Eagles

Eagles ST coach Michael Clay said he’s comfortable with being a special teams coach and doesn’t want to go back to the defense.

“The beauty of special teams coaches, you’re the closest thing to being a head coach because you get to talk to everybody,” Clay said, via Eagles Wire. “Vic probably doesn’t get to talk to the offense. Sean probably won’t be able to talk to the defense. In special teams, you get to talk to everybody. If I could do this for another quarter century, then hit the deuces like Brad Seely did in Houston, then I’ll be very happy with my life and how it turned out.

Eagles

Eagles OC Sean Mannion is ready for the opportunity to lead an offense and said that being a backup quarterback for almost a decade in the NFL has helped get him ready for the moment.

“I’ve always been kind of working towards the hope of getting the opportunity to do this,” Mannion said, via The Athletic. “So even in Green Bay, you’re always going through, as the quarterback coach, you’re saying, “All right, what calls do I have to have Jordan Love ready for?” You’re kind of thinking through the process of the game throughout the week, ‘What’s Matt (LaFleur) going to look to call here? What’s my favorite third-down call?’ You’re always kind of taking yourself through that process mentally. It was the same thing as a player. You’re saying, ‘Hey, what’s my favorite call in the high red zone?’ If it’s a high blitz game, what’s my favorite call? When am I going to come to the sideline and be like, ‘Hey, can I get this one on our next third medium where you might be getting a lot of pressure?’ You’re always taking yourself through that process, kind of flexing those muscles. Then even now, scripting practice, you’re still going through that same operation. ‘Hey, it’s first and 10, it’s second and eight, it’s third and eight. What are the things that I really want us to get work on for those specific situations?’ So, you’re always putting yourself through those paces.”

Mannion said the team’s new offensive scheme will revolve around what the personnel does great and will look to maximize their output.

“There’s things I believe in and there’s things that schematically I have a background in, but ultimately it’s going to be a blend and it’s constantly going to evolve,” Mannion said. “It’s about maximizing things for the players. How do we make the Eagles the best team we can be? How (do) we make the Eagles offense the best it can be and how do we put all of our players in a position to really, really succeed and maximize their strengths?”

Mannion believes that QB Jalen Hurts has everything needed to be successful in the team’s offense and said that he’s been engaged in meetings and has challenged himself throughout the off-season.

“I really think he can do anything we ask of him,” Mannion said. “He’s accurate. He’s a great athlete. He really attacks the fundamentals. That’s what’s been really fun to watch these last two weeks of phase two. He’s always wanting more things to work on, wanting more things regarding fundamentals, timing, understanding the scheme. He’s hungry for more. Those are the guys that are really fun to work with. In terms of skill set, though, he has great arm strength, great accuracy, obviously a tremendous athlete and he really attacks the game. He has a great process in the meetings. He always asks really, really thought-provoking questions. He’s detailed and attacks his fundamentals.”

Mannion added that the team will implement wide-zone blocking schemes and hopes to have a balanced run and pass.

“That’s absolutely a huge part of what we want to do,” Mannion said. “We want to make sure that as many different elements of our offense fit together, that they look the same and how do we build this wide array of things that kind of start off of a similar type of look? So I think a lot of it goes into the planning throughout the week, looking back at weeks past, looking back at seasons past, ‘Hey, what are other things we’ve shown from these types of presentations to the defense?’ Then being creative, thinking outside the box, that’s where I’m really excited about the group of coaches we brought in.”

Giants

Giants HC John Harbaugh was asked by a fan whether he was confident the team would win divisional matchups, given its lack of success in previous seasons.

“I could care less about what’s happened last year, the year before that, or ten years before that,” Harbaugh said, via Art Stapleton. “Honestly, I don’t give a crap about any of it. Not one bit. All I care about is tomorrow’s practice. Because if tomorrow’s practice is the way it’s supposed to be, that’ll be one more step in the direction of being a good enough football team to kick the Cowboys’ ass. That’s our job. That’s our job to be good enough to do that. We gotta make ourselves good enough to do that. That’s our responsibility.”