Eagles’ Nick Sirianni Reacts To Coach Of The Year Snub, & Why Jalen Hurts Says Injury ‘Doesn’t Matter’ vs. 49ers
PHILADELPHIA – The conversation is the same all across this city as the Eagles get ready to play the 49ers in the NFC Championship game on Sunday.
From the players in the locker room to the early lunch crowd enjoying their steaming hot sandwiches a few miles away at John’s Roast Pork late Wednesday morning.
Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert said it best after Saturday night’s 38-7 win over the Giants put the Eagles within a win of the Super Bowl.
“It seems like we’re getting counted out,” Goedert said. “It seems like no matter what we do – s—, when we were 13-0, we’re still winning and they were bumping us down in the [power] rankings.”
The Eagles have seen the disrespect and defiantly embraced it as propulsion, and as a reason to talk considerable trash, throughout their run from a fringe playoff team in 2021 to a league-high (and franchise-record) 14 wins this season.
And Wednesday brought another source of fuel (for a fire that doesn’t need it), when coach Nick Sirianni wasn’t among the three finalists for NFL Coach of the Year, as the AP gave Giants coach Brian Daboll, Jags (and former Eagles) coach Doug Pederson, and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan that distinction.
Oh, man,” Sirianni said, grinning as he slapped his hand on the table in mock anger. “That’s something I can’t control. And those awards are nice and everything like that. I’m really happy for Jalen and Shane that they they’re on that. But we have obviously much bigger things ahead and [in] our sights than individual awards.”
And that was the message from the Eagles on this day, because the best way to send a message to all those who have doubted their legitimacy for most of this season is to go to the Super Bowl and win it.
Hurts made it clear exactly how much he’s been thinking about the MVP race this week when he was asked what it meant to be a finalist in the first question of his news conference Wednesday.
“I didn’t know,” Hurts said. “Put the work in. I think it’s a cool honor. I don’t really have much to say about it. I’m lost for words, to be honest.”
Hurts gives update on shoulder injury
Hurts and his teammates hinted on Saturday night that his shoulder injury was more of an issue before the Giants game than he or the Eagles had let on. It sure didn’t look like an issue against the Giants as he roasted their defense early on the way to a lopsided win.
But Hurts continued to be vague about how his shoulder feels when asked about it Wednesday.
“I’ve felt better,” Hurts said. “But it doesn’t really matter. Just got to get it done.”
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It sure sounds like Hurts is playing at less than 100 percent. But if that’s where he’s at now, it’s certainly where he was at during the Giants game and we all saw how that played out. The risk, of course, is that one big hit could change things. But Hurts has already proven that he doesn’t have to be at 100 percent to take the Eagles to where they want to go.
Andy Vasquez:
It’s hard to see it as anything other than a snub. But Sirianni didn’t seem too worried about it Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after the finalists were announced, saying he’d just been informed he was not a finalist before walking on the stage. He also quickly noted that quarterback Jalen Hurts (MVP) and offensive coordinator Shane Steichen (Assistant of the Year) had been named finalists in their respective awards races.
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