Nick Sirianni Has Accomplished His Biggest Preseason Goal

Nick Sirianni is just beginning his duties for the 2023 NFL Season, but he has already accomplished one of his goals. Now, this is not a goal that he has spoken explicitly in a press conference, or posted on a bulletin board, or maybe even has written down somewhere in his daily planner (NFL coaches probably have daily planners, right?). Of course, the ultimate goal is not until February, and the Eagles will not feel accomplished until they hoist the Lombardi, but there are many other steps on the mountain, as Sirianni would say, before the peak is summitted. So what is it that the Eagles’ head coach has already accomplished here in late August? Well, it’s something that he has done an outstanding job of in all 3 seasons now since taking over with the Eagles.

Last night, the birds squared off against the Colts in their final preseason game. They still have some time before the regular season, but the in-game action is done. And Nick Sirianni has once again delivered a healthy team through the preseason. That is not to say that there have not been injuries; that would be an unrealistic expectation for a month’s worth of football activity. Shaun Bradley is heading for season ending surgery, and he was an important special teams player for the Eagles last season. Zech McPhearson, who was a potential corner depth piece in past years, tore his Achilles and was waived. There were some other injuries to some players that probably had little chance to make the roster anyway. The starters, though? They made it through largely unscathed, and that is a huge win for a head coach as he gets his team ready for week 1.

Nick Sirianni may not have expressly said it, but we can tell by his preseason strategy that health is of utmost importance to him at this time of year. When he first took over as head coach of the Eagles, he drew criticism from some with his lax training camp approach and lack of playing time for starters in the preseason. Last year, though, the Eagles delivered all 22 starters healthy to the Super Bowl. That’s a major rarity, and their health since Sirianni took over is more than a coincidence. This year, with the goal once again being winning it all, this is a nice step towards that ultimate result.

Now, is it fair to have concerns about week 1 considering the Eagles tight games the last 2 seasons in their opening games? I think that’s more than fair, and the performance on the field is still the most important thing. But, with some teams already banged up at key spots heading into the regular season, the Eagles and Nick Sirianni have already accomplished their biggest preseason goal. Hopefully, it isn’t the only goal that the birds end up reaching when this football season is said and done.

In just a couple of weeks, we will get real Football back. No more pre-season games with 3rd stringers. An actual Football game with consequences. The season kicks off on September 7th when the Detroit Lions take on the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs, still hurts to say that. Then that Sunday, our Eagles take the field for the first time when they head up to Foxborough to play the Patriots. We survived camp, and these fake pre-season games, and will finally get to see Jalen Hurts slinging TDs to AJ Brown and Devonta Smith. But the NFL being back also means something else is back. Power Rankings. 

Power rankings are one of those things we all know does not matter, yet every week many of us still feel that urge to seek out to see where the Eagles fall. Then we can get upset when some national writer inevitably has something negative to say about them. It makes no sense. We shouldn't care. Yet these power rankings continue to drive traffic. So clearly a lot of us still love to check them out. And I am ashamed to admit I am one of those people who click every single time to see where the Eagles fell, and what they had to say about them. 

And now many of these sites are putting out their first power rankings, now that preseason is coming to a close. Where did the Eagles fall on those rankings? What concerns are some of these national reporters bringing up in their rankings? Do some of them see the Eagles being even better in certain areas this year?ESPN, NFL Network, Bleacher Report, and PFF all put out Power Rankings as we approach the regular season. 

Pff ranked the Eagles as the 2nd best team in the league. Obviously just the Chiefs ahead of them, which is fair enough seeing as they are the Champs.

The defense lost a lot of pieces last year. But they also gained some. Is it fair to question if all the new faces could fill the holes left behind by names like CJ Gardner Johnson, TJ Edwards, and Javon Hargrave? Sure. But the pieces they brought in are very promising.  See PFF's full power rankings here.

ESPN also put the Eagles at 2, with only the Chiefs above them.

The way ESPN did their pre-season power rankings, is they gave a person on the hot seat for each team going into the season. For the Eagles, Tim McManus picked Michael Clay. Which is very fair. If there is any area of weakness on this team, it is Special Teams. Not just punter either, but punt and kick coverage. A team that already struggled in that area is now down two of their special team’s aces. There is a lot of pressure on Michael Clay to make it better this year.  

Check out the full ESPN power rankings here. 

 You may be sensing a trend. The Eagles camp in at 2 for the NFL Network, only behind the Chiefs. And what they focused on was the addition of D'Andre Swift. 

Swift may be the guy I am most excited to see this year. It has been a while since the Eagles had any RB who could be a true part of the passing game. Miles Sanders showed a lot of promise in that area his rookie year, but then struggled to make any impact there since. Swift will bring that dimension back to the Eagles, making an already elite offense even better.  

Check out their full Power Rankings here.

And here we have the one site that put the Eagles lower than 2. On Bleacher Report, the Eagles were ranked 3, below not only the Chiefs but also the Bengals. One of the main reasons for that was their concern over a Super Bowl hangover, and also that they are not likely to have the same injury luck this season. Both are fair points. But they still praised how 'balanced' and "talented' the Eagles roster is.

Check out the full Bleacher Report Power rankings here.