Nick Sirianni Says The Eagles Won’t Apologize For Celebrating And Having Fun
The Eagles head coach talked post-game about the win over the Rams, and explained how the work they’ve put into the Brotherly Shove has let the play evolve.
The Eagles are still undefeated after a win over the Rams in Week 5 and head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters post-game about the culture they’ve established in Philly. He also talked about how much work they put into their QB sneak, where he thinks their biggest problem is with red zone offense, and a bit about the Eagles secondary.
Here’s what the head coach had to say:
On the Eagles culture
Sirianni was asked about running down the sideline to celebrate Haason Reddick’s late-game sack, and the head coach said that football is fun and he’s not going to hide his emotions.
“I want the culture of the Philadelphia Eagles to be: You can have great relationships, have a ton of fun, and still be highly, highly demanding. And that’s our culture.
So, when it’s wrong, on the coach’s part or on the player’s part, we’re gonna correct it, we’re going to be demanding, we’re going to hold everybody to the standard — including myself —, but when it’s time to celebrate and have fun, we’re gonna do that and we’re not gonna apologize about that.”
He also talked about being animated with Quez Watkins on the sideline at one point, to which Sirianni said he’d keep the coaching point between them, but reiterated that they’re going to be highly demanding, while having fun and great relationships. The head coach said Watkins made a big play on their first drive to get them out of some trouble, and they’re going to need him to keep making big plays.
“I know this: When [Watkins’] speed is on the field, it changes us as an offense.”
As for getting the ball to Dallas Goedert more on Sunday, Sirianni reminded everyone that the Eagles offense always runs through Goedert, A.J. Brown, and DeVonta Smith. So it wasn’t for lack of trying to get the TE more involved in the first four games of the season, they’re always game planning for him, but he certainly found the ball a lot against the Rams.
On QB sneak
Sirianni was later asked about going for the quarterback sneak right before halftime instead of kicking a field goal, and the head coach quipped that he just has confidence in the play that nobody likes that they run.
He went on to explain that the messaging this week for the team was “growth mindset,” and they looked at the evolution of their QB sneak and how they’ve done things. They’re highly successful because they’ve grown in that area and have focused on their fundamentals. Sirianni said that if they were still doing it the way they did in 2021, defenses would have caught up to it, so it’s all about the work they’ve put in to grow that part of the game.
“And then we watched the rest of the league, and quite frankly, they can’t do it like we can.
We’ll play by the rules of what they of what they say to do. It’s a good play for us. The competition committee can look at it, but until then, people have to stop it.”
On Jalen Hurts’ performance
Sirianni echoed earlier sentiments about wanting the QB to prioritize protecting himself, but they know that sometimes they’ll need him to “freaky” as Hurts puts it.
“He did a nice job today making plays that only he can make.”
On the red zone offense
Sirianni said that he needs to watch the tape, but it seemed like the problems were on first and second down, high in the red zone. They were getting into 3rd-and-long situations, and need to do better in the downs prior.
“We left some points on the field today, but credit to them too, it’s a good defense.”
On Aaron Donald not recording a sack
The Rams defensive legend still has not claimed a sack against the Eagles in his career, and Sirianni gives all the credit to the offensive line.
“Nobody else I’d rather have than those five, six, seven guys that are in the rotation and Coach Stoutland coaching them up.”
On the Eagles secondary
Sirianni was quick to credit the plays made early by Rams WR Cooper Kupp, and acknowledged that they needed to have done a better job against him in the first half, the defensive staff did a good job adjusting and limiting him in the second half.
He admitted that those adjustments need to come earlier in games, but the Rams only had three possessions in the first half, so they didn’t see things right away to fix.
Alexis Chassen:
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