Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni let his emotions out after a grueling win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, then shared some praise for the AFC contenders.
The Eagles were able to withstand a furious final five minutes from quarterback Josh Allen, who led the team on two touchdown drives but missed an open receiver on what would have been the game-winning two-point conversion. After the game, Sirianni shared some praise for the Bills and a nod to their status as Super Bowl contenders.
Nick Sirianni Appreciated Battle of Great Teams
Sirianni was seen shouting an angry message to Bills fans as he left the tunnel following his team’s 13-12 win, but had nothing but good things to say about the team. The Eagles coach described the Bills as “heavyweights” after the game, saying it was a battle of great teams with playoff seeding on the line.
Sirianni said he wasn’t too quick to diagnose all of his team’s mistakes, focusing instead on everything they did to earn the victory.
âIf you come out of a football game when you win on the road in a hostile environment ⦠against a really good football team thatâs had the sustained success we have, if you come out of this and youâre just thinking about all the negative things that happened, that makes for a miserable existence,â Sirianni said, via The Athletic.
The Eagles did struggle in the second half, with quarterback Jalen Hurts failing to complete a pass and the team scoring no points. While Philadelphia’s 13-0 advantage at halftime turned out to be enough, Sirianni stressed that he wasn’t trying to take a conservative approach in the second half.
âWe were never in the mode of saying, â13-0 is enough.â Not against this quarterback, not against this offense,â Sirianni said. âSo, I donât think our mindset was ever (to be conservative). But I got to do a better job in that scenario, and Iâll put that on myself.â
Bills Head Into Week 18 With Little on the Line
With the loss, the Bills were eliminated from division contention and the New England Patriots clinched their first AFC East title since the departure of Tom Brady following the 2019 season. The Bills now head into their season finale against the New York Jets with nothing on the line other than their final wild-card seeding.
The relatively low stakes could allow the Bills to rest some of their injured players, including Allen. The Bills quarterback had been nursing an injured foot and appeared to aggravate the injury in Sunday’s loss. Allen limped in the second half and went into the locker room for X-rays following the game.
Though the X-rays came back negative, Bills head coach Sean McDermott said he needs to make sure Allen remains protected.
“Coming into the game, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had my eyes on Josh,” McDermott said, via ESPN. “Just because of how important he is to us. And we’re in the playoffs. But I also know who he is. And he’s as competitive as there is, and as good as there is, but I also have a responsibility to protect him to make sure he’s as healthy as possible for us as we move into the playoffs.
“You’ve got to know, to get [No.] 17 off the field, you’re gonna have to … I’m gonna have to wrestle him.”
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