Nick Sirianni put on a masterclass in pandering

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters Wednesday morning decked out in Phillies gear. When asked about his get-up, Sirianni explained, with a smile on his face, “I’m a Philadelphian, I root for all local teams.”

And just like that, without even having to put a regular season win on the board, the Eagles’ head coach has earned himself a little grace with the city and it’s fans.

Throughout camp Sirianni has tried to prove himself to be a players’ coach, often wearing shirts featuring guys like Brandon Graham, and Jason Kelce from his Super Bowl parade speech. Now, he’s taking that loyalty one step further and embracing the other Philly teams, and honestly, there’s not much to hate about that. [chanting: “One of us! One of us!]

Other notables from the press conference

• Sirianni said that he’s been around the game long enough to know that keeping his mind fresh and sharp is just as important, so he does try and get some extra sleep near the end of the week. Although, he joked that on Wednesdays, he’s going to look a little tired.
• The head coach expects opposing defenses to watch film of quarterbacks like Jalen Hurts and the skillset he brings to the field in order to try and game plan for the second-year player. Just like they do when trying to plan for specific defenders, he would expect that from other teams, as well.
• As far as how he explains what it’s like playing for the Eagles to some of his new players, Sirianni noted that they teach and stay true to their core values, but also try and incorporate the team’s history.

“But we’ve done a good job, I think, as a staff and as a team talking about the history that this team has and that the city has, right, and how good of fans we have and how passionate of fans we have.

So, that’s been being discussed from early on, how special it is. ‘Hey, you guys that haven’t played for the Philadelphia Eagles, or coached, how special it actually is here in this city with the fans that we have.’”

• Sirianni admitted that former Florida OC and current Eagles QB coach Brian Johnson has been able to give them a lot of insight into Falcons rookie TE Kyle Pitts, and they know that he’s someone they will need to account for on Sunday.