Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said he was “grateful” for the team’s collapse late in the 2023 season as they dismantled the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
The Eagles ended the Chiefs’ bid to win an unprecedented three straight Super Bowls as they ran out 40-22 winners in New Orleans.
Philadelphia’s defense dominated and pressured Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes throughout the evening, sacking him a career-high six times and intercepting him twice.
Opposite number Jalen Hurts was named the most valuable player after he threw for 221 yards and two touchdowns, as well as scoring one himself, as the Eagles avenged their defeat to the Chiefs two years ago.
In November 2023, the Eagles were 10-1 after a home win against the Buffalo Bills in overtime.
However, they went on to lose three straight and five of their last six to finish the regular season, culminating with a 32-9 loss at Tampa Bay in the wild-card round and Sirianni admitted being “grateful” now for how that season ended.
“As crazy as this sounds, I’m grateful how last year ended because it shaped us to (who) we are today (with) the adversity of the beginning of the year and the adversity through the season, through injuries, through ups and downs, through everything,” Sirianni told reporters in New Orleans.
“I think that when you embrace adversity, it does something to you, right? It does something to you personally, right?” he said.
“Each and every individual on that football team, the adversity does something to you, and it does something to you as a football team as well. So, our guys, I think that could be the biggest attribute. They worked their butts off to connect.”
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni gave an emotional interview after winning Super Bowl 59
When the Eagles began the 2024 season 2-2, it was perceived as a hangover from 2023 as fans and the media cranked up the heat on Sirianni, but following a bye week, Philadelphia went 16-1 the rest of the way to capture the franchise’s second Lombardi Trophy.
“Just because the outside world tells you to feel a certain way doesn’t mean that we were feeling that way,” Sirianni said. “We knew we had a special team. We knew we had a group of guys that could do special things, but it was going to take day-in and day-out work. It was just putting your head down and working.
“My job is not to inspire them. It’s just more to just remind them of the things they already know, and I keep it really short. I talk a lot all during the week so before the game, it pretty much is consistent. Week 1, Week 37, whatever, we’re on ‘tough, detailed, together.’ That’s our core value. That’s what we talk about. And the toughest team wins, usually the most detailed team wins, usually the team the most together wins.”
