Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni generated headlines when he shared earlier this week that he and his gamers would not be on the sphere for the Tremendous Bowl LIX banner-raising ceremony forward of Philadelphia’s regular-season opener versus the rival Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night time.
Throughout a chat with Scott Thompson of Fox Information Digital, Eagles legend and NFL analyst Brian Westbrook defined why he loves how Sirianni and Co. have dealt with being the reigning Tremendous Bowl champions since February.
No “victory lap” for Eagles
“The one factor I really like about this workforce this offseason was their method,” Westbrook stated. “This offseason wasn’t about them doing a victory lap round Philadelphia and america, saying they’re the most effective workforce in soccer, they beat the reigning champs, they usually did this, that and the opposite. It wasn’t about that. It was about refocusing. It was about saying, ‘Yeah, we received final yr, however we have now one thing else we need to show, and one just isn’t sufficient. Now, we have now to go on the market and earn it once more.'”
Brooks Kubena of The Athletic is amongst those that have famous that Sirianni typically prevented utilizing the phrase “repeat” all through the summer season, partially as a result of he desires his gamers to “run the mile they’re in.”
In July, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts revealed he wasn’t noticed sporting his championship ring on the night time he and his teammates have been introduced with the {hardware} as a result of he had “moved on to the brand new yr.” Whereas Hurts earned Tremendous Bowl LIX Most Invaluable Participant Award honors, some said following that contest that a stellar offensive line and 2024 Offensive Participant of the 12 months Saquon Barkley have been largely chargeable for all that the Eagles achieved final season.
Such takes are one motive Westbrook thinks Hurts nonetheless has a “chip on his shoulder” heading into the sport in opposition to the Cowboys.
The Eagles’ “superior chief” who is not Saquon Barkley
“Persons are nonetheless doubting him,” Westbrook stated about Hurts. “Tremendous Bowl MVP, and persons are nonetheless doubting him. So, Jalen walks round with slightly chip on his shoulder, and I respect that as a result of I performed with that as nicely. His capacity to steer this workforce goes to say so much, and I feel he’s an superior chief.”
As of Thursday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had Hurts tied for seventh among the many betting favorites at +2000 odds to assert MVP for the 2025 season. Hurts allegedly is “much more assured than some other yr,” and it additionally looks as if he nonetheless has a need to silence critics even if he’ll ceaselessly be referred to as a Tremendous Bowl champion.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1324276914788316’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
