Nick Sirianni talks about his messaging to the team ahead of the 2022 Eagles season

The Eagles had a walk-through on Wednesday and head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters before joining his team. He talked about his messaging to the team this week, what he expects to see from Jalen Hurts, and how they are utilizing everything they can to prepare for the Lions.

Sirianni wasn’t willing to talk about Miles Sanders’ injury, or any other injury updates, but noted that every player will be participating in Wednesday’s practice in some capacity and they will release the injury report following practice. He did later say that he wasn’t concerned with Sanders having a repeat hamstring injury, although him being held out during the preseason was the necessary time needed to recover, not just a precautionary move.

Here’s what else the head coach had to say:

On his messaging to the team

The head coach is still talking to the team about the dog mentality and what that means — how you’re always on to the next play regardless of whether what happened was good or bad. It’s about controlling what you can control on each play, which is the intensity with which they go about their business, the attention to detail to their job description, and their attitude.

He acknowledged that he also has to talk to the players about all the preseason hype that they’re starting to get, but the culture that they’re building is more than just five words on the wall in the facility, it’s about going about your business everyday. And that’s part of the dog mentality too, is not getting wrapped up in what people are saying, but rather taking things one play at a time and doing their job.

On Jalen Hurts

Sirianni was asked how quarterback Jalen Hurts might look different on Sunday against the Lions compared to the last time he took the field against the Bucs.

“We’ve talked a lot about his development as a football player, and I think what we’ve seen in practice over, and over, and over again is, you know, him being able to get through reads quicker and may be more accurate with his throws. So, it’s the same thing we’ve been talking about throughout the last month, of his progression as a player.”

On preparing for the Lions

With Detroit being on Hard Knocks this offseason, Sirianni admitted that they watch everything they can on an opponent. He talked about how the parity in the NFL is so tight, that they have to turn over every stone they can to get an advantage — including even watching head coach Dan Campbell and quarterback Jared Goff’s press conferences.

“I think this team is really well-coached. I think this team plays really hard. I think they got good players at each level, and we know some of those players didn’t play last year against us. So, again, like I said, it goes back to the dog mentality — it doesn’t matter what happened last time. We know we gotta come out there with our best game or we know we can be beat. If we don’t go out there and play the way we’re supposed to play, and if we don’t pay attention to our detail, we don’t take care of our business, they can beat us. I don’t care what the score was last year. We know this is a good football team, and we know we’ve gotta be ready to go on game one when we kick off at one o’clock.”

Other notables

• Sirianni was asked about his and his coaching staff’s growth from Year 1 to Year 2, and he pointed out that it’s not him asking just the players to get better every day, it’s something that extends to the coaches and himself. He went on to explain that something he learned from his coach (and mentor) at Mount Union was to give coaches areas to develop in the offseason as well, and that’s something he did with his staff this year.
• He mentioned that they put Andre Dillard on IR because they expect him to miss a few weeks, but they also expect him back. Sirianni didn’t want to give a timeline for Dillard’s return, but said they have time to figure out how that affects the roster.
• The head coach also talked about how beneficial it is to have most of the offense returning this season, and said that it allows players to be more comfortable with the playbook and allows them to expand on what they did last year.