Nick Sirianni said Jalen Hurts was “very hurt” in the Eagles’ win over the Giants

The Eagles defeated the Giants to close out the 2022 NFL regular season and clinched the NFC East title and No. 1 seed in the NFC with the win. Head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters after the game and admitted that Jalen Hurts was still sore and sore from his sprained shoulder, but noted that it was important to get him out on the field to get some of the rust off. Sirianni also spoke about why this team has every reason to be confident, if not cocky, heading into the postseason.

This is what the head coach had to say:

About Jalen hurts

Sirianni wouldn’t go into detail about how much their game plan was designed to protect Hurts, but admitted they didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.

“We had to win the game, however we needed to win the game. and you saw, [Hurts] he made some plays with his feet. They were doing a lot of different things on defense, just throwing a few things and obviously we did a few different things. We will always take into account the health of our players”.

The head coach was later asked about the offensive issues and whether they were related to his injury.

“Where I thought the offense wasn’t good today was in the red zone. We were able to move the ball, we were able to get some short fields thanks to our special teams with some of the onside kicks and the fake field goal they made, so I’m more concerned with the red zone plan and execution.”

Sirianni said Hurts has shown all year that he’s not just a zone-reading quarterback, noting that the quarterback is in the MVP conversation because he does everything.

“We have won in many different ways this year. And only him fighting for what he fought to get back, because, still, it’s not like he was perfect in terms of what he felt. We didn’t feel like there was more risk, but I know he was hurt. He was hurt a lot, but that’s the kind of competitor he is, that’s the kind of person he is, the kind of teammate and leader he is, that he was able to go out there and get over it.”

The head coach later said that the bye week is really important to give Hurts more time to rehab his shoulder injury, but at the same time, Sirianni noted that there was some obvious rust on the QB’s back, so that it was good to be able to take it to the court.

On the road to the postseason

“This team has done some special things. Some of the records this team has held, up to AJ [Brown] and DeVonta [Smith], to have two receivers to do that, the most points, the most wins, most importantly, the most sacks, just a lot of great things to happen in the regular season. We understand that. So, that’s what we talked about a lot this week. We talked a lot about this week, about how we need to be confident.”

Sirianni admitted they didn’t play a great game against the Giants on Sunday, but this Eagles team should be confident. The head coach noted that confident doesn’t mean cocky, but with everything they’ve accomplished this year, even after two straight losses, they have reason to be confident.

He said winning the division was a great accomplishment, and they’re taking things one game at a time, but they have bigger goals. Although, later, Sirianni said that his next target is not the Super BowlIt’s the next day. Getting to that stage requires several wins in the weeks before, so they need to stay focused and committed to their dog mentality.

Sirianni also spoke about the advantage of having an extra week off ahead of the postseason, explaining that it’s an extra week to self-evaluate and make corrections. Since they can’t be sure who they will play next, the head coach reiterated that this week will be mostly self-exploration, but they will try to get a bit of an edge and get their staff to start studying different teams.

Other notables

• Sirianni said that winning a lot is not a priority, but they still want to make sure they are heading in the right direction. Therefore, it is important that they make some corrections, noting that they did not think that the game of the last two weeks lived up to their level.
• The head coach said there is a sense of pride in being able to give his family NFC East Champion hats.
• Sirianni talked about all the groundwork they put in last year and this year, and how they’ve continued to improve along the way, and that’s what they’ll continue to do throughout the playoffs. He mentioned that when he’s likely to yell the most is when a mistake is made a second time, not the first, so they have a strong focus on correcting mistakes and have done so consistently.