do and coach. I just have the utmost respect for him of how hard he works, and this team thing, right, this game of football, it's the greatest team sport there is, and it takes everybody to be successful and that's not just with the players, right, Player 1 through Player 71 but it's also with coaches.
And we cannot be great as a team without the greatness and efforts of other people and Eric does so many things behind the scenes, as well as our other quality control coaches and assistant position coaches, and Eric just does so many good things to help us get ready for games and the thankless jobs.
And I'm actually really happy you asked me about that because I love being able to talk about him, a guy that doesn't get a lot of attention, but again, it takes everybody, and we can't be great at our jobs without the greatness of others and that sure shows with Eric and the players and the coaching staff.
Q. Last night, Jalen Hurts said that Super Bowl loss two years ago kind of lit a fire in him, and you've seen the veterans kind of have that same mentality, and then you see a group of younger players on this team, seems like they have followed that mission, as well. How have you seen the veterans and the leaders lead the younger guys and then follow your veterans?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, I think adversity does something to you, right. And if you embrace adversity it can shape you to who you are, and obviously that's been the case through Jalen in his career.
But it is about embracing adversity. This game is not easy and this game has its ups and downs. That's how football games, seasons, have ups and downs, from year-to-year have ups and downs, and that's how a football game goes, right, and nobody in the NFL -- I've said this a bunch. Nobody in the NFL pitches a perfect game that. Doesn't exist in the NFL. You're going to have bad plays. You're going to have good plays and it's about being able to focus your set on the next one.
Like I said, again, this team has embraced adversity. I don't think -- you never know but the things, even going back to the 2023 season, which we haven't talked a lot about since the beginning of the year, we're grateful for that. We're thankful for that. And because it sucked at the time, I know I'm grateful for that. Speak for myself, I'm grateful for that because it's shaped us into who we are now and a big reason why we're back here at this moment again. So embracing adversity is huge, and you know, for your development as a person, as a player, as a coach.
Q. Two years ago, Jason Kelce was responsible for pre-snap calls versus the blitz against Kansas City. Now that Jalen is, Jalen Hurts is, what kind of challenges does Steve Spagnuolo's blitz packages force a quarterback when he has to throw hot?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, obviously no matter who is responsible for protection calls against a Steve Spagnuolo defense creates issues and challenges.
At the end of the day, with a defense like the one we're playing with the great players that they have, and I just can't say enough about their coaching staff and the players that they have. I have the utmost respect for them and obviously they have been doing this at a very high level at the best level in the NFL for multiple years now.
But I think what's important in those moments against teams like that is you have to play your rules. You have to be ready to adjust and you have to be on the same page.
Now, that's easier said than done. It may get challenging for you. But this is what you prepare for in training camp. This is what you prepare for during OTAs, and meaning, you play your rules and you adjust to the different things that are coming at you, and when you're good on offense, my experience has been, is when you're good -- when you're good on offense, you can -- you watch the tape, you get ready for the tape but you've got to expect the unexpected, and that's the definition of his defense of the confusion that he creates.
So we'll have to be on it. We've had a good week and a half of preparation, so far, we've got to finish that off to give us an opportunity to be successful against him.
Q. I'm interested in your relationship with Larry Kehres over the years and sort of what you draw from him, if he helped mold you as a coach?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, I've known Coach Kehres since I've been ten years old. Both my brothers played football for him in college and I kind of followed in their footsteps and did the same.
Coach Kehres, yeah, I have great parents that have taught me so much, and then, you know, you go away from home for the first time, away from those strong parents that I have, and he's like, you know, a dad away from home there.
You know, it's not just me. You know, there's so many coaches over the State of Ohio. There's so many coaches, you know, from Tommy Manning with the Indianapolis Colts who played for him, Matt Campbell, Jason Candle.
I could go on and on all the plays that played for him that he's helped develop us, and I think the main thing, a couple big things I learned from him was that connection. You know, and just caring about his players.
I always felt like, you know, how much he cared about me. He was always trying to bet me better and that doesn't mean I have a lot of stories -- how many times I got yelled at, as well. Just because he cares for me doesn't mean that he's not extremely demanding, and I would say that's the other thing, the demand. Just extremely demanding in the detail of the game of football. As a coach, as a player.
So -- and when I talk about my core values as far as for the Eagles and my -- envision when I got the head job and what it was, it was always about toughness and detail and together.
You know, I mentioned him being together and detailed, so two of the three that we really talk about a lot, and I know he's tough as heck, and yeah, to be tough, so really all of them.
But I owe him a lot and there's a lot of coaches when you get your opportunity to be a head coach, I was fortunate enough to have a lot of coaches take me under their winning and kind of help me, starting with my dad, my brother, Coach Kehres.
I can't tell you how many times Frank Reich when I was his offensive coordinator or even when I was his quarterback coach and he was offensive coordinator, how many times he would be like, hey, when you get in this situation, here is this. That felt like a daily occurrence. And so just very grateful for all the coaches that I've had that have took a liking to me or whatever, however you want to say it, to help me grow.
Q. Jeff Stoutland said it was your idea during OTAs to try Mekhi Becton at guard. What did you see in him that he could do it in and this year, it seems like it's emotional for him because he has not had a lot of winning in his career. What's it like for you to watch him go on that injury any to the Super Bowl?
NICK SIRIANNI: I think we all saw that Mekhi had a lot, a lot of talent, and we knew that we were pretty set there at the tackle spots with Jordan and Lane and just the contributions that they have made and the players that they have been for the duration of their career.
And we had a spot, a battling spot there for the guard, and we talked about it as coaches. We talked about it -- I talked about if with Howie. Just everything -- every good idea comes from collaboration and communication with each other.
So you know, I can't say that, hey, that was my idea. You know, stout said that, but I know we came together with that as a staff. You know, and with -- and with Howie and his staff, as well.
Means a lot when, you know, I love -- I'm emotional, as you guys know, and so you know, at the end of games, and I think sometimes when I say I'm emotional, you see -- you kinds of think of different things, but I can't tell you how many times after a game I'm overcome with emotion with just everything, and I love when other players are like that, too.
So Mekhi and I have had some really awesome embraces after games, and I love about Mekhi that you know, he -- there's been games where he's just been exhausted and his body just tired and limping off the field after a score but had that smile on his face. Had that connection with his teammates of, man, I just gave everything up for you guys.
And I -- and I love that about him of just, man, he's giving it up for his teammates. He truly loves his teammates. His teammates love him, and he's been a great addition, obviously, to this team for this -- for this year.
Q. Obviously you've faced this team a couple of years ago in the Super Bowl. Pretty familiar in terms of personnel but in terms of the way they attack offensively, it seems like things have changed. They were a really high-octane, explosive offense a few years back and this year it's more of a ground-and-pound situational football, death by a that you paper cuts, as I described it to Coach Reid. What do you see in the difference between that 2022 squad and this year's 2024, maybe a little bit more defensive-oriented squad?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we've played every year that I've been the head coach, we've played Kansas City: '21, '22, '23, and now here in '24.
And you know, what I see on tape is I see just the detail. Again I have so much respect for the players they have. They have top-notch players and then I have so much respect for Coach Reid and his staff of the detail. I think the detail kind of oozes off the tape with the way they run block.
You know, with the way they are always on the same page, I can't tell you how much respect I have for that. But you have to be ready to prepare for everything, knowing that they have one of the best players of all time on the other side with Mahomes, and they can do it many difference ways.
And so you have to be ready for all different types of things. It's always going to be about stopping the run, limiting -- excuse me, limiting the big plays. Being -- tackling well. Getting off blocks well. Coming after the football well.
And so we know we'll have our work cut out for us but again, it's going to be that detail that we have to -- that they will have to match us and we'll have to match them as far as detail goes because I see two teams that are highly detailed and highly skilled that are about to ballot against each other.
Q. You talked about you're emotional a couple minutes ago, how has your personality changed or maybe your approach changed from everything you guys have been through the last four years?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you know, someone asked me about like just the culture and your core values, how does that change.
Well, your core values don't change. It's who you are. It's what you believe in. And so you stay true to that, that toughness, detail, together, and I think it's really the same. It doesn't mean you don't grow but those stay the same.
And I think that's the same thing with your personality it doesn't mean you don't grow in areas that you want to improve on but if you start to be like somebody and act like somebody that you're not, I think the players see through that. You have to be genuine and you have to be who you are because, shoot, I'm in here a heck of a lot more than I'm at home. So at some point if I'm not being true to myself while still growing, then they are going to know, you know that, I'm being a fraud.
So I think it's just so important that you stay true to yourself and you grow. I ask the players to try to get better every single day, and that's what I try to do, as well. And that could be from anything from, you know, I think there's a time to show your emotion and there's a time not to show your emotion.
I think I've gotten better at that as the year has went on, as the years have went on. But to say I'm going to stop being excited when we score a touchdown, all the work or stop being excited after a win, with everything that we lay on the line to do so, or that I'm not going to yell to correct or yell to praise, that's just not who I am.
And it's hard to -- again, you're always trying to improve and get better. But then there's some 43 years of habits that sometimes are hard to break.
Q. You and Andy Reid have had a lot of success in the league and you touched on him being so detailed, from one coach looking at another coach, why do you think Andy has been so successful?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, obviously I've got to work with guys that have been around Coach Reid, and just hearing his stories, of, again, his detail that he can coach every position on the field and calls the defense, call the offense, be the special teams coordinator or just how much information and knowledge that he has, I think you can tell he deeply cares about his players.
And you know, those are the things, not now having been around him, that I can look and admire because I do like to study great coaches. Obviously I've looked -- I will always -- hey what would Andy have done in this situation if I'm talking to somebody that's an around him, and I would do the same thing with guys that have been around Coach Belichick and all those different guys because you're constantly trying to learn.
Just have the utmost respect for him. I would say he's had a lot more success -- you said we both have success. He's had a lot more success than I've. 300 wins, wow. It's an honor to go against him, to be in a game that I'm coaching our team and he's coaching his team. Just, like I said, nothing but respect for Coach Reid and everything that he's accomplished.
Q. Congratulations for getting back to the big game. Let's talk about your off-season moves, you added Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio. Tell me how you feel about the way those moves have worked out, and then the second part to that question is, how much has Kellen Moore meant to your offense knowing full well that he may be on borrowed time and that he eventually will get a head coaching job?
NICK SIRIANNI: Obviously both guys have meant a ton to us. Again, you can't be great without the greatness of others, the coaches, the players, the coaches, player to coach and player to player. So both guys have done a phenomenal job I said this early in the year, this was during training camp, and just seeing the detail that we coach with, obviously I spent a lot of time with him, knowing the guys a little bit, and then in the interview process, and then also in OTAs.
I think we hit two home runs with those hires. Any time -- and again we're focused on this game. Kellen is focused on this game. I'm focused on this game. Not thinking about anything else other than this game because any little bit of attention you put into something else is attention you're not putting into what the main goal is.
And so you know, with -- with Kellen and I know that there's, you know, opportunities potentially, you know, what happens will happen. But hopefully I've done my job to teach him the things that I know and help him like other coaches have helped me as far as that goes.
But I know that when Kellen does get his opportunity, I think he's highly detailed in teaching the game of football. I think that he loves this game. He works extremely hard. He's got a great offensive mind to help our guys, to put our guys in positions to succeed and get better. And man, he's a phenomenal person, great person to work with. That's so important, right. When we're spending more time with each other than we are with our families, our wives, our kids, it's important that you have good people around, and he, as good of a football coach as he is, he's an even better person. Got a lot of respect there for Kellen, and he'll we how that plays out at the end of the year.
For you guys that aren't normally with us, Bob usually cuts us off and I'm the nice guy and I'll say does anybody else have one or two more, so we'll do the same thing there.
Q. As the head coach, you've got to make a lot of tough decisions. Two things, what do you expect out of players after you make that tough decision, thinking of Jalen Hurts, benched in a National Championship Game, he's come all the way back. What do you think about that, how he's reacted to that?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, you know, as a coach, it's really important that the job description is very clear. Here is what the job description is, here is what is looks like when we're meeting the job description, and I'm talking about the plays on the field, and off the field, and here is what it doesn't look like.
And you have to paint that picture and everybody is held to the standard of what that looks like, and you coach off that. Yeah, in the head coaching profession, there's not a hook that says, hey, here is exactly what you should do in this situation, every situation's different, every scenario is different. You may handle a situation similar one time that you're going to handle differently the other time. You're always and constantly thinking about what you can do for the betterment of the football team, always, and the individual that you're making the decision with, you're always thinking about that.
And sometimes that's going to be -- and again, sometimes decisions are 50/50 and that's leadership. Sometimes half the public or the team is going to agree with you. Sometimes the other half's not, right. But that's leadership and that's the choice we made when we entered this profession.
As far as your question about Jalen, I think, again, I mentioned this earlier that we all have these moments in our life where we have adversity, and again, adversity is not going to hide from -- it's coming after everybody. No one's hiding from it. And it's about how you respond. It's about how you react. It's about embracing that adversity, knowing that when you do that, it can help make you better.
So look at Jalen, he's such a winner. He's won everywhere he's went. You know, that moment, and now he's starting in a second Super Bowl.
So I think the writing's on the wall that Jalen embraced every piece of adversity that he's hit, and it's made him better. Again, you can ask him about all that. But I just see a guy that does that, you know, obviously knowing his story and then I see a guy that does that in the midst of each game and you have to be able to do that at the quarterback position. You have to be able to do that at every position in the game of football, and so just admire the heck out of him, how he embraced that adversity because again, it shapes him to who he is.
Q. Speaking of Jalen, based on how efficient your pass game was in the NFC Championship, what did you learn about the capabilities of your passing offense?
NICK SIRIANNI: Just like Jalen says. Just because we don't do something doesn't mean we can't. We're going to look to win anyway we can. I've never doubted our passing game with the people that we have there, with the coaches that we have there, with the players that we have there.
So you know, there have been games that have been dictated differently this year. If we need to run it 50 times and pass it once, we will, to win. And if we need to do it vice versa, we will.
We really don't care what anybody else thinks. Our job is to win games and try to win games the best we can for our team. And Jalen said it, and I loved it, just because we haven't done something doesn't mean we haven't.
Q. I'm from México, if you have to tell me three things that you like in Philadelphia better than Kansas?
NICK SIRIANNI: Philadelphia better than Kansas City? Well, I've lived in both places. I starting my coaching career in Kansas City. My wife is from Kansas City, from the Missouri area, not from Missouri, not -- from Kansas City, I have to be careful there. But both great places. They are both great places.
But you know, I love Philadelphia. We love the food in Philadelphia. We love our sports teams. I love being a Sixers fan now and a Phillies fan and a Flyers fan.
And then, shoot, I didn't have Bob and Don in Kansas City, so those two guys there, as well.
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