PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - OCTOBER 16: ead coach Nick Sirianni of the Philadelphia Eagles talks to field judge Jabir Walker #26 during the second quarter of the game at Lincoln Financial Field on October 16, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
A big problem with Nick Sirianni last year was his attitude on the sideline. He was often acting less like a coach, and more like a fan. Arguing with refs constantly, taunting fans, and other behavior that is not necessarily what you want out of your coach. It got to the point that a story came out that Nick Sirianni often needed Big Dom to rein him in on the sidelines.
Whether or not he would be mature on the sidelines was a big story this off-season. Especially now that he is the CEO type of head coach and far less involved in the offense.
When Nick Sirianni addressed the media before the final practice of Training Camp, he talked about those issues. He said that he read a book about leadership in the offseason, and took away a nugget of wisdom from it.
“If you want everyone around you to have accountability and you want yourself to have accountability. You fussing at the refs, it’s almost like, hey, this happened, so I’m going to blame that. When I think about me with a referee potentially on the sideline and I complain about a call, is that really sending the right message to the rest of the team as far as our accountability goes? Again, when something goes wrong, the answer should be how do we fix this and what are the solutions as opposed to looking for a scapegoat?”
A More Accountable Nick Sirianni?
(Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
This is not the first time we have heard Nick Sirianni talk about accountability this offseason. In his first press conference of Camp, he talked about how he can’t expect his players to be accountable if he himself is not accountable.
“If I’m not accountable for the things that I mess up, how am I going to expect them to be accountable to what they mess up… If you don’t have accountability, then you’re not going to get better because you’re not going to recognize the mistakes that you made. And so, that’s what we want from this team.”
But now we are getting real examples of how he plans to hold himself accountable. He is promising to make an effort to be more mature on the field. Not argue every call that doesn’t go their way. Not be constantly complaining about the refs.
Will he back that up? I guess we will find out. He did say that he won’t be perfect, which is fair enough. No one is perfect. Honestly, sometimes you should argue a call to defend your team. He just did it too much.
“I’m not going to be perfect. I already know that, but that’s definitely on my mind. I’m going to still be super energetic when we have good plays, because that’s one of the things that you love about football is, hey, when you make a play, I can’t wait to see what you guys do to celebrate with each other within the rules of the game. Be yourself. Have fun.”
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
I also don’t think he should have needed to read a book to learn that. Dont look for scapegots, and don’t act like a fool on the sideline, should have already been things he knew going into the job.
But at least he is acknowledging his faults, and promising to work on them. Doing is more important than saying. He needs to back it up with actions, and not just say the right things. But for now, when all we have is words and they haven’t played a real game yet, it is nice to at least see him say the right things.
Nick is not going to suddenly be stoic and calm on the sideline. He is not Rob Thomson. High energy is who he is, for better or worse. But he does need to be less volatile. Hopefully he backs it up when it counts.
Dylan MacKinnon is The Digital Content Coordinator For 97.5 The Fanatic. he has been an Eagles, Flyers, Sixers, and Flyers fan his whole life. He graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelors in Journalism. Dylan has worked at the Fanatic since 2016, starting as an Intern, moving to the Street team, and eventually was hired as an Associate Producer before settling into his current role in the Digital Department. You may hear him referred to on-air as "The D-Train."
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