Around this time a decade ago, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was just another assistant trying to make it in the NFL. The then-31-year-old had just put a bow on his first year as the Chiefs‘ wide receivers coach, during which Kansas City slumped to a 2–14 record.
The Chiefs responded by sacking coach Romeo Crennel and replacing him with Andy Reid, and Reid elected not to retain Sirianni—something that motivated Sirianni as he climbed the coaching ranks.
“Do you always have this little chip on your shoulder? Sure, yeah, you do,” Sirianni said, via ESPN. “But that’s who I am as a coach and as a person—I want to make sure I’m working my butt off to get as good as I possibly can. And sure, you hold on to some of those things.”
Now, 10 years on, Sirianni has risen to lead Philadelphia to an NFC title in his first season. Reid, meanwhile, won Super Bowl LIV with the Chiefs and is firmly entrenched on a Hall of Fame track.
“I didn’t coach with Andy, but he gave me a good example of what to do with a hard part of the job of: ‘Hey, I got a guy here.’ He was complimentary. He knew I would be down, so he gave me strength when I was down,” Sirianni said, via ESPN. “I appreciated that, and it sounds like that’s who he is as a person and a coach.”
The Eagles and Kansas City will meet in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.
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