• Everyone made fun of Nick Sirianni after he yelled at those Philadelphia Eagles fans in October, the same way they made fun of his introductory press conference in 2021.
Just like everyone missed the point four years ago, they missed it again this time around.
In both instances, the easy thing to say was that Sirianni lacked the square-jawed, polished, hard-edged demeanor needed to be the football coach in that city. What was overlooked was who Sirianni is: unabashedly himself, and a coach unshaken by what some guy with sketchy cell service is saying on WIP-FM on a fall Monday morning.
Think about it. People were treating Sirianni as if he was unfit to coach in Philly when he got into that shouting match, which was more him having some fun with the crowd at the end of an emotional win. At that point, he was 37–19 over three-plus seasons, made the playoffs in three consecutive years after inheriting a four-win team and made it to a Super Bowl in which he was edged out by an all-time coach and quarterback.
On what planet is that coach scratching to keep his job? The one Philly is on, of course.
But the real key here is that, to Sirianni, it was never about keeping his job as the pressure turned up. If you really think about it, that’s the exact outlook it takes to coach in Philly. And why when he and I talked about that on Sunday night, he immediately mentioned how his wife’s ability to not listen to what everyone is saying about her husband sets a good tone for him to stay focused on what he needs to be tuned into.
“You obviously hear it, you gotta prepare for media, and I gotta do questions,” Sirianni says. “But I also gotta practice what I preach. And if I’m gonna tell these guys not to listen, when the word is out that we’re not any good, or the word’s out that we’re really good, then I need to do the same thing. That’s all I’ve tried to do. … My job is to lead this football team, along with the captains and the leaders we have, and put my head down and go to work.
“It’s about the journey and nothing else.”
Lo and behold, Sirianni’s moment with the fans as the Eagles finished off the Cleveland Browns at home in October wound up starting more than just conversation—it was the beginning of the eight-game winning streak Philadelphia is riding now.
It’s happened because of Sirianni’s approach and not despite all he brings to the table. So, just as he wasn’t going to let “the word out that we’re not any good” affect his team when it was 2–2 going into the bye, he won’t let the “the word out that we’re really good” have an impact on a group that’s now riding a two-month tear. This is why, when I asked him about the significance of winning in Baltimore, he didn’t go too far with it.
“It was a good win against a good football team,” he says. “But our goals are to continue on, no one’s giving you anything you want after going 10–2. We have bigger goals.
“We don’t have time to feel good about anything, because we have a lot of the season to go. Again, I know that’s not the answer you want. It’s boring. But it’s the boring, it’s the monotonous grind, it’s our habits that are paying off right now. And we’ll continue down that road.”
Despite what some may have you believe, that road has led the Eagles to some pretty good places.
