For Eagles, the bye week ‘sets you up for some things for the rest of the season,’ Nick Sirianni says

Bye weeks have come in all shapes and sizes during Nick Sirianni’s five seasons leading the Eagles.

In 2021, the Eagles waited until December and Week 14 for their week off. In 2022, the bye came in Week 7. In 2023, it was Week 10. And in 2024, the Eagles had the first bye of the season in Week 5 on the heels of their long travel to Brazil for Week 1.

Is Week 9, basically the midway point of a 17-game regular season, the perfect time?

“I don’t think you can ever really say, ‘Hey, this is the perfect time for a bye,’” Sirianni said Monday, a day after his Eagles beat the New York Giants, 38-20, to hit the bye week with a 6-2 record. “Last year, in 2024, Week 4 was our perfect time for the bye. Our mindset will be, this year, this is the perfect time for a bye. And when we play a Friday afternoon game coming up [Nov. 28 vs. Chicago], that will be the perfect time for a Friday afternoon game.

“You handle every situation and control what you can control.”

» READ MORE: The Eagles had two games to get themselves right before their bye. They did that and then some.

The constant through four bye weeks under Sirianni has been winning after the lull. The Eagles are 4-0 after the bye during Sirianni’s tenure. Last week in Minnesota, they improved to 10-3 over the last five seasons in games that come at least 10 days after their previous contests (including playoff games).

Extending that 4-0 streak and improving upon that 10-3 extended rest record will be a difficult task for the Eagles, who come off the bye for a Week 10 Monday night game at Green Bay, which leads the NFC with a .786 winning percentage. After that is a home game on a shorter week against the 5-2 Detroit Lions.

The bye comes just two weeks after the Eagles had a productive mini-bye following their Week 6 loss to the Giants. It was a second consecutive defeat and one that dropped the Eagles to 4-2. But the Eagles have emerged from that week with consecutive victories and won a lopsided affair Sunday. Is the state of the union different now compared to how Sirianni felt two Fridays ago? If it is, Sirianni wouldn’t say so.

“We don’t live week-to-week with results,” he said. “Obviously, we’re paid to win football games and find ways to get better, but we don’t live week-to-week. You work like crazy to get better, you work like crazy to win each football game, but then win, lose, or draw, you’re on to the next and you’re doing the same thing all over again.”

The message for the coaching staff this week, Sirianni said, is to be “completely locked in and focused on finding ways to get better, identifying issues, identifying strengths, and this is a really important week.

“We’ve benefited from this week in the past, whether that be going into the playoffs or whether it’s in the regular season,” he said. “It’s that same motivation and that same hunger to do everything that we can do to help improve the football team.”

For the players, the message is to get some rest, heal up, but remain mentally focused on what’s ahead.

“This bye week sets you up for some things for the rest of the season,” Sirianni said.

It certainly did last year, when the Eagles hit the bye with a 2-2 record, made some tweaks, and won 10 consecutive games after the break.

» READ MORE: The Eagles and Dallas Goedert could have parted ways. Instead, the tight end is having a career year.

Maybe the bye week is coming at a bad time. Who wouldn’t want to keep it rolling after the offense put together arguably its best four-quarter performance under new coordinator Kevin Patullo?

The Eagles put together a complete effort Sunday and finally found success running the football and passing it during the same game. They schemed up the pin-and-pull blocking game and showed their under-center versatility.

It has been a bumpy first eight games for Patullo after taking the reins from Kellen Moore. But Sunday — which followed a strong showing with the aerial attack last week — showed the Eagles might be on a better path.

“I think he’s done a good job of continuing to get better, just like our players,” Sirianni said of Patullo. “Every team is a new team, so there’s a growth period whether there’s a first-time play caller or not. There’s a growth period within each year for the players, for the coaches, everything. That’s what the first weeks of the season are for, is to find ways to win, find ways to get better, and really be in that continual growth mindset all the way through so you’re playing your best football in November, December, January hopefully.”

The trade deadline will have passed the next time the Eagles take the field for a practice. The deadline is Nov. 4 at 4 p.m., and the Eagles aren’t due back at the NovaCare Complex until after that.

It could be an active deadline period for the Eagles, who have a few positions of need to address. Does not having a game to prepare for ahead of the deadline make life easier for Sirianni when it comes to working closely with Howie Roseman on improvements? The coach said it’s no different.

“We find time to do the things that are necessary to help the team win, help the team get better,” Sirianni said.