Nick Sirianni's Antics Wearing Thin

The Eagles beat the Browns on Sunday, 20-16. It’s a win they can build on: the defense finally generated some pressure on the opposing QB, sacking Deshaun Watson five times; the offense played turnover-free football; and A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith looked great in their return from the IL.

But.

The victory was still just a four-point win over one of the worst teams in the league. An Eagles special teams failure led to a blocked field goal, which the Browns returned for a touchdown at the end of the first half. And the enduring image from this game is likely to be Nick Sirianni chirping at fans in the stands. Not ideal.

In other news from the weekend, there’s already concern over Joel Embiid’s health. And Penn State football is now ranked number three in the nation.

Let’s discuss it all.

In the email today:

• 🤪 Nick Sirianni's Antics Wearing Thin

• 🚑️ Joel Embiid Might Be Hurt Already

• 📈 Penn State Controls Its Destiny After Thrilling OT Win

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

Nick Sirianni is not a bad guy. He’s a goofball, but that’s not necessarily a terrible thing. Some of society’s finest people are goofballs. Jim Carrey, Brandon Marsh, and Spongebob Squarepants come to mind, for example.

Head coach of a professional football team, however, is a position that demands a certain amount of gravitas. Eagles fans are growing tired of antics like this:

What are we doing here, coach? Mixing it up with fans (Eagles fans, reportedly) and getting cocky about a narrow victory over the Browns?

As Tim wrote, “Can you imagine any other coach in modern NFL history doing this? Most coaches would be trying to stop their players if they were jawing with someone in the stands.”

When your team is rolling, fans may give you a pass on these kinds of things. Hurts having to restrain Sirianni here was never a good look . . . but hey, they were in the Super Bowl at the time. The prevailing fan sentiment was that the guy must be doing something right.

But here in 2024, the Birds are fresh off an historic fall from grace in ‘23 and struggling to get their feet back under them. The prevailing fan sentiment nowadays is confusion over Sirianni’s role with the team.

The coach would be wise to dial it back a bit.

Optimism abounds every preseason. For Sixers fans, this preseason has featured a lot of excitement around the latest iteration of a Big Three.

Some of us are old enough to remember when the Big Three included the likes of Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler and James Harden. Too cynical? Sorry.

Anyway, yeah, there’s new anticipation given the emergence of Tyrese Maxey and the arrival of Paul George. Unfortunately, the snarky tweets already might have validity.

None of the Sixers plans work without a healthy Joel Embiid. Through three preseason games, The Process did not feature.

• Embiid missed Saturday’s ugly preseason loss to the Boston Celtics.

• Embiid’s participation was limited in scrimmages and preseason games as he embraces a cautious approach following knee surgery.

• Nick Nurse then expressed uncertainty about Embiid’s availability for Monday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks.

• Other Sixers veterans, including Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, and Caleb Martin, also missed Saturday’s game for rest, which threw some focus off Embiid’s health.

We spent Sunday waiting for the other shoe to drop, and then, THUD.

The decision to allow Embiid to play in the Olympics this summer looks dumber by the day.

So it comes down to whether Embiid will suit up for the season opener nine days from now against the Bucks. If he doesn’t, it’s anyone’s guess when you’ll see him.

It’s easy (and fun!) to throw shade at Penn State football. When the head coach makes way too much fuss about four straight 5-0 starts, we won’t be the only ones to notice.

But we’re fair and balanced at On Pattison. Penn State beat USC 33-30 in overtime on Saturday. This was the sort of game the Nittany Lions have lost half a dozen times in recent seasons, and they came from 20-6 down at halftime to do it.

Three specific players were heroes on the day for Penn State. If you watched the game, you know that one Nittany Lion in particular looked like a man playing against teenagers.

Tight end Tyler Warren was everywhere for Penn State, catching everything thrown his way whether he was open or not. He even snapped the ball and caught it for a touchdown on the same play.

Someone had to throw Warren the ball. Penn State fans who became acclimated to Sean Clifford at the controls can be forgiven for not recognizing what it looks like when throws arrive on time and with zip.

Quarterback Drew Allar threw for 391 yards and two touchdowns. None of it came cheap. In the process, Allar willed his team back into the game in the second half.

Somewhat lost in the excitement was that the last player to touch the ball was a redshirt freshman kicker who shared a moment with his multimillionaire head coach that was both sweet and weird since, like, Ryan Barker didn’t have the kicking job three weeks ago. Barker hit four field goals in this game, including the game-winner.

So this was a turning-point, feel-good win for Penn State. And after Ohio State ran out of time at Oregon, it’s the Ducks and the Nittany Lions who control their destinies in the Big Ten as all three teams pursue a national championship playoff berth.

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

Here’s the front and back cover of the Philadelphia Daily News from October 14, 2008. The night before, Matt Stairs ripped one into the night. And don’t forget the Flyin’ Hawaiian’s blast!

📊 Poll

Results from Friday:

🔗 Links

• ⚾️ Phillies fans don’t care, but the Padres season ended with 24 innings where they didn’t score a run.

• 🏒 The Flyers started the season with a shootout win in Vancouver and a lopsided loss in Calgary.

• ⏱️ Ohio State probably got screwed out of a game-winning field goal attempt at Oregon.

• 🇺🇸 Both Army and Navy are in the AP Top 25 at the same time for the first time since 1960.

• 🔴 Andrew Painter is turning heads at Arizona Fall League.

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Not even the comfort of their home away from home could save Doug Pederson and the Jaguars against the Bears.

📺 Coming Up

Games before our next send.

Monday, October 14

• Sixers at Hawks, 7:30 p.m. (preseason), NBA TV

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

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