Eagles

Of Course Nick Sirianni Says Effort Was Not an Issue vs. Cowboys – What’s He Supposed to Say?

By Matt Schultz

Published: Oct 28th, 2026 · 5:02 PM EDT

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The Eagles are 2-5. Several key pieces are either banged up or done for the year, including Jalen Hurts, Devonta Smith, and Saquon Barkley. Lane Johnson retired. Cam Jurgens was traded. The offense is bad. The defense is bad. The season feels like it’s slipping away.

All that considered, you could understand why the Eagles’ effort has seemed so lackluster in recent weeks. It’s not a secret. We’re all watching the games. We’ve all seen guys giving up on plays, being unprepared when the ball is snapped, getting confused on play calls, etc., etc. Nick Foles knows it. Brian Baldinger knows it. We all know it. These guys are mailing it in:

.@dallascowboys @Eagles can we at least get into our stance? please. Try to be ready at the snap…The fans were so sick of this effort that it wasn’t worth it to BOOOO. They just left. #BaldysBreakdowns https://t.co/eKM4ss0iB3

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) October 27, 2026

But don’t tell that to Nick Sirianni. The Eagles’ head coach is adamant that despite what all of our eyes are telling you, effort was not an issue against the Cowboys:

Q. Was there any issue with effort on Monday night? How do you gauge whether or not that is an issue? (Dave Zangaro)

Nick Sirianni: We grade every play based off of what they did, we grade every play based off of their assignment alignment and we grade every play off of effort. That’s not only in games, but that’s also at every practice, because if we were just grading it in games and not emphasizing it on every play in every practice, then we wouldn’t be doing our job. I did not see an effort issue on Monday night. Obviously, it was other things, which I’m sure you guys will ask me about. There were other things, but effort in no way, shape [or] form was an issue there.

The plays — now, do you bat 100% on effort? No, you don’t play a perfect football game. The plays, anytime there is an effort stand out in a positive way, we show it to the team and show what the standard is. Anytime there’s one that we feel like there was a loaf, we point that out and show that to the team. But I didn’t think that we had — I didn’t look at the tape and say, ‘Hey, this was an effort issue, and this is why this play happened or that play happened.’ That’s how I graded the film.

I gotta say, I feel kind of bad for Nick here. He’s in a pretty impossible position. Everyone in the world saw that the Eagles were just going through the motions on Monday night, but is that helpful to say out loud if you’re the head coach of the team? Would it be beneficial to Nick to get in front of the press and say, “Yeah, well look, our effort is pretty much a disgrace. These guys clearly don’t give a shit. They’re not bought in, they’re not trying, and they don’t seem to care one way or the other if we win or lose.”?

Seems like that’d be a bad thing to say, since it’s the head coach’s job to make their players give a shit. If Nick announces to the world that his team isn’t trying, he’s also announcing that he’s bad at his job and should probably be fired.

So what else is there to do? Lie, pretty much.* Get up in front of the media and say, “Yeah, no, our guys are doing everything right. I think the effort has been excellent. When they’re just standing up straight before the ball’s snapped instead of getting into any sort of crouching football position, that’s actually a good thing. We like that. That’s something we’re working toward, is standing up straight more. And the same goes for not picking up our running backs after they’re stuffed in the backfield. We don’t want to do that sort of thing. That’s a waste of energy for the offensive line. We’re trying to conserve energy, so yeah. Plus not getting to the line of scrimmage on time. We don’t care about that. That’s fine. That has nothing to do with effort or buy-in or anything. Everything’s A-okay on that front. So yeah. I love the effort I’m seeing. Please don’t fire me.” Which is exactly what he did.

And I can’t get mad about that. That’s just normal self-preservation stuff. Nick is feeling the heat, and he should be. The Eagles are ass and he’s not a good coach. Gotta expect a guy in his position to say anything and everything he can to avoid getting canned. Doubt it’ll work, but it’s worth a shot. Good luck with the lying, Nick. Excited to see if it helps.

Kinkead: I’ll never forget when I got in trouble in high school. The chef at the nursing home kitchen I worked at told me, “Kevin, what you need to do is get a lawyer, and lie.” It was great advice.