Tag: NICK SIRIANNI
Eagles’ Hurts: ‘I think we are a work in progress’
For the second week in a row, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts did not have his best game, but just like in Week 1, he and his teammates found a way.
Hurts completed 18 of 23 passes for 193 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. In addition, he ran for 35 yards and added two more touchdowns on the ground as the Eagles defeated the Minnesota Vikings 34-28 in the team’s home opener on Thursday night.
“For us, we found a way to get it done,” Hurts said after the win. “The reality is that the league is different from moment to moment. For us, we just continue to grow. Obviously, there were a ton of guys that made plays out there, not just myself. But there were a lot more plays out there for us to make.”
While Hurts has not been putting up eye-popping numbers, he’s getting the job done. In fact, Philadelphia has won 19 of its last 20 regular-season games Hurts. Since 2021, Hurts’ .750 winning percentage (24-8) leads all NFL quarterbacks.
After two weeks, teams are trying to limit the big plays this offense got last season in the passing game. The offense does not look entirely in sync; at this point, Hurts believes the team is finding its way.
“I think we are a work in progress,” he said. “What better way to be a work in progress than sitting on two wins out of the gate in ten days, or however many days it was. We strive for progress, not perfection. Obviously, we all have a standard for ourselves. Obviously, we demand the most of ourselves because of everything that we go through together, all the work that we put in together, and all of those things. We are going to continue to keep chipping away.
“In fact, the same things that I’m saying now I’d be saying if we lost. But the reality is winning is the only thing that matters, and everything is done with winning in mind. For us, we just want to continue to grow as a team, continue to develop, and find that identity for us and continue to grow together.”
In the second half, cameras caught an animated A.J. Brown talking with Hurts on Philly’s sideline. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was seen saying something to both guys. Brown did not speak after the game, but Hurts explained Brown’s reaction.
“I think everybody wants to make plays, and everybody wants to contribute,” he said. “I have no worry about him; he’s a great player, a great teammate, a great friend, and we’ll do anything and everything to win.”
Sirianni says things will remain private.
“The conversations we have on the field are going to be private, and the conversations we have in our locker room are going to be private,” Sirianni said. “You don’t need to know what was going on right there.”
It’s all about getting wins, and that’s what the Eagles are doing right now, winning. As the schedule toughens up, this team will have to better if they want to continue winning.
Swifty!!
-Philadelphia rushed for 259 yards and 3 TDs on 48 attempts, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. It was the 2nd-most rushing yards of the Nick Sirianni era (since 2021), behind a 363-yard performance on 11/27/22 vs. Green Bay. The Eagles’ leading rusher was newcomer D’Andre Swift, who totaled a career-high 175 yards in the win.
-D’Andre Swift’s 175-yard effort marked his fifth career game with 100+ rushing yards and was the most by an Eagle since LeSean McCoy on 12/8/13 (217 yards). Swift’s last 100+ yard game was on 9/11/22 vs. Philadelphia with Detroit (144 yards).
Smitty!!
DeVonta Smith registered 131 yards and 1 TD on four receptions (32.8 avg.). It marked the 2nd-most receiving yards of his career (169 yards on 9/25/22 at Washington).
Smith became the first Eagle to record multiple 50+ yard receptions in a single game since
DeSean Jackson accomplished the feat on 9/8/19 vs. Washington. Smith caught a 54-yard reception in the first quarter to set up a FG by Jake Elliott that gave the
Eagles a 3-0 advantage early in the game. He also hauled in a 63-yard TD from Jalen Hurts during the third quarter to make it a 27-7 score.
Eagles sneak by Patriots in season opener
It wasn’t pretty, and it was not a masterpiece, but in the end, the Philadelphia Eagles(1-0) got by the Patriots(0-1) 25-20 at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
The Eagles led 16-0 in the first quarter and held on late.
Here are three observations from Philly’s win over New England.
-Jalen Hurts did not play one of his best games. Hurts was 22/33 for 170 yards and a touchdown and ran for 37 yards; he did have a big fumble, which almost allowed the Patriots to come back late. It’s only one of 17, so you can’t read too much into Hurts’ performance, but the offense did not have much of a rhythm.
-Eagles rookie DT Jalen Carter looks like a special talent, and he recorded his first career sack late in the fourth. On his first defensive snap, he got a hit on Mac Jones. Philadelphia may have gotten the steal of the draft.
-Jake Elliott is a weapon. He made all four of his field goal attempts, including 56 and 51-yard field goals. Elliott has made two 50-plus-yard field goals in the same game for the second time in his career. He did miss an extra point, but he made up for it.
The Eagles don’t win this game without the play of Elliott.
Conclusion:
Again, there was not much great from the Eagles, but these are the games good teams find ways to win. Going forward, you expect Hurts and the offense to be better. He was under duress at times in this game and was sacked three times, but it’s only one game, so you expect things to get better for this offense and team.
Notes:
Jalen Hurts has won 18 of his last 19 regular-season starts.
The Eagles made it a 10-0 score in the first quarter when Darius Slay intercepted Patriots QB Mac Jones and returned it 70 yards for a TD. It was the longest pick-6 of Slay’s career. The takeaway was his 3rd career INT-TD, having previously done so on 11/21/21 vs. New Orleans (51 yards) and 12/9/18 at Arizona with Detroit (61 yards).
Nick Sirianni is 3-0 in season openers for his Eagles career, all on the road.
Eagles LB Nakobe Dean left in the second half with a foot injury and did not return.
Six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady was honored at halftime by the Patriots.
Eagles’ Sirianni on McKee: ‘He’s put three good games together’
The Philadelphia Eagles(0-2-1) ended their preseason with a 27-13 loss to the Colts at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night.
In this game, Eagles backup quarterback Marcus Mariota played one series and led Philadelphia on a short touchdown drive, which a 73-yard kickoff return by Devon Allen set up. The drive ended in a one-yard Trey Sermon touchdown run.
Tanner McKee took over from there and played to the end of the third quarter. The second-year quarterback, who has played well this preseason, completed 19 of 34 passes for 158 yards; McKee led the Eagles on two scoring drives, which ended in field goals.
The sixth-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft is progressing nicely, which has not surprised his head coach Nick Sirianni.
“I wouldn’t say anything surprised me,” Sirianni said. “We drafted him because we liked him, and we liked the accuracy he showed on tape. We liked the decision-making he showed on tape, and he’s continued to show that throughout practice and games.
“He’s put three good games together, and so was excited to work with him. Really pleased with how he was this pre-season.”
McKee says the preseason was a great learning experience.
“Overall, great learning experience and a great opportunity,” he said. “That was one of my goals coming into the preseason was obviously get my feet wet, get out, play with my guys, and get back on the football field. I feel like there were a lot of things to learn, especially, I mean, tonight as well, that I’ll have to go watch and improve on, but just thought it was a great learning experience for me, and I was really thankful for that.”
As he enters the regular season, the 23-year-year-old says he has grown as a player and is very confident.
“I feel super confident,” he said. “Our coaches, players, and my ability with sticking to my routine and going out and playing ball. I feel like I play best when I play loose, and everything is second nature. Not trying to think too much, but going out and playing ball and finding my routine in the NFL.”
At this point, McKee is locked into the third spot at quarterback, and he may have outplayed Mariota. Going forward, it appears Philly could have a decent prospect who could ascend to the backup spot next season and be a trade piece down the line.
Eagles’ Sirianni: ‘Reed(Blankenship) has always had this playmaking ability’
Last season around the time, Eagles starting free safety Reed Blankenship was fighting for a roster spot. The undrafted rookie free agent out of Middle Tennessee State battled hard in the preseason and would make the team.
In 2022, Blankenship replaced an injured C.J. Gardner-Johnson in Week 12 against the Green Bay Packers. In that game, the second-year safety became the first undrafted rookie to intercept the great Aaron Rodgers.
This season, Gardner-Johnson is gone, and now Blankenship is the starter for the Eagles.
On Tuesday, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni discussed Blankenship’s rise from just making the team to being a starter in Philly.
“Yeah, it’s funny, I’m looking at my talk to the team for tomorrow night, and there’s some similarities of tomorrow night’s talk and last year on the third preseason game’s talk,” Sirianni said. “I’m looking at Reed’s — because we kind of said, ‘Hey, Reed is going to play in the third preseason game. What are you going to do tomorrow to take advantage of your opportunity and make this team?’ Looking at his college highlights we showed some of his college highlights, and we showed his stats. He had like 419 tackles in five years at Middle Tennessee State.
“So obviously he was all — why I say all that was it was exciting to look back at that and see us highlighting [WR Britain] Covey and Reed and them going out and taking advantage of their opportunities and making the team.
“But Reed has always had this playmaking ability, going back to the 419 tackles at Middle Tennessee State. He just keeps developing.
“One compliment you can give a guy that in our locker room is like, man, he’s just a good football player, and he’s just a good football player, and that’s how I feel about Reed, and he’s continuing to get better. He’s continuing to see everything as a safety and make strides there in his football IQ.
“I’m obviously pleased with where he is right now and the growth that he’s had in the past year.”
Opposite Blankenship is a rotating cast of characters at the strong safety position for the Eagles, but the one constant has been Blankenship.
What a difference a year makes.
Eagles’ Sirianni: ‘Obviously, we feel like he’s [DT Jalen Carter] had a good camp’
In preseason game number one on Saturday night in Baltimore against the Ravens, Eagles rookie DT Jalen Carter showed why he was the 13th overall pick in this year’s draft.
On his first snap as a pro, Carter pushed aside Ravens OG Ben Cleveland and got his hands on quarterback Josh Johnson, who had to throw the ball away. It’s only one play, but it’s clear that Carter has a lot of talent.
Like everyone else, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has been happy with the play of Carter.
“Obviously, we feel like he’s [DT Jalen Carter] had a good camp,” Sirianni said on Tuesday. “We’ve seen that, and we’ve seen him do that in camp as well. So just excited for him to put his head down and work. He knows what it takes to be on a team that has a high standard. He’s been on that for the past three years at Georgia.
“When you have a team that the captains and coaches hold the team to that high standard, that you make the play, but you move on, and you continue to work, and that’s where we are now.”
During joint practices with the Browns this week, Carter has reportedly played well, which is excellent news for the Eagles. According to reports, the rookie defensive tackle has been a monster.
Over the past two days, Carter reportedly had two sacks and a fumble recovery. In addition, he reportedly bulldozed All-Pro guard Joel Bitonio.
No one ever doubted Carter’s talent. He got it done at Georgia, which included being an All-American last season. In all reality, he may have gone higher in the draft if there were no concerns about things off the field.
Again, it was only one play, but that one play against the Ravens and his play during training camp, has the Philly fanbase excited about the future of Jalen Carter.
Eagles’ OC thinks loss in Super Bowl will motivate Hurts
At the end of Super Bowl 57, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, and his team walked off the field disappointed that they had not accomplished their goal of winning a championship after losing to the Kansas City Chiefs.
In the offseason, Hurts, who played like an MVP last season, got a new contract(five-year, $255 million extension), and he got a new offensive coordinator in former Eagles quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson, who has known Hurts since he was four years old.
Hurts is entering his fourth season in the league, his third season as a starter, and in each of his first two seasons as a starter, he has shown improvement. In 2022, Hurts had career-highs in passing yards(3701), touchdown passes(22), completion percentage(66.5%), and rushing touchdowns(13).
Johnson believes Hurts will only get better.
“I think he’s been on a journey of daily improvement since the day we stepped in the building,” Johnson said about Hurts on Tuesday. “That’s a testament to who he is as a person, how important football is to him, and just his drive and overall determination.
“Then you add that with the fact that he’s seen a lot of football now in the last two years. I think those reps that you get, just like in any profession really, the more you do something, usually the better you get at it. I think that experience starts to kick in, and you can start to see things happen before they happen.”
Hurts has proven to have a fantastic work ethic and is very driven, and according to Johnson, the loss to the Chiefs will only motivate him more.
“Jalen is naturally a very uniquely driven person, and I think — he said something about he didn’t go through the fire just to smell the smoke,” Johnson said. “I think that just kind of throws another log on a very, very hot fire that’s burning internally already.
“I have no concerns about that with [QB] J [Jalen Hurts] at all.”
Hurts and the Eagles are bringing back essentially the same talent from a year ago on the offensive side of the football, so just like he did in 2022, Hurts has everything he needs to be just as good, if not better, in 2023.
Eagles’ Sirianni wants to take it one day at a time in Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Eagles made it all the way to Super Bowl 57, but unfortunately, they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Philadelphia had an excellent season; however, it wasn’t good enough. Now, as they start training camp, the goal is for the Eagles to return to the Super Bowl and win it.
Unfortunately, for the Eagles, only eight teams have made it back to the big game after losing the Super Bowl the previous season. The last team to do it was the 2018 New England Patriots.
History has shown us that it’s difficult to get back, but according to Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, it’s one day at a time in Philadelphia.
“Let me make this first point perfectly clear,” Sirianni said on Wednesday. “The goal right now, right this second, right now, is not to get back to the Super Bowl. That’s not our goal right now. I know everyone is going to be like, well, that’s a crazy thing to say. Our goal is to get better today. You can’t win two games unless you win one, so our goal is to get better today and to prep to get ready for our first game against New England. That’s it. We’ll take those things day by day of how we go about our process. You do want to look at why.
“There are a lot of different analytical studies that you want to do, why teams win first games, why teams win Thursday night games, why teams don’t repeat success coming back from the Super Bowl. So, you look at some of the common denominators of some seems that have struggled coming out of winning or losing a Super Bowl, and you put those together, and you get answers. You get answers of what the common denominator is. Maybe you don’t get it always completely; this is exactly what it is because it’s never black and white. There’s some gray to it. So, we have thoughts of, hey, these are reasons why teams may take a step back after that based off of our studies there. But again, our goal and our mission right now is to go out there and crush this practice today and get ready to win one game so we can hopefully win the next.”
The Eagles still have a lot of talent, but they basically were an injury-free team. That’s hard to do for a second straight season, so yes, getting back will be challenging but definitely not impossible.
Eagles’ Sirianni on Watkins: ‘We know he has a lot of talent, and I’m excited about that’
At the end of the 2022 season, Eagles wide receiver Quez Watkins walked away disappointed.
According to the third-year wide receiver, he took a step back in 2022.
“I know I took a step back from last year to this year,” he said at the end of the season. “But it was a humbling season, and I’m looking forward to getting back to work.”
Last season, Watkins, a sixth-round Eagles pick in 2020, had 33 receptions(51 targets) for 354 yards and a touchdown.
Last week, during the team’s mandatory minicamp, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni singled out Watkins as one of the guys who have stood out this offseason.
“I have no problem singling one guy out that I think has just done a phenomenal job this off-season is [WR] Quez Watkins,” Sirianni said. “I love his attitude, and I’ve said this to him, and I have no problem saying it here, some people around here, and it’s not in this building, we have a ton of confidence in Quez Watkins, but I kind of sense from him — he’s never said this, but oh, some people think I stink? Wait. Wait. That’s how he’s attacked every day. That’s how he’s attacked practices, and I think that he looks really good.
“We know he has a lot of talent, and I’m excited about that. I really like the way he’s gone about his business because he can’t control anything but what he can control, and he can’t control what other people think about him. He can’t control anything like that. Can’t control things that may have happened to him last year, the opportunities that he got last year or did not get. All he can control is how he works, and I’ve really been excited about how he’s gone about his business.”
Watkins, 25, is entering his fourth season in the NFL, and with A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert, Watkins may not get many targets. However, the ball will come his way, and when it does, he must make the most of it.
Eagles begin 2023 season against Patriots
The NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles will begin the 2023 season on the road against the Patriots, the league announced on Thursday.
The Eagles begin the season with an away game for the fourth straight year, which marks the team’s longest such streak since doing so in six consecutive seasons from 1983-88.
Last season, the Eagles lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 57.
2023 Philadelphia Eagles Schedule:
Preseason |
|||||||
Friday, August 11 |
at Baltimore Ravens |
7:00 p.m. |
NBC10 |
||||
Thursday, August 17 |
Cleveland Browns |
7:30 p.m. |
NBC10 |
||||
Thursday, August 24 |
Indianapolis Colts |
8:00 p.m. |
Prime Video^ |
||||
Regular Season |
|||||||
Sunday, September 10 |
at New England Patriots |
4:25 p.m. |
CBS |
||||
Thursday, September 14 |
Minnesota Vikings |
8:15 p.m. |
Prime Video^ |
||||
Monday, September 25 |
at Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
7:15 p.m. |
ABC^ |
||||
Sunday, October 1 |
Washington Commanders |
1:00 p.m. |
FOX |
||||
Sunday, October 8 |
at Los Angeles Rams |
4:05 p.m.+ |
FOX |
||||
Sunday, October 15 |
at New York Jets |
4:25 p.m.+ |
FOX |
||||
Sunday, October 22 |
Miami Dolphins |
8:20 p.m.+ |
NBC^ |
||||
Sunday, October 29 |
at Washington Commanders |
1:00 p.m.+ |
FOX |
||||
Sunday, November 5 |
Dallas Cowboys |
4:25 p.m.+ |
FOX |
||||
BYE |
|||||||
Monday, November 20 |
at Kansas City Chiefs |
8:15 p.m.+ |
ESPN/ABC^ |
||||
Sunday, November 26 |
Buffalo Bills |
4:25 p.m.+ |
CBS |
||||
Sunday, December 3 |
San Francisco 49ers |
4:25 p.m.+ |
FOX |
||||
Sunday, December 10 |
at Dallas Cowboys |
8:20 p.m.+ |
NBC^ |
||||
Sunday, December 17 |
at Seattle Seahawks |
4:25 p.m.+ |
FOX |
||||
Monday, December 25 |
New York Giants |
4:30 p.m.+ |
FOX |
||||
Sunday, December 31 |
Arizona Cardinals |
1:00 p.m.+ |
FOX |
||||
TBD* |
at New York Giants |
TBD |
TBD |
||||
Schedule Highlights:
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Philadelphia has five scheduled primetime contests for the second year in a row. The Eagles have appeared in the second-most primetime games (99, tied) in the NFL dating back to 2000.
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Philadelphia will travel to Kansas City in Week 11 for a rematch of Super Bowl LVII on Monday Night Football. It then hosts an NFC Championship rematch vs. San Francisco in Week 13.
-
A national audience will once again be treated to an Eagles-Cowboys matchup in Week 14 on Sunday Night Football. With the exception of a nationally televised 2014 Thanksgiving afternoon contest, the division rivals have squared off in primetime every season since 2007.
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In Week 16, Philadelphia will take on the New York Giants on Christmas at Lincoln Financial Field. This marks the Eagles’ first Christmas game since facing the Raiders at home in 2017.