The Eagles are back to work with a specific opponent in their sights. Head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters on Tuesday about how they’re preparing for the New York Giants and gave some insight into the injured players and how they’ve managed to stay relatively healthy.
Sirianni said that he learned a lot last year as a first-year head coach, namely to be present and not get too far ahead, but while his process for preparing has evolved and improved, it hasn’t really changed. They take things day-by-day and game-by-game, so they’ll prepare for the Giants this week, just as they prepared for the Lions in Week 1, and just like they prepared for the Bucs last postseason.
The head coach acknowledged that being familiar with your opponent, as these two divisional teams are, has both it’s advantages and disadvantages — and that’s for both teams.
“They know us well and we know them well.”
Sirianni talked about how the Eagles coaches were at work on Sunday preparing for teams, and it just so happened that they were doing a lot of work on the Giants while that game against the Vikings was underway. He said that the game was on in the background while he and the offensive staff ate Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza. He joked that Kevin Patullo tried to turn down the game so they would focus, but Sirianni told him to turn it back up. One drawback to watching in the meeting room was not being able to rewind in real time to get a second look at a play.
The head coach later talked about Daniel Jones, and Sirianni said that it’s a good thing the Eagles defense has been going against Jalen Hurts in practice and a lot of good reps against a quarterback that can scramble.
“Daniel Jones is dangerous in the pocket, and when he gets out of the pocket he’s playing really good football. He’s continuing to get better.”
As for the Eagles practices last week, Sirianni said that they really focused on fundamentals and situational football. He explained that they wanted pads on during last Thursday’s practice because they really wanted to be able to do some things with the run game and be physical.
Sirianni also talked about how they’ve structured practices going all the way back to training camp has helped the team stay relatively healthy. He emphasized that it’s a long season, 17 games plus the postseason, and everything they can do to keep guys healthy while also making sure they’re ready both physically and mentally, is a priority. The head coach said it’s a credit to how they’ve handled things throughout the season, as well as the work by the team’s doctors and training staff.
Injury updates
- Sirianni confirmed that they kept Jalen Hurts from throwing in practice last week, but then later said the QB will be full-go at Tuesday’s practice. He said that Hurts is better today than he was two weeks ago, and he feels good — but added that he’ll let Hurts reveal how he’s feeling.
- They will continue to keep an eye on Lane Johnson during the week to make sure he doesn’t do too much or risk anything, just as they do for all players in that sort of situation.
- Sirianni said, “We’ll see,” when it comes to Avonte Maddox and whether he’s going to be an option for the Giants game on Saturday.
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