Routine Rules For The Eagles: ‘Screw That, It’s About Us’

PHILADELPHIA -  All week the message around the NovaCare Complex has been routine.

The Eagles didn’t get to 14-3 by treating each week differently. Their process worked and the last thing you want to do with the playoffs looming is change what got you there.

“The main thing we really talked about was like, as you come in here, you don't say, ‘Hey, we won 14 games, won the NFC East. Now here is what we're going to do,’” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said earlier this week. “... Really at the end of the day, it's getting back to our toughness, detail, and together, and understanding that our process through the week is what gives you a chance to win a football game.”

However, nothing is a given in the NFL.

“It doesn't guarantee you a chance to win the football game, but it gives you a chance to play to the best of your abilities. It gives you a chance, again, to win,” said Sirianni. “A better chance to win the football game when you go through the week like this.”

And that messaging isn’t new. It’s literally routine.

“That's been the message all year,” the coach explained. “Again, I don't think you want any of your guys going, ‘All right, now it's the playoffs. Here is what I'm going to do now.’ Doesn't work that way. 

“A winner's mindset is the same week in, week out.”

That said the stage is bigger so the goal for Sirianni is to boil it down, especially for the younger players.

“When you really sit down and think about it, these guys are at the pinnacle of their sport,” Sirianni said. “So some of them have played in state championship games. Some of them have played in national championship games. Some of them have played in rival games that are bigger rivals than anybody has ever played in, right?

“Iowa-Iowa State is a big rivalry for [DB Cooper DeJean] Coop. That doesn't mean one is bigger than the other. You go to a high school football game, you go to Southwestern versus Falconer – Southwestern is my team, Falconer was our rival – you go to that school and say, ‘This game is not as important as a playoff game in the NFL.’ Those kids are going to – ‘That game is important to me.’ There is nothing bigger to me than this game right now.”

In Sirianni’s mind, players have been playing in “big games” no matter the level.

“These guys have been playing in these their entire lives,” he said. “I want them to stick on their process, I want to stick with what got us here, and not think about anything else other than – again, I don't think it's a winner's mindset to be like, ‘Here is what I'm doing different now,’ or ‘Here is how this game is going to be different.’

“Screw that. It's about what we do all week. It's about us.”

The message seems to be resonating.

“I try to treat it the same way,” DeJean said of his first playoff game. “Obviously, there’s a lot of emotions going into it, just because you understand the consequences if you lose. But I try to treat it the same going into it. I’ve been in some big rivalry games, Big Ten championships, state championships. Just continue to prepare like we have all year. That’s a big point of emphasis in our team meetings.”