Everything that coach Nick Sirianni, QB Jalen Hurts said after the Eagles lost to the Cowboys on Sunday

20-26 minutes 12/11/2023
What the Philadelphia Eagles said after losing 33-13 to the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Sunday. Postgame transcript courtesy of the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles media relations staffs.
Coach Nick Sirianni
On where he feels the team is at. At 10-3 but two losses to two teams that are contenders in the conference.
Yeah, you know, obviously we’ve got to play a little bit better. There’s no doubt about that. It wasn’t our best two performances in a row. We’ll just pick ourselves up. Again, you don’t look at it like, “We’ve got to win our next...you’ve just got to win our next game, so I’d just say where we are is 10-3, like you said, and ready to play our next game and make sure we make the corrections off of this game.
On what a moment like this demand from a head coach and what’s your role in getting these guys right.
Yeah, just the same way as it is if you win five in the row or win two in a row. Play the next play. Move on. Learn from your mistakes. You know, just like it is, get the guys ready to play physically. Get the guys ready to play mentally. Have the right message for the week based off of what’s going on. Manage the game well. [The] role’s the same as it’s always been, and now we’re going through some adversity. And so adversity can do a couple of things to you. It can break you or it can make you way better. And I know that everybody that’s in that locker room has been through shit in their lives and has made it to this point. They’ve made it to this point because of the shit they’ve been through. And so that adversity has made a lot of us in that locker room where we are today, and we’ve got to remember that. We’ve got to internalize that, and we’ve got to make sure that they have adversity that we’re facing right now we’re able to get through and make sure we get better from it.
On what’s at the top of the list of things to do.
Yeah, I’ve got to go out and watch the rest of this game. Watch this game and figure out what’s exactly, what it is. We have some thoughts. Obviously, today was a lot about the turnovers. It was a lot about, you know, early on in the game, early on in the first half. But to say I have the magic answer right now, I don’t think that’s realistic. But today, what it was about, was some turnovers. And then just got to start a little bit faster.
On if he got an explanation as to why the officials threw a flag on the Cowboys’ first touchdown and then picked it up.
Yeah, they said there wasn’t a restriction separation on it, so we thought they actually made the right call there, based off of the information I was getting upstairs. They threw the flag but, you know, just because they throw the flag doesn’t mean they don’t get to talk about it and make the flag the right – they’ve got a tough job to do. The officials really have a tough job to do. I thought they, based off the information I got upstairs, they made the right call. You know, you don’t want them to pick up a flag but, shoot, but if you’re on the other side of that and they discuss and make the right call from it, then you give a hat’s off to them because they’ve got a tough job to do and I think they did the right thing on that particular play.
On why the offense has struggled the way it has, and it’s not just tonight.
Yeah, I’ll just talk about tonight. You know, where we struggled today, I thought we moved the ball up and down the field pretty well against a good defense but, you know, they did a good job taking the football away from us. Three turnovers on fumbles. You know, they got us to punt, I think, two times there, and just I really thought a lot of it was about the turnovers, because I thought Jalen did a good job of kind of going to the right place with the football. Guys were getting to the spots they needed to, but we, you know, uncharacteristically turned it over on some fumbles.
On if he thinks the team’s discipline has slipped the last two weeks, whether it be penalties or turnovers or just sort of attention to these. For example, on the first drive, Jordan’s false start – it’s probably going to be a delay of game, anyway. “Do you know what I’m saying?”
No, I don’t know what you’re saying. I didn’t see of that part as far as the delay of game. We just had the false start on that one. Listen, we haven’t played detailed enough. We haven’t coached detailed enough the last two games, and we are what we put on tape. You asked about the discipline. With us, we’re not doing well enough right now coaching or playing. That’s just the fact. We haven’t done a good enough job against two really good teams the last two games. Again, it starts with coaching, the goes to execution.
On if anything carried over from the last game defensively. There were six drives that resulted in a touchdown.
No, I don’t think it carried over from last game. This is a new game. Again, didn’t start fast either side of the ball. Got down ten-nothing. But I don’t think it carried over from last game.
On why have there been defensive struggles early on. What are the problems with the game plan.
Again, they’ve done a nice job attacking us. Again, we’ve got to start faster. We’ve got to start faster with our with our plan as coaches. It’s been both. I think when you’ve been down like we have the first half, it’s never just, “Hey, it’s all this, right?” If we knew it was “all this,” then we would we do everything we could do to fix it. But again, in the beginning stages, we’re not coaching well enough. We’re not playing well enough, and that’s my job as a head coach to make sure that we start fast, so I’m not doing a good enough job for us starting fast. We’ve played way more from behind and we’ve obviously got to figure that out.
On what he attributes the struggles on third down to. They were going to look at it this week.
Again, that’s something, I have to watch the tape and figure that out. We got a big turnover there on third down. They hit an explosive play on third down there at the end of the game. I think they had another explosive play. Dak really made a really nice play to Ferguson for an explosive play. So I think they had maybe three explosives on third down. I think they had a couple of third and third and shorts that they ended up executing on. Again, you can’t give up the, I think one on early on a third and short they had explosive on that as well. So again, it’s not just about the executing for the conversion but also the explosive plays, which end up leading to points when we have explosive plays. Again, we’ll have to look at the film. I’d hate to give an answer before I know exactly what’s going on. But again, we’ve got coach better, we’ve got to play better.
On the 4th and 8 in the second half, could you go through the situation? It seemed like they brought six to get a short crosser.
Yeah, they played man to man. They brought six. We had six in protection. I have a play on that we feel pretty good against different man to man types of defenses that we have, that we go against, but in this case, it didn’t work.
On if that’s why he made the decision to go for it on fourth down, and then the play before, what he wanted out of the 3rd and 11.
Again, you saw what we did, we tried to throw it short, get a catch-and-run, which, as you’ve seen, a lot of our situations in games, we’ve hit that and got a catch-and-run. In this particular case, we didn’t give as many yards. They did a good job defending it. We ended up only getting two, obviously there. I thought in that particular point in the game, we were going to be down to possessions if I kicked the field goal and didn’t get it, so I thought that in that particular case, that was the right thing to do.
QB Jalen Hurts
On what will stick with him the most after the loss
“Just the missed opportunities – the missed opportunities and taking advantage of our opportunities. You talk about executing every week and how important that is. I felt like we put ourselves in a good position to get into that high red zone area many a times and we turned the ball over when we got there. So, I have to do a better job of protecting the ball and creating that energy for us. I have to be better with that.”
On the 4th down
“We came up short there. It was a great executed play by defense. They did a really good job.”
On how to recalibrate after mistakes
“It’s all about knowing the process and trusting in the process, trusting in the guys around. There’s going to be bumps in the road. There’s going to be adversity you have to come through. But it’s all about how you respond to it. The beautiful thing about it is that we control how we respond to it. We just have to keeping pushing to win. It’s as simple as that.”
On the top of the list of things to fix
“I can keep it simple and just say win. We’ve done a lot of that for a long time. These last two games we haven’t been able to do that. It comes down to executing.”
On if there’s a lack of discipline
“I think there’s a number of things when you think about why isn’t something operating fast enough or the way you expect it to. It’s all about controlling the things that you can. You want to be disciplined. You want to operation in a high manner. You want to eliminate penalties. Obviously, you want to produce points, stop turnovers and do things like that. But it’s something that we’re going through, not necessarily stuck in. We’ve to be able to learn from it and we will. There’s and eagerness too just to continue to press on.”
On playing from behind
“It’s all teachable moments. It’s a teachable moment to say that it’s not easy to do so all the time. As relentless of a team we are, I always believe that we always have an opportunity. But we have to help ourselves protecting the ball. We have to help ourselves being efficient in the red zone and taking advantage of our opportunities in all three phases.”
On the miss on the long pass to Smith in the third quarter
“Just a couple of inches off. It’s a game of inches.”
On his fumble
“They had good technique. On their rips, it seemed like they had really good technique in all three of their turnovers. It’s a testament to them. But we’ve got to be better on ball security as a runner.”
On his role in responding to adversity
“It’s always as self-evaluation – win, lose or draw. It’s always a self-evaluation on how I can be better for my teammates, what can I do to help us be a better football team, how can I do my job better. It simply starts with an honest evaluation of that and then leading, taking action in doing things and leading by example. Then, bringing guys along with you. Like I said, it’s as simple as it’s something we’re going through not something we’re stuck in. I think that this team will continue to get things done. It’s going to continue to be challenged. It’s all in how we respond to that. I think is a beautiful opportunity for us. You have to have a hunger. You have to have a will, a want-to. I think we’ve got the right guys to do that.”
On if a loss is a loss or does how you lose matter
“I think it’s a lesson. I think they are all lessons. You learn more about ourselves. You learn more about what we need to improve on. We just need to capitalize on this moment. It’s an opportunity for us. We’ve faced some really good football team all year. We’ve been challenged. We’ve been stretched out in a ton of different ways. We just have to continue to grow from all of our experiences win, lose or draw. That’s what this game is about. When you stop learning, that’s when you should hang it up and leave it alone. That’s the mindset we have. Obviously, everything is about winning and finding ways to do so. But you don’t win without losing.”
On confidence going forward
“Like I said, you don’t win without losing. You don’t win without some type of adversity. That’s just the name of it. We’d love to come out here and be perfect. But perfection is only an illusion. It’s about challenging yourself, learning from your mistakes and getting better. We all have to be better. That starts with me. That starts with me the quarterback. That starts with me as a leader. The tone that I set. I embrace that challenge.”we didn’t get it in that particular one, and hats off to them. Gilmore made a good play there.
CB, Darius Slay
On what is missing
“Not really nothing, I just think that’s us as a whole, we just got to execute better as all players, coaches, myself, everybody’s just got to execute at a higher level. You got to come into the game plan already relaxed. closer the second half, we get our feet going. Everybody comes in probably relax before the second and play a little faster. But overall, I think everybody should just tone themselves down and just play ball man. It’s a kid’s game. It should be fun, you know, I just like to go out and have some folks being doing I don’t know. But I’m just trying to have fun.”
On the game plan being simplified
“Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was simple for sure.”
On if CeeDee impacted gameplan from last meeting
“Nah, just more for us as a group make simpler, make you play faster. You know, simple communication in and out, line up and play ball. So that was, that’s the best part of always been simple. That’s’ the whole thing about having a great defense. Making it even more simple than what it is.”
On not being on CeeDee
“Yeah, I was in the boundary a lot because they do a lot of isolation routes backside, just one on one routes. So, I can put myself back there, and let them force the ball to me and just compete you know. But yeah, I’d travel with CeeDee everywhere if I could, but I trust the coaches and that was the game plan was and do it.”
On covering guys longer
“Well it doesn’t really matter. My job is to cover you know, so I’m going to cover as long as I need to cover, that’s just what it is, you know, nobody ain’t perfect. So yeah, I’m going to cover as long as I need to.”
S, Kevin Byard
On not getting the right start
“Yeah, I mean, we didn’t get to start as fast as we wanted to. Like you said we did a pretty good job of standing in third and manageable. We didn’t really play, obviously when you’re 3 and shorts its tough percentage for the defense to convert. So just trying to stay out of those, you know, getting six, seven plus yards on first and second down. So yeah, we definitely didn’t start as fast as we wanted to.”
On the game plan coming into the game
“I mean, I think, you know, you simplified things pretty well. You know, obviously, you know, when you lose like that, especially with the margin. Nobody feels good. You know, nobody feels like we played good enough to win. But, you know, it was definitely some good things out there. Just some situational penalties and obviously still not as good as you want to be on third down. So just got to clean those things up.”
On injury changing personnel
“Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, a guy like Reed goes down you know he plays a lot of spots for us. It was tough, but at the same time, I think you know, Sydney came in played really well. And obviously we had to rotate some other guys in. So, like I said, we’ll look at the film and see how we can adjust and hopefully we can get him back this week.”
DT. Jalen Carter
On conversation to get a stop going into second half
“We always talk about getting the stop and we want to get a stop. When the game first starts, you know, they got the ball first we want to get a stop. You know, it’s always get a stop, get a stop, get a stop. Unfortunately, you don’t get stops every time but that was one time we got to stop and try to change momentum.”
DT, Fletcher Cox
On digging a hole in the first half
“It’s one of them things man, you know, tough, you know, two in a row. I think the biggest thing for this team now is really find out who the dudes are. And that’s always the case. And I’ve been part of teams where the dudes in the locker room do something about it. And I’ve been a part of the team where you know, it kind of crumbles. But now it’s time to see the real leadership. The real players. The guys that elite on this team, myself included step up and do something about it. Get this team another win.”
On letting 49ers game spill into this one
“Nah, it was penalties. You know, we had some third downs, we should get off the field. Obviously, we got penalized on them or they made a play. We didn’t get off the field. And that’s kind of been our story the last few weeks, you know, I know a a team as a defense, as a leader of this team that we’re going to do something about it, you know? And like I say all the time, the most impressive thing about just being in the regular season is you get a chance to do it again. And now is just one of them deals where we kind of control it. We control, you know, we have to go on the road again, you know, across the country and play another good team. So, it’s you know, to me it’s like an it’s like a playoff game from here on out because, you know, we still we got to fight to the end right now.”
On where third down issues come from
“We’ll watch the tape. Nobody’s watched the tape yet. We don’t know. This team is a team we’re one you know, we’re, not calling each other out. You know, we don’t get into, pointing things at our teammates because it’s never just one play. Until you break it down and see what the problem was, what they did. We just got to face it. We just played a really good football team.”
On the gameplan
“To win.”
WR, A.J. Brown
On what was going on offensively and the inability to capitalize despite the ability to pick up yards
“I really don’t know right now.”
On the team seeming to be fueled last week, but this week having more of a discouraging vibe, and how to correct things
“I wouldn’t say we are discouraged. I will speak for myself, I am not discouraged. Disappointed? Yeah. Discouraged? No. How we turn it around? Get back to the drawing board, just try to correct things and move forward. I think that is the only thing you can do.”
On the team’s three best offensive weapons each fumbling the ball and whether those are the kinds of mistakes teams just can’t overcome
“No, I think, we are trying to make plays, man. You know? Of course we have to hold onto the ball. But we are trying to make plays. Holding onto the ball, of course we want to hold onto the ball. But that’s the least of our worries. That’s just me being honest.”
On why the team has been inefficient on third downs
“I can’t answer that right now. I don’t know.”
On the long, tough stretch and whether there is a cumulative effect of six really tough games in seven weeks
“No, I don’t think so. We show up to play anybody. I think it just comes down to us just executing. Especially on offense. Lately, we haven’t been doing that. It is what it is.”
On the Eagles being able to control where they are going
“You can’t look too far ahead. We play Seattle last week, that’s all we need to worry about. All that other shit, it doesn’t even matter.”
C, Jason Kelce
On if feels there is time to turn things around with four games to go
“Yeah. We have some games left. We have a lot of work to do, no doubt about it. I think we can play better than we have the last couple weeks, no doubt about it.”
On the mistakes on the first drive in a game this big with so much at stake
“The false start, we were trying to go on a double cadence, got out of the huddle a little bit late. We didn’t have time to operate it. We should have sped that up, no question. They were doing a good job of timing up the snap counts; we were trying to mix it up a little bit. After that, we started going more basic with it and that made our jobs harder, but it eliminated the pre-snap penalties. That’s good. It’s just inconsistent at times moving the ball. Then mistakes, turnovers, and missed assignments. I think all three phases of the offense. We need to get better and more consistent.”
On Nick Sirianni’s message after two big games with big point-differential losses
“Obviously, he’s pissed off at halftime. He’s fired up, trying to rally the troops. Just two really poor performances. Nick feels the same way we all do, in that we can play much better than we are right now. We are going to go back to work on it this week.”
On what is top of the list to fix
“I am worried about fixing myself. For me, playing a better balance, I think that will help a lot of things. Obviously, communicating and trying to limit mistakes. As long as everybody continues to look in the mirror and try to focus on their game, and coaches, and players, that’s all you can do.”
On whether the magnitude of the last too games was too big
“I don’t think so. I think we just didn’t play up to our standard. We’ve played a lot of high-profile games here before and executed well. I don’t think it is the magnitude. These are good teams – and you can’t make mistakes against good teams, and we’ve done far too much of that.”
WR, DeVonta Smith
On what he takes away from tonight’s game
“On to the next one. Nothing you can do about this one.”
On what communication was like on the sideline
“We really have to be better. We have get in the red zone. When you get to the red zone, score. You can’t turn the ball over. That’s really the main thing. Don’t turn the ball over and get in the red zone, and you have to score.”
“We have to be better. We have to take care of the ball.”
On being tied with the Cowboys atop the NFC East with four games to go and in control of their own destiny, and how they feel to this point
“Can’t feel sorry for yourself. Go out next week and play better.”
Dave Ammenheuser is the Star-Telegram’s sports editor. He coordinates the S-T sports coverage and occasionally writes a bit, too. He’s worked in newsrooms all across the country, including overseeing the USA TODAY sports department. He’s covered every sport imaginable, from Little League to the World Series to the Olympics.