Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is celebrating his contract extension after a successful start to his NFL head coaching career. While many congratulated him Monday, a sports radio host was still bewildered at his accomplishments after four seasons.
Fox Sports Radio host Ben Maller discussed Sirianni’s extension on his show early Tuesday morning on “The Ben Maller Show,” admitting he hasn’t been a fan of Sirianni, whom he called a “highly volatile stock” based on sideline behavior. Maller said he has probably rhetorically “fired” Sirianni at least seven times on his radio show.
“Don’t get me wrong, as a talk show host, I love Nick Sirianni,” Maller said. “He’s amateur, he does everything you’re not supposed to do as a grown-up, and it’s good for talk radio. It’s really great. Fans heckle him and he’s a pompous (expletive). All the stuff you’re taught not to do, he does, which is really good for what I do. He bites back, he doesn’t keep his composure right and has emotional outbursts. All that is wonderful for us. It’s fine if the Eagles are winning, and it’s not going to last.”
Maller continued by attributing the team’s success more to personnel than coaching.
“If you look at the Eagles right now, I would argue the success of the Eagles is based more on a byproduct of the talent than it is any kind of amazing coaching prowess of Nick Sirianni,” Maller said. “The whole trash talk stuff and getting into it with opposing players, referees, the Eagles fans and all that, that’s all fun when you’re good, and then when you’re bad, it’s like, wait a minute, we gotta get somebody else in here. This guy doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
Sirianni has compiled a 48-20 regular-season record and a 6-3 playoff record in his first four seasons, including two Super Bowl appearances and one championship.
Players have supported him throughout his tenure, with wide receiver A.J. Brown defending Sirianni during the team’s 2023 collapse, saying the coach was taking heat for the players and players going to Sirianni asking him to be himself early in the 2024 season, just before the Eagles began their Super Bowl run.
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Chris Franklin may be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com.