Nick Sirianni says Jalen Hurts played through some discomfort against the Dolphins

The Eagles are now 6-1 thanks to their win over the Dolphins, and head coach Nick Sirianni spoke with reporters on Monday about the incredible environment for Sunday Night Football and how it gave them an advantage. He also talked about Jalen Hurts knee situation, and spent some time highlighting the impressive job by the Eagles run defense.

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

On Jalen Hurts’ knee

“Seemed like he was in good spirits and good today. We’ll see later in the week of how he’s feeling and everything. I know that he battled through being uncomfortable yesterday. He can answer some of those questions as far as how he felt and all those different things.

I just know this guy is tough as nails and is going to do everything he can do to help our football team win. He knows to help our football team win he has to be on the field, and just credit to him for him playing one of his better games this season through some discomfort that he had yesterday.”

On beating the Dolphins

Sirianni admitted that the Eagles felt a bit like underdogs heading into the game on Sunday, and while they limit distractions and outside noise, they’re obviously going to hear what people are saying. The head coach has heard the doubts and acknowledged that they’ve given reasons to doubt, but last night was a really good win.

“I think that the big thing is that our guys wanted to play a physical game because that’s what our identity is, and I think we did that.”

He also credited the atmosphere the fans created and talked about how that energy helped them get the win.

“ I think it was just loud and it’s hard to operate. The game has so much parity in it and it’s so hard to win. Every little advantage you can have you want to be able to take advantage of.

I definitely think those things are a huge help. Our crowd was rowdy. You knew it would be yesterday. You knew it would be loud, you knew it would be energetic. I felt that, how cool it was that we were on Sunday Night Football.

I remember looking at A.J. [Brown] and Dallas [Goedert] run out for starting lineups, I’m like, ‘man, this is pretty cool. It’s going to be a loud atmosphere tonight,’ and it really played into it. Our crowd helped contribute to that win with the noise that they created.”

On the Eagles run defense

Sirianni couldn’t say enough good things about the run defense and how physical they’re playing. He started with Jordan Davis, who the head coach said works hard every day to be where he needs to be physically and is a great guy to be around. In addition to Davis, there’s Milton Williams, Fletcher Cox and Jalen Carter are both playing at a high level, and Marlon Tuipulotu and Kenavius Street coming off the bench.

“That’s a wave of guys that stay fresh throughout the game because of the rotation we’re able to have. Coach [Tracy] Rocker has done an unbelievable job.”

He went on to talk about the guys they have who can set the edge, pointing to Haason Reddick and how he was able to limit the Dolphins from getting to the outside. Sirianni also called out Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, and Nolan Smith for their performances, while highlighting Josh Sweat.

“Josh Sweat, he was our player the game on defense. We thought he played such an outstanding game. He was player of the game for defense yesterday.”

Other notables

• Sirianni said they were not intentionally running the play clock down to limit possessions for the Dolphins. He admitted that their goal is to score as many points as possible, and the Eagles will rarely, if ever, try to run the clock down.
• The head coach said that Sua Opeta has been doing a nice job, and they’ve had offensive success the past couple weeks in part because of how the RG is playing. He has a lot of trust in Opeta from over the years, and he’s filling in nicely for Cam Jurgens.
• Sirianni said that Lane Johnson played outstanding as he worked through an injury from the week prior, and said the Eagles are a different team when the RT is on the field.
• He didn’t have an update on Reed Blankenship, but said if it was up to the safety, he would’ve played on Sunday night. Hopefully, he’s back soon.
• Sirianni said that he has a ton of confidence in their QB sneak, but it isn’t a 100 percent given that they’ll go to that in every 4th-and-1 situation. There’s nuance and planning with each situation and each game.