Via Ralph Vacchiano
FOX Sports NFC East Writer
There’s a real statue of Doug Pederson outside Lincoln Financial Field, in tribute to the former coach and the legendary play “Philly Special” that gave the city its only Super Bowl title.
Nick Sirianni doesn’t need to pass it on his way to work every morning. But its shadow inevitably follows Eagle coach wherever he goes.
He will get a big reminder of that on Sunday when Pederson returns to his old home as the new coach of Jacksonville Jaguars just five years after that magical championship and two years after his messy debut. Pederson won 42-37-1 during his five-year tenure in Philadelphia. He won the NFC East twice and went to the knockout stages three times. He also left several assistant coaches and more than 20 players on the current roster.
There was hardly enough time for Sirianni to make the Eagles her own.
However, he certainly has.
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“Sometimes you have to go through changes to be successful,” Pederson said this week during a video call with Philadelphia-area media. “You have to go through a change to change everything. Just a new beginning for everything.”
Pederson could be just as much loved in Philadelphia – and his former players seem to think he will receive a warm reception from die-hard Philly fans on Sunday afternoon – the Sirianni 41 age did everything he could to make the Eagles his team in the 20 months he worked. It’s not easy. It takes time for people to get used to his quirky personality and odd habits. And he was nearly exhausted by fans last season after starting 2-5.
But since then, he’s done the one thing every coach needs to do to survive: He’s won. The Eagles won 7-3 of their last 10 games last season to get into the knockout stages, and they’re 3-0 this year and it looks like they could be the best team in the entire league.
The reason for that, says Sirianni, is simple: Although the Eagles won 4-11-1 in Pederson’s final season, the new coach has been assigned a pretty good team.
“I didn’t look like a first-year head coach last year in the sense of what usually happens with a first-year head coach where they don’t excel at the O, D-line,” Sirianni said today. Wednesday. . “Because that’s where you win football games.
“I had a completely opposite scenario as a first-year head coach.”
That’s true, but it also underscores Sirianni’s impact on what’s been described as a dysfunctional organization following Pederson’s departure. Sirianni was not greeted warmly when Eagle GM Howie Roseman removed him from relative obscurity, where he was running Frank Reich’s offense with Indianapolis Colts. And Sirianni added fuel to the fire of skepticism with a nervous, stumbling, rambling performance during his introductory press conference, turning him into a social media punch.
Then came his first Scouting association as NFL head coach a month later, when he was marked again for the prospect challenge via Zoom calls for games. Rock, Paper, Scissors. And that only became a bigger joke when the Eagles got off to that bad start.
That’s right about the time when the Sirianni era seemed doomed. He was made fun of when he told the story of how he hung a picture of a flower during the team meeting after starting May 2 and told his players “the roots are dying.” keep growing and the only way for them to keep growing is if we water, we all fertilize, we all do our part.…so when it’s time to turn on the lighter, it will turn on. “
It doesn’t matter that he has a point. The Eagles were losers at the time, and fans and media alike wanted a football coach, not a florist.
But behind the scenes, his players got the message. Sirianni often talks about creating a “connection” with his players, so they always understand what he’s doing and why. He was constantly talking to them, challenging them, discussing things with them, laying the foundation for that mutual understanding.
Maybe it was a coincidence that the days after that pompous speech, they went out and got into a big fight Detroit Lion team 44-6. But it is no coincidence in what happened in the dressing room afterwards, where the center Jason Kelce Show everyone they understand and have a coach to back them up. As he gathered his teammates, he raised his hand to the sky and shouted, “Keep them rooted, honey! Roots on three – 1, 2, 3… Roots!”
Yes, it has laughter. And yes, the reaction would probably be different if they lost. But the most important point is that Sirianni made the “connection” he’s been trying to make since Day One.
And from a distance, Pederson said he could see how it worked.
“He’s a smart guy, he understands the ball, he understands his team,” Pederson said. “And that’s what I think is the quality to be successful in this league as a head coach, which is to understand your players. He does that. He connects with them at the club. on a personal level, that’s really good.”
It’s not just flowery speeches. That connection can be seen in the way SIrianni deals with the players openly – like the way he wears a t-shirt featuring the midfielder. Jalen Hurts‘face on it at the start of training camp, or the ones he wore with a picture of the soccer player Jake Elliottrun again Miles SandersKelce and many others.
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It was an idea he said he stole from his brother, Mike, who was the head coach at Division III Washington & Jefferson College.
“One thing he’s always loved to do is wear a high school shirt [his players] “Nick Sirianni said.”[It’s] Just an easy way to connect with players. So what better way to connect with them than by wearing a shirt with his face in the middle of it? “
If there’s a better way, maybe Sirianni will find out. He is constantly looking for ways to connect and motivate his players. He likes to challenge their competitive spirit, which is one reason why he installed a regulated basketball hoop on the wall of the auditorium where the Eagles hold their team meetings.
And he is constantly searching the internet for videos that can convey his message. For example, on the eve of the Eagle’s match with Washington two weeks ago, he showed his team a video of Kobe Bryant running past Spain’s Pau Gasol in the first game of a 2008 Olympics game. Bryant and Gasol were Lakers teammates at the time. there.
It’s a metaphor for how he wants his players to treat the Commanders quarterback – and former Eagles defender – Carson Wentz.
“It was the perfect video to add to the story I was telling there,” said Sirianni. “And it’s pretty fitting, like ‘Pau Gasol is my brother. Pau Gasol is my teammate. Pau Gasol, I love him. But I’m running through that guy’s chest.”
The Eagles’ defense sacked Wentz nine times and beat him 17 times in a 24-8 Philly win.
Of course, the wacky stories, gimmicks and motivational tactics are just good stories when teams win – and that’s really the key to Sirianni’s success. It’s also key to how long his unexpected love affair with Philly’s fickle celebrity fans will last.
For now, it’s possible that Eagles fans will be cheering for Pederson on Sunday, but they know Sirianni is their man. They giggled at his quirky and goofy tactics and playfully brooded over them during radio talk calls. And they passionately tell stories about his fiery personality, like when he screams at Giant Fans he saw playing tennis in a Philadelphia suburb in June. It’s a story he said was woven when fans told it on a call to New York radio station WFAN.
Of course, Sirianni later admitted to ESPN that “the guy in the Giant hat and Yankees and I feel like I have to protect our part of the field. “
How could Philadelphia not love that?
The answer, of course, is that they love him because he’s winning, and they won’t love him when he’s losing. That’s just how it works in every extreme sports town. Now, everything Sirianni touches turns to gold, just like the man before him did.
Pederson will return as conquest hero on Sunday, given his place in Philadelphia sports history. But fans won’t have to long for the good old days, because the present days are pretty good too. The eagle is undefeated and this is the town of Sirianni.
At least for now.
Ralph Vacchiano is an NFC East correspondent for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. He spent 22 years covering the Giants, Jets, and NFL in general for the SNY and New York Daily News. He can be found on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
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