While Eagles fans and national pundits have been second-guessing and criticizing head coach Nick Sirianni for the past few weeks, his players — the people who really matter — haven’t wavered in their support. As Sirianni opened up and took responsibility for some of the questionable 4th-down calls last game, he’s taken even more of a public beating.
Dallas Goedert was on Pat McAfee’s show after his season-best Week 3 performance, and was asked about Nick Sirianni and the criticism he’s receiving. The tight end was effusive in his support of the head coach.
GOEDERT: “He’s incredible. He’s the same person every day. He brings the energy. He wants the most, and gets the most, out of his players. It’s tough to be a coach in Philadelphia, even when you win, they want your head and don’t think you’re doing the right thing.
But, you know, we have all the faith in Sirianni, he’s got all the faith in us, which is really cool. Which is why he goes for it on 4th down so much, because he trusts his players and we trust him — I think moreso, the calls he makes, we have to execute as players and make sure we’re able to get the job done. That makes me feel good as a player when the coach has that much faith in his guys.”
Similarly, Brandon Graham was on 94WIP and stated that he thinks people are being too tough on Sirianni, who has had success in Philly and is also getting better in his role.
GRAHAM: “People gotta remember, we just went to the Super Bowl with him, and then on top of that, you lose coaches when you go to the Super Bowl. You gotta kinda rebuild a little bit. We got a good roster, for sure. But, I just think, people are being a little too tough on him.”
BG went on to say that they wouldn’t have played with such motivation on Sunday against the Saints if they didn’t support the head coach or if he rubbed them the wrong way.
GRAHAM: “And I know Nick is the man for the job because we wouldn’t be playing for him the way we played for him yesterday to try and get this game.”
Even Jalen Hurts was asked about the head coach during his press conference on Wednesday, in an effort to gain some insight into how Sirianni is handling the turbulence of the season.
HURTS: “Nick’s putting his best effort forward and doing that, and he’s doing a great job, and leading, delivering the message, and in the end, we just have to stay together through any moment.”
As much as everyone is (understandably) concerned about Sirianni and his role among the team, and the offensive play-calling, the most important thing is that he hasn’t lost the locker room. We’ve seen time and again in Philly that losing the locker room is the quickest way to an exit interview, so for now, Sirianni just needs to make better decisions and hope that the guys step up around him.
