Philadelphia Eagles Embracing Emotion-Filled Identity: ‘Part of the Game’
PHILADELPHIA - Typically when you see players upset at the sidelines in the NFL, you can check the win-loss column and find a struggling team, not a 5-0 one.
The Philadelphia Eagles, however, don’t mind a few “uncomfortable conversations” even when the prying eyes of network television cameras are present.
It might be A.J. Brown letting his good friend Jalen Hurts in on some frustrations or even player vs. coach with All-Pro center Jason Kelce voicing his red-zone angst out on everyone in arm’s distance, including head coach Nick Sirianni and his offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, who no doubt would approve of Kelce’s surfacing skill in a heated discussion.
At the helm of it all is the Italian hothead himself, head coach Nick Sirianni, who may or may not hold players accountable via lip reader at least until their number gets flashed on the screen and subsequent team meetings.
“I guess I'm animated a lot, right? So, I don't think I can be animated on the sideline and then ask anybody else not to be,” Sirianni said. “I think that's part of the game. Emotion is part of the game.”
Kelce is often remorseful after an emotional outburst, be it in training camp when he got into it with Indianapolis linebacker Zaire Franklin or on Sunday in Los Angeles.
“It’s not good, and it’s not productive, and it’s not respectful,” Kelce said on his New Heights Podcast. “... “We want to be really good. And, I know that we’re 5-0, but we could very easily not be 5-0, and the one glaring thing we need to get fixed is the red zone, and it’s starting to become a major frustration for me, but I gotta handle it better than this.”
Jason Kelce believes he could have handled his emotions better in Los Angeles.
John McMullen/Eagles Today
Sirianni called the Hurts-Brown dustup against Minnesota in Week 2 a “2 out of 10” for typical quarterback-wide receiver angst, something Brown cut by more than half.
“I’d say that was about half of 1,” Brown said. “But it just looked like that because it was on TV and we were using our hands and stuff. And I think (Sirianni) kind of made it worse when he came in and tried to get in the middle of it.”
“Sideline discussion,” as Brown described it — even tough ones – aren’t the end of the world.
“That doesn’t mean I’m beefing with Jalen,” Brown said. “... We’re trying to be great. We’re pushing each other. So we might have uncomfortable conversations, no matter if it’s in practice or in a game.
“Those conversations happen.”
Kelce does believe there are more productive ways to air out the dirty laundry, however.
"I think in relationships in general, it’s good to air things out," he told SI.com's Eagles Today after practice Thursday. "I think bottling things up and not telling people is a lot of times more harmful. There are better ways to air those things out. I think that’s what we’re getting at."
Sirianni believes that emotion can even be healthy at times.
“Getting to the root of the problem is part of the game,” Sirianni said. “Just like you have a way to have a coaching point it's sometimes going to be delivered with a smack on the butt and sometimes it's going to be delivered with a yell or whatever it is. Same way it can happen with animation on the sideline.
“That's healthy. When you're connected and together, the only thing that matters is that we're getting better from it.”
Kelce also acknowledges the closer people are the more honest they can be.
"A lot of it comes down to how comfortable we feel around people, and when you really love people and you feel comfortable around them, you don’t have as much of a guard up in what you’re going to say to somebody," Kelce explained. "And I think that you saw that with Jalen and A.J. earlier in the year. Those guys have been best friends.
"... And when you’re best friends with somebody, you’re not going to be reserved about telling them something. I think there’s some truth to that, and there’s some truth to the way we all handle our emotions that feeds off one another."
Emotion is simply part of the Eagles’ package.
“If I had to take emotion out of our sideline, I would have to go sit in the press box,” Sirianni joked. “And I don't see many head coaches doing that.”
