These are tough times for the Philadelphia Eagles, Head Coach Nick Sirianni understands, and the focus is on one thing: Defeating the New York Giants on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. The work continues at the NovaCare Complex as the team moves forward at 11-5 knowing that the path to an NFC East title requires a Dallas Cowboys loss to Washington on Sunday in addition to an Eagles' victory.

Sirianni and his coaching staff can only control what they can control: Correct mistakes and beat New York for the second time in three weeks.

"When you're in a rut or you're in a hole like we're in right now, just not playing and coaching the way we want to do things, yeah, that's always tough because you put everything you've got into this," Sirianni said on Monday in a virtual press conference with the beat reporters who cover the team. "The family is there for Christmas and you're sitting there and you're grinding through everything because you're trying like crazy to get everything right and that's players and coaches. You asked me about myself, and so you think about that, and you put everything – you sacrifice everything. You put everything into it.

"So of course, when you're not seeing the rewards of it, you're upset, but you can only be upset for so long, and you can only be down for so long because you've got to get back up and figure out what the solutions are and what the answers are to the issues that are going on. And so obviously anytime you go through a rut like this, yeah, it's tough. I think that we have all been through things in our lives that we would all agree are tougher and we know we came out better because of it. You remind yourself of that, those types of things, in these types of moments."

Sirianni said the focus is on beating New York, but that the Eagles will consider everything, including resting players before the postseason begins.

A team with very high expectations feels the weight of a late-season struggle, but the expectations remain high as the Eagles look for solutions.

"We all have high expectations. The fans, you know, us as the Eagles, the coaches, the players, and so it's just wanting to live up to the expectations. But also, we've got to understand that it's about daily improvements and looking, zoning in just on where we are," Sirianni said. "I've always got to make sure that that's the focus of the team and myself of being where we are today. That's why I mean, I know how cliché that sounds coming from a coach that, 'Hey, you can't worry about the playoffs. You can't worry about this. You have to be worried about today; how are we going to put a plan in today while the players are off to beat the Giants, right?' And just taking those steady moments, I think sometimes you can get yourself out when your expectations – when you feel like you're not playing to your expectations and coaching to your expectations, it's easy to look forward and say, 'Alright, here is what we've got to do to get to doing those things."

On the injury front, Sirianni said that wide receiver DeVonta Smith, injured in the fourth quarter of Sunday's loss to Arizona, remains in a walking boot and on crutches and that he will update the injury later in the week. Same with cornerback Darius Slay, out with a knee injury, and cornerback Avonte Maddox, who was seen by reporters after Sunday's game heading for an X-ray on his upper body. Sirianni said he did not have complete information on Maddox and would update his condition later in the week.

Also, Sirianni was asked about wide receiver A.J. Brown, after the star player declined to speak with reporters after Sunday's game.

"Obviously we're all frustrated. We're all frustrated right now, especially coming off that loss yesterday. And so you want to be able to have fun," Sirianni said. "You want to be able to do all these things, and you know, that football brings, but sometimes it's hard to have fun and hard to find the enjoyment when you're in a rut like we are.

"But he's always going to want to – he's always going to want to change the game because he knows he's capable and that's just him being the playmaker he is. I know this, and I said this to you guys on the record, off the record, all – everything, that there's nobody that is as good of a teammate. There is nobody that's as good of a person as A.J. and shoot, he's one of our very best players and one of our best players since I've been here in the past three years. I can't say enough good things about him. We're all frustrated."