"I Haven't Thought About That": A Sirianni Story
Well...... that was interesting. It appeared the new head coach had a case of the yips in his first public appearance since accepting the job in Philadelphia, and per usual fans of the team were relentless. Overall he did seem enthusiastic to be here, but it did seem like he was playing it safe. With so much uncertainty at the most important position in sports, walking into salary cap hell, and having some knowledge about the relentlessness of the Philadelphia media; can you really blame him for being a nervous wreck?
It started off with Jeffery Lurie, as is tradition. But the normally chatty owner of the team was even more long winded than usual. Seriously, I wasn't sure if i was watching a press conference or a filibuster. He rambled on for nearly twenty minutes only mentioning Sirianni at about the 10 minute mark. He talked about having 25 potential candidates when the search started, I guess if you want to catch a great white you have to cast a very big net. He mentioned Duce Staley, and gave him his well wishes and a future head coaching endorsement, not in Philly..... but somewhere. Finally after Lurie was good and tired of delaying, Sirianni took the podium.
It started off with the typical pandering, making sure to mention the "passion" and "intensity" of the fan base and name dropping Frank Reich. He mentioned Jay Wright and Kobe and the Philadelphia culture. It would've been less subtle if he came out in a grey sweatsuit blaring "Gonna Fly Now".
He checked his notes at least a dozen times in the preamble alone. At this point I actually felt bad for the dude, he had walked directly into the lion's den and he knew it. He was sweating like Papa John after a month of his only sustenance being supreme pizzas and garlic butter dipping sauce.
Things didn't sound much better once the questions started flying and he got into the meat of the presser. He was posed with tough questions about the future of Carson Wentz in midnight green and essentially shrugged his shoulders and talked about both quarterbacks (Wentz and Hurts) being very talented. The good news is, Sirianni and newly appointed OC Shane Steichen have both spoken to Wentz. When asked if there would be a QB competition in training camp, he gave some more coach speak, stating that he still "has to evaluate the roster" and "As far as the starter, I haven't really thought about that yet and naming a starter..... That hasn't even crossed my mind." Come on man, you may know we are passionate but you should also know we can smell bovine excrement from a mile away. He went on a mostly incoherent (and now viral) tangent about "systems"
“Next thing that’s very important to me is that we build a smart football team, that we have a smart football team here, and I know we have the people in place to do that,” he said. “The first part of being smart is knowing what to do. We’re going … we’re going to know … we’re going to have systems in place that are easier to learn, alright? Complicated to the defense or offense that they’re going against, or the special teams group they’re going against, but easy for us to learn. Because when we can learn our system, and we can get good at our system, then our talent can take over. Less thinking equals talent take over. But we need to have systems in place, and we will have systems in place to do so.”
Even more troubling than a rant that would put Billy Madison to shame, was the confirmation that Howie Roseman will have control over the 53 man roster. Something all of us expected, but something that nobody wanted to hear. Essentially, the personnel and draft mistakes that have plagued this organization for the last few years will persist. This is shaping up to be more of the same, only this time Sirianni is able to pick his coaches. Does that really matter though? Nick Sirianni could be the second coming of Don Shula and as long as Howie is pulling the trigger in the war room, this team will continue to mire in mediocrity. Draft day is arguably the most important day in an NFL calendar, and it just so happens to be where the team has seen its biggest failures; knowing that nothing will be changing in that department is discouraging to say the least.
Now finally lets give Sirianni a bit of a break. Not everyone is comfortable with speaking in a small public setting, let alone in front of a veracious media who will be relaying every word to millions of fans. He's one of the youngest coaches in football and he's been tasked with one of the toughest situations in the sport. We also must remember, neither Doug Pederson or Andy Reid were eloquent public speakers. Elocution and press relations are not what wins football games. Leadership, accountability, coaching everyone on your team hard (including your coaches) and a game plan that fits your team; is what wins football games.