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I Love That Nick Sirianni is Back to Being an Asshole
By Sean Barnard
Published:
The Philadelphia Eagles have clinched a postseason for the fifth consecutive season under Nick Sirianni.
Sunday’s victory over the Buffalo Bills improved his career record to 59-25 (70.2 win percentage) in the regular season, which ranks fifth all-time among NFL head coaches. Sirianni was feeling himself in New York and was not shy about letting everyone know it as he walked to the locker room:
Sirianni is never going to be everyone’s cup of tea as a personality. He embodies the “no one likes us, we don’t care” mentality and is not shy to put it on display. You don’t have to love the sideline antics or trash-talking tendencies, but it’s far more of a crime to be inauthentic than obnoxious, especially in this city.
Sure, I could do without Sirianni celebrating a first-quarter touchdown like a game-winner. This is especially the case when the offense puts up less than 20 second-half yards:
But this seems to be what makes Siranni tick, and he should not ignore this. The antics are more in line with what is expected from the tailgate lots than from the organization’s head coach, but it’s what makes Sirianni himself. Miss me with the critiques of this not being how a Super Bowl head coach should behave, or comments about acting as if he had been there before. It’s a results-based world we live in, and this is the area that deserves far more judgment for the Eagles’ head coach.
Side note- the interaction with A.J. Brown in the tunnel is hilarious.
They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, and it would take Brown weeks of pot-stirring quotes to replicate the message he sent with this stare. To be fair to A.J., his reaction was much more aligned with the fanbase following the second-half offensive snooze-fest. He finished the matchup with five receptions for 68 yards, seeing one target in the second half with Jalen Hurts failing to record a completed pass after halftime. I won’t go as far as praising Brown for the lack of headline making over the past few weeks, but it is nice that the public temperature has at least cooled a bit.
Ultimately, Sirianni is at his best when he is just being himself. The pressure and scrutiny will not be toned down at any point soon. He is always going to be heavily under the microscope, given the caliber of talent he’s tasked with maximizing. Job security is essentially nonexistent in the NFL, especially in this market, and Sirianni has to continue doing things his way. Don’t tone down the antics at the request of acting right; just be you and live with the results.
Sirianni will lead the team into the playoffs with borderline unfair expectations to live up to. He will look to replicate the recipe from last year’s Super Bowl victory and lead the Eagles to another championship. It hasn’t always looked pretty this year, but the Eagles are 11-5 and have all their goals still in front of them. Let Nick Sirianni keep being himself, because the results have proven more than worth it to this point.
Sean Barnard has covered the Philadelphia 76ers and general Philly Sports for over six years in a variety of roles and for multiple outlets. Currently works as a Content Writer for DraftKings Network, Sixers/NBA Insider for Philadelphia's Fox Sports the Gambler, and co-host of Sixers & Phillies Digest on Youtube. Forever Trusting the Process.