The Eagles are supposed to beat the Giants. Nick Sirianni’s grace period depends on it.
The one thing an Eagles head coach can't do is lose an important game his team should win. A New York upset would erase the good vibes that Sirianni has helped cultivate all season.
There are certain games that an Eagles head coach cannot afford to lose, and Nick Sirianni faces one Saturday. There are certain games that change the perception of an Eagles head coach in Philadelphia, and, for Sirianni, this divisional-round game against the Giants is exactly that kind of game.
What kind of game is it? Simple. It’s an important game that the Eagles are supposed to win. Put aside Daniel Jones’ improvement and Saquon Barkley’s dynamism and Brian Daboll’s coaching and the momentum that the Giants appear to have generated from their wild-card victory over the Vikings. The Eagles went 14-3, waxed the Giants by 26 points in the one game in which the two teams truly went toe-to-toe this season, and have the deeper, more talented roster. There’s a reason they’re 7½-point favorites, according to Caesars Sportsbook.
The Eagles could not have asked for a smoother route to the Super Bowl. They have home-field advantage throughout the NFC tournament. Both the 49ers and the Cowboys would be more formidable opponents — the Niners for their overall strength and well-roundedness, the Cowboys for Dak Prescott and the favorable way they match up against Jonathan Gannon’s defense. But the Eagles won’t see either of those teams until the NFC championship game, assuming they beat the Giants. But if they don’t beat the Giants …
… No, Sirianni isn’t contemplating that worst-case scenario. At least he isn’t admitting to contemplating it. What he’s doing, he said Tuesday, is keeping everything the same and trying to make sure his players and assistant coaches keep everything the same. Make sure everyone’s focus is a laser, keep a level head, if it ain’t broke, etc.
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“You’re trying to perfect your process and tweak it, so obviously there are the little things you’ve done or added over the year,” he said. “You do this or you take this out. There are little things like that that are changed. But you don’t just change. What’s the difference between the preparation now, today, and [Week 1] against Detroit? Nothing. … That’s been our consistent message all year, and you treat each game exactly the same because every game is big in this league.”
Except some games are bigger than others. Ask Andy Reid. For his first three-plus years here, he annoyed people with his rote, clipped answers at press conferences and his pass-happy play-calling, but there was no denying that with him as their head coach, the Eagles were on the rise. They improved steadily, from 5-11 in 1999 to 11-5 and a playoff victory in 2000 to 11-5 and two playoff victories in 2001 to 12-4 and a second consecutive berth in the conference championship game. At home. In the last game at Veterans Stadium. Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Who always lost in cold weather.
» READ MORE: The Eagles did what they had to do in beating the Giants.
No need to recite the details and relive the horror. It’s enough to note that that loss changed everything for Reid here — not necessarily with Jeffrey Lurie and Joe Banner and the Eagles players, but with the media and the fan base. Those groups were more inclined to view and treat him with skepticism and to measure him against a higher standard. Anything short of a Super Bowl would be regarded as a failure, and as excellent as Reid’s 14-year tenure generally was, he never did meet that higher standard, and there always will be a Yes, but … affixed to his record here.
Ask Chip Kelly. In 2014, he had the Eagles at 9-3 and in first place in the NFC East, despite a second straight season in which injuries had caused the quarterback position to become unsettled. Then they lost at Lincoln Financial Field to the Seahawks to drop to 9-4. Understandable. The Seahawks were the defending Super Bowl champions. But the following Sunday, 2½ weeks after routing the Cowboys in Arlington on Thanksgiving, the Eagles came out flat, spotted Dallas a 21-point lead, lost 38-27, and fell out of first place. Inexcusable. Kelly went from genius to prospective goat then and there.
Do you have to ask Doug Pederson? You do not have to ask Doug Pederson, because he entered the 2017-18 postseason with the relative advantage of coaching a team that, though it was the conference’s No. 1 seed, became an underdog once Carson Wentz took a hit and, in doing so, tore two ligaments in his left knee. In that instant, much of the pressure on Pederson and the Eagles to fulfill the expectations that had been building all season lifted. Each of the other five NFC teams that qualified for that postseason had won at least 10 games. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick were waiting in Minneapolis. The magic of that Super Bowl run was in the obstacles that Pederson and the Eagles had to overcome to win the whole thing.
Sirianni has a different set of circumstances before him. He has Jalen Hurts — coming off a shoulder sprain, yes, but healthy enough to go without mention on Tuesday’s injury report. He has Lane Johnson returning to the lineup. He has a defense that led the NFL in sacks and gave up the fourth-fewest points in the league. It’s the harsh reality of pro football in this town, but it’s the truth. If he and the Eagles go down Saturday night, the benefit of the doubt goes with them.