PHILADELPHIA — Nick Sirianni has been humbled by the NFL. His rookie season in charge got off to an uninspiring start and the ending, despite a late-season charge, came to a crashing halt. But the Eagles coach has lived a mostly charmed life in his second year.
Sirianni deserved much of the credit for his team’s initial success. As any coach would acknowledge, you also need a touch of luck from the football gods to go 13-1. The Eagles were remarkably healthy, the bounces often went their way, and the schedule was kind when they needed it to be.
But the NFL has a way of knocking you down a peg. Jalen Hurts got hurt, and then Lane Johnson, and now the Eagles — after falling to the ailing and flailing Saints, 20-10, on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field — are stumbling down the stretch and have yet to clinch a No. 1 seed in the playoffs that once looked like a formality.
