Eagles coach faces major criticism

Nick Sirianni is no stranger to criticism.

But following the Philadelphia Eagles’ 20-16 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, it was a different type of blowback Sirianni found himself facing after he brought his three children to his postgame press conference.

While the fourth-year Eagles head coach does have a history of having his kids accompany him to the podium , this marked the first time they had done so after a game during the 2024 season. And the timing proved awfully convenient, as it came after a game that saw Sirianni jaw with Eagles fans from the team’s sideline.

Asked about the interaction, the 43-year-old downplayed it and even credited the Philadelphia faithful for creating false starts that aided the Eagles’ efforts. Asked why he brought his kids to the press conference, Sirianni gave a lengthy answer about the importance of football and family.

“Why do I have them here? I have so many visions of why I love this game, being at Southwestern High School when I was these guys’ age, whether I’m at practice or the ball boy on the side, and my memories of them,” he said. … It’s so important that they fall in love with this game the way that I fell in love with this game, and so that’s why they’re up here.”

Yet despite his explanation, Sirianni’s decision to bring his kids to the postgame presser was met with backlash from media and fans alike. That included a scathing column from Mike Sielski of The Philadelphia Inquirer , who accused the former Mount Union wide receiver of using his kids to “shield” himself from criticism.

Wrote Sielski in a column titled “Nick Sirianni tried to deflect criticism after the Eagles’ ugly win. It was nothing but a cynical ploy”:

It was impossible to watch him on that dais — his kids smiling and squirming as he dropped a s— and an ass and smacked the table and monologued about the passion of a home crowd whose members spent most of the day sitting on their hands — and not see what was really going on.

This was an insult to everyone’s intelligence, an oh-so cynical maneuver from a coach whose team was fortunate to beat a bad opponent, a coach who tried to use the smallest and youngest members of his family to shield him from any pointed but appropriate questions, a coach whose future with the Eagles remains so uncertain.

Sielski was hardly on an island with his stance.

While Sirianni isn’t the first head coach to bring his kids to his postgame press conference, this isn’t UAB . And although it’s understandable for him to want his kids to enjoy the perks of having a dad who’s an NFL head coach, there are plenty of ways for them to do that without sitting next to him while he gets grilled about his gameplan and sideline antics.

In the end, only Sirianni knows whether he was attempting to use the presence of his kids to shield himself from media criticism. But if that was the case, it was ultimately just another part of his gameplan that proved unsuccessful.

The post Nick Sirianni criticized for using kids as ‘shield’ at postgame press conference appeared first on Awful Announcing .