The Eagles had an uneven performance in their win over the Lions, but they are now focused on the Cowboys. Head coach Nick Sirianni spoke on Monday about his philosophy on winning the turnover battle, gave credit to the defensive line for their selflessness, and lauded Jalen Hurts and his ability to find ways to win. He also put some cold water on Cameron Latu getting more snaps at tight end.
Here’s what the head coach had to say:
On prioritizing the turnover battle
Sirianni was asked about how his philosophy regarding winning the turnover battle developed over the course of his career – noting that the head coach is 40-2 when the Eagles win the turnover battle. He talked about being a product of some of the coaches he worked for and with over the years, and credited Eagles RB coach Jemal Singleton as having a similar emphasis on protecting the ball.
“We always talk about, ‘Victory favors the team making the fewest mistakes.’ There’s a sign of that up on our wall and it’s about playing with great detail with your fundamentals, and so that’s obviously something that’s very important to us.
The two games that we did lose, one in ’21 was to Kansas City in the regular season, the other one with last year against Washington. But when you combine good talent with good detail and good fundamentals, that’s where you get some special things happening. I think that’s been a big key, the talent combined with the fundamentals and then you add the defense, taking the football way and doing the things that they do and being just as obsessive about it on that end as well. It is just something that we’ve been very obsessive about. Our guys have done a great job of paying attention to it and playing to their strengths with the ball in their hands and trying to take it away.”
On the OL depth
The head coach talked about how they’ll approach things with Lane Johnson sidelined. He wouldn’t get into how long they expect the RT to be out, but said that they still have some options for their big packages that utilized Fred Johnson as an extra tight end. Sirianni noted that Matt Pryor was able to do some things against the Lions with Fred in Lane’s role.
“As far as the big packages, like I said, [Matt] Pryor has the ability to do that and have a lot of confidence in Pryor and Fred [Johnson]. I think they’ve played good football when they’ve been able to go in and play.”
On utilizing TE Cameron Latu
“Cam’s done a really good job for us on many different fronts. He’s done awesome on special teams. He’s a menace out there on special teams with his physicality and with his ability to tackle and block destruct and block, all those things that he’s doing well in space. Obviously, he’s playing our fullback position, like you mentioned, and we are really pleased with the guys that we have playing the tight end position.
That doesn’t mean that he can’t go in there and function at a high level, but we’re pleased with the guys that we have in there and what they’re doing, and [we] know that Cam can go in and be successful with it as well. But Cam’s role right now is at that fullback position, spotting in at tight end with different things, and then playing a big role on special teams.”
On the Eagles D-line
“[Jaelan Phillips] plays with a great physicality. He plays with a great motor. Something that when we talk about what tough means, it’s mental, physical and relentless effort. He plays with all three of those things. [He’s] awesome.”
Sirianni went on to say that Phillips has been a good addition these past two weeks, and he looks forward to getting him going even more. He also noted that the defensive front as a whole has continued to excel, and they’re playing great team football – and the head coach noted that synergy is happening in the secondary, too.
“We’re getting good matches, we’re getting good rushes and all that works in conjunction with each other. Just the defense is doing a really nice job these last couple games playing just as a team, a great group unit.”
Sirianni was asked what it takes for that unit to work so cohesively, and he succinctly replied, “Selflessness.” He went on to explain that the guys up front are judged so much on sacks, but when they rush as a unit, it takes everybody, which means it might be a teammate that gets the stat.
“Good teams have good players, great teams have great teammates, and you really see that with the defense. I love that they’re so excited for each other in that that. You try to stress that and show that as much as you possibly can because this is the greatest team sport there is, and you can’t be great without the greatness of others. There’s no more true [team sport] in all sports I feel [like] than in the defensive line, and we just are getting great group efforts. Truly, you see the excitement for each other when they make a play and you love that because that just emphasizes team, team, team, team, team. It’s the best teams that win, not the best groups of individuals.”
On Jalen Hurts’ leadership
“It is just that his will to win is always on display. To do whatever he needs to do to help us win a football game, whether that’s throwing for a ton of yards, whether that’s running for yards, whether that’s handing it off. That’s what I always love about Jalen [Hurts] is he’ll do everything that he needs to do to help us win games, and [he’s] selfless.”
Sirianni went on to say that every game requires different things, and through their winning streak, Hurts has continued to find ways to put the team in position to succeed.
“But we know as an offense, we want to continue to get better. We have a long way to go and there’s a lot of opportunities for us to get better. That’s what today was about. But yeah, I love Jalen’s ability to find ways to help us win, and I think that’s what you see from our team is we find ways to win and then we go back to work and try to find ways to get better.”
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