Eagles’ Nick Sirianni Makes Startling Admission About Preseason

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said that he will evaluate his approach to preseason games, and Jalen Hurt reacts: "Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve, we won"

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It was a rather startling admission considering how closely guarded head coaches are when it comes to giving out information.

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, though, tries to give out what he can when he can to the media, and is genuinely honest when he can be. On Sunday evening, in the aftermath of his team’s 25-20 victory over the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium, he revealed that he is going to take a closer look at his preseason approach.

This past summer, he did not play any of his starters, and it showed.

“If I had to do it over again right now, I would say, yeah, I would have played starters one or two drives in the preseason,” said Sirianni. “But next year will be a new thing with new situations and new everything, so I'm not worrying about that right now. I just got it in my notes to think about right now though.”

He added that he won’t make any promises about doing it. Next August is still 11 months away, after all.

Jalen Hurts was far from sharp in New England, failing to work his way through his progressions before trying to run the ball. It was more than just the quarterback, though.

© Brian Fluharty, USA TODAY

The offensive line, which is breaking in a new piece at right guard in Cam Jurgens, had a hard time holding up against the New England Patriots. Hurts may not have been able to work his way through his progressions because a lot of times the pressure was on him too quickly.

Tackles Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson weren’t on their games. Johnson kept his streak of not allowing a sack, but the right tackle did allow five pressures.

Jason Kelce made his 140th straight start, which is now the second longest in team history behind Jon Runyan’s streak of 144 from 2000-08, but it was far from the vintage Kelce who was a first-team All-Pro in five of the previous six seasons. Perhaps it had to do with having to help Jurgens both with calls and protections.

“Not up to our standard,” said Kelce following the game. “I’ll look back at the tape. I have a hard time believing anyone played badly individually. I think it was more just not being on the same page.

“Miscommunication here. Mental error there. I think that we will look back at this tape and realize we didn’t do a great job and we have a lot of corrections to make.”

Again, maybe a couple of series' in exhibition games would have helped.

Sure, it's a fine line between staying healthy and avoiding injuries, and being ready to start the season, but experiencing game action seems like the right way to go. Joint practices are nice, but those situations are controlled. Game action, even games that don’t count, is a different animal.

SI Eagles Today asked Hurts in the postgame interview room what he thought about Sirianni’s admission about possibly playing a series or two in next summer’s preseason games.

“That's a long time from now,” the quarterback said. “I couldn't care less about that. We won the game. That's a long time from now. We have a game on Thursday (against the Minnesota Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field) and we are eager to prepare for that one. 

"It's over now. It's over now. Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve, we won, and winning is the only thing that matters.”