Nick Sirianni - Head Coach, eagles Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-08-28 | Full transcript (primary source).
Nick Sirianni addressed the media during a press conference on August 28, 2026, following a preseason game. The discussion focused on player performance, particularly the quarterback position, as the Eagles prepare for the upcoming NFL season.
Transcript
Sirianni: What was Andre's attempt to make? We'll see. We're going to get, we're going to, I haven't talked to the doctors yet. But he was playing his butt off, that's for sure.
Sirianni: What did you think of the quarterback, what did you think of the quarterback play tonight with the key involved? Yeah, we'll have to go back and look at everything on the tape. I've been pleased with both those guys through camp, feel we're in good spot there. We'll go back and look at all the, every throw they made from preseason games to practices, to joint practices, to operation practices, and make our decision. But again, thought there was some good things. Obviously, there's always things that you've got to clean up at every position and in every game. But we'll see.
Sirianni: Scoring, dropping. I think that there's just some things we're working on and being able to get some things rep. But I think at the end of the day, you got to be explosive to be able to not have to go the long way down the field. And so again, have we showed everything? Obviously not. You should have that element of being able to say, you don't know exactly what we're going to be able to do. That was all by design. We want to give our guys the best chance to be able to succeed while also protecting some of the unknown that we have to our advantage. But at the end of the day, like I said, you have to be explosive to not have to go the long way down the field. And that's something that we'll always look at.
Sirianni: We always want to come out of a game winning the turnover battle. We always want to come out of a game winning the explosive play battle. It's not one or the other. You're trying to win both of those because that's what we base our success on of ultimately winning and losing. But that, to me, is one of the stats that has the biggest effect on winning and losing.
Sirianni: Do you view it as a good thing that the backup QB competition is seemingly as close as it is? Or would you have liked to see somebody separate? Like I said, I feel good about both guys. I feel like it's a good room. And I feel good about Cole and the things that he can do as well and be able to develop. And yeah, I feel good. I view it as a good thing that I feel good about both those guys. And our staff feels good about both those guys.
Sirianni: Guys, I know you have to look at the film. But what are your first impressions? Say that one more time.
Sirianni: With Mackay. Yeah, again, few opportunities. But we'll look at it. And again, there's going to be ups and downs for every player. There's going to be good plays, bad plays. Obviously, he's going to want that catch back on third down to be able to hang onto that and that caused a turnover. That obviously led to points. But again, we've seen some good things throughout his practices and where we're feeling good about his development. And again, he's got to continue to develop a young player. And we know we're going to be able to count on him this year.
Sirianni: What made you plan tonight? Saw Cole Payton in punt coverage. What was the final time there? Just, again, this is our opportunity to be able to work some things. He's a great athlete and wanted to be able to see some things with him. And we've obviously seen the things with him being able to run around when he's got the ball in his hand. So you'd be able to find if you can find something in there. And he's been working that in practice and in walkthroughs to get himself ready. So I gave him an opportunity to go out there and make some plays.
Sirianni: Yeah, again, that's definitely to be able to go out there and watch the special teams. We'll have to, you're looking at, you're seeing it sometimes. In special teams, you might not, unless there was an explosive play that given up on his behalf, you might not be able to say, hey, this was, so again, I didn't notice him in the sense of anything negative. So we'll see when we watch the tape.
Sirianni: In your guys' case, what made you plan tonight? Mike may have a second question.
Sirianni: In Lambkin's case, was that injury related, or had you seen enough of him so far? Yeah, I won't get into any injuries or anything like that or where we are with any of those things. Just what we decided to do when Kai hadn't played in the season or in the preseason yet. He's a young player, rookie. We want to be able to get him some reps.
Sirianni: Given the new news of the offense, the first time play caller, why ultimately did you feel comfortable not playing the starting offense? Yeah, again, I think we have. We feel good about how it's kind of went in practice and the operation that we've been getting in there. We don't look at the game. We look at our practices that is a great evaluation tool for us and the operation that we stress in those situations. Just again, this is kind of what we've done the last couple of years. That doesn't mean that next year during the preseason, I won't play anybody. It's just the way what we decided to do this year. And that's the decision I decided to go to that I felt was that would have us best ready to play in week one.
Sirianni: Is your operation best with Manny up in the booth? Seems like he was up there a second time. Yeah, but he went to the field during the operation practice at the stadium. So again, been getting some different opportunities to go there. I think the operation has been good, regardless of where he's been. Again, it's about where he's going to feel comfortable and be at his best calling the plays and we'll continue to evaluate that.
Sirianni: Why do you think you need to make that decision? Is there a point where you have to say with Sean being on the field? Yeah, I would say like Sunday at 4. We'll figure it out. We have some time. But we won't get another opportunity for him to go up there. So I don't look at it like you have a deadline there. At some point, I'm going to have to tell those guys, hey, have his head set on the field or have his head set up in the box. But he's gotten his opportunities to be up there. I imagine it won't take us till Sunday was teasing him. It won't take us till Sunday till 4. We'll probably figure that out here pretty soon.
Sirianni: It's more time than in the past between cut down day and week one. How do you plan to spend next week? Getting better, right? Getting better practicing, meeting, going through some of those things. I think next week's a really good opportunity for us to do some emphasis periods, some cards, and some conditioning stuff with some long drives. So yeah, we'll get some good meeting time in as well. So I think it's just important that you continue to grow in all areas. And we'll use that next week to grow.
Sirianni: Considering so much newness this preseason, how have you felt everything has gone, training camp, in these games, what kind of progress do you feel like you guys are making? Yeah, again, every time you step on the field, it's an opportunity for you to get better. And we feel like our guys practice really hard, our coaches coach their butts off. And we feel like every time we've stepped on that field, we've gotten better. Again, it doesn't always, you're going to go forward and you're going to come back a little bit and all those different things. But progress has continued to get better. And some of our operations based off of just my observations. But there's still things, obviously, to clean up. Obviously, you want to be playing your best football by the end of the year.
Sirianni: How are you prioritized, not giving the ball up? The uptick in turnovers this summer if you view it, it's just kind of like breaking into system experimentation. How are you kind of looking at that holistically? Yeah, again, it's always, we always want to be explosive. We always want to take care of the football. And any time we have a turnover, or any time any play doesn't go your way, you always evaluate it. Or even if a play does go your way, you evaluate it. And from the quarterbacks, you want those guys to be throwing, going to the right place with the football on time, making accurate throws with their receivers. You want them to be in the right spots when they're supposed to be there and win on their routes with protection. You want the guys to get a hat for a hat and then be able to win their one-on-one matchups, whether it's a tight end in protection, a running back, or an offensive lineman. And then when there's a turnover, you want to make sure tonight's turnover was obviously off of a drop pass. So that goes into it as well. So when there's a turnover, you're just evaluating those things of what went wrong on the play but we always want to make sure that we're protecting the football. That will always be, first and foremost, of this football team. I think you could see how our defense was coming after the football today. And we know that we've had success when we've been able to take care of it, but our best success has come when we've taken care of it, when we took it away, and when we've been explosive and stopped explosives.
Sirianni: All right. Thanks, Paul.