PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is a man of passion. What he says, he says with excitement, energy, enthusiasm. And sometimes what he says — maybe because of that enthusiasm — has a way of surprising everyone, and not always for the best.
One NFL head coach's "quirky" is another NFL head coach's "cuckoo." Since he left the Indianapolis Colts for Philadelphia in January, there have been a number of occasions when his passion has left fans, sports reporters and commentators scratching their heads.
But sometimes it seems to work.
Here are 10 of the most memorable Sirianni moments from his first year with the Eagles.
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1. Bad first impression
In January, Sirianni had his first press conference as the Eagles' rookie head coach. He impressed very few, and he was roundly trolled on social media for appearing nervous and unprepared. He used a lot of words, but he didn't say much — which ironically gave Philadelphia football fans a lot to talk about.
A centerpiece of his meandering monologues was a lot of talk about "systems."
"We’re going to have systems in place that are easier to learn, alright? … Because when we can learn our system, and we can get good at our system, then our talent can take over. … But we need to have systems in place, and we will have systems in place to do so."
While Philly sports fans were busy trying to find Doug Pederson's phone number, someone from Sirianni's former life in Indiana came to his rescue. Colts running back Nyheim Hines, who gave his former coach much credit for his development as a player, said he wasn't too bothered about the botched first impression.
"I know how Nick is," he said. "Nick — sometimes he may not even be nervous — he just sometimes fumbles words when he's excited."
2. Rock Paper Scissors
Remember the April press conference before his first NFL Draft? Sirianni spoke about playing Rock Paper Scissors with prospective draft picks to get a sense of how competitive they are.
"Anything you compete at, when you compete with someone that's competitive, they're gonna go at you no matter what game you're playing."
Sirianni conceded that maybe the other coaches were more creative than he was. But which is the bigger problem — the whimsical, albeit basic, game, or the smug Twitter commentators who are too easily satisfied by sarcasm?
3. Competitive hot dog eating?
In August, we learned from the coach that some of the videos he shows players in the name of training seemed to cross the line from unorthodox to absurd. But each one had a lesson.
Videos of basketball icon Kobe Bryant missing shots? Everyone goes through adversity.
Footage of professional competitive eaters Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi wolfing down hot dogs? To win, you have to deconstruct the game down to its fundamentals.
4. Five core values
Speaking of fundamentals — since his awkward introductory press conference, Sirianni has been preaching five core values: Connection, Competition, Accountability, Intelligence and ... Fundamentals.
A big poster featuring those words accompanied by images of Eagles veterans Brandon Graham, Jason Kelce, Rodney McLeod and Miles Sanders now hangs where once did a huge image of the Super Bowl LII trophy.
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It looked like a bold move, but it's not clear if Sirianni replaced it, or if something else hung there for a time before the new coach came to town.
The message is clear: These are my Eagles.
5. Joint practice = preseason play
Usually there are four preseason games, but in 2021 there were only three. Sirianni insisted that four joint practices the Eagles had against the Patriots and the Jets — two each — were "game-like" enough to make up for the lack of actual preseason game play.
Those practices and three preseason games equated to "seven preseason games in my mind," he said.
Hall of Fame football writer Ray Didinger said on 94WIP: "I think the way to get ready to play NFL football is to practice hard and play guys in real games. I mean, practicing hard is one thing, but you know, you gotta play games."
But wait ...
6. 'Dawg mentality'
When the Eagles' coaching staff was being criticized for a weak record and a slow start, Sirianni said that besides the five core values, he would also double down on what he called "dawg mentality" — the idea that a dog, when let out of its cage, is going to hunt.
That awkward press conference? Don't look back at it with embarrassment. Leave it behind, move on, and do better next time.
That answer — that the Eagles would always focus on the next task and forget the ones before and those yet to come — seemed unsatisfactory to some. Part of accountability must be to change some of your tactics, they said.
Then the Eagles trounced the Atlanta Falcons 32-6, his first NFL victory. And Sirianni had an audience for the after-game locker room speech.
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"No matter what happened on one play — whether it was an interception, whether it was a touchdown, whether it was a minus run, whether there’s a 20-yard run, whether it was a sack — no matter what happened, play the next play. Be in the moment," Sirianni said.
Later, Voice of the Eagles Merrill Reese conceded, "I think maybe it's time to revise our traditional thinking and realize that Nick Sirianni was right in saying that he felt that the dual practices and the drills every day were what he needed to get this team ready."
7. 'Beat Dallas'
Just days before his third game as Eagles head coach, and his first against Dallas — Sirianni wore a "Beat Dallas" t-shirt to a press conference. He may have been criticized by some observers for appearing unprofessional, but he was at least showing Philadelphia that he could embrace the rivalry.
"I can’t tell you how many times since I’ve been here having an interaction with a fan — it’s like, 'Hey, beat Dallas!' And I think that’s really cool," said Sirianni.
Maybe he was proud to be on board with Philadelphia's full-throated insistence on beating the Dallas Cowboys in all things. Or maybe it was a sycophantic stab in the dark to get Eagles fans to like him. Either way, it was the right move.
8. Lighting up the group chat
On Sunday, Oct. 17, Sirianni had no Eagles game to coach. As he recounted the day later that week, he spent it learning game management by watching football on TV.
Underscoring the youth of his staff, the head coach messaged his offensive, defensive and special teams coaches via group text to run the Eagles through hypothetical situations based on what he was watching other teams manage on TV.
When you're able to sit and watch other games, he said, "you're on the group text messages with all the offensive coaches or all the defensive coaches or all the special teams coaches and everyone is just talking."
9. Flower power
In October Sirianni used a picture of a flower in an Eagles team meeting to illustrate the work that goes into growth.
"Results aren’t there right now, but what is going on is that there is growth under the soil. … The only way the roots are growing out every single day and they grow stronger and they grow better is if we all water. We all fertilize. We all do our part."
With a 2-5 record, the floral metaphor was seen by some as a risky move that would earn him and his young coaching staff even more skepticism.
So, maybe it was a good thing that their next game was against the winless Detroit Lions. Flower power!
10. Pizza-less pizza party
The Eagles had a short week after beating the Panthers on a Week 5 Sunday. They were to play the Buccaneers just four days later, so Sirianni invited his staff over to start planning for the game right away.
"I brought some of the coaches over to my house, kind of like in that old high school football thing, like, 'Hey, come over to my house. Let's go, and let's start planning a little bit,'" he told NBC Sports.
"And so it was kind of cool, because it reminded me of coaches coming over to my parents' house when I was a kid to game plan on that Saturday after a Friday night win."
Alas, there was no pizza.
"That's a good idea," Sirianni said, on further reflection. "And I'm going to put that on our schedule to make sure next time we have the pizzas ready, whatever the beverage of choice is for the guys, we have all that ready, as well."