Seeing Robert Saleh fired amid a 2-3 start in a critical season doesn’t have Nick Sirianni worried while his team sits at 2-2 in another crucial season for his future.
“No,” the Eagles coach said Wednesday. “I obviously wish him nothing but the best. I had a good working relationship with coach Saleh, being able to practice against those guys, I’ve got a lot of respect for him. … I think he’s a really good football coach, but my mind is set on only: ‘How do we get better?’”
Sirianni seemingly landed on the hot seat after the Eagles’ stunning second-half collapse last season in their attempt to follow their Super Bowl run the previous season.
Philadelphia went 10-1 before losing six of its last seven games, including an uncompetitive playoff blowout loss to the Buccaneers.
The Eagles opted to retain Sirianni for the 2024 season and it seems like he cannot afford a second straight failure of similar proportions.
Sirainni already has drawn some heat for his questionable decisions this year, and his team entered its Week 5 bye off another lopsided loss to the Buccaneers.
Bill Belichick even noted how the Eagles haven’t played like a team that should be considered a Super Bowl contender for quite some time.
There are also signs that Sirianni and quarterback Jalen Hurts may have some disconnect, but the two have attempted to downplay that narrative.
“Look, they’ve lost [eight] of their last [11] games. So, when you sit there and say, ‘Well, they’re one of the best teams in the league,’ I don’t know,” Belichick said recently on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “Being 3-[8], that’s kind of a stretch if you look at what’s happened recently. But they do have a lot of good players and have a good team. I’m not saying they’re not a good team, I’m just saying they haven’t done very well lately.”
The Eagles have a chance to move above .500 when they welcome the reeling Browns in Week 6, with the added bonus that star receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith seem set to return from injuries.
A win streak could help quell some of the flames potentially brewing underneath Sirianni.
“Anything out of your control or anything that consumes your mind that’s not focused on not getting better is a waste of time,” Sirianni said. “It only clouds the process. … If you’re focused on things that you can’t control, then that’s gonna cloud that hunger and that drive to get better.
“So, that’s all that we think about. The hunger, drive to get better. You probably can say, ‘Oh, well, that’s coach talk.’ I’m not bulls–tting you. That’s how I live, that’s how I’ve operated for. You are who your habits are and that’s how I’ve been operating for a big portion of my life.”
