The Eagles managed to lose to the Broncos on Sunday despite having a 14-point lead to start the fourth quarter. Head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters after the game and talked about what happened in the second half, why they were so unbalanced in the pass and run game, and about all the penalties.
“There’s a lot that I’m going to have to watch to be able to process everything, and obviously at the end of the day, had the lead in the fourth quarter and they made more plays and coached better than us and played better than us, and they came back and got a win.”
Here’s what else the head coach had to say:
On the second half offense
Sirianni said they’ll have to go back and watch the film to see what happened to the run game in the second half. He noted there were a few situations that they were behind the sticks, and there were some self-inflicted mistakes – something he takes responsibility for as the head coach.
“When we don’t master the things that require no talent, that’s something that’s always going to be on me because that’s something that we talk about an awful lot, and we have to drive that home and I have to drive that home, so that’s on me.”
The head coach dismissed the notion that it’s taking too long to get the play call in to Jalen Hurts, and reiterated comments earlier in the week about that being a very involved process.
“A lot of things that go into that. Again, we’re doing everything we can do to find solutions, not assign blame, and we’re a team. We’re together, so it’s always going to be an us thing.”
As for the missed deep shot to A.J. Brown, Sirianni said that he would have to watch the tape before commenting on what went wrong there.
“I think that the guys have worked extremely hard in preparation. I see the same hunger that was there prior to us winning the Super Bowl, so I don’t think it’s anything like that. Again, just the name of this game is always going to come down to detail, and as far as us as coaches and players, we weren’t detailed enough today and they were a little more detailed than us and it’s a good football team. Hats off to them. Coach [Sean] Payton’s obviously a really good coach, and a lot of respect for that opponent.”
On balancing the offense
Sirianni was asked about the imbalance in the offense on Sunday, with 38 passes to only six runs. He explained that they never want a game that Saquon Barkley doesn’t get enough touches, and he expressed his confidence in the run game to close out games still. They’ll look for solutions on a short week ahead of a divisional opponent.
“Obviously, as the game goes you see different things that come up. We’ve talked about being more explosive in the run and the pass game and obviously I’d have to look at what the stats were. We didn’t make enough plays and we didn’t coach good enough today, so I don’t know.”
The head coach acknowledged the impact of back-to-back three-and-outs to playcalling, especially as it pertains to giving the defense some rest. He explained it shows up more in their willingness to go for it on fourth down, like they did at 4th-and-4, despite how that one went.
On penalties
“I’ve been around this long enough where calls, they balance each other out. I know sometimes there’s always going to be like, ‘Well, we get screwed in this one.’ I don’t think that way. They all balance each other out. You’re going to get some that you think you should get, you’re going to get some that’s going to go against you sometimes as well, so those guys do the best they can do and take a lot of pride in that. I got a lot of respect for the referees and we’ll never put anything on that.
Again, those things happen in split second situations. And then the review, same thing, so a lot of respect for what they have to do in real time. It’s tough. You just don’t want to put yourself in those situations where it’s coming down to a decision made by somebody else.”
He later talked about how his emphasis on the details includes getting on the same page, which helps eliminate the pre-snap penalties.
Sirianni was also asked about the illegal shift that was called, and the coach said the explanation was that Saquon Barkley started the motion before they were set. He noted that they want to get up and get set as quick as they can, because there’s a lot of things to get through at the line of scrimmage. That’s a mistake that can happen, and it’s something they’ll have to work on.
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