Nick Sirianni admits the Eagles ‘weren’t good enough’ vs. the Raiders

Plus, the head coach explains his decision to accept the Raiders penalty early in the game.

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters following the team’s loss to the Raiders on Sunday afternoon, a game that now puts them at 2-5 for the season, and talked a bit about Miles Sanders injury and the run game, as well as his explanation for accepting the penalty in the first quarter that ended up extending the Raiders drive.

“It wasn’t good enough execution, it wasn’t good enough play calling on both sides of the ball, we just weren’t good enough, and that starts with me. So, everything is always going to start with me, I just wasn’t good enough and everybody else followed suit.”

Here’s what else the head coach had to say:

On Miles Sanders and the run game

Sirianni said that Sanders will be getting X-rays on his ankle, but initially they don’t think it’s broken “or anything like that”. The head coach said that it was tough loss for the offense, Sanders had been running the ball pretty well up to that point, but they’ll just have to wait for the results to see what happens moving forward. As for the run game on Sunday, Sanders being out didn’t change up their plan, they just went to the next man up — what did hurt their game plan for the ground game was getting so far behind.

On accepting the penalty in the first quarter

Sirianni said that he made the decision to accept the penalty in the first quarter because their chart said to go for it in the Raiders’ situation.

“So, it’s 4th-and-3, 4th-and-4, we would’ve been aggressive, and we would’ve probably went for it right there. I had already accepted it, the penalty, and they went down and hit a 3rd-and-13. We can’t give up a 3rd-and-13, so again, I can’t tell you exactly how a team is going to play offensively always, how aggressively they’re going to be in that scenario. I felt good about accepting it. I know they converted, we ended up getting some a stop after that, but I was just playing it like I was playing it — like, I would go for it in that scenario.”

The head coach also then acknowledge that he had accepted the penalty before the Raiders started sending their punt team on the field, so it was a poor-timing situation. He said the decision always looks worse, too, when the team converts on a 3rd-and-13, but he has to stay true to what he thinks.

On the Eagles’ defense

Sirianni said that the defense needs to challenge more, and that always starts with the coaches and putting the players in position to make plays. So, the coaches need to do a better job of getting players in position to challenge more.

He noted that when the opposing quarterback is completing 91-92 percent of their passes, everyone contributes to that, so they need to challenge more, which starts with the defensive scheme and then with execution.

Later, he talked about how he has a lot of respect for Derek Carr, but when you’re giving up that high of a percentage they need to adapt and make changes. Sirianni said that he isn’t expecting them to make a complete philosophy shift, but they have to do different things to help the players out.

On Lane Johnson’s return

Sirianni was asked about Lane Johnson, and he noted that the tackle’s ankle got stepped on and he was just being evaluated as a precaution. He said that he still needs to watch the tape to evaluate his performance, but they were going up against some good pass rushers.

“I thought he played solid, but again, I gotta watch the tape. It was nice to have him back out there. You always feel good about your right side when No. 65’s out there.”