The notoriously fickle fans in Philadelphia have embraced second-year Eagles coach Nick Sirianni.
The warm and fuzzy feelings are mutual, Sirianni said Monday at Super Bowl LVII Opening Night in Phoenix.
“I feel like I live and coach in the greatest sports town in America,” said Sirianni, whose NFC champion Eagles meet the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.
“This means so much to everybody there. That’s what you want, right? … You want your fans to love it.
“You want your fans to be there. You want them to be wearing green on Friday. You want them to be wearing green on Saturday. You want them to be throwing snowballs at Santa Claus. You want that. Because we want to be able to put our talents on display. And we are able to do that in the greatest sports town in America.”
After leading the Eagles to the playoffs with a 9-8 record in his first season in 2021, Sirianni coached them to an 8-0 start and a franchise-record 14 wins in the 2022 regular season.
He is the fourth coach to lead Philadelphia to the Super Bowl — a group that includes current Chiefs coach Andy Reid — and is hoping to join Doug Pederson (Super Bowl LII in February 2018) as the second one to bring the Lombardi Trophy to the City of Brotherly Love.
After the Philadelphia Phillies fell short in the 2022 World Series, the fans are hungry for the Eagles to finish the job against quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
“I just love the fact that my kids are growing up in such a great sports town where football means so much, because football means so much to me,” Sirianni said.
Sirianni, 41, said he is counting on the leadership of the Super Bowl LII veterans who are still with the team.
“When I became a first-year head coach last year, I wasn’t like other new coaches in the sense that I had two 10-year veterans on the offensive line with Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce, and I had two 10-year veterans on the defensive line with Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham,” he said. “Who else had that? That’s unbelievable to have that as a first-year head coach.
“To have these guys that have not only been to the top of the mountain but planted their flag at the top of the mountain, that’s huge. That leads everybody.
“We have these unbelievable leaders on our team, starting with those four guys. And we lean a lot on them for many different aspects.”
