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Ok. Lets pump the breaks a little bit. We know that we need football back. BADLY. But Philadelphia just introduced their new head coach, Nick Sirianni, and the football world EXPLODED with every possible negative thought.
Friends: Nick Sirianni has done absolutely nothing to show if he's a good football coach or not. Parts of Philadelphia are just angry because Duce Staley is not the new head coach. GET OVER IT. We have to give this guy a chance. Clearly this guy showed something that the other 9 interviewed candidates did not.
Here are my instant observations about the introductory press conference of Nick Sirianni:
1) Jeff Lurie is becoming more meddlesome.
On a day all about Nick Sirianni, Jeff Lurie spoke for 15 minutes. That shouldn't be an issue for most fans except we have heard a lot from Lurie over the past few weeks. His rambling after Doug's firing and his repetitive monologue before introducing Nick are making him look like Jerry Jones rather than the happy go lucky owner we used to know.
Lurie made it exceptionally clear that HE makes the final decision. Direct Quote. Which again, makes sense since he's the owner. But that also puts Lurie on the limb here. Sirianni is HIS coach. I also found it especially interesting that Lurie mentioned that the interview is only 33% of the hiring process. Therefor: Nick Sirianni was always going to be the 21st full time head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles even before they met the guy.
But Jeff Lurie is becoming a problem. It will be interesting to see how much he interferes DURING the season which is something he has not done throughout his ownership career.
2) While not a great speaker, Sirianni's core values are exceptional.
Connect with each other. Compete every single day. Accountability. Being a smart football team through systems that are easy to learn, game management, and situational ball. Fundamentals.
He said all the right things even if he didn't say them correctly. But the Eagles didn't hire Nick Sirianni to be the key note speaker of a TED talk. They hired him to coach football and IF Sirianni can execute each of the above listed values, then this team will be night and day improved over the squad that ended the 2020 season.
3) Offense isn't set in stone and will be based around talent.
In Indianapolis, Sirianni had to help develop offenses for 3 very different Quarterbacks in Andrew Luck, Jacoby Brissett, and then Philip Rivers. Whoever plays quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021 will have an offense designed around what he does well. That's the way it should be!! How many times did we say that Doug was being stubborn keeping Carson and Jalen in the pocket when both are athletic quarterbacks? How many times did we lose our minds over Schwartz's defense not adapting to anything? You can't fit a square peg in a round hole. Sirianni won't do that and it will benefit the players.
4) The Philadelphia media is TOUGH.
They peppered Nick Sirianni with every potential variation of the Carson Wentz-Jalen Hurts question and he stood firm. He never gave up anything about who the QB was going to be (until Howard Eskin's follow up about if Carson would be an Eagle when he finally wavered a bit). Sirianni was engaged in the questions and answers and was up there for a while. He kept pivoting back to his message which is something that is refreshing. The head coach doesn't need to be flashy, he needs to be steady in a storm.
5) Howie has too much of a say.
The final question was the only one that REALLY bugged me. "Howie has final say over the 53 man roster." That is not something that is comforting in any way shape or form. What we are learning is that Lurie wants something and Howie gets it done.
Sirianni agreed to that because he is a 39 year old rising coach in the NFL and got given the keys to a major media market football club. But you better believe that Howie is telling him when and where he can drive that car.
OVERALL
It wasn't that bad everybody. He gave some really good answers and said things that we as Philadelphia Eagles fans should be appreciative of. Its entirely too early to tell whether or not this was a good move. The last guy got us a Super Bowl and I thought that was a terrible hire. Lets give Nick Sirianni a chance.