Eagles HC Nick Sirianni Addresses Sideline Controversy

The Philadelphia Eagles might be a team of destiny. They might end up winning their second Super Bowl in the last decade. They might end up being remembered as the team that came out on top in one of the most wide open NFL seasons in recent memory.

And if they do accomplish that goal, one thing they’ll definitely be remembered for is the way they handled all the noise surrounding their run. That includes the latest controversy/non-controversy that popped up when superstar wide receiver A.J. Brown was seen on television cameras reading a self-help book during an NFC Wild Card Round win over the Green Bay Packers.

While Brown claimed he had made reading the book a regular habit over the season — and backed that up by showing reporters his dog-eared copy with highlighted and underlined passages — the fact he was reading during a game was largely performative and a semi-petulant response to Brown registering just 1 catch for 10 yards on 3 targets against the Packers.

Brown denied as much after the game and his head coach, Nick Sirianni, gave a lengthy response in Brown’s defense while speaking with the media a few days after BookGate.

“Some guys pray in between, some guys mediate in between. A.J. reads in between. Whatever these guys need to do to put their mind in a place where they can play with great detail and great effort, I fully encourage them to do that,” Sirianni told ESPN’s Tim McManus on January 14. “We don’t do any research, and we jump to a conclusion of, ‘Oh he must be disgruntled.’ That to me is lazy,” Sirianni added. “Everyone needs to figure out why he’s doing it before they jump to judgment on the man. Because the man, A.J. Brown is a great, great, great person. The man A.J. Brown is the best receiver — and I’ll say it without hesitation — the best receiver that this city has ever seen … It’s hard for me to watch when people are getting on him without doing the proper research of who the man is and what he’s doing in the first place.”

The book Brown was reading — “Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life” by Jim Murphy — became the No. 1 bestselling book on Amazon within 24 hours of Brown being seen reading it on the sideline.

---

Sirianni No Stranger to Controversy Himself

Sirianni has become a master at deflecting controversy — for his players and for himself.

Following a 36-33 loss to the Washington Commanders in Week 16 which snapped the Eagles’ 10-game winning streak, Sirianni had a postgame confrontation with Commanders tight end and former Eagles tight end Zach Ertz, with the 2 eventually separated by Eagles chief security officer Dom DiSandro.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane reported that Sirianni later apologized to Ertz via a Zoom call.

Earlier this season, Sirianni was pilloried in the media after a confrontation with Eagles fans following a Week 6 home win over the Cleveland Browns. in which video showed Sirianni shouting at Eagles fans and holding his hand up to his ear to sarcastically indicate “I can’t hear you” — another incident in which he later issued an apology.

0 Comments