Nick Sirianni on the Eagles’ loss: ‘We played like crap’

The Eagles ended up with their first loss of the season on Monday night against the Commanders, and head coach Nick Sirianni spoke after the game about why they lost, commented on the officiating, and highlighted the lack of ball security. He mentioned that the defense needs to be better, but the offense didn’t do them any favors with turnovers and short drives.

“We started 8-0 together, we lost this game together, and we’ll move together.”

Here’s what the head coach had to say:

On what lost them the game

“Shoot, that’s pretty simple. The three turnovers lost us the game, the time of possession loses you the game. We lost it together. Offense, defense, special teams, coaching — we lost it together. That’s what lost us the game.”

On the officiating

Sirianni said that he didn’t get a chance to get an explanation from the ref on a couple of the flags, but ultimately, that wasn’t what lost the team the game. He’ll have to watch the tape to see what happened in a couple instances, but noted the need for better ball security on the Dallas Goedert fumble.

Sirianni talked about his decision not to accept the penalty on the Washington field goal late in the game.

“I know he made the one at the end of the first half, I didn’t think that was easy for him — thinking about the line of where he kicked it from and where the ball was right there. Obviously, second thought, he made it so I should’ve accepted it — he misses it, and that’s the way it goes, so I had to be convicted with a decision.”

Later on, Sirianni said that whether the officials made bad calls or whatever, when you play the way they did on Monday night in all three phases of the game, it seems like everything is going against you.

“You create your own luck, and we played liked crap.”

On ball security

Sirianni mentioned several times the issues with ball security throughout the game, noting that they played loose with the ball.

The head coach talked about Quez Watkins and the lost fumble as he tried to get up after making the catch. He emphasized that they know that the ball is often loose when players are trying to get up to extend plays, and they need to do a better job coaching guys how to protect the ball in those moments. He said that they talk about that situation often, but will need to come up with a drill to emphasize it, because they didn’t do a good job of protecting the ball on Monday. Sirianni also mentioned that if there are defenders around, they need to stay down with the ball.

Other notables

• The head coach was sure to credit Washington for the fight they put up, and didn’t want to discredit how good the Commanders played. But, the Eagles know that they made uncharacteristic mistakes, so the loss was a result of both of those things.

“You feel upset because you lost the game and you made a lot of mistakes. We made a ton of mistakes and that loses you football games in this league.”

• Sirianni said that he felt the defensive coaches did a better job of adjusting with the run defense in the second half. So while they did a good job at halftime, it can’t take them that long to make adjustments. Sirianni pointed out, however, that the Commanders were getting chunk plays on first and second downs and then converting on third downs — they had 21 third downs which is a lot.
• Later, Sirianni noted that they’ll have to watch the tape to see what happened against the run, especially as the prepare for the Colts and RB Jonathan Taylor. They know that other teams are going to see how the Commanders were able to have success, and they’ll see that again, so they need to prepare for that.