‘It’s an emotional game’: Nick Sirianni discusses his postgame outburst

Eagles second-year coach Nick Sirianni often wears his emotions on his sleeve.

Once he steps onto the football field, he doesn’t hold back from speaking his mind — whether it be with players, coaches, officials, or fans.

At the conclusion of the team’s comeback victory Sunday in Indianapolis, Sirianni leaped onto one of the benches located on the visitors’ sideline and shouted toward nearby fans: “That [crap] was for Frank Reich!”

Reich, the former Eagles offensive coordinator, was fired as Colts head coach on Nov. 7, which erased an opportunity for Sirianni to coach against one of his closest mentors. Once the final whistle blew, Sirianni’s emotions boiled over into the postgame scene. He attempted to collect himself while exiting the field, only to shed tears upon his arrival in the visitors’ locker room, where he was embraced by general manager Howie Roseman.

Inside the locker room, Sirianni was stopped during his postgame speech by quarterback Jalen Hurts, who gifted Sirianni with a sentimental game ball.

When asked about the hectic sequence, Sirianni acknowledged his deep passion for the game.

“I was brought to tears, too, when I was coming off the field there,” Sirianni said. “I’ve always kind of been emotional. That doesn’t mean that — too much of anything is not a good thing, right?

“It’s an emotional game. ... Me yelling to our fans after the game, whether I’m yelling to them after an Indy game or thanking them after the Houston game or the Arizona game, I just think that’s something that the people that went to the game and who are Eagles fans that are traveling to the game, I can show my appreciation to them on that.”

Sirianni admitted he experienced a wave of sensations in what some of his players labeled as a homecoming for the former Colts assistant.

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During Hurts’ go-ahead 7-yard rushing touchdown with 1 minute, 20 seconds left, Sirianni couldn’t even keep his eyes on the field because of his nerves. While Hurts jogged into the end zone untouched, Sirianni’s eyes were affixed to the turf directly below him. Sirianni then realized Hurts had scored after he glanced at passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo, who was celebrating on the sideline.

Sirianni made it a priority to not engage with spectators until the outcome was decided.

“Sometimes it’s fun to celebrate with the fans, but it is also that it’s after the game, when I don’t have anything else to do but shake hands on the other side — and not during the game.” he said. “Now, do I sometimes get emotional during the game? Of course. But I always want to limit that, and obviously I don’t want to do that emotionally with a fan during a game.”

Heading into Week 12, the Eagles possess the best record in the NFL at 9-1. With seven regular-season games remaining, they hold the NFC’s No. 1 seed along with first place in the NFC East. The Eagles will host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field.

Sirianni is one of four NFL coaches to start the season with a record of 9-1 or better during his first or second year as coach (Sean McVay, 2018; Doug Pederson, ‘17; Bruce Arians ‘14).

“I think throughout this whole entire process, we’ve learned a lot about one another, being able to put the work in together,” Hurts said. “[Sirianni] has grown in a lot of different areas. His overall grasp of what he’s doing, like us all, we all have the same objective of why we do what we do every day. We just all want to single-handedly continue to do our jobs so we can get the results that we want.”

The Eagles hired former Colts offensive coordinator Marcus Brady as a consultant, a league source confirmed to The Inquirer. ESPN first reported the news.

Brady, 43, served as Colts quarterbacks coach from 2018-20, when Sirianni was the team’s offensive coordinator. Brady was fired from his coordinator position Nov. 1 — just days before Reich also was fired by the Colts. The Eagles defeated the Colts, 17-16, on Sunday.

Brady has forged relationships with several Eagles coaches, including Sirianni, Patullo, defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, and running backs coach Jemal Singleton, among others.

Inquirer Eagles beat reporters EJ Smith and Josh Tolentino preview the team’s Week 12 game against the Green Bay Packers. Watch at Inquirer.com/EaglesGameday