Nick Sirianni won't strip emotion from film study of Super Bowl
The Eagles have spent months moving on from their Super Bowl LIX win over the Chiefs.
There’s no avoiding it this week.
As the Eagles head to Kansas City in Week 2 for a Super Bowl rematch, they are obviously watching tape from their 40-22 win in New Orleans in February. And there’s no way to strip all emotion from that game, not even when you’re watching the coach’s tape.
“Anytime you watch a game that you have a good memory of … we’re human, it always brings that emotion back,” head coach Nick Sirianni said on Wednesday morning.
“But you’re watching it for a purpose too. I think it’s possible to have the emotion but it’s not like I’m jumping up and down when Smitty (DeVonta Smith) catches the touchdown and I’m not running down the sideline like I was in the game and Connor Barwin shoves me. It’s a different type of emotion because I think you can have that and get the job done that you’re trying to do.”
The Eagles clobbered the Chiefs in that game. While the final score was 40-22, it wasn’t that close. The Eagles were up 34-0 late in the third quarter after the Dagger from Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith. Still, the Chiefs did a few good things in that game, including their plan to slow down Saquon Barkley. And, either way, there are things to learn from studying that film.
Sirianni on Wednesday, likened this Super Bowl rematch to playing a division opponent for the second time in a season. He said there’s a checklist to go through for games like that and the Eagles are going through that list this week as they prepare to face the Chiefs again.
The Eagles’ head coach also pointed out that the only teams the Eagles have played in every season since he became head coach in 2021 are the Cowboys, Giants and Commanders in the division, as well as the Chiefs. So there’s a lot of familiarity here.
While the Eagles are going through their process, they know the Chiefs are too. So some things that were successful in the last meeting might show up again, but just in a different form. And there will be corrections from February too.
As the Eagles re-watch Super Bowl LIX, they’re naturally going to feel some emotions. How could Cooper DeJean not get excited when he watches his pick-6? How could Zack Baun not feel something when he watches his interception off Patrick Mahomes? How could Jalen Hurts not smile when — OK, bad example. But you know what we mean.
“And that’s not just the Super Bowl,” Sirianni emphasized.
Sirianni said just last week, he got a text from Philip Rivers with some clips from the Chargers-Cowboys game on Thanksgiving in 2017. Sirianni was excited to see a big game from Hunter Henry and Austin Ekeler, he was pumped to see a great play from Keenan Allen and he even seemed to enjoy remembering the reason the Chargers went for a 4th-and-13 was because their kicker was out of the game.
His answer meandered with Chargers memories for a while and then he got back to the initial question about stripping emotion from watching Super Bowl tape.
“Yes,” Sirianni said. “But you’re still doing your job and you can have both of those things. Because I’d be just flat-out lying if I said there wasn’t any emotion when you watch a cool play from tape. And that’s not just that game, that’s all games that I watch in preparation for the week.”
Nick Sirianni won't strip emotion from film study of Super Bowl
