The Eagles defeated the Giants to complete the 2022 NFL regular season, earning the NFC East title and the NFC #1 with the win. Speaking to reporters after the game, head coach Nick Sirianni admitted Jalen Hurts was still injured and sore from his shoulder sprain, but noted it was important to get him on the field to shake some of the rust. Sirianni also spoke about why this team has every reason to be confident, if not cocky, going into the postseason.
Here’s what the head coach had to say:
On Jalen Hurts
Sirianni declined to elaborate on how much their game plan was designed to protect Hurts, but admitted they didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.
“We had to win the game, but we had to win the game. and you saw [Hurts] made some games with his feet. They did a lot of different things on defense, just throwing a few things out and we obviously did some other things. We will always consider the health of our players.”
The head coach was later asked about the offensive struggles and if they were related to his injury.
“Where I thought the offense wasn’t good today was in the red zone. We were able to move the ball, we were able to get some short fields due to our special teams with some of the on side kicks and the fake field goal they made so more my concern for plan and execution the red zone.
Sirianni said Hurts has proven throughout the year that he’s not just a zone-controlled quarterback, noting that the QB is in the MVP talk because he does everything.
“We won in many different ways this year. And only he fought through what he fought through to get back — because it’s still not like he’s perfect out there in terms of what he feels like. We didn’t feel there was more risk but I know he was injured. He was hurt badly but that’s the kind of competitor he is, the kind of person he is, the kind of teammate and leader he is that he was able to go out there and come through tough.
The head coach later said that bye week was really important for Hurts to have more time to rehab from his shoulder injury, but at the same time Sirianni noted that the QB back was obviously rusty so it was good to be able to to be able to put him on the field.
Heading into the postseason
“This team has done some special things. Some of the records this team had as far as AJ [Brown] and DeVonta [Smith], having two receivers, most points, most wins — most importantly — most sacks, just a lot of great things that happen in the regular season. We understand that. We’ve talked about that a lot this week. We’ve talked a lot about this week, about how confident we should be.”
Sirianni admitted they didn’t play a great game against the Giants on Sunday, but this Eagles team should be confident. The head coach noted that confidence doesn’t mean cocky, but with all the things they’ve achieved this year, even after two straight losses, they have reason to be confident.
He said winning the division was a great accomplishment and they’re taking things one game at a time, but they have bigger goals. Although Sirianni later said that her next goal wasn’t the Super Bowl, but the next day. Reaching this stage requires multiple wins in the weeks prior, so they need to stay focused and committed to their canine mentality.
Sirianni also spoke about the benefit of the extra post-season farewell week, explaining that it was an extra week to explore for yourself and make corrections. As they can’t be sure who they’ll be playing next, the head coach reiterated that this week will be mostly devoted to self-scouting, but they’ll try to get a little head start and let their staff start making different ones to study teams.
other personalities
- Sirianni said winning nicely isn’t a priority, but they still want to be sure they’re going in the right direction. So it’s important that they make some corrections and highlight that they felt the last two weeks’ play was not up to their standard.
- The head coach said there is a sense of pride to be able to give NFC East Champion hats to his family.
- Sirianni spoke about all the groundwork they did last year and this year and how they have continued to improve along the way and they will continue to do so in the playoffs. He mentioned that he probably yells the most when a mistake is made a second time, not the first, and that’s why they’re very focused on fixing mistakes, and they’ve done that consistently.