Eagles' rivals are developing a hatred for Nick Sirianni, but his players love him

BY JIMMY KEMPSKI
PhillyVoice Staff

BILL STREICHER/USA

Nick Sirianni knows what he's doing.

If it's true that you're doing something right when your adversaries begin vocalizing their hatred for you, then Nick Sirianni is on the right path to becoming a great NFL head coach. Sirianni is only in his second season with the Eagles, and it seems that rival fans and players have already emphatically made their decision — they don't like him.

The point at which the vitriol for Sirianni accelerated was when he nodded approvingly in the direction of a television camera during the Eagles' 38-7 stomping of the New York Giants in the divisional round of the playoffs. The FOX television crew showed the moment in slow motion, and well, this will be a famous gif for a long time.

"It was like right in my face," Sirianni said. "I was juiced. We were up a couple scores. It just was like right there. Like, I don't know, that was the first thing that came to my mind. I guess that's just who I am."

During a recent interview on NFL Network's "Good Morning Football," Giants safety Julian Love expressed his distaste for Sirianni's head nodding. 

"I don't like it. I don't like it at all. He's in for a free ride right now," Love said, insinuating that Sirianni had little to do with the Eagles' success this season. "You guys [the on-air TV talent on Good Morning Football] can coach this team."

Sirianni's sideline antics even got the attention of popular comedian Bill Burr.

"At one point he was hamming it up so bad the NFL literally did a 360 shot around him, the same shot Tarantino used on Pam Grier in f***ing Jackie Brown when she was coming out of the g**d*** dressing room," Burr said. "They did that to an NFL coach who looked like some j***o** who's out there shoveling a driveway." 

Lol 😂. You can watch Burr's full Sirianni rant here (you'll have to click "Watch on YouTube"): 

And, of course, rival fans hate him, too. After the Eagles' playoff win over the Giants in the divisional round, we scoured comment sections for the live game threads at other NFC East fan websites, and Sirianni was a common target of hate. A sampling (grammar and spelling left uncorrected):

• "Siirianni embodies all that Philly is about - compete **** bag."

• "Siriani has the most punchable face ever."

• "Sirianni has to be the biggest a****** in that stadium"

• "Ugh they earned it but holy s*** Sirianni has to be the most unlikeable coach ever."

• "Siriani looks really seems like a ****"

• "Sirianni does have the most punchable face ever, he acts like a frat boy"

• "Sirianni seems like such a tool. Perfect for Philadelphia."

• "Nick Sirianni is one of those mouthy punks that I used to end up punching out in a bar a million years ago when I was a young man."

• "I must punch Sirianni"

• "Jalen Hurts is an easy guy to root for... i hate he is on the eagles and i cant root for him. Philly doesnt deserve him. Nick Sirianni on the other hand entails the eagles fanbase: Toxic, stupid, stubborn, arrogant fool"

If you search "Sirianni punchable" on Twitter, you'll get an absurd number of hits.

The nodding incident certainly wasn't the first time that Sirianni got under the skin of a rival fan base. Near the end of the Eagles' Week 6 win over the Dallas Cowboys, Jason Kelce was tackled after the whistle by frustrated Cowboys DE Osa Odighizuwa. The ensuing unnecessary roughness call gave the Eagles a first down, and allowed Jalen Hurts to kneel down twice to seal the 26-17 win. After the late hit, Sirianni was caught on camera yelling, "That's f****** game! F*** you!" presumably at Odighizuwa and other Cowboys players.

There was also the incident in which some Giants fan dork grossly exaggerated an encounter with Sirianni on a tennis court in South Jersey, which dominated the local news cycle for a few days during a slow time in the NFL calendar.

So, again, to recap, rival fans don't like Sirianni's sideline antics. 

You know who does? Eagles players.

Chauncey Gardner-Johnson

"Me and coach are straight. That's my boy... I regard him as like brother / mentor, with all the lessons he teaches you and s***." 

On Love's comments, Gardner-Johnson said, "Tell him to pick his facemask off the dirt... He's got a captain badge, but what is he a captain of? Ain't no leadership over there. If that's the case, y'all would be where we're at."

Brandon Graham

"People always got something to say when they're watching from home."

"I just know that Coach Sirianni, what he did last year, with a team that nobody thought was going to do much, he ended up getting us to the playoffs. And then the second year, you're supposed to get better, bring players in and get them to do what you need them to do, and we did that."

Landon Dickerson

"He's passionate for his job and his team. He cares about something and he's passionate about it, and that's how he expresses it."

On whether he would be annoyed if an opposing coach had similar sideline behavior, Dickerson said, "I'm really not paying attention to the coach on the other side."

Milton Williams

"He's got guys mad about what he's doing on the sideline. They need to be worried about what they're doing on the field. But he's just doing his job, trying to have fun with it, embrace the Philly culture."

Jordan Mailata

"Coach is young, too, man. He wears his heart on his sleeve. The head coach comes with some expectations and some responsibilities, but this is the way he coaches and we're here for a reason. We know Coach. He's not [faking anything]. He's like that in f****** walkthroughs. He's always animated. You should see him when we're not executing."

On worrying about an opposing coach, Mailata said, "That coach ain't helping me block f****** Nick Bosa. That wouldn't affect me. If we were on the other team and we saw Nick like that, what's that going to do? We're going to go out and execute our jobs. That's just me. I wouldn't give two damns.

"Personally, I'd probably use that as fuel. I'll give you something to rah rah about. But I wouldn't get annoyed and go on TV and talk s*** about another coach. At that point, that's just petty."

https://www.phillyvoice.com/eagles-rivals-are-developing-hatred-nick-sirianni-his-players-love-him-super-bowl/

I don't really get it? How can you not like Sirianni? Like sure he's come out with some comments that give you reason to pause (at the time). And sure he didn't come across great at first. But he's been genuine during his 2 years in Philly so far and it works. I just don't know how people don't like him? He's personable! 

17 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I don't really get it? How can you not like Sirianni? Like sure he's come out with some comments that give you reason to pause (at the time). And sure he didn't come across great at first. But he's been genuine during his 2 years in Philly so far and it works. I just don't know how people don't like him? He's personable! 

Seems this is in reference to people who AREN'T Philly fans not liking him.  

Quote

...we scoured comment sections for the live game threads at other NFC East fan websites ...

Ok, reporters, we know you're here. Make yourselves known when you're reading our Game Day Threads!

3 hours ago, time2rock said:

Seems this is in reference to people who AREN'T Philly fans not liking him.  

I mean, if the Cowboys head coach was doing that head nodding thing I would definitely want to punch him in the face.  But, you know, they hate us because they ain't us.  

 

On 2/7/2023 at 6:58 AM, time2rock said:

I don't like it. I don't like it at all. He's in for a free ride right now," Love said, insinuating that Sirianni had little to do with the Eagles' success this season. "You guys [the on-air TV talent on Good Morning Football] can coach this team."

So, to recap for the folks at home:

• Anybody can be the QB of this team and we would still be successful
• Anybody can be the head coach of this team and we would still be successful

Alright then, Julian Love, why are we successful then?  

I'll admit that I didn't think much of Siri at first.  The opening press conference, the 'watering flowers' line, etc.  He's passionate, he works hard, and he has hired a great group of coordinators and assistants.  

I like based on Arizona views from his job.  He got to the SB and has the best qb in the NFL.  Mahommes is great but a golden child.  Hurts to me is the tough qb for at least 10-20 years running.

On 2/7/2023 at 7:02 PM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I don't really get it? How can you not like Sirianni? Like sure he's come out with some comments that give you reason to pause (at the time). And sure he didn't come across great at first. But he's been genuine during his 2 years in Philly so far and it works. I just don't know how people don't like him? He's personable! 

Most Eagle fans love Siri, but I can see why opposing fans might not. He’s not the calm, stoic head coach. He’s the hyped up dude who wants to celebrate along with the team when they’re kicking ass. Other fans don’t like it. But who cares, F them. 

23 hours ago, nipples said:

Most Eagle fans love Siri, but I can see why opposing fans might not. He’s not the calm, stoic head coach. He’s the hyped up dude who wants to celebrate along with the team when they’re kicking ass. Other fans don’t like it. But who cares, F them. 

He's got personality so I don't really get why other fans wouldn't like him. Stoic is boring and lacks character. 

30 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

He's got personality so I don't really get why other fans wouldn't like him. Stoic is boring and lacks character. 

If we weren't a 14 win (regular season) team guessing it wouldn't bother them so much.  They're just pissed because we're winning and he seems to be having as much fun as the players in the process.  And they probably view his antics as gloating.  Anyway, as an Eagles fan, I am glad to see him making it fun for these guys ... I think that is super important (while also balancing that with focusing on fundamentals, keeping the one week at a time mindset, etc.).