Eagles Pro Bowl defensive tackle Fletcher Cox was not happy following the Eagles' loss to the Raiders and he made that clear in his postgame press conference voicing his displeasure for the lack of aggressiveness the defense was applying.
On Tuesday, one day later than normal due to traveling back from Las Vegas, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni joined Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show his weekly call-in and was asked about Cox's criticism of the defense.
"I think what we have to understand too about this game is that it is so emotional," Sirianni said. "And so, those things happen. Obviously you would love for those conversations to always stay in house. I understand the frustration and there's no doubt, players like Fletch, we've got to use their abilities because it's all about the players. Our job as coaches is to put these guys in position so their skill set shines and when a player doesn't feel like that's happening, I understand the frustration. Fletch and I have talked and you want those things to stay in house and sometimes they don't and that's OK.
"I'll let you in on some inside stuff, every week I ask our coaches, 'Hey, we feel like this guy, this guy, this guy are our best players. Are we utilizing their skill set?' And that's a question I ask every week. And so, we're constantly thinking about that."
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Sirianni, who says he has "100 percent trust" in defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, admits the defense needs to "challenge more."
"I have 100 percent trust in Jonathan Gannon and his staff and his players on defense," Sirianni said. "And I know they're doing all the game planning and all of the watching of the tape throughout the week, but if we want to challenge more—and that can mean a couple different things. That could mean you want to pressure more. That could also mean you want to play a little bit more man to man and get a little bit closer to the receivers.
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"Any time a quarterback is 91-percent [completion rate] there, those are the couple of things that have to happen. And that starts with me. I have to get that in and say I want to challenge these guys more, and go from there."
Overall, the Eagles fell to 2-5 after losing 33-22 in Las Vegas to the Raiders on Sunday. However, their schedule is among the easiest in the NFL, with remaining games against weaker opponents starting Sunday in Detroit against the winless Lions.
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"I've believe we've been growing and I see progress over and over and over again," Sirianni said. "If you look at the offense the other night, our last game there, you saw us under center more, you saw us with more play action. You saw us different looks to get Miles [Sanders] some touches. But at the same, still doing some of the fundamental things that we really believe in like with the RPO game and the zone reads and the core concepts and the drop back passes. I definitely believe we're just continuing to learn what we do well on offense, what we do well on defense, what we do well on special teams and trying to adapt to that. In my opinion, the offense did look different and I believe that helped Jalen [Hurts] in a lot of aspects just being in that play action and running the ball a little more."