Nick Sirianni perfectly details the fine line between winning and losing at the professional level.
There’s a reason why champions are champions and snake-bitten franchises wallow in mediocrity. The mindsets are different. The Philadelphia Eagles are 4-2 on the season. They were one of the last two unbeaten teams. All they talk about is getting better and how they can fix every issue they assume is delaying perfection.
The Cleveland Browns, on the other hand, would be on cloud nine if they were 4-2 and winning by the skin of their teeth. That’s why the Eagles are a premier franchise, and the Browns are… Well… You understand, right?
That isn’t to knock the Browns. They’re home to one of the NFL’s most loyal fan bases and an organization with phenomenal history. They just fell on hard times for most of the past 30 years.
Philadelphia’s last win was that nailbiter in Tampa. Remember when that happened? That almost feels like 30 years ago. They hope to end a two-game skid on Sunday, their first losing streak since the collapse that ended the 2023-24 season.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni offers a lesson on the fine line between winning and losing at the NFL level.
Pro football has often been likened to a week-to-week league and a marathon, rather than a sprint. The Eagles have been bailed out by their special teams unit and defense. Their offense has gotten off to slow starts and has had to turn it on late.
There was also that time, that same game in Tampa, where the offense started hot and cooled in the clutch. A four-game winning streak to begin the campaign has turned into the Birds have lost two straight vs. teams they were favored to beat.
“This is the reality of NFL football. You’re going to have ups and you’re going to have downs. There hasn’t been a team to win them all since ’72. This is the reality of it. I remember talking to Devonta [Smith] when he first got here. It’s like, ‘Hey, you won almost every game when you’re at Alabama. That’s how I felt like when I was at Mount Union, but that’s not the reality of this sport. There are really good players and really good teams all over the place.”
Those were Nick Sirianni’s words as he met with the media one last time before traveling to Minneapolis. The Minnesota Vikings are the next speed bump in the Eagles’ road to meeting their goal, raising another Vince Lombardi Trophy, and hanging another banner.
“Any game… If the ball bounces a certain way and you don’t play the way you’re capable of playing, you can lose. It is just the reality of this business, and our job is to do everything we can do in the week to prep ourselves [and] to put ourselves in the best position to play our best and win that football game., and our job is to do everything we can do in the week to prep ourselves to put ourselves in the best position to play our best and win that football game… You can have two mindsets there. You can have a mindset of defeat, or you can have a mindset of get up and fix and identify issues.”
Say what you will about Nick Sirianni. More actual words have never been spoken about playing this game at the NFL level. We knew it was unlikely that the Birds would finish 17-0. Now comes the intriguing part, seeing how this team handles adversity because, truth be told, this won’t be the first time the rubber meets the road or they are hit with an opposing team’s best shot.
