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Takeaways From Nick Sirianni’s Press Conference After Jalen Hurts Was Ruled Out for the Season
By Matt Schultz
Published:
Nick Sirianni spoke to the media on Monday in what was one of the stranger press conferences you’ll see. In the wake of the morning news that Jalen Hurts will miss the remainder of the NFL season with blood clots that moved into his lungs, the Eagles head coach was pressed for a more detailed timeline of events, a reason why Jalen was allowed to play, practice, and travel despite his dire medical condition, and more.
Nick stuck to the script, no matter how much the press pushed him
The Eagles had explaining to do, and as Monday’s press conference chugged along, it was clear that Nick Siriranni would not be the one doing it. Rather than offer any insight into the team’s decision to play Jalen Hurts in London — despite knowing he had a blood clot, knowing he wasn’t getting enough sleep, and knowing he’d have to take a cross-Atlantic flight — Nick kept on hitting the clearly pre-approved talking points: The Eagles organization cares for their players, the Eagles organization has faith in their medical staff, please refer to Eagles’ official statements for more info, etc., etc.
In short, he spewed a bunch of canned bullshit that didn’t matter, and it made for a pretty bizarre watch.
When asked about why Nick felt it was safe for Jalen to play against Jacksonville:
SIRIANNI: “The health of our players is always at the forefront of our mind. We’ll leave that up to the medical experts, but we always, always care deeply about our players… You’re always thinking about the wellbeing of our guys.”
When asked if there was anything the Eagles organization could have done differently to keep Jalen safe after they found out about the blood clots:
SIRIANNI: “I’m not a medical expert. I lean on our guys in all those situations. I’m a football coach. I lean on our medical experts in every situation. I have full trust and full faith in them. It’s not just me who has major care for our players. It’s them as well. I’m glad to be part of an organization that cares about the guys the way our guys do.”
When asked why Jalen was allowed to fly home despite the team knowing he had a blood clot:
SIRIANNI: “Again, I’m not a medical expert. Same deal there. We get medical information from our guys and we always put the players’ health first and foremost in every situation. Um. You know, and that’s where we were there… Guys, I’ve addressed this, I’ve talked about this. Again, the medical experts are there and I think I’ve answered this question multiple times. We put out a statement for you guys to hear… and I told you guys last week that I was gonna leave it at that.”
Nick shouldn’t have been the one up there answering these questions
As the press conference droned on and Nick kept delivering more and more canned non-answers, it became abundantly clear: Nick should not be up there. He said it a few times, and it’s true: He’s just the football coach. Whether or not Jalen is healthy enough to play is not his decision.
And that begs a few questions: Why was Nick up there, then? Where is Howie Roseman? How about Jeffery Lurie? How about members of the medical staff who cleared Jalen Hurts to play and travel? Why aren’t we hearing from a single person actually involved in those decisions? Will we ever hear from them? What the hell is going on here? Why does it feel like the Eagles are being purposefully opaque? Is this organization going to get this shit show under control or not?
Seems like we’ll have to wait a while longer before we get any real answers.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com