Step by step. As arduous as it sounds and as laborious as the actual task is, it is the only course ahead for Head Coach Nick Sirianni and the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles. The players report to Training Camp at the NovaCare Complex next week and the climb up the ladder begins.
Rung by rung.
Step by step.
It is the only path for the Eagles to climb back to the top of the mountain.
"I'm just looking forward to seeing them all come back in great (shape). That's the next step, seeing them all come back in great shape, because you can't play with a great detail if you're not in great shape, and seeing them run through the conditioning test and going through that first practice," Sirianni said recently as he answered questions from Eagles' beat reporters for more than 30 minutes. "And you know, I'm just excited for that. I'm excited just for the journey. And, just, I think that's it, enjoying the journey is a really critical point of us. Enjoying the journey is really critical."
Within that journey is the importance of staying where your feet are, remaining focused on the 1-percent-better daily message and incorporating new faces on the coaching staff and within the roster in preparation for the September season opener in Brazil against Green Bay.
Along with that, Sirianni has his own evolution, as he cedes control of the offense to coordinator Kellen Moore and a new way of doing things and maximizing the many talents of quarterback Jalen Hurts.
"I think at the end of the day, you always have to do what you feel is best for the team, right? And I think that selflessness, right, regardless of how much I love something, its what's best for the team," Sirianni said. "And in this case, what was best for the team is that, you know, I brought Kellen in, and I let him run with the offense. We share some thoughts and he goes with it. And so that's what I felt was best for the team. I felt like Shane (Steichen, former offensive coordinator, now head coach of the Indianapolis Colts) on plays in 2021 was best for the team, right? I felt that switching coordinators last year was best for the team, and I felt like there's a lot of decisions I have to make and I have to listen to a lot of different input, right? I do listen a lot differently. I want to be collaborative because I don't have all the answers, and I have really good people around me, and I got great players around me and I want to listen.
"I won't lie to you that the idea was hard, but I knew with my gut that was best for the team. And I see a lot of positives from it. I'm able to see things from a 30,000-foot view. That doesn't mean I don't have opinions on what this should look like. You do what's best for the team because you love the team, not because you love your selfish reasons of what you want. And I really feel good about that and I feel, like I said, I feel good in the direction we're going in."
A new season, a new perspective and the same expectations. There is no added pressure here because there is always so much pressure for a head coach who has been to three postseasons and one Super Bowl in his three seasons here. Sirianni has accomplished more in his first three seasons as the Eagles head coach than anyone in team history and yet, here we are.
What's best for the team, as he says over and over again, is what matters. What matters is winning football games.
"My job is to be the head football coach and everything that comes with it, and oversee everything of that, and that is our culture, that's our game management, that's everything that's involved in it," he said. "And that's what I'm trying to do my best, is to be the head coach of this football team."
What, then, will Sirianni do differently this season? That remains to be seen, right? He mentioned last season after the win at New England that everything is on the table as far as how he approaches playing his starters in the preseason, but how can you knock the way the Eagles have started the last two seasons (8-0 in 2022, 10-1 in 2023)? Will he conduct Training Camp differently? Sure, there are going to be some changes, many we don't notice. How will practices change?
All of the questions lead to this moment, when the questions start to gain answers. The players report to the NovaCare Complex in a week and are on the field days later. The preseason is coming fast. It's all right in front of us after an offseason of action and roster building and the restoration of a championship-level mentality after the 2023 collapse.
New season. New Eagles. New Sirianni, in many ways. At the end of the day, he is the head coach and he is responsible for the performance of the team and that is something that comes with the territory.
Sirianni embraces that role.
"I always think that whatever I am responsible for, if I want these guys to have accountability, I have to take accountability. And as the head football coach, you are responsible for every product that's on that field, everything," he said. "Well, I don't have my hand in the defense, but you hire the defensive coordinator. I don't have my hand in special teams, well you hired the coordinator. Well, I don't have my hand in the offense. You teach the detail, the fundamentals that go through that. And not only do you teach that, you tell the assistant coaches what you expect, you tell the players what you expect. You lead the expectations based off of what you said.
"So 100 percent responsible. I am 100 percent responsible."
