After a 17-16 win over the Colts on Sunday, Philadelphia will host Green Bay in what is expected to be a black-out celebration of the new alternate black helmets.
The Eagles matched their win total from last season with Sunday’s win over the Colts, and they’ll now work to lock down home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs.
Jalen Hurts placed himself firmly into the MVP race, going 18-25 passing for 190 yards and one touchdown through the air. Hurts led Philadelphia in rushing on the night, totaling 86 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.
On Friday, head coach Nick Sirianni met with the media one final time, providing an update on A.J. Brown, Robert Quinn, and more.
Sirianni on A.J. Brown
Brown missed practice with an illness, but Sirianni shot down any doubt of the star wide receiver being active on Sunday.
Yeah, he’s going to practice today. He’s fine. He’ll be ready to go.
Sirianni on Robert Quinn
Quinn has averaged 16 snaps a game since joining the Eagles as a pass-rushing linebacker.
His usage rate and production have left some wondering if he’s on a career downside or if Philadelphia is guilty of not properly utilizing the pass rusher.
I see his ability to really rush the passer, and we have to continue to work to get him in in situations where he can do so. Yeah, I’m pleased with Robert, and glad he’s on this team, and he adds great depth to this already really good defensive line.
I just know he’s going to make a play, a big-time play on a big-time situation here real soon because we know how much talent he has a what a good player he is.
Sirianni on the Packers
Green Bay is 4-7 on the season, sitting on the brink of playoff relevance or preparing for a top-16 draft selection.
Sirianni was asked about the Packers being in a similar situation to Philadelphia’s late-season surge toward a playoff run.
No, not at all. We have to go through our process the way we would no matter what the situation, 0-0, 1-0, 2-0. That was our process last year. I think that’s one of the best things I learned from last year is that you’ve just got to scratch and claw and nail to go 1-0 this week. I don’t think out of this building last year you ever heard well, if we don’t win this one, we’re out of the playoffs. First of all, you don’t know that that’s the case. Secondly, okay, you say that, you give yourself that ultimatum and what if you lose, then you’re packing up shop?
I don’t think you ever heard that sentiment out of our building last year. It was all how do we get — the mountain is so high that we’ve got to climb. The mountain that we’ve got to dig ourselves out of, the hole we’ve got to dig ourselves out of is so high that how do you do that day by day by day by day?
I think what that taught us in this year is you can’t worry about anything else but day by day. You learn from your past experiences, and it taught us that you just have to be so locked into the moment because whether you’re 9-1 or 3-6, whatever it may be, you still can’t see the top of the mountain that you really want to get to. All you can see is a little bit at a time, and the higher you climb, the elements get harder. No matter who you’re playing, the elements get harder, so it even accentuates more that you’ve got to pay attention to what you can control in that day.
Yeah, I mean, that was our thought process all last year. That’s our thought process now. That’s not going to change whether somebody else’s thought process is different, whether it’s the same. All we can do and control is our business, and that’s all we’re trying to do right at this point.
Sirianni on Quez Watkin's role
Watkins went from the Eagles’ No. 2 wide receiver in 2021 to an afterthought after the arrival of A.J. Brown and the ascension of tight end Dallas Goedert.
Quez isn’t the only guy whose role is going to change like that, or changed like that, where he’s more involved in everything right now. There are other guys that have – [S] Andre [Chachere], his role has changed. He went from practice squad, now he’s having a big influence on our special teams. [CB] Zech McPhearson, I’m not sure anyone thought coming in that Zech McPhearson was going to be one of our stars on special teams. We knew he was going to contribute. We knew we wanted him to be one of our stars, but now he’s a star on special teams. So, people’s role changed.
The only way to be ready for your role to change, I say all this in a long answer to say this: The only way you’re ready for your role to change is if you go about your business every day and go through the steps every day of how you get better and really work on practicing hard to make sure — and walking through hard and meeting hard to make sure you’re here so that when your number is called, you’re ready to go, and Quez has done that.
I say that in this long answer because that’s exactly what Quez has done. He’s worked, he’s ready to go, and we have so much faith in him to make plays, and it was good to see him make some plays last week.
