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Eagles Coach Nick Sirianni Explains His Side of Tunnel Trash Talk After Win vs. Bills

'It's fun to show emotion.'

Brigid Kennedy

The Eagles have just one more game left on the schedule: a home tilt vs. the Commanders.
The Eagles have just one more game left on the schedule: a home tilt vs. the Commanders. / Amber Searls-Imagn Images
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The Eagles just barely survived their Week 17 matchup vs. the Bills on Sunday after Buffalo's attempt to win the game on a last-second two-point conversion failed spectacularly.

As the Birds then left the field, head coach Nick Sirianni was heard yelling excitedly and victoriously in the tunnel, a move deemed gratuitously boastful by some fans.

A few days later, Sirianni opened up a bit about how he was feeling in that moment and defended his impassioned show of emotion.

"Football is fun, right? I have a job that I love because I love football and I'm sure you guys feel the same way," the coach told. Philly's SportsRadio 94WIP on Tuesday. "It's okay to show emotion, right? It's fun to show emotion. It's O.K. to be excited, and I don't think I've ever been somebody that has been shy to show my emotion. We had fun in that game. We had fun winning that game.

"And yeah, you're going to be emotional after the game. You're going to be emotional in the game. And so ... you can be emotional, but then it's got to be, 'Hey, how are we playing the next play? How am I coaching the next play?' Everything like that. ... I love seeing our guys show emotion after they make a big play, and I show emotion after they make a big play because that's one of the reasons why you get into coaching. You can't make plays anymore, and you want to help other people make the plays. ... That was a tough win in some tough conditions in the NFL."

Sirianni added that the Eagles' schedule also contributed to his pride, noting that, although everyone in their conference also played the NFC North and the AFC West, Philly was the only team to play the Bills, Buccaneers and Rams.

"To come out of that with a 3–0 record speaks volumes for our team and what we've done so far," he said.

So, in other words, Sirianni isn't ashamed of Sunday's outburst; rather, he believes the game of football often justifies such a reaction.

Watch that below:

In his defense, it was a hard-fought win. It was a road game for Philly, and in terrible cold and wet conditions, but the Eagles' defense still kept Buffalo scoreless until the fourth quarter before stopping the Bills from walking away with the victory at the last second. So you can see where the coach was/is coming from.

The Birds have one game left vs. the Commanders before the playoffs begin on Jan. 10. They are locked into no worse than the 3-seed, but could theoretically grab the 2-seed if the Bears lose to the Lions in Week 18. And if that happens, we'd assume Sirianni will be just as pumped up as he was last weekend.

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Brigid Kennedy
BRIGID KENNEDY

Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.

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