The Eagles were back at practice on Wednesday as they get ready to face the Cowboys, and head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters about the work load and rotations of the running backs and defensive ends, as well as gave his thoughts on the team not making a move before the trade deadline.
Here’s what the head coach had to say:
On Jalen Hurts’ development
Sirianni pointed out that things that you do in the dark eventually show up in the light, and Hurts has worked his butt off to get better everyday. He agreed that the bye week was really productive, noting the conversations they had, the film they watched together, and the overall collaboration with the QB.
“We’re getting better because of the work. That doesn’t matter if it’s in practice, walk-through, meetings, the bye week. You get better because of the work. It’s such a long season, and you just want to continue that rise.
Jalen [Hurts] played really well this past month and has done a great job taking care of the football. He’s done a great job leading this team.
Yeah, I’m proud of how he’s been going.”
On not making a trade before the deadline
“Speaking on my end of it, I really feel strongly about our team and where we are when talking through all those different things. Just feel so strongly about our team, and Howie [Roseman] has done a great job building it to date. It didn’t feel like, at that time, that there was anything to do.”
On the DE rotation
Sirianni said that the edge rushers getting a low number of snaps is due to different reasons. He noted their depth at the position and explained that sometimes in a game when there’s only maybe 53 defensive snaps, split between several guys rotating, the snap counts aren’t going to be very high.
“I think the ability [to have] less rush reps for some of those guys – one part of it is that we played fewer plays, but also that we feel good about the rotation.
I think all four of those guys have done a nice job.
Then we’ll see Jalyx [Hunt] getting into the mix as well. I think he’s been doing a good job at practice to be able to go.
So we feel like we have five guys in that rotation that can get after the passer, that can crush the edge on the run.
So, yeah, I’ve got a ton of faith in [Bryce Huff]. You guys know he had something going on after warmups last week. That is just the way that game went and how he was feeling.”
On preparing for Dallas
The head coach explained that they aren’t focused on the fact that they haven’t won in Dallas since 2017, and Sirianni has had three teams lose there. He noted that unless there is some kind of lesson they can take from the previous losses, they aren’t thinkin about them.
“We’re treating this week like every other week. We’re looking to get better this week to give ourselves the best chance to win against a really good opponent.”
On his position coaches
Sirianni had a lot of praise for Inside Linebackers Coach Bobby King, talking about his relentless effort and his commitment to coaching fundamentals. King takes responsibility for any mistakes in-game and will come up with better ways to reps things in practice.
“So I really admire him for that. You guys see it. He puts that vest on, and they strike the crap out of him. They put their hands on him. He’s jarring his back. I’m assuming he’s only got so many more years of letting them hit him in the chest because it’s probably been happening for a long time.
He’s obsessive. They’ll hit the crap out of him, and he’ll be like, ‘Nope, that was too bendy’ or ‘That was too strike’ or whatever it is. I admire that he’s always trying to get them better at fundamentals.”
Overall, Sirianni said that he’s been really pleased with all of the position coaches on staff, and that he’s had on his staff throughout his years in Philly. He didn’t want to compare this year’s group of coaches to those in previous seasons, but said that he loves the coaches that they have now.
“I think we’ve got really good position coaches. A lot of them could be coordinators and have been coordinators, and they know how to get guys better.”
Other notables
- When asked what led to the huge defensive improvement coming out of the bye week, Sirianni credited DC Vic Fangio and how he calls games, but also said it’s just a gradual development of their fundamentals and details. They’ve been improving each week and putting in a lot of hard work, and so they’re seeing the results of that.
- Sirianni acknowledged that they are constantly monitoring Saquon Barkley’s usage — and the usage of all their players. The head coach noted that the RB was able to come out in the fourth quarter two games in a row prior to the Jaguars game, and said that they really monitor his workload throughout the week to mitigate what he does in games.
