Last week Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was asked to speak about the medical status of quarterback Jalen Hurts, which has gone from troubling to potentially life-threatening. But for former NFL center and current ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday was not amused to see Sirianni being made to answer questions on such topics.
Saturday pointed out that Sirianni is not involved in player health and safety and has to rely on the medical staff to make decisions on whether players are able to play. He pointed out that the NFLPA has even set things up so that coaches don’t have that kind of influence anymore.
“Nick Sirianni had no business addressing those questions. Not even a little bit. He’s not involved in player health and safety. He is the head coach of the Eagles. He is told by medical staff whether a player is up or whether a player is down. He doesn’t control whether a guy gets on a plane to go anywhere. He knows little to nothing. And it was set up that way by the Players Association and the NFL that no coach, whether it’s a head coach, position coach, coordinator, has any input into a player’s health or who’s going to be up or down for a game,” Saturday said.
Saturday feels that Sirianni is being turned into a scapegoat over the whole situation with Hurts’ health and admonished the Eagles for doing so.
“So Nick Sirianni was the scapegoat on this. Shame on you Eagles, shame on you Philadelphia, for not putting a medical professional, who actually had input into that decision, getting up to field these questions.”
Not on Nick
Sirianni has been criticized a lot this year, but fans were willing to agree that he should not be taking as much criticism over this particular issue given the dynamics at play:
“Agreed. I criticize Nick a lot but this was not on him and he took the shot for it smh,” one user replied on X.
“Jeff Saturday is spot on here. As if the season hasn’t been tough enough on Nick, the Eagles threw him out there to take a media beating for their medical staff’s own failures. Lurie or Howie need to speak,” wrote another.
“The fact they sent him out there to get grilled makes me think they may be ready to fire him anyway,” a third wrote.
Bill Streicher-Imagn Images.
Unfortunately, Sirianni might wind up being the scapegoat regardless of how Hurts’ recovery goes. He’s supposedly been on thin ice for a while now and his main saving grace has been that the team keeps winning.
If the Eagles start losing more regularly now that Hurts is out of action, the team might fire him anyway.
It’s not a fair situation, but it’s the one Sirianni finds himself in.
