Nick Sirianni's Hectic Christmas Weekend Gives Way to Uncertain Injury News

So, you wanna be a football coach?

This was how Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni spent his Christmas weekend:

He flew to Dallas with his team on Friday.

On Saturday, he was coaching on the sidelines against the Cowboys and losing a 40-34 decision.

Then came Christmas Day.

“I know a lot of our coaches, myself, I probably watched that game eight times (Sunday), and just talking back and forth with coaches, said Sirianni on Monday.

“Obviously in between kids playing Madden or my son playing Madden or my wife and her mom making dinner or whatever it was, watching that game so we can say to ourselves, how are we going to get better from this?”

There was no respite on Monday for Sirianni, as he learned that he would be without right tackle Lane Johnson and slot cornerback Avonte Maddox.

Johnson reportedly tore a tendon in the abdominal area and Maddox suffered a significant toe injury.

“We probably think they'll miss a little bit of time,” said Sirianni. “…It's early on in the process here, too, with these guys, so (we) want to get some more information back, but kind of looking that way, but we'll see, and we'll see the severity and how long it will be.”

Then, there’s the QB situation.

It’s too early in the week to know if Jalen Hurts will be able to return against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

Last year, he missed only one game with an ankle injury that would ultimately require offseason surgery, so maybe he will return just as quickly this year.

“One day at a time here,” said the coach. "We know how much he wanted to play last week and how much he did to get his body ready.

"Again, with Jalen, his body heals differently than yours and mine. He's going to do everything he can to get himself healthy. If he's healthy, he'll play."

Sirianni had some praise for backup Gardner Minshew on how he played against the Cowboys, who would once again get the nod if Hurts isn't ready.

"I thought Gardner really handled himself with a lot of poise," he said. "I thought he made some really nice plays."

That was another thing Sirianni did on Christmas Day - texted with his quarterback, going through corrections as well as some of the plays he believed his quarterback did well.

The coach said the good plays outweighed the bad.

Finally, as if that isn’t enough, now comes the stress and strain of having to win at least one game over the final two to clinch the NFC’s top seed in the playoffs.

Sirianni’s first crack at it in his second season in charge went down in the wreckage of four turnovers and a third-and-30 completion for 52 yards that could haunt this team the rest of the way.

At least the Eagles’ two shots at it will come at home, after three straight games on the road, in which the Eagles went 2-1.

After the Saints, the Eagles will host the New York Giants.

“Always important to play at home, especially in Philadelphia,” said Sirianni. “We know how electric that stadium is. We know how awesome our fans are, we know how intimidating our fans and that place can be to an opposing team. Any time you're home you love that because, in this game where the parity of this league is so, so tight, we'll take any advantage we can get.

“…I am really excited to be in front of our crowd because I love our fans. I love our city and want to play in front of them. I'd love to be a big-time college program where you have, you know, like a Michigan has ten home games. Doesn't it always seem like Michigan plays home games all the time?

We would love to be able to do that. Obviously, the NFL gave us nine home games this year and eight away games, but, yeah, looking forward to getting back out there in front of our fans and letting them affect the game.”

Home games are the easy part of being a coach.

The rest of it can be trying.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.

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