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If the Philadelphia Eagles keep winning football games, the national media spotlight is only going to get hotter. Nick Sirianni will have to learn how to navigate those unchartered waters as he goes. On Wednesday, the young head coach took his fist stab at it by jumping on the Pat McAfee Show.
The wildly entertaining YouTube show has 2.6 million followers on Twitter. They have playfully poked fun at Sirianni’s intensity and Dawg Mentality mantra in previous episodes. So, naturally, Sirianni started his appearance by giving the masses the message they wanted to hear about Jalen Hurts: “He’s a dawg! He’s a dawg!”
Once the barking (and laughter) died down, Sirianni defined Dawg Mentality:
“Let me tell you why I think that and what I think Dawg Mentality is. Dawg Mentality is truly — and I’ve heard a couple of clips, and people have shown me clips of you guys portraying what I think Dawg Mentality is — Dawg Mentality is to be in the moment that you’re in now.
“And not worry about what happened in the past, and not worry about what is going to happen in the future. It’s all about the process and being here today to make sure we’re going to go 1-0 this week. That’s it.”
Hurts has been the perfect poster boy for Dawg Mentality, according to Sirianni. He cited the quarterback’s ankle-breaking 24-yard run against New Orleans last year to ice that game. Sirianni added that Philadelphia will be talking about the Saints’ play for the “next 30 years.”
He also brought up two other incidents where a stoic Hurts displayed Dawg Mentality, like the time Sirianni got in his face versus Washington.
“I’m screaming in his face,” Sirianni said. “I’m right here, screaming in his face, and guess what his face looked like? The same thing it looked like when we were in New Orleans and he made that run.”
Two weeks later, at FedEx Field in Washington, a railing collapsed and almost crushed him. Same damn look. All the time.
“Then we go to Washington [two weeks later] and the damn bleachers almost fall on him,” Sirianni said. “The bleachers collapse and almost fall on him. Same damn look! Same damn look! So that’s who he is.”
Sirianni Has ‘Supreme Trust’ in His Quarterback
The growing trust between quarterback and coach manifested itself in a huge fourth-down conversion last week. Early in the second quarter against Jacksonville, Sirianni decided to go for it because of the “supreme trust” he has in Hurts. That faith was rewarded in the form of a 3-yard touchdown run.
“You don’t go for it in those positions unless you have supreme trust,” Sirianni told SportsRadio 94WIP. “And this isn’t like blind faith, this is faith built over the past year.”
Hurts knows respect is earned and he appreciates Sirianni’s trust.
“I appreciate that. That’s something that’s earned, not given,” Hurts said. “And it’s a testament to the football team and the offense as a group, of being able to make things happen, and obviously I touch the ball every play, so I appreciate him doing that and those are pivotal points in the game.”
Howie Roseman, NFL Executive of the Year
Philadelphia has the best record in football at 4-0 right now. They keep rising up the national power rankings in what is shaping up to be a special season. Guess what? It’s only going to get better.
The Eagles own two first-round picks in the 2023 NFL draft, including the No. 4 overall pick by virtue of a trade with the New Orleans Saints. Records and seedings will change as the season rolls on, but safe to say that the franchise is well-positioned to keep adding bullets to the holster next year.
Mike Tanier of the New York Times credited Howie Roseman, calling him the “N.F.L.’s boldest, cagiest wheeler-dealer.” He wrote the following:
0 CommentsThanks to Roseman’s labyrinthine maneuvers, the Eagles are simultaneously built to compete for a Super Bowl this year and equipped with extra draft picks to reinforce the roster in the future. They can either surround Hurts with more talent if he keeps developing into one of the league’s best young quarterbacks or start from scratch if he falters. Roseman has blended the Eagles’ short- and long-term goals like an expert mutual-fund manager.
