Sirianni breaks down heated sideline moment with Carter and Hurtt originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Nick Sirianni on Monday gave more details about a somewhat heated sideline exchange caught on camera during the Eagles’ 27-13 win over the Steelers on Sunday at the Linc.
After Jalen Carter was flagged for an unnecessary roughness in the fourth quarter — the Eagles lucked out that it was ruled to happen after the punt — Sirianni let the talented defensive tackle hear it on his way back to the sideline.
And then he wanted to let him hear it a little bit more.
Eventually, there was a heated exchanged caught by the broadcast cameras with Sirianni, Carter, defensive line coach Clint Hurtt and chief of security Dom DiSandro all involved.
Sirianni on Monday gave a detailed explanation of everything that went down:
“We correct everything. As Jalen was coming off the field, I was kind of getting after him there. I think that there was part of me that wanted to go back. I kind of made my point as Jalen was coming off the field and then I went back. And what Clint was saying was, ‘Coach, I got it, I’ve already handled it.’ So I had said something to him, Clint had said something to him and knowing Clint and how he’s coached him for the past half a year that he’s been here, I knew he had it. And so then it kind of went away.
“As you can see, Jalen came back over to me and we had a moment there after the fact. I know how good Jalen Carter wants to be. I know how aggressive he plays. My message to him always, and all our players, is we want to be aggressive, we want to be physical, we want to do all those things but we want to do all that within the rules. And it’s the same thing I say to these guys when they’re celebrating after a big play, because we want to have joy together, we want to show our personalities, I want them to be everything and show who they are within the rules. It was kind of the same message there. We gotta do the things within the rules. Because you want them to be physical and you want them to be relentless but we gotta be better and he knows that. And we’ll be better from this moment.”
You can understand why Sirianni was upset. This was a pretty blatant penalty. Luckily, the Eagles retained possession and were backed up from their own 6 to their own 3-yard line. They then went on a drive that lasted the final 10:29 of the game, bleeding the clock to a win.
A few minutes after the initial exchange, during that final drive, Carter sidled up to Sirianni on the sideline and the two hugged it out.
The Eagles hired Hurtt this offseason to be their defensive line coach and Hurtt has Carter playing at an extremely high level in 2024. Carter is playing like an All-Pro in his second NFL season and the former Seahawks defensive coordinator seems like a good fit for him.
Of course, Carter does play with an edge and there have been some moments where he almost boils over. There was a scene that played out in New Orleans in Week 3 where Hurtt had to calm Carter down as Carter kept jawing back and forth with Saints on the field.
Carter, 23, has played in all 14 games this year and has started 13. He missed one start for disciplinary reasons after being late to a meeting. This season, Carter has 4 1/2 sacks, 39 tackles, 12 TFLs, 15 QB hits and 5 batted passes. He has been productive while seeing a ton of double teams and while playing 84% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps.
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