The Philadelphia Eagles were on the verge of falling apart.
They were also on the verge of being one of the best teams in the NFL — again.
GettyNick Sirianni brings out a special kind of passion from Philadelphia Eagles fans[/caption]
Following a disastrous ending to the team’s 2023 campaign that ended with Jason Kelce crying, the Eagles started a new season 2-2 and entered an early bye week processing a lopsided 33-16 road loss to Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Then embattled Philadelphia head coach Nick Sirianni freaked out Philly be emerging from the layoff with a shaved head.
“He’s gonna need a new job soon,” one fan tweeted.
“Went with the Britney Spears look,” a second fan posted. “We’re so cooked.”
“Welp, it’s over,” a third fan wrote.
What followed was classic Eagles in the Sirianni era.
A loaded team featuring Jalen Hurts, MVP candidate Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, Quinyon Mitchell, Jalen Carter and Darius Slay Jr. won its next 10 games to turn a flat 2-2 into a buzzing 12-2.
NFL fans were reminded that Philly almost beat Kansas City in the Super Bowl in 2022, while the Eagles pushed all of their inner tension and drama to the side — until it resurfaced again when Brown appeared to take shots at Hurts and the team’s passing game.
“I’m from Philadelphia. I live here in Philadelphia now again, so I get it firsthand,” Marc Ross, an NFL Network front office analyst, exclusively told talkSPORT.
“You know all my former players that I drafted are on sports radio here, the Hugh Douglas and Ike Reese of the world. So I always love listening to them.
x@jclarknbcsPhilly supporters were afraid the shaved head was too much at 2-2[/caption]
GettyBut Saquon Barkley almost made history and Philly won 10 straight games[/caption]
GettyAfter coaching for his job, the Eagles are now following Sirianni into the playoffs[/caption]
“So I get to absorb it from a national guy, just laugh at all of the dysfunction and outrage of my Philadelphia fan base here who are just absolutely wow.
“At one point, the Sirianni ‘head shaving scandal’ — I mean, that was just insane. And ‘Get this guy out of here.’
“And then all of a sudden they just kept winning and and winning, and looking better and better and better.”
Falling to a beat-up Green Bay Packers squad in an NFC Wild Card playoff game on Sunday will immediately bring back all the old tension and drama.
Taking care of business against the Pack and moving two wins away from a Super Bowl return will have the Philly faithful believing that another world championship trophy isn’t that far away.
Most NFL teams would have cracked after getting blown out 32-9 in a playoff game to end a season, then beginning another campaign by underachieving despite All-Pro talent.
Philly is a special place, and it brought out the best in the Eagles in 2024 as they enter another playoff test.
“That’s a testament to, despite the outside craziness, they are a stable organization with (owner) Jeffrey Lurie,” Ross said.
“I started out with the team. I worked for the Eagles starting in 1997. And he bought the team and figured out how to be one of those owners to give your input, but you know, stay out of the way.
“And Howie Roseman has been there a long time — the GM, he knows what he’s doing. So they do have that stability to absorb all the craziness.
“And then they do have all that talent to absorb that while they figured it out. So, of course, they’re going to be dangerous. They were just in the Super Bowl two years ago. They were on the path last year before they fell apart because of the behind the scenes turmoil that happened.
“A lot was going on there. You know, fire both coordinators. So they had a lot of change in turmoil. But now going into it, they’re thinking, ‘This is our chance.’ “
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