Nick Sirianni is growing right before our eyes but is he the right guy for Philly? If you’re a fan of any Philadelphia team then there’s one thing you already know to be true, fans expect results from their teams and they’re not afraid to hold anyone accountable. It stems from an era of great players and coaches that led to timeless moments for the city of Philadelphia.
Nick Sirianni stepped up to be the coach of the Eagles when the top selections wanted no parts of the franchise or city. He impressed Jeffrey Lurie and painted a vivid picture of how collaboration with Howie Roseman would work. Now the two seem to be inseparable.
The world assumed that he came to coach Carson Wentz in hopes of him leading the once budding star back to the path of greatness but that wasn’t in the cards. Instead, he was handed a clipboard with one option on it and countless scenarios. He would solely be responsible for the career of Jalen Hurts.
A hell of a thought, I know but it’s Jalen’s career that will only thrive if Nick Sirianni can unlock the beast inside. Which seems to be the case so far. The team went from a rough 2-5 start to play the Bucs in the playoffs. That wasn’t supposed to happen. This team was not supposed to make it there but they did. And they did so on the back of their young head coach.
It’s the same guy that was laughed off of the podium after his first press conference. The same guy that National tv experts claimed to be a joke. That guy wasn’t their cup of tea until he became a headline but is he right for Philadelphia?
A year later, I find myself laughing at the question. After hearing Nick Sirianni speak on Wednesday, I’m here to say that, yes, this is the guy for Philly. He’s honest, genuine, and passionate, and he’s a player’s coach. This young band of misfits will ride for their head coach until the wheels fall off because he’ll do the same.
When asked about how much fun Nick Sirianni is having in year two, he mentioned something that stood out to me. It was a genuine indication of his passing for football and his team, Sirianni answers with great detail to the question and went on to say,
“I look forward to at night when my kids go to bed and my wife and I are done talking to call [QB] Jalen [Hurts] and talk through his 10 plays of 7-on-7 and, ‘Hey, what were you thinking here, what were you doing there?’ Or to call [QB] Gardner [Minshew] and go through that, or to text [WR] DeVonta [Smith] and say, ‘Hey, on this play’ — again, I can’t tell you — my favorite thing to do is to correct and watch practice tape with guys and correct and praise from that, like, ‘Hey, this was awesome, hey, this needs to be a little bit better.’ That’s like going out and playing golf for me. I love doing that.”
He continued by stating, “I think that a lot of our coaches love doing it, and you can feel that from our players that they love doing that. When you get a bunch of guys that love being around football, that’s a cool thing. That’s a great team, and we’re just looking to build on that every single day.”
Nick Sirianni’s growth from year one in Philadelphia to year two is a true underdog story because the city was able to witness it all from the beginning to his eventual end, whenever that will be. You saw a coach picked from a crop that people said he “didn’t belong in”. You saw a man that was nervous entering his first press conference. There’s no ego to him. Nick Sirianni is a true team player and could be the next great Philadelphia legend.
It was recently reported that Nick Sirianni has handed over the play-calling duties on offense to offensive coordinator, Shane Steichen. He was asked if it was difficult for him to give up the play-calling duties and His response to it is priceless as he mentions,
“No, I think that’s where a lot of problems happen in the NFL is from an ego standpoint, right. It’s what is the best thing to do. If I said I’m going to stand on a table and run these plays that we ran with Philip Rivers, because that’s what we do, that’s an ego thing to me. So, it’s the same thing here. I felt like I needed to make a change in the sense of how to free me up to be a better head coach, and I had a good assistant to call the plays, and so that’s what I went with.”
Does anyone remember the days when it was so difficult for the Eagles brass to relinquish play-calling duties from the Doug Pederson? The offense became Stale and the head coach refused to make the move. Meanwhile, you have a rookie head coach who wants to give his attention to the whole team so he gives up the play calling to do so. Remarkable.
The growth of Nick Sirianni as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles will be a story that’s told for years to come. It doesn’t matter what the outcomes is at this point. Nick Sirianni is just one of the guys who just so happened to have made it to the grand level. The Eagles are extremely lucky to have this man running things for them. The scary thing about all of this is that the best is yet to come.
Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire
