PHILADELPHIA — Wins are hard to come by in the NFL. Celebrating wins is more than OK when they come, even if it’s an ugly victory against an inferior opponent.
What Nick Sirianni did in the final minute of Sunday’s victory over the Cleveland Browns was way over the top. The Philadelphia Eagles head coach decided to get into a shouting match with some Eagles fans when the team was in victory formation en route to a 20-16 win.
Gloating over a victory is nothing new in the Sirianni era, but this one went too far. Sirianni went against his better judgment, or perhaps this is how he wants to be perceived.
“I was having fun, and I was kinda getting some feedback from the guys in the sense like, ‘We need you back Nick,'” Sirianni said with a smirk. “‘We need your energy. We need your focus.’ When I’m operating and having fun, I think that breeds to the rest to the football team.
“If I want the guys to celebrate and be themselves after big plays, then I should probably do that myself.”
The Eagles did come away with a victory, but there were plenty of jeers from the home crowd. With A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith back, the Eagles went three-and-out on the first series. The boos reigned down on the offense, despite only running three plays.
Brown gave a better answer than his head coach on handling the adversity from the home crowd.
“No pressure at all. I love the fans, but the fans doesn’t exist for me when I’m out there playing,” Brown said. “It’s just what it is. They may boo. They may cheer. We don’t hear none of that. We’re just trying to get going and stick to our game plan.
“There’s no added pressure. As you see, we got going. And it happens.”
There were also boos that descended on the team at halftime when the game was tied 10-10. Fans chanted “Fire Nick” as the team headed into the tunnel, right after Sirianni had another baffling moment that led to the tie score in the final minute before the half.
The Eagles head coach called timeout with 32 seconds left with the team at the Browns’ 31-yard line after a pass play to Saquon Barkley. Coming out of the timeout, Sirianni called a pass play instead of a run on third-and-1 (with two timeouts to spare), as the pass play led to a sack and a 57-yard field goal attempt by Jake Elliott. The Browns called a timeout in the hopes they can get something going before the half, blocking Elliott’s kick and returning it the other way for the score.
The stunned Eagles crowd had no choice but to boo.
Sirianni made sure some fans knew about that when the Eagles took care of business in the final 30 minutes. His players certainly heard what was going on.
“Everybody doubts him, and the people that don’t doubt him is us,” Gardner-Johnson said. “I don’t think you guys know how much shit he takes on the daily and we gotta back him up for it. I’m proud that he’s my coach and nobody else is my coach.”
Jalen Hurts admitted he was one of the players that talked to Sirianni during the bye week. Even if Sirianni doesn’t have the fans’ trust, he has the players’ trust.
“It’s just a reassurance of, you know, we trust who you are,” Hurts said. “We trust where you are as a coach, and we know we can build with you. So it’s about doing it together. It’s about doing it together, you know.
“And I think for him, I think any leader, it’s about a vision and trusting in that vision. He’s done a really good job of being able to have conversations and honestly try and map things out, you know, and some things take time. … I’m excited for him and his growth and continue to see where he’s going, and I think it’ll continue to help our football team.”
Even if Sirianni has the trust of his players, he treated Sunday’s victory like it was season-changing — and it may have been. There are a lot of questions on this Eagles team that need to be answered, but the head coach is creating controversies that don’t need to be there.
Arguing with the fans of Philadelphia is a lose-lose situation, no matter how Sirianni wants to dissect it.
“It was just all out of fun,” Sirianni said. “We thrive off the crowd when they cheer for us. We hear them when they boo. We don’t necessarily like it. I don’t think that’s productive for anybody. When they cheer for us, and when we got them rolling — we love it.”
Sirianni loves to create adversity. This time it wasn’t necessary.
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