Getty Head coach Nick Sirianni and QB Jalen Hurts enjoy a moment together at the Eagles-Lions season opener.
The Philadelphia Eagles will be flashing shiny new black helmets atop their heads on Sunday Night Football. The team announced plans for a blackout game at Lincoln Financial Field earlier this week as players will be wearing all-black uniforms, including the sleek-looking black helmets to complete the monochrome look.
The Eagles released photos of players practicing in the black helmets on Twitter. Philadelphia wore all-black uniforms – green helmets, not black ones – twice last season and won those games by a combined average of 17.5 points. They team will wear the new all-black uniforms for the first time versus Green Bay, then for two more contests this season. Dates and times have yet to be announced.
New look, same grind
Nick Sirianni’s squad is coming off two incredibly close nail-biters that came down to the final possession. They earned a 17-16 victory over Indianapolis, one week after suffering a 32-21 loss to end their bid at a perfect season. The silver lining is that playing tight games in late November should ensure they are finely-tuned and battle-tested come January. The Eagles have lofty goals, like making a serious Super Bowl run.
Sirianni discussed the importance of learning from those experiences. One day at a time. The second-year head coach hasn’t been afraid to call out his star player’s mistakes and keeps challenging them to improve. No one is exempt from Sirianni’s coaching points, including Jalen Hurts.
“There are things that you want to work on individually as a team and as an offensive group that you want to get better at, and each guy has those coaching points, and I don’t want to get into specifics with it to be quite honest with you,” Sirianni told reporters. “But, you know, Jalen [Hurts] will have his coaching points because I see something that he has done in the last two games that he’s got to get better at, and then A.J. [Brown] and DeVonta [Smith] and Quez [Watkins], they all have their own individual coaching points.”
Friday practice for the Eagles. Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts share a quick laugh before practice begins
Eagles Players Bonding over Video Games
What is the “secret sauce” to the 2022 Philadelphia Eagles? It’s a video game called Grand Theft Auto V, according to Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. The playmaking safety told the New York Times he and several teammates play the multiplayer, roleplay version of the video game for hours at a time after practice.
“It’s kind of like our secret sauce,” Gardner-Johnson told Kris Rhim. “I just want to play football, come home and play video games.”
The Philadelphia Eagles’ veterans and newcomers have meshed into a championship contender thanks in part to their bonding over Grand Theft Auto roleplay.
Spent some time with @CGJXXIII, where he showed me how.
“It’s kind of like our secret sauce.”
That quality off-the-field time, spent hanging out virtually in a fictional city called Los Santos, has helped them forge fast friendships. Darius Slay and Avonte Maddox are regular participants, along with Haason Reddick, Shaun Bradley, Miles Sanders, Kenny Gainwell, and Jordan Mailata.
Larger Role for Pass Rusher Robert Quinn?
Robert Quinn has yet to record a sack since coming over to Philadelphia from Chicago. In fact, the Pro Bowl defensive end has seen his snaps fluctuate at a decreasing rate. Quinn saw only 10 snaps last week against Indianapolis, which came two weeks after seeing a season-low 7 snaps versus Houston. Turns out, the Eagles are still figuring out how to best use their newest pass-rushing weapon.
“I see his ability to really rush the passer, and we have to continue to work to get him in in situations where he can do so,” Sirianni said of Quinn. “Yeah, I’m pleased with Robert, and glad he’s on this team, and he adds great depth to this already really good defensive line. I just know he’s going to make a play, a big-time play on a big-time situation here real soon because we know how much talent he has a what a good player he is.”
Coach Sirianni on Robert Quinn.