PHILADELPHIA – The door swung open. Nick Sirianni showed up. The same goes for his three children. The oldest is 8, the youngest is 2. They crowded behind the podium as if they were taking a family photo. However, this did not protect the Philadelphia Eagles head coach from facing difficult questions about the team under his leadership, the offense he oversaw and the way he conducted himself on the sidelines during a game that could have been better managed to have to ask.

Sirianni chirped twice during the team's 20-16 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. First with the opponent. He exchanged words with Browns cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome after Ward intercepted a third-down pass that forced the Eagles to punt for the second time in their first two drives. Then with the home audience. With the Eagles standing on the field in victory formation, Sirianni walked behind the bench, put an index finger to his right ear and then shouted words that couldn't be heard from a distance.

“No, just excited,” Sirianni said. “I’m just looking forward to the win.”

Did the fans shout things that…

Sirianni interrupted the reporter.

“I’m just looking forward to the win,” he said. “It's hard to win in this league, so we're happy with the win. Our fans made a few false starts that really helped us win this football game. But I’m just happy about this win and happy about the support of The Linc.”

Support was open to interpretation. The 69,879 paid ticket holders at Lincoln Financial Field often alternated between states of listlessness and restlessness. They booed the Eagles after every quarter except the last. They booed a team that remains the only one in the NFL that didn't score in the first quarter. They booed a team that led the Browns by eight points, had a chance to take a two-point lead at halftime, but instead got a blocked field goal back for a touchdown that tied the game . A few fans in the press box at the time chanted: “Fire! Nick! Fire! Nick!”

Eagles HC's Nick Sirianni appeared to say a few words to the crowd as time expired on the Philly win. pic.twitter.com/XILkMvVamD

– FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 13, 2024

But Sirianni focused on the false starts. He praised the crowd for the two five-yard flags the Browns gave themselves after reaching third-and-goal. The Eagles only had a 20-13 lead at that point, with 3:57 left in the game, the Browns, who were prepared on fourth down, had to settle for a 31-yard field goal determined the final score.

The Eagles did the same thing to themselves in the third quarter. Two false starts. Ten yards lost. A field goal near the red zone instead of a touchdown. Did The Linc force this too?

“Crowd noise was critical; It was so loud in there,” Sirianni said. He looked down at his children. “Did you think it was loud?”

A local columnist instead replied, “No.”

“NO?” Sirianni replied. He turned back to his children. “Did you think it was loud?” They grinned in their shyness. He pulled the microphone closer. “Did you think it was loud?” He pinched his son's cheeks. Nothing. “Someone answer. Just say yes.”

Alongside, the team's head of security, Dom DiSandro, responded: “It was loud.”

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni brought his children Taylor (left) and Jacob (right), along with his youngest son Miles (not pictured), to the postgame press conference. (Chris Szagola / AP Photo)

And so the awkwardness continued. And so the dissonance between what Sirianni says and what the public sees continued. And so continued the behavior of a head coach whose no-holds-barred antics at least diverted attention from an Eagles defense that had “played its ass” to Sirianni himself on Sunday.

Don't let this get lost. The Eagles' defense destroyed a poor Browns offense (last in the NFL at -0.25 EPA per game, according to TruMedia). A previously unsuccessful passing attack resulted in Deshaun Watson being sacked five times (split between seven defenders, including half a sack by Bryce Huff). The Browns started the game 0-for-7 on third-down situations and finished the game 3-for-12. They averaged 4.6 yards per play. Second-round rookie Cooper DeJean, making his first start at nickel, recorded a sack, six tackles and defended a pass attempt in the end zone.

“I felt prepared to go out there,” DeJean said.

The same cannot be said for an Eagles offense that had two weeks to prepare with a fully healthy roster. Although AJ Brown returned after sitting out three games with a hamstring injury, and despite DeVonta Smith and Lane Johnson returning from a game with concussions, the Eagles got off to another slow start, with Jalen Hurts going 0-for-5 passing.

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Her wealth of talent eventually prevailed. Brown beat his man on a 22-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter, and Smith hit a short crosser from 45 yards for the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter. Hurts finished the game completing 16 of 25 passes for 264 yards and hit Brown for a 40-yard dagger that ensured Philadelphia's final offensive drive ended the game. Both players admitted that slow starts and dropping points don't lead to sustainable wins.

“Definitely leave the points out of it,” Smith said. “You can complain about the win. Or you can play like we did, win and feel good knowing you can get a lot better.”

The perspective is of course not so binary. The Eagles won. They are 3-2. These are undeniable facts. It's also undeniable that the Eagles will be worse off if the in-game injuries to left tackle Jordan Mailata (hamstring), cornerback Darius Slay (knee) and tight end Dallas Goedert (hamstring) last longer. Mailata was carried off the field and seen walking on crutches after the game.

There's also no denying that slow starts are a problem. Since 2007, all NFL teams that don't score in the first quarter have a winning percentage of 34.1, according to TruMedia. Teams that score at all in the first quarter have a win rate of 59.3 during that period. Still, Sirianni tried to downplay the Eagles offense's struggles in the first quarter, suggesting that players in the locker room were fixated on the slow starts “because y'all are making a big deal about it.”

“I mean, it’s like, guys, we’re going to figure it out,” Sirianni said. “We'll fix it. We knew how to score in the past. We understand it. You have a job to do and you will focus on one thing. And you'll say, “Oh, they didn't start fast,” or, “They didn't turn the ball over.” We got it. We will do everything we can to fix the problem. And I don't want that to be in their heads. So I'm basically telling you, 'Okay, we did it.' We'll figure it out.'”

It's remarkable how Sirianni chooses his messages. In his response, he initially denies that the lack of points for the first quarter is a concern, accuses reporters of “making a big deal about it”, but concludes the answer by stating that the lack of points for the first quarter gives cause for concern Indeed a cause for concern, but admits he says otherwise to reduce his influence on players. It belies consistency and distorts the truth.

It calls into question how much clarity there is in his culture. He took the fall publicly for plays he didn't really announce. He spent the offseason talking about how offensive coordinator Kellen Moore controlled the offense, but then revealed that he still calls plays. On Sunday, Sirianni took responsibility for a failed third-and-1 call and then revealed that he also called a defensive play that he didn't want to reveal. accountability is one of Sirianni's core values, but when The Linc expressed his displeasure by booing the Eagles on Sunday, Sirianni said, “I don't think that's productive for anyone.”

Sirianni is in the middle of his fourth season in Philadelphia, long enough to know the power of the spotlight and what happens when he's in front of it. Long enough to know that at least one camera is tracking his every move on the sidelines for a national television broadcast. Long enough to know that if he brings his family to the podium, he will be asked about their presence. (He spent three minutes emotionally explaining why football means so much to his family.) It's important to emphasize that these are decisions he made consciously Manufacturing.

One of the lessons of the 2023 collapse was how Sirianni handled his emotions. He admitted at the time that “they need to see me calm and not tense in high pressure areas.” In Sunday's cases, Sirianni insisted he was the Sirianni his players wanted to see. Sirianni said he received “some feedback” from “a few players” during both the bye week and Sunday's game that included “a sense of: 'We need you back, Nick.' We need your energy . We need your focus.”

Such feedback suggests that Sirianni's energy and focus were somehow lacking on the sidelines. He had spent part of the offseason expressing how he wanted the Eagles' defense to return to its strength. He seemed like a defender himself as he railed against Newsome and Ward. Newsome later said he agreed with Sirianni's substitution, adding that Sirianni came up to him after the final whistle and praised his play.

Hurts also confirmed that he was one of the players who had such a conversation with Sirianni about his presence.

“I encourage him to be himself,” the quarterback said of his head coach. “That’s him.”

(Top photo by Nick Sirianni: Matt Slocum / Associated Press)