The Eagles head coach doesn’t regret sitting starters despite chance for No. 2 seed.
The Eagles ended up losing to the Commanders on Sunday, and missed out on the No. 2 seed in the NFC as a result. Despite the implications of the game, head coach Nick Sirianni still opted to rest the starters, in a decision he defended post-game when speaking to reporters.
“You go through your process, you make what you think is the best decision for the football team, and that’s what we did. I knew this was an outcome, that these things could happen. Like I said to you guys, one thing I could guarantee was giving them rest. I couldn’t guarantee anything else. Us being healthy and going into the playoffs healthy is a big deal for us and that’s served us well in the past. Again, I know there’ll be debate on that, but I have to do what I think’s best for the football team moving forward, and that’s what I did.”
Sirianni explained a little bit about the process for making that decision and said that he felt like he had the support of the players. He spoke to the team earlier in the week, but at the end of the day, it’s ultimately his decision to make and to do what’s in the best interest of the team.
While he later admitted that every year, and every decision, is different, he does think back to previous years – specifically when A.J. Brown got hurt in Week 18 a couple years ago. But, Sirianni said that wasn’t the only experience he drew from.
“I think my mindset more was all the good things that have happened as we’ve rested guys. I didn’t really think too much about the negatives of it. You think through everything, but I thought more about when we have had an opportunity to get a bye, that [has] served us well here in the past.”
The head coach also isn’t worried about the offense missing out on building momentum heading into the playoffs. He noted that they treat every practice like they’re using it as momentum.
“Again, this is what I felt was best for us, was to be rested and healthy going into the playoffs. Everything else was considered, obviously. But again, this was the decision I made.”
He also talked about how they were able to pull some good things from the second-team offense, and he was happy for those guys to get some meaningful reps ahead of the playoffs. Those players are often called upon to make plays in the postseason, and they’ll have some more live reps under their belts.
It also didn’t cross his mind to put in the starters late in the game when the No. 2 seed was still within reach thanks to the Lions-Bears game.
“With the guys that haven’t been going all game and then to throw them in there in the third or fourth quarter, I don’t think that’s fair to them. Like I said, you make a decision early in the week and that’s what you go with. Now, guys would’ve had to be ready if people were going down, [like] with what happened at safety. Reed [Blankenship] was ready to go in if there was something else that was going to happen.
But again, you make decisions and that’s your job as a head coach. You have to make tough decisions, and half the people are going to agree with it; half the people aren’t. Half of you guys are going to agree with it, half you aren’t, and that’s okay, but you have to do what you think is best for the football team. If you make that decision and you’re convicted on it and then change course in the middle, I think that puts the guys in a tough spot.
I knew that this could be the outcome, and we knew all these things. I didn’t know the outcome of the other game. It ended up going the way we wanted it to go, but again, I did what I did because I did what I felt was best for the football team.“
Category: General Sports
