Former Chargers Connections Highlight Early Positive Returns on Nick Sirianni

The Eagles rookie head coach has taken the unconventional route on occasion but he's passing all the early litmus tests

PHILADELPHIA - The early returns are all positive when it comes to the Eagles' rookie head coach Nick Sirianni.

A relative unknown when he arrived in Philadelphia, at least to the casual fan, the fact that the-then 39-year-old Sirianni was the last man standing in a 10-man interview class to replace a Super Bowl-winning coach brought with it some trepidation.

That was further fueled by an awkward introductory press conference in which the upstate New York native didn't exactly take to a virtual atmosphere.

One of the more interesting paths Sirianni took was with his coaching staff. The 10,000-foot view reveals inexperience, including the youngest coordinator in the NFL, special-teams leader Michael Clay, and the youngest position coach in the league, linebackers mentor Nick Rallis.

Up close, however, you see young, energetic visionaries on the fast track, particularly 38-year-old defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who many around the league view as a future head coach.

Some old-school football minds have scoffed at practices as short as 70 minutes but the first units were very crisp in cameo appearances against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the preseason opener for Philadelphia.

"It was a crisp, crisp first half. Like the ones and twos in that first half, they were crisp," Sirianni said afterward.

Sirianni faced another test this week, working out the logistics of what he wanted to accomplish against the New England Patriots during two joint practices in advance of a preseason game between the two teams on Thursday night.

The young mentor, who turned 40 in mid-June, wasn't flying blind or alone for that matter because Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and GM Howie Roseman have had a good relationship with the Pats and have hosted Bill Belichick and Co. for joint practices in the past.

"It's been good," said Belichick in advance of the practices. "Philadelphia's been great. They've given us everything we need," Belichick said in advance of the practices. "There's a few moving parts and things like that like there always are, but we'll work through those, and ultimately the benefits of working against the Eagles for two solid days I think will more than make up for whatever inconvenience there is.

"Not that there's a big one, but yeah. Just a little bit."

Bill Belichick prior to Tuesday's practice against the Eagles :: Ed Kracz/SI.com Eagle Maven

Belichick, of course, owns more jewelry than a Kardashian so there's a little cachet when he comes to town.

From the outside looking in, there seemed to be compromise with New England getting a two-hour session on Monday, and things being scaled back to an Eagles-style 75 minutes on Tuesday.

Belichick, though, was piloting the ship, making sure he got plenty of 7-on-7 red-zone work he wanted in the latter session, something confirmed to SI.com's Eagle Maven by a member of the Eagles coaching staff.

Whoever laid things out, the end game was the Eagles getting the most out of the work and generally outplaying the Pats.

"These two practices yesterday and today are game-like, as much game-like as you can possibly get," Sirianni said. "That's why I value these practices so much."

The template when hiring young head coaches around the league has been to pair them with a veteran sounding board who has been there and done that. Sean McVay had Wade Phillips to start with the Los Angeles Rams, Matt Nagy had Vic Fangio in Chicago before the latter got the big chair in Denver, and Matt LaFleur had Mike Pettine in Green Bay.

This year the Atlanta Falcons gave Arthur Smith a veteran defensive mind in Dean Pees and the Chargers gave Brandon Staley an offensive mind in Joe Lombardi who has been a long-time, right-hand man to Sean Payton.

On the surface, Sirianni doesn't have that but this isn't about titles or convention.

Over the past three practices, just as the big bad GOAT was set to arrive in South Philadelphia, Mike McCoy, the former Chargers coach, and Sirianni's former boss, was front and center to observe what was going on with the Eagles.

Former Chargers coach Mike McCoy at Eagles practice / John McMullen

"It's great to have him here," Sirianni said. "It's really great to have him here and see him [at] practice. I always respected how much Mike paid attention to situations."

While McCoy is in Philadelphia as a guest, much like Doug Pederson has visited Nagy in Chicago and Frank Reich in Indianapolis this summer, he's surely serving as that sounding board for Sirianni

"There are so many situations that pop up in a game, and I'm not just talking about third down. I'm not talking about red zone," the coach said. "Yes, I'm including those two-minute backed up, four-minute. I'm including those, but there are so many situations within situations. There are so many things that pop up. And [McCoy] always, always, always, spent a ton of time talking about those things and practicing those things and walking through those things. And it made us a smarter football team.

"I do believe that we definitely became a smarter football team because of it, and so I always took that from him."

There are other avenues Sirianni pulls from as well.

With the young receivers starting to click recently, the head coach made sure to mention position coach Aaron Moorehead's work as well passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo but also coaching intern Eddie Royal, a former wideout for McCoy and Sirianni with the Chargers.

"Really a credit to Aaron Moorehead and Kevin Patullo who have really helped work there and it's great to have Eddie Royal here working with our guys," said Sirianni. "Eddie is doing an internship with us. He was a great football player for our Charger teams, and you know, had a lot of success, and I always thought he was really savvy as a football player and I know he's able to add his knowledge there as well."

Sirianni is uncovering every rock to make the Eagles better, the very definition of what a coach should do.

"It's always a group decision initially," he said, "but my job as the head coach is to hear all the different parties that play and be able to make the decision that I think is best for the team and our football team."

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagle Maven 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.