The Eagles beat the Giants on Christmas, but there wasn’t the typical level of happiness in the locker room after the win.
Wide receiver DeVonta Smith said he was “not happy” with the way the team played and quarterback Jalen Hurts talked about not meeting the standard that they have set for themselves in Philadelphia. On Tuesday, head coach Nick Sirianni was asked at his press conference about the atmosphere in the locker room.
Sirianni said that there has to be a balance between savoring wins because they are hard to get and acknowledging the areas where the team needs to improve. He pointed to a need for him to take a bigger role in striking that balance and said that he was “too tense” on the sideline during the 33-25 win over the Giants.
“I need to be better in those scenarios when there is some high-pressure areas, they’ve got to see me calm and not tense there,” Sirianni said. “There is a time and place to be tense and there’s a time and place not to be. I know that’s something that I always have to work on as a head coach, and so that’s something I’m constantly working on. Body language, I think body language, I don’t know, I look more at actions than the body language. If that makes sense. I know body language is a type of action, but I look more at the action of the players and the coaches and myself there, as opposed to the body language.”
Monday made it clear that winning didn’t fix everything that contributed to the Eagles’ three-game losing streak and the work on finding the right balance will continue as they head into their Week 17 date with the Cardinals.
