Nick Sirianni talks C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s injury, Cooper DeJean’s readiness

The Eagles have just a couple days left before their Week 3 game against the Saints, and head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters one final time before heading to New Orleans. He spoke on Friday about C.J. Gardner-Johnson popping up on the injury report, how the team is overcoming adversity, and why he appreciates Jalen Hurts addressing the team after Monday’s loss.

Here’s what the head coach had to say:

On CJGJ’s injury
Sirianni said that Chauncey Gardner-Johnson tweaked something in practice on Thursday, but didn’t want to go into specifics. They are monitoring him over the next couple days.

This would be a big game for CJGJ, who was traded by the Saints to the Eagles a couple years ago. The head coach said that if the safety plays, Sirianni won’t ask him to temper his emotion.

“My message always has been to him is I love his emotion. I love his energy. You know, always use that. He’s got such an awesome personality; always use that personality to bring people together. So be yourself. Have fun out there. Show your emotion.

I would be crazy to tell him not to show his emotion because I show my emotion. Show your emotion and do everything within the rules of the game because people feed off that. Again, love his energy and just his personality.”

On Cooper DeJean’s readiness to play

“Yeah, [Cooper DeJean] continues to impress as he’s out there as far as starting with his special teams abilities. He made a really good play in special teams. You guys weren’t out there still but made a really good play in special teams yesterday in practice that was shown in front of the team today.

And you know, he’s really had some good reps with the defense. He gets reps with the defense and also gets reps on scout team. I think he’s been stringing together practice after practice after practice, and our confidence is continuing to grow in him because we know he’s a good football player.

I know he wants to be out there on the field and contributing to this team.”

On overcoming adversity
Sirianni said that the team has had a good week of practices and meetings, and everybody is ready to get back at it and go. He explained that they all know at the end of the day, all they can control are their habits, and those habits are what will produce the results.

He later quipped that he was jumping to get to their first loss to see how the team would respond, and noted that learning how a team will overcome adversity is usually noticeable in camp – there are good days and bad days, and how do guys respond to each.

“But, naturally, right, [there are] the consequences of losing a regular season game, so maybe a little bit.

But like I said, guys have really responded well. We’re 1-1, and we’re ready to go out there and play a good football team and get back out there on the field on Sunday.”

On Jalen Hurts addressing the team
Sirianni said that those things happen organically, and it wasn’t something he thought about this offseason. Hurts walked into the locker room and got emotional, and started to talk to everybody. He explained that’s what you want from the leaders of your team, and there wasn’t anything else the head coach needed to add, because Hurts had said it all.

“He said it with great emotion and great care. Like I said, I just said, let’s take a knee. That’s something that — I talk to these guys every single day, right? We have team meetings every day. I break down practice. And that’s after a practice, too. Sometimes I say nothing and I say you guys got it, or sometimes I say something.

When the leaders on your football team are preaching exactly the same things that you know are your core values and are important to the football team, that’s awesome. That’s the best thing that can happen. That’s the best message that you have.”

He went on to say that sometimes he’ll do that in team meetings if he feels like the message needs to come from someone else’s perspective.

Sirianni said that he appreciates what Hurts said, and the team appreciated it, and it started the process of getting over the loss and getting on to the next game.

Other notables
The head coach was asked about DC Vic Fangio saying Monday night’s game was the first time LB Zack Baun saw chop blocks. Sirianni explained that while OL and DL are full go in practice, they don’t allow chop blocks for obvious reasons. They simulate it as best they can, and they do drills and prepare for it, but they can’t get live reps at practice.

Another thing the Eagles have been prepping for is the crowd noise in New Orleans. Sirianni admitted that while it’s annoying, they’ve been playing loud crowd noise at practice this week instead of music to really hone their communication.
He doesn’t often go down to the locker room, and Sirianni explained that he considers that a mostly players-only space. That’s their area to be together as a group, as players, and he only goes in there if he’s getting a hair cut, or knows someone specific will be in there and has a question — or for the occasional ping pong game.