'It makes me hungrier:' Sirianni reflects on crushing Super Bowl loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Nick Sirianni isn’t one to reflect. He’s not one to talk about the big picture. He’s not one to look at anything other than the next practice, the next meeting, the next game.
Right now, there is no next practice, next meeting or next game. Not for quite a while. Just an offseason that will bring a lot of change.
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And when he met with the media Thursday he did allow himself to take a rare big-picture look at this past season.
It was still only four days from the Super Bowl, and the emotions were raw.
Sirianni was asked Thursday what wisdom he gained from the experience of the past couple weeks
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“The wisdom is that we were there, we were close,” he said. “And all that does to me is make me hungrier to get back and that's about the last time you'll hear me say, ‘Get back,’ because what you're going to hear me say is we're going to do it one day at a time, one day at a time, because that's the right mindset.
“But that doesn't stop you from when you see the red and yellow confetti fall or you have a piece of it stuck on your shirt, that you don't think to yourself, ‘I have to do everything I can to help our guys get back to this moment.’
“Maybe that's not a wisdom thing, maybe that's more of my drive and I know our players' drive and I know Howie's drive to be like, ‘Oh, my God, we were there.’”
The Eagles rolled past the Giants, rolled past the 49ers, built a 10-point halftime lead over the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, and then watched the whole thing crumble to the ground in a disastrous second half that cost the franchise its fifth championship.
It was a hell of a season – 14 wins, an NFC East title, No. 1 seed, a second Super Bowl in six seasons.
But all Sirianni can think about is the one that got away.
“We talk about climbing the mountain,” he said. “We climbed the mountain. We took one step at a time, one step at a time, one step at a time, and then we slip right before we were able to put our flag at the top of the mountain.
“All that does is make you more determined, driven, to make that climb again, to get back to the top and hopefully stand at the top.
“Like Rocky, before he fought Drago, and he’s yelling out, ‘DRAGO,’ over the top of Moscow - I use too many Rocky analogies, I get it. But that's the wisdom that happens.”
Sirianni gets emotional, we all know that, and when you’re together with the same group of players and coaches virtually every day for seven months, the realization that it’s the last time that group will be together can be difficult.
Every team goes through it, but when you’ve worked together to reach the Super Bowl and then fell just short of winning, that’s a lot to process.
“Half the fun of this thing, half the reason we do this, and a big part of the reason is the journey,” Sirianni said. “So without getting sentimental here, that is the last time that that group of men will be together. …
“It’s not going to be the same team. There's going to be draft picks. Jonathan [Gannon] is gone. Shane [Steichen] is gone. Different things are going to happen. But you look back. You always cherish that journey. It didn't end the way you wanted it to, but the journey was special.
“The men involved in the journey were special. The relationships that were built will last forever.”
