Suddenly, the laughter between Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni and general manager Howie Roseman were gone. The pair was no longer smiling and making poor jokes about each other’s statements.
Instead, each of them spoke in a serious tone. The repercussions of losing six of seven games to close a season, as the Eagles became only the second team in NFL history to go 1-6 in their final seven games after a 10-1 start, one of the most dramatic late-season collapses in their 91-year history.
Sirianni’s job status was suddenly on the line after the monumental collapse, needing to prove to owner Jeffrey Lurie why he hired him in the first place.
“You’d better believe I’m thinking how do I reprove myself,” Sirianni said Wednesday at the NovaCare Complex. “I was a young coach that Mr. Lurie and Howie and this organization trusted to give the job to. I had to prove myself that this guy can lead the organization like they asked me to, and I had to prove myself from then.”
While Sirianni isn’t on the hot seat entering 2024, it certainly does feel that way. Sirianni had his end-of-season meeting with Lurie, which he described as “business as usual,” but this congregation was different than in years past.
That was easy to tell regarding the tone of Sirianni’s voice. Sirianni has to perform in 2024, or he won’t be the Eagles head coach for much longer.
“Do I have to sell my vision? No, because it was business as usual,” Sirianni said. “But you’d better believe that I’m thinking after that 1-6 finish after starting the way we started and doing the things that we’ve done in the past that I’m thinking I’m going to prove them right again, and we’re going to prove them right. We’ve got to reprove ourselves. We’ve got to go prove it again.”
“That’s how I feel right now. That’s how I’m attacking this offseason. That’s how I’m attacking this upcoming season as we get ready for it. Just hungry to be able to prove myself again to Mr. Lurie and the faith that he’s had in me and Howie and the faith he’s had in me and the rest of the team and the city.”
Sirianni has the accolades to warrant his job status. The only head coach to take the Eagles to the playoffs in his first three seasons, Sirianni is just the third head coach to win 11-plus games with the franchise in consecutive seasons (Dick Vermeil in 1979-1980 and Andy Reid in 2000-2004). Sirianni’s 34-17 record with the Eagles is the highest win percentage in team history (.667).
sirianni has the third-highest win percentage among active NFL head coaches (Jim Harbaugh and Matt LaFleur are higher) and the 14th-highest in NFL history among coaches who have coached 50-plus games. Let’s not forget he just took the Eagles to a Super Bowl one year ago, something only Vermeil, Reid and Doug Pederson have ever done.
Yet it took the Eagles nine days to hold an end-of-season press conference after their wild-card playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Roseman mentioned the two snowstorms that took place last week and the days’ worth of lengthy exit interviews with all the players and coaches.
The Eagles did dismiss two coordinators and allowed Matt Patricia’s contract to expire so he could pursue other opportunities. The lone aspect Roseman didn’t mention was the future of Sirianni amongst the Eagles’ brass.
here will be more sweeping changes coming among the coaches, but the head coach remains the same. Even if his job status is a bit different than the year before.
Roseman went to bat for Sirianni, and he’s right to do so. Even with the late-season collapse, Sirianni’s résumé speaks for itself.
“I’m not diminishing the 1-6 stretch at the end – [but] we were 26-5 over the last 31 games,” Roseman said. “That’s four times the amount of games that we played over this stretch. That is hard to do in the National Football League. That is hard to find a head coach in this league who has that record of success.”
“I think we were 33-11 up until that point with Nick. We’ve made the playoffs three straight years. Again, not OK finishing 1-6, so I’m not sitting up here saying that, but it is hard to find somebody who can do those sorts of things.”
“I think as we go forward, doing this together in a way that continues to get the best possible people we can, on and off the field, for me, that’s my job to try to make sure that we have that on the field and my group is as strong as we possibly can get, and I know Nick is committed to that in his group.”
This coming season is the most important of Sirianni’s career. 2024 isn’t a “lame-duck” year, but it certainly feels like one if the Eagles don’t right the ship.
