“God puts you through things and it shapes you to who he wants you to be.”
That was Nick Sirianni’s answer when asked about the validation he felt on a personal level after signing a multi-year contract extension.
In the results-driven business that is the NFL, it’d be easy, perhaps even fitting, for Sirianni to view his accomplishments over the last handful of months as his moment of coronation in the NFL.
Most would, especially after four years in the pressure cooker that is pro sports in Philadelphia.
However, for Sirianni, the adversity he’s faced has shaped him into the coach and man he is today.
You can look back at several moments from his four years as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles that illustrate this perfectly.
For starters, it didn’t take long for the heat to turn up.
Sirianni stumbled out of the gate in his introductory press conference. He was awkward. He was nervous. He seemed unprepared. In the words of the New York Post, the press conference was “disastrous.”
That was just the tip of the iceberg.
A few months later, still in his first season with the Eagles, a 33-22 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders dropped the Eagles record to 2-5, with 5 losses over their last 6 games. Three days after the game, Sirianni met with the media and spoke about…..flowers.
“The results aren’t there right now,” Sirianni explained. But what’s going on here is that there’s growth under the soil. I put a picture of a flower up — it’s coming through the ground, and the roots are growing out. And the roots are continuing to grow out.”
“Everybody wants to see results. Shoot, nobody wants to see results more than us. But it’s really important that the foundation is being built — that the roots are growing. And the only way the roots grow stronger every single day is if we all water. We all fertilize. We all do our part.”
Both incidents became fodder for national ridicule.
To cap off his rookie season in Philadelphia, Sirianni would hand off offensive playcalling to offensive coordinator Shane Steichen, a move that, while clearly schematically focused, showed humility and self-awareness from Sirianni.
The Eagles would go on to rebound and make the playoffs in Sirianni’s rookie year as head coach.
His second season brought even more noise.
After a win over the Colts (Sirianni’s former team), he turned towards the Indianapolis faithful and yelled, “That (expletive) was for Frank Reich!”
Reich, who is Sirianni’s mentor, had been fired a few weeks earlier.
Another firestorm on Sirianni’s demeanor and emotional volatility ensued.
The Eagles would, of course, go on to lose in the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs.
But that offseason, Shane Steichen left to become the head coach of the Colts, and Jonathan Gannon left to become the head coach of the Cardinals.
As a result, Sirianni once again reasserted himself in a prominent role within the offense after promoting quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson to offensive coordinator and bringing on Sean Desai as defensive coordinator.
The results were less than optimal in 2023.
The Eagles jumped out to a 10-1 record, but would go on to lose five of their last six regular-season games en route to a crushing 32-9 loss at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild card.
But besides the collapse (which landed Sirianni on the hot seat), there was another headline-grabbing occurrence that had nothing to do with the on-field product that he was in charge of leading.
After a week 11 rematch of the 2022 Super Bowl, which the Eagles won, Sirianni again taunted the opposing fanbase.
“I don’t hear (expletive) anymore, Chiefs fans!” he screamed in the tunnel. “See ya!”
The collapse exposed cracks everywhere. On the field. In the locker room. On the coaching staff.
The image of the ESPN camera cut to Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie in the press box as time ticked away in the playoff loss to the Buccaneers is burned into Eagles fans’ brains everywhere.
Questions about whether Sirianni was the right man for the job dominated the news cycle both locally and nationally.
Lurie waited nine days to confirm whether Sirianni would be back as Eagles head coach.
He would, and both of his hires at both coordinator positions would be fired.
Their replacements, Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio, were reportedly handpicked by Lurie and GM Howie Roseman. And both of the new hires would handle playcalling responsibilities.
That left Sirianni in limbo.
“What is your role going to be?” Sirianni was asked.
“The head coach of the football team,” Sirianni answered.
This created yet another debacle. What was Sirianni’s role actually? What was he responsible for? Why didn’t they just fire him?
These questions were asked ad-nauseam in the lead-up to the 2024 season.
The drama kicked into high gear when The Athletic’s Diana Russini reported that Sirianni and Jalen Hurts’ relationship was “still a work in progress.”
Sirianni would begin the year on the hot seat, and the temperature reached blazing levels when Philadelphia started the year 2-2 before they entered their week 5 bye week.
They returned from the bye week seemingly on edge. Sirianni shaved his head (almost to an 1980s-esque buzz cut). Not to mention reports of a ‘come to Jesus’ esque meeting between Sirianni and his offensive line, who explained that they favored a shift towards a more run-heavy offense.
And in their first game back from the bye week, things seemed to be looking up, as Philadelphia defeated the Cleveland Browns, 20-16.
But the story during the week was more about what happened off the field with Siranni, instead of the win on the field. Another sideline antic, this time, with the Philadelphia faithful.
Sirianni would scream and taunt the home crowd at Lincoln Financial Field, who at one point during the game chanted ‘Fire Nick’.
Lurie and Roseman reportedly reprimanded Sirianni about his sideline demeanor. Sirianni later apologized.
That moment would represent a turning point for Philadelphia, both on the field and off. Sirianni had evolved. Not into someone different, but into the most refined version of himself.
Philadelphia would go on to win 11 of their final 12 regular-season games, and ultimately the Super Bowl.
These situations encapsulate who Sirianni is at his core.
Sirianni is loud. He’s brash. He’s emotional. Some may say abrasive or arrogant. He’s also self-aware and authentically himself.
Coaching in a sports-crazed city like Philadelphia, with an owner and general manager like Jeff Lurie and Howie Roseman, you have to be.
To be able to put your ego aside as an NFL head coach, relinquish play-calling, have the hiring/firing of your coordinators also no longer be your decision, and to course correct and come out as a champion, takes humility and trust.
Not just trust within yourself, but trust from leadership like Lurie and Roseman, who allowed Sirianni to learn from his mistakes and evolve into the Super Bowl-winning head coach that he is today.
As OTAs get underway this week and Sirianni embarks on yet another journey, this time as a defending champion, he realizes that validation isn’t the goal.
For Sirianni, the journey has always been about more than just silencing critics. It’s about becoming the kind of leader who can command a locker room, adapt to adversity, evolve, and remain unapologetically himself.
Now, with a Lombardi Trophy in hand and another season on the horizon, Sirianni isn’t chasing approval. He’s chasing the standard he helped set.
“I really look at any adversity that I’ve ever been through in my life, whether it was my leg injury in 2001, whether it was my dad going through cancer, whether it was the collapse of our season at the end of the 2023 season, and finishing 1-6,” Sirianni said.
“Every one of those things, whether it’s scrutiny from, like you said [my] first press conference, I can look at the good in all those things and find good in all those things and how it’s shaped me to be who I am today and has made me better as a result of it. You never want to go through those things as you go through them, but if you allow it to shape you, it really does.
“So, I would say for all the things that I’ve been through, whether it’s on this job or whether it’s in my life, I’ve been able to get better from all those things, and I’m grateful. As crazy as that sounds, as bad as it is when you go through those things, I can look back at it and be grateful.”
Cover Image Credit: The Philly Blitz Media
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