Nick Sirianni did the easy part Monday.
He apologized for interacting, in a somewhat heated and confrontational way, with Philadelphia fans during Sunday’s 20-16 victory over Cleveland.
Cameras caught the fourth-year Eagles head coach shouting and gesturing to fans behind the Philly bench late in the fourth quarter. It included cupping a hand to his ear, as if he couldn’t hear their taunts. The fans had spent at least part of the game booing the Eagles’ offense and even occasionally chanting “Fire Nick.”
“I was trying to bring energy and enthusiasm yesterday, and I’m sorry and disappointed at how my energy was directed at the end of the game,” Sirianni explained Monday. “My energy should be all-in on coaching, motivating and celebrating with our guys. And I’ve got to have better wisdom and discernment of when to use that energy and that wasn’t the time.”
At least he recognized the error. Fighting with the fans never works. They’ll outlast you, especially when you’ve gone from reaching the Super Bowl in your second season to needing to outlast the hapless Browns (and then crowing about it).
Philly is 3-2, but it hasn’t scored a single point in the first quarter and is averaging just 18.0 points a game in their last four contests. This doesn’t look like a very good team.
And that’s where the hard part comes from Sirianni. The 43-year-old isn’t new to being called out for perceived lack of focus and maturity on the sideline. He’s gotten into it with the refs, opposing players and seemingly played up to television cameras.
There’s no need to blow this out of proportion. Bantering with the fans isn’t some sign of impending collapse — it can even be quirky and endearing.
It works when everything is working.
In the NFL, though, eventually everything isn’t working.
It’s Sirianni’s job to make the Eagles work again.
The offense is a particular issue. Yes they lost future Hall of Fame center Jason Kelce, but quarterback Jalen Hurts is still there, wideout A.J. Brown is still there and the team spent big to bring in running back Saquon Barkley.
And yet, despite coming off a bye where they were supposed to iron out some issues, they needed a fourth-quarter, 45-yard touchdown pass from Hurts to DeVonta Smith to break a tie with one-win Cleveland.
“If there was something magic, we would be doing it,” Sirianni said of the team’s slow starts. “We’ve got to put the guys in positions to succeed. We’ve got to be ready, and the guys have to go out and execute. It’s always going to be that. And we just have to keep trying new formulas.
“It’s not necessarily the same formula against every team,” he continued. “It depends on the defense that you’re playing and the opponent you’re playing.”
The good news is that it was a win. The bad news for Sirianni is that all eyes are on him. Philly has talent, but it can’t get out of its own way.
Last year, the Eagles started 10-1 and had everyone dreaming of a return to the Super Bowl and a rematch with Kansas City. Then the bottom fell out and they lost five of their final six games to blow the NFC East and limp into the playoffs.
Once there, Philly didn’t look ready or willing to compete against Tampa Bay, getting humiliated 32-9.
“We didn’t play well enough,” Sirianni said that day. “And that’s always going to start with me.”
Sirianni kept his job — to the chagrin of more than a few Philly sports talk radio callers — but the expectations for something different were obvious. He was hired at just 39 years old, the offensive coordinator for Indianapolis tasked with replacing Super Bowl winner Doug Pederson in a football mad town.
The goodwill and patience from his strong start is gone. What remains are just questions on how he fixes things. Any distractions from that — including barking at fans for any reason — don’t inspire confidence.
The next three weeks offer an opportunity. At the New York Giants, at Cincinnati and home for Jacksonville — three opponents with five combined victories. Like the game against the Browns, the Eagles shouldn’t have to be at their best to get the win.
For Sirianni’s sake though, he needs them to start looking their best before it’s too late.
Once you give oxygen to fans chanting “Fire Nick” they don’t tend to quiet down. The apology and promise to refocus is the easy part.
Making it count is the task at hand.
