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Andy Reid once gave Nick Sirianni his worst moment, which helped the Eagles coach win a Super Bowl.
That January 2013 morning could have been the worst Nick Sirianni had ever experienced.
After all, Andy Reid had just taken the head coaching job with the Kansas City Chiefs, and his first assignment there was to remove the previous coaching staff, just one week after being fired by the Eagles.
Among them was Sirianni, a thirty-year-old who had just finished his first season coaching the Chiefs’ wide receivers.
But to comprehend Sirianni is to comprehend why he harbors no animosity toward Reid. Sirianni, however, takes his firing in a very different context.
And here they are, slugging it out on Sunday in the Super Bowl, ten years later. Sirianni takes on Reid, the team’s all-time winningest coach with 14 seasons under his belt, as the Eagles’ second-season head coach. Reid is now leading the Chiefs to their third Super Bowl.
“Andy came in because we weren’t good enough in Kansas City,” Sirianni said. “He did an excellent job filling in.”
Having shortcomings is an understatement. The 2012 Chiefs were not excellent at all. They finished 2-14 and had the lowest-scoring offense in the NFL. That season, linebacker Evan Belcher killed his fiancée and drove to the Chiefs complex to commit suicide.
Thirty-year-old Sirianni was in his first season as a position coach, having spent the previous three seasons as a quality control coach. He knows that there’s no chance he’ll be retained.
Not least of all, Reid is joining veteran wide receiver coach David Culley in Kansas City. Culley had served in the same role with the Eagles for several seasons.
Reid, however, insisted on meeting with each coach employed by Romeo Crennel. Among them was Sirianni.
“I enjoyed how he welcomed everyone in and had talks with them,” Sirianni said. “He made some pretty encouraging comments. He knew I would be down, so he gave me strength when I needed it, and I was appreciative of that.
It seems to fit with his personality and style as a coach.
Last week, Reid showed his admiration for Sirianni.
Reid said, “I loved his character. He’s a friendly man with effective communication abilities. Both the players and you are aware of his firing.
I’m attempting to convey that having a respectable personality is necessary. He is also a bright guy. He’s a brilliant young man, based on our conversation.
Plus, I think he’s perfect for Philadelphia. Despite the fact that it’s a difficult neighborhood, he gets along well with the locals and is a tough child.
It most definitely didn’t appear that way at first. In January 2021, Sirianni was introduced as the Eagles’ new coach. During the team’s first press conference, he appeared nervous and stumbled.
That couldn’t have gone over well with seasoned veterans like center Jason Kelce, who was considering retirement after the Eagles’ awful 4-11-1 2020 season. The quarterback for the squad, Carson Wentz, had requested a trade, and head coach Doug Pederson was let go.
However, defensive end Brandon Graham explained how Kelce and the crew were reunited with Sirianni:
Graham commented, “(Sirianni) was furious with the press conference.” I love it because I know a lot of coaches who occasionally say they don’t like the media.
He was a really chill, modest, and all-around great guy. I got along well with a lot of the guys I spoke with who had previously worked with him.
It was at that moment that his candor about his sentiments truly won me over. I understand that he wears his emotions on his sleeve, but I think he does a great job of accepting them and moving on.
Sirianni has witnessed his fair share of similar scenarios throughout his two seasons as the Eagles’ coach.
Sirianni admitted that he had sent a challenge to prospective draftees in 2021—a game of rock, paper, scissors. Following a 2-0 lead, he showed his group an illustration of a flower pot with roots growing into the ground.
Not too long ago, when the Eagles won by one score, he climbed to the bench and cursed at Indianapolis Colts fans. That was barely a week after the team fired his mentor, Frank Reich, as head coach.
Sirianni learned that everything belonged to him after Reid had fired him ten years before.
Since he met his wife, Brett, during his four seasons in Kansas City, Sirianni was grateful for that experience on the one hand. On the other side, Sirianni lost his job over night and had to find a new one.
He relocated to San Diego after signing with the Chargers, but he had to start anew as an offensive quality control coach.
Do you constantly harbor a slight grudge against someone? Sirianni said, “Yes.” But that’s who I am as a person and as a coach.
I want to make sure I’m working really hard to make sure I’m improving as much as I can. Of course, some of those things are still with you.
I can honestly say that I went through one of the hardest experiences of my life, since otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting here.
There was some justice served to Sirianni. That 2013 season, the Chargers defeated Reid and the Chiefs 41-38. Sirianni said he was swinging his arms and pumping his fists while standing on the table in the press box.
I was just incredibly emotional about it, Sirianni said. However, as time goes by and you become older, you come to the realization, “Hey, I needed to go through that; I needed to be in this situation.”
Gradually, Sirianni advanced through the Chargers organization’s ranks before leaving in 2018 to seek a position with Reich as offensive coordinator in Indianapolis. The Eagles then hired him.
And Sirianni is a head coach in the Super Bowl now, in part due to Reid.
