Nick Sirianni Makes History As Philadelphia Eagles Clinch Playoff Spot
Nick Sirianni's Sunday may not have had a great start as quarterback Jalen Hurts was downgraded to questionable for Monday's game against the Seattle Seahawks as he deals with an illness. But by late afternoon, it still turned out to be a pretty good day for the Philadelphia Eagles coach.
The Eagles will go into their Monday Night Football matchup with the Seahawks at Lumen Field knowing that regardless of how the game plays out, they've already punched their ticket to the postseason. Prior to Week 15, we outlined nine scenarios that would allow the Eagles to clinch a postseason berth. Without diving back into the minutiae, the first two of those scenarios played out, allowing the Eagles to clinch a playoff spot for the third season in a row.
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni made history Sunday.
Bill Streicher/USA Today
According to Zach Berman of PHLY, Sirianni is the only coach in Eagles history to guide the team to the postseason in each of his first three seasons on the job. For a franchise that's employed the likes of Greasy Neale, Andy Reid and Doug Pederson, that's a pretty impressive accomplishment.
The Eagles snuck into the postseason as a Wild Card representative in Sirianni's first season, going 9-8 in 2021. Philadelphia followed that up by posting an NFL-best 14-3 record in 2022. Despite consecutive blowout losses, the Eagles will enter Monday's matchup with the Seahawks with a 10-3 record.
Of course, in Sirianni's third season on the job, the Eagles have higher goals than just appearing in the postseason.
Given that the 11-3 San Francisco 49ers own the tiebreaker over them by virtue of a head-to-head win, the Eagles will need some assistance to clinch the No. 1 spot in the NFC, which comes with a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
But as they attempt to become the first team to repeat as NFC East Champions in a generation, the Eagles got some help Sunday afternoon, as the Buffalo Bills throttled the Dallas Cowboys, dropping the division rivals to 10-4. If the Eagles are able to defeat the Seahawks Monday, they'll be in tremendous position to win the NFC East, given that their remaining slate includes two games against the 5-9 New York Giants with a tilt against the 3-11 Arizona Cardinals sandwiched in between.
Obviously, it will be a much easier task to defeat the Seahawks if Hurts is indeed able to play. Also, a strong debut performance from Matt Patricia -- who isn't being called the defensive coordinator but has replaced Sean Desai as the playcaller on that side of the ball -- wouldn't hurt.
