A day after the Eagles squeaked by the one-win Cleveland Browns in a 20-16 victory on Sunday, Head Coach Nick Sirianni spoke to the media on Monday about the team’s performance and also what became the biggest story of the game, his antics towards the home crowd during the time period when the Eagles were putting their third win of the season on ice.
Sirianni’s Escapades Make Headlines Again
Sirianni was asked about his thoughts on the negative reaction regarding his behavior which made national news in the sports world and if owner Jeffrey Lurie spoke to him about it.
“Mr. Lurie and I talk every time after game. I was trying to bring energy yesterday. Energy, enthusiasm yesterday. I’m sorry and disappointed on how my energy was directed at the end of the game. My energy should be all in on coaching, motivating right? And celebrating with our guys. And so, that’s…and I ought to have better wisdom and discernment of when to use that energy. And that wasn’t the time. We have the best fans in the world. There’s no place like this. They show up and show out no matter where we play. Brazil, Arizona, New Orleans. Yesterday it was loud and energetic. Those two false starts the Browns got that forced the field goal, that changed their play calling so who knows how that goes. Fans brought the passion the energy and the juice.”
If you needed an apology from Sirianni, he gave it.
On why the change of tune from his postgame presser on Sunday:
“There’s play calls during the game and game management things you go through and at the time, you go through and say I thought this was the right thing and then you evaluate everything. You evaluate the way the players played, the things you did as a coach to get them ready or the calls you made, so you do that with other things. Which this one is.“
Offense Started Slow Again
The Eagles once again failed to score a point in the first quarter and remain the only team in the NFL to not put points up on the board in the first 15 minutes of a game. Jalen Hurts started the game 0-for-5 on pass attempts and didn’t get going until the third drive of the game. Sirianni said that they need to figure it out.
“If there was some magic for it, we would do it. The defense started well and able to keep it 0-0 and then third drive the offense able to get going. We have to figure it out. Have to put guys in position to succeed, they have to go out and execute. Have to try new formulas. Not [the] same formula against every team but try different formulas and try to do things that have been successful in the past, some new things. We know how important it is to score first, especially when we get the ball first.”
The play calling and the creativity, or the lack thereof was again in question as well. The team has run the lowest play action plays under Sirianni and he was asked why that’s the case.
“Certain games dictate certain plays. Jim Schwartz is a great defensive coordinator and did the ultimate thing here which was win a Super Bowl. His defense did some nice things which made it tough. Kellen (Moore) called a great game, and he found ways to be aggressive and I thought he did a nice job calling the game. Jalen did a nice job handling the way the game was called and went to right place with the football.“
Sirianni continued to applaud Jalen and said, “Jalen did a nice job bouncing back. We wanted to start fast, and we didn’t. But how impressive was Jalen where he starts 0-for-5 and then completes 16 of his next 20. That’s true dog mentality.“
Injury Update
As par for the course, Sirianni didn’t divulge much information about the injuries the Eagles suffered in the win, but did say that standout left tackle Jordan Mailata will be out next week and beyond.
“Jordan is going to be out a couple of weeks. Not sure exactly how long, but he was hustling to make a play, and it unfortunately happened.”
Sirianni said that they are “still waiting for more information” regarding Dallas Goedert who left the game with a hamstring injury and Darius Slay who exited with a knee injury.
Special Teams Not So Special
For a third week in a row, the Eagles had a blunder on the special teams that flipped the game. A blocked 57-yard field goal attempt by Jake Elliott was returned for a touchdown by the Browns to make it a 10-10 game going into half instead of a potential 13-3 lead for the Eagles. Myles Garrett was able to block the kick while former Eagle, Rodney McLeod Jr. took it to the house.
Sirianni said they need to do a better job executing in the third aspect of the game.
“We’ve had one catastrophic play each week and one thing that really bothers me is when people say we played a good game except…but that except counts. In this case, a really good player made a really good play. I can’t tell how much respect I have for Myles Garrett. He made a really good play, and we have to be better in that scenario, we need to coach it up better and execute it better.”
Up Next for the Eagles
The Eagles will play their first divisional game of the season when they visit the Giants (2-4) on Sunday for a Week 7 battle. Philadelphia opens as an early four-point road favorite against the Giants who are 1-3 in the regular season against the Eagles under head coach Brian Daboll.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
