Eagles

Let’s Not Overreact to the Harmless Nick Sirianni Rock/Paper/Scissors Thing

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Apr 21st, 2021 · 1:10 PM EDT

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Well here it is.

The viral moment from Wednesday’s pre-draft press conference:

#Eagles HC Nick Sirianni says he played rock-paper-scissors and trash talked with draft prospects to gauge their competitiveness.

"When you compete with someone that's competitive, they're gonna go at you no matter what game you're playing."pic.twitter.com/iMUIny1X0o

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) April 21, 2021

The replies to this are interesting. Some people think he comes across as this bush league high school coach, and I can see that. Maybe there’s a bit of an amateurish vibe to the whole thing.

There were plenty of reactions like this one:

https://twitter.com/dvpic64/status/1384903046929559555?s=20

Yeah? I dunno. Let’s not be overly dramatic here.

It’s not like Sirianni can see these guys in person, right? COVID screwed up another offseason. So how do you get a feel for a draft prospect and what type of person they are? There’s no face-to-face, one-on-one interaction, so you have to try different things to gauge competitiveness, or get a feel for their personality, or see how they do in certain situations. We’re stuck talking to other people on video chat, so if rock/paper/scissors is the extent of this interaction, then it is what it is. The Eagles are not an embarrassment because the new head coach is playing harmless games with draft prospects on Zoom calls.

Alas, more negative reaction:

Let’s just do ourselves a favor and fucking breathe here. Sirianni hasn’t coached a single game. The draft hasn’t happened yet. It’s doom and gloom from the world’s most predictable fan base.

If anything, we should all be intrigued by the hiring of a new coach and interested in seeing how he does, instead of making dumbass declarations on April 21st. What would you rather have? Another year of arguing about Carson Wentz and Nick Foles? The franchise is turning a corner and you have a right to be concerned, but right now some fans are putting the cart several miles in front of the horse.