Gardner Minshew Wants His Revenge
PHILADELPHIA - For all of Nick Sirianni's talk about competition, the Eagles' rookie head coach seems to rarely win when playing a friendly game of Roshambo with Landon Dickerson, engaging in a three-point shooting contest with Greg Ward, or daring to challenge Jake Elliott in ping-pong.
On Wednesday, though, we got out first confirmed victory by Sirianni when his brand new quarterback, Gardner Minshew, admitted he came out on the losing end of a game of HORSE during the pre-draft process in 2019.
On Tuesday, Sirinni had raved about Minshew, who was acquired from Jacksonville for a conditional sixth-round pick over the weekend, from facing him two times a year while the Eagles coach was the offensive coordinator in Indianapolis.
"I've gotten to see him play in person two times a year so that's four times," Sirianni said. "The first game up there last year we opened up the season at Jacksonville, and he was 19 of 20 against our defense and really played a good game. I've watched him play some good games.
"... I'm really excited to work with him."
Armed with that information Minshew was asked how much his new coach had to do with his acquisition on Wednesday.
"I don’t know, not much," Minshew said. "I think he mostly talked about, if anything, when he was at Indianapolis, I took a draft visit and we were playing HORSE, and it was getting pretty competitive, and I had a button-up (shirt) on, and I had to take that off because the game was getting a little too competitive.
"I think that really stood out. I think that might have actually played a role."
That naturally opened up the next avenue of questioning for Minshew - who won the game of HORSE?
"Dang. He did," the QB smiled.
It wasn't Sirianni's talent, though, according to Minshew. The coach distracted the soon-to-be rookie by talking about some of the things he looks for in a young QB.
"I was up, but then we started talking ball, and he was kind of distracting me," Minshew joked. "I took my shirt off, it didn’t help. And he just beat me."
A noted competitor himself, Minshew is clamoring for a rematch.
"That’s why I’m back," he said. I’m back for revenge."
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
