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The Philadelphia Eagles’ second-half collapse culminated with an embarrassing Week 18 loss to the New York Giants, casting further doubt on head coach Nick Sirianni‘s grip on the locker room.
In the aftermath of Philadelphia’s fifth loss in its final six games of the regular season, Sirianni had a clear message for his players.
“I mean, none of us are quitters,” Sirianni told reporters from the podium at MetLife Stadium. “We all get up off the mat when we’re down and we get up and we keep going.
“When you get hit in life, when you get hit in football, you’ve got two options: you can stay down, or you can get you can get up. I know this group is fighters, I know this group will get up. I know that we’ve all been through things in our life that we’ve all had to deal with (expletive), and we know how to get up.”
Sirianni and the Eagles haven’t just had two weather winning just once since the calendar turned to December, but the head coach has had to deal with locker room dissension, including reports that star wide receiver A.J. Brown was feuding with the coaching staff.
“I feel like there’s leaks everywhere,” Eagles safety Kevin Byard told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “It can be very divisive in a way. It can kind of force players or whoever it may be to almost protect yourself.”
After dropping a disheartening 27-10 loss to the Eagles, Sirianni must find a way to rally his team for a Wild Card showdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Nobody’s quitting on this team,” Sirianni said. “Because that’s the reason all these guys are in that locker room because they know how to freaking fight. The coaches know how to freaking fight. The players know how to freaking fight. The staff know how to freaking fight. So, we’ll just get up and we’ll fight again, and we’ll see what happens next week when we put everything we’ve got into it”
Eagles’ Nightmare at The Meadowlands
Beyond the lopsided loss on the scoreboard, the Eagles now face significant questions when it comes to the health and availability of several key players for the NFC Wild Card game against the Buccaneers.
Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith was already sidelined for Sunday’s game, before A.J. Brown was knocked from Sunday’s contest with a knee injury.
Meanwhile, Quarterback Jalen Hurts was eventually pulled from the game with the outcome decided and little left to play for. But, prior to his exit, Hurts suffered an injured finger on his throwing hand.
“Taking it day-by-day at this point,” Hurts said of his injury. “Very unfortunate, crazy thing, never experienced anything like that but … It popped out.”
Hurts finished Sunday’s game 7-of-16 for 55 yards with 1 interception.
Eagles vs. Buccaneers Game Time Set
The Eagles will return to Tampa Bay for the second time this season when they face off against the Buccaneers at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, January 15.
Earlier this season, the Eagles dispatched the Buccaneers 25-11, also on Monday Night Football in Tampa. However, that was a very different Eagles team that was in the midst of a 5-0 start to the season, not one that has lost five of six.
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