Philadelphia Eagles: Nick Sirianni survives Black Monday (duh)
Why is the Monday after the final Sunday of the regular season called “Black Monday?” Well, because it marks the day where teams like to fire their head coaches.
Now granted, it doesn’t always shake out that way. Doug Pederson survived Black Monday only to be fired on January 11th after further meetings with Jeffery Lurie and the front office, and Chip Kelly didn’t make it to Week 17, as he was fired a few days prior to the end of the regular season.
Well, guess what? The Philadelphia Eagles opted to keep their Black Monday streak of inactivity alive by retaining first-year head coach Nick Sirianni, who can now breathe a sigh of relief as he turns his attention to a playoff bout against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Surprising? Not in 2022, but back in October? I think more than a few people would be disappointed to see Nick Sirianni’s employment with the Philadelphia Eagles still being intact.
Nick Sirianni’s turnaround with the Philadelphia Eagles has been remarkable.
Do you remember the Philadelphia Eagles’ early-season offense? Back when they threw the ball 60-plus percent of the time, threw a ton of screens, and seemingly couldn’t go a drive without committing a penalty?
Back then, Jalen Hurts led the team in both rushing attempts and rushing yards darn near every game and would supplement long stretches of meh play with garbage time acrobatics that artificially inflated the second-year quarterback’s numbers to make games look closer than they really were.
To put it plainly, Sirianni looked over his head. Despite a well-traveled career as an NFL assistant, Sirianni’s lack of playcalling came through in some of his in-game decisions and attacking design and left many a fan, blogger, and reporter to ask, sometimes to his face, if maybe Shane Steichian or someone else would be better suited calling the plays.
And then Week 8 happened, and Sirianni seemingly transformed himself into Philly’s favorite adoptive son.
It’s like he read all of the hit pieces, tuned into WIP, and read through the comments on his team’s social media posts and just… took the constructive criticism to heart. Suddenly, the Eagles simplified the load on Hurts’ shoulders, their offense became run-centric with actual running backs leading the way, and they started dominating the time of possessions game work week after week.
The results? A 7-3 record, a spot in the playoffs, and some consideration for Coach of the Year.
Sirianni’s locker room fully bought into his philosophy – flora metaphors and all – and he rewarded his guys by fighting for them whenever he could, from giving Darius Slay a few offensive snaps following a string of defensive touchdowns to making sure that DeVonta Smith became the Eagles’ all-time rookie receiving record holder.
Factor in a closet’s worth of Eagles-adjacent t-shirts, and you’re left with the sort of head coach that’s incredibly easy to cheer for.
One day, Nick Sirianni will no longer be a head coach. Whether in a year or 10, the Jamestown-born, Mount Union-educated coach will go like every other coach before him and either hang up his whistle voluntarily or have it ripped from his hands on the way out the door. But for now, he’s still the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, and virtually everyone has come around to that being a very good thing.