Eagles’ Cox defends Sirianni as winner, leader

PHILADELPHIA — Eagles veteran defensive tackle Fletcher Cox offered a passionate defense of Nick Sirianni amid questions about the coach’s future with the franchise.

“What is there to talk about, man? He’s a winner. He’s a winning head coach,” Cox said. “Did we have some bumps this year? Yeah. But every team, every organization, everybody goes through it. But we don’t look at firing a man who obviously has won 10-plus games two years in a row, who’s taken this organization to three playoff appearances three years in a row. That’s a respect.

“Coach is a good leader for this team, he does a really good job. Did we come up short? Yeah. Did things happen this year? Yeah. But I don’t discuss firing a man. This man’s got a family.”

Sirianni, 42, has led the Eagles to a 34-17 regular season record and three playoff appearances in as many seasons, including a trip to Super Bowl LVII last February that ended in a 38-35 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Philadelphia followed that up with a 10-1 start to its 2023 campaign but then lost six of its last seven games, including an uninspired 32-9 loss to the 9-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Monday’s wild card playoff matchup.

A decision to replace defensive coordinator Sean Desai with Matt Patricia late in the season, which Sirianni said was his call alone, proved disastrous. And a gifted Eagles team was unable to find its way out of an extended rut, leading to speculation about whether CEO Jeffrey Lurie would seek change at the top.

Quarterback Jalen Hurts, who threw a career-high 15 interceptions in 2023, did not answer directly when asked if he wanted Sirianni back for another season following the Tampa loss. “I didn’t know he was going anywhere,” Hurts said.

When asked what his confidence level is in Sirianni to fix the team, Hurts said: “I have a ton of confidence in everyone in this building. It’s just a matter of us going out there and playing clean football. That is something that we have not done.”

Yet the common theme from Hurts and others has been that the shortcomings fall on the entire team, not just one man.

“Of course, yeah, I love Nick,” said center Jason Kelce, when asked if he’d like to see Sirianni back. “I think Nick’s a great coach, I really do. I think he’s a great head coach. Obviously, nobody was good enough this year. I wasn’t, none of the players, none of the coaches were good enough down the stretch. That’s the reality of this business. When you’re that bad, it’s a collective thing. But I’ll always have faith in Nick Sirianni.”