Nick Siranni on the Eagles clinching a playoff spot: ‘Oh, that’s nice’

The Eagles had themselves a day against the Giants on Sunday, and head coach Nick Sirianni met with reporters following the 45-22 win and talked about some of their sustained offensive drives, why the team is playing their best football right now, and why Miles Sanders has been so productive this season.

Sirianni was asked about making the playoffs, and he quipped, “Oh, that’s nice. I mean, we got much bigger goals, so it’s on to the next one.” He went on to say that they’ll enjoy the win, it’s nice to get one on the road, but that it’s on to the next one.

The head coach later acknowledged that it is nice not to have to wait and see if they’ll get into the postseason, but again emphasized that they have bigger goals, including winning the division, which they’ll have to do one game at a time.

Here’s what the head coach had to say:

On beating the Giants

Sirianni said they don’t think much about what happened against the Giants last year. Both teams are very different than they were in 2021, so it’s not something they really use for comparison or motivation.

“It just feels good to go out there and perform — offense, defense, and special teams — really well, and beat a good football team out there.”

The head coach went on to emphasize that with the dawg mentality, it means to learn from your mistakes, but then move on from your mistakes, and the mistakes they made last season against the Giants was a long time ago.

He talked about some of their longer offensive drives, noting that it’s not easy to have some of those in the NFL, but they did a nice job on third down. Those conversions, and the big fourth down play from Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith, allowed them to keep moving down the field.

Sirianni gave a lot of credit to QB Jalen Hurts, who he said was in complete control during the game. He pointed out one specific play to Miles Sanders for eight yards, where Hurts never forced anything and made the play based on what the defense was doing.

He went on to say that Hurts is playing at a really high level right now, but so is the offensive line and the tight ends. Sirianni was sure to shout out the tight ends for the job they’re doing, saying that they blocked their butts off but also made plays when the ball came their way. Everyone is stepping up in Dallas Goedert’s absence, and it’s good to see.

On the team as whole

“It’s a process, and you want to elevate as the season goes on. So, hopefully you’re starting to play your best football around this time. I think we’ve got really good players on this team, we got really good coaches on this team. We’ve shown these last three weeks that we keep getting better, and that’s just gotta be the goal here, and that’s how we go about our goals during the week. We want to make sure we’re meeting with high, high detail, we want to make sure we’re walking through with high speed to the snaps, and we want to make sure we have high, high intensity at practice. Because that’s, to us, how you get better.”

On Miles Sanders’ performance

Sirianni, with a big smile on his face, explained that there’s only been a few times he’s given game balls out directly after a game, but with Sanders rushing for 144 yards, he’ll get a game ball.

“First time he’s went over 1,000 [yards]. He’s been great all year, ran the ball hard, he’s protected his butt off, he’s protected the football, and he’s just playing really good football right now.”

The head coach acknowledged that Sanders being healthy is a factor in his increased production this season, but he also pointed out that his play has improved. They’ve always been able to count on Sanders, but now he’s been out there every single game and he’s gotten better throughout the season, as well.