Eagles’ Nick Sirianni doesn’t think Jalen Hurts is trigger-shy and isn’t worried about locker room frustration

Less than 24 hours after the Eagles won their ninth consecutive game, the tone and topics of Nick Sirianni’s day-after press conference were that of a team that, despite being 11-2, did not look the part of a serious Super Bowl contender during its 22-16 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday afternoon.

What’s up with the passing game? Is there reason to worry about the frustration in the locker room after the game from those who play offense, most notably star wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith? Does the team have confidence in Jake Elliott to make a critical kick if it needs him to, and if so, why did Sirianni elect to punt late in the fourth quarter rather than attempt a long field goal or try to get 8 yards for a first down?

Here’s a look at how Sirianni answered those questions Monday afternoon.

» READ MORE: Do the Eagles have a passing problem? A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith voice their frustration despite Eagles win.

Jalen Hurts barely attempted to throw the ball downfield, despite multiple times when a receiver, Brown especially, appeared to be open. He hung onto the ball longer than usual, too.

Sunday wasn’t an outlier. The Eagles also struggled to move the ball deep downfield during their previous game in Baltimore. They’ve become a run-first offense riding MVP candidate and the franchise’s new single-season rushing record holder Saquon Barkley.

Is that emphasis on the run game making Hurts trigger-shy?

“No,” Sirianni replied.

So what happened on missing Brown, like on the second offensive play of the game?

“There’s always a different reason why a play doesn’t to you guys look exactly the way or go to the place … I’m not going to get into that with any play,” Sirianni said. “We’ll keep that in-house and correct that in-house.”

Sirianni then talked about the way Hurts has taken care of the ball during the current winning streak and running the offense.

“Make no mistake about it, we’ve won nine games in a row and Jalen Hurts is a big reason why we’ve won nine games in a row,” Sirianni said.

» READ MORE: Eagles-Panthers takeaways: Jake Elliott left twisting in the wind; analyzing the shaky passing game

While the Eagles extended their winning streak, there was plenty of frustration in the locker room, especially from Brown, who noted the struggles in the passing game and the difficulty he’s finding getting into a rhythm when the ball isn’t coming his way often.

“I love that guys care, and they care about how they perform, they care about us meeting our standard,” Sirianni said. “That just leads to us getting better.”

What about the psyche, though, of a team that’s 11-2 but not playing up to the “standard”? Cause for concern?

“No, not at all,” Sirianni said. “I think this is a very mature team of great leaders and mature guys that are hyper-focused on how to get better. Are you going to have moments of being disappointed that you didn’t reach your standard of how to play?”

Sure. But it’s Week 14, and it’s hard to imagine it’s a good sign that the most important players involved in the passing game are expressing concerns that the unit isn’t all on the same page at this stage of the season.

“Football is an imperfect game,” Sirianni said. “It’s not like pitching in baseball. Every play, there’s a mistake. That’s the way the game goes sometimes, it’s never going to be perfect.”

The Eagles, when it comes to passing the football, have been far from perfect. That may not fly Sunday vs. Pittsburgh.

» READ MORE: At a crowded Eagles bar 3,000 miles away, Grant Calcaterra’s brother reacts to his first NFL touchdown

The first question Sirianni was asked Monday afternoon was about his confidence level in Elliott, who missed a 52-yard field goal Sunday and also missed an extra point that was negated by an offsides penalty.

“He’s made a lot of huge kicks here, recently and in the past,” Sirianni said. “Confidence is very high with Jake because I know who he is and I’ve seen who he can be.”

Would a coach confident in his kicker punt from where the Eagles punted late in the fourth quarter Sunday, rather than attempt a 54-yard field goal that would have effectively sealed the win if it went through the uprights? Elliott’s miss dropped him to 0-for-5 from 50-plus yards this season.

Both Sirianni and Elliott pointed to the wind conditions, but it certainly was an interesting spot for the Eagles, who were ahead by six and faced fourth-and-8 from Carolina’s 36-yard line. They elected to take a delay-of-game penalty after failing to draw Carolina offside. Braden Mann’s punt pinned the Panthers deep in their own end.

“We have a plan for that specific moment and every specific moment,” Sirianni said. “You find yourself coming up with new things every week as you study the league.

“You have a guideline of what you go on, but then there are circumstances in the game that you must be able to not just follow the guidelines of what you’ve come up with and the work you’ve come up with, but also the feel of the game and how things are going.”

Circumstances like an earlier missed field goal from a similar distance. If Elliott had connected, would the later decision have been different?

“Everything is a little bit different,” Sirianni said. “I have to be in the moment for the one that’s going on at that particular time. All the factors come into play.”

Actions sometimes speak for themselves.