No NFL head coach won more games in the 2024 campaign than Nick Sirianni. He led the Philadelphia Eagles to an 18-3 record (including playoffs) and the Super Bowl LIX championship. However, despite this dominance, Sirianni’s abilities are routinely underrated, even disrespected.
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For instance, he was the 12th-place finisher in the NFL’s 2024 Coach of the Year voting. Matt LaFleur, Mike Tomlin and Todd Bowles — who had zero postseason game wins — all earned more votes than Sirianni. And most recently, he was snubbed by Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski in their ‘All-Dude team’.
Sirianni could possibly feel a wee bit better since LaFleur, Tomlin and Bowles were not mentioned as candidates for coaching spots in the list. However, in Gronkowski’s opinion, Andy Reid (1st team) and Dan Quinn (2nd team) deserve more distinction than the Eagles coach.
“[The Chiefs] won all those games this year because of their coaching,” he said before elaborating on the choice.
“They were ready in all situations of football, all the way down to the wire… You win close games because of good coaching… [Then] Dan Quinn… First year with the Commanders… [They’ve] been absolutely terrible over the last two decades… Turning it around like that with a rookie quarterback… [I] Tip my hat off to him,” Gronkowski said on the Dudes on Dudes podcast.
Sirianni indeed boasts one of the league’s most stacked rosters. Many analysts consider the Eagles to be the best and deepest team in the NFL. But he still had to manage some eccentric personalities — like A.J. Brown — and keep his house in order to win the Super Bowl.
Not every leader can successfully pull that off. And this season, Sirianni did so with flying colors.
Gronkowski and Edelman had to agree on names to add them to their rosters. Reid and Quinn, as mentioned, got the nods. Sirianni’s absence, Edelman explained, is a sign that the NFL has many great coaches these days.
“[These] coaches… They’ll always literally be in playoff contention… We didn’t even [mention] the coach that won the Super Bowl, Nick Sirianni [yet],” justified Edelman.
Gronkowski added that “these coaches are all legit”, and acknowledged it was “going to be tough to make a first and second team with them.”
Edelman described Reid’s brilliant history for Kansas City and the way Quinn executed an incredible turnaround in the nation’s capital to substantiate their pick.
“To keep a team motivated to go back to the Super Bowl after being back-to-back Super Bowl champs… That’s really tough to do… There’s so many variables… No one [had] ever gone to a Super Bowl after going back-to-back. [Reid] did that… [and Washington’s] historically really bad… to flip it [so fast]… that’s huge… so I agree [on] Dan Quinn… that was a great job this year,” elaborated Edelman.
Philadelphia beat Washington and Kansas City by a combined margin of 50 points (95-45) in the NFC Championship game and Super Bowl LIX. There may be no better feather in Sirianni’s cap to justify his status as a coach than that.
However, this go-round, he couldn’t overcome Reid and Quinn in Edelman’s and Gronkowski’s minds. He’ll hope to further prove himself in the 2025 campaign and earn their recognition next year.
