An Eagles Peek Behind the Curtain with 'Situational' Coach Nick Sirianni

PHILADELPHIA – Entering Day 3 of the Detroit Lions' recent minicamp, coach Dam Campbell laid out the last vestiges of the team’s spring work to reporters.

“Been two good days. One more day, we get some situational work and it’ll pretty much be it for the vets,” Campbell said.

Considering just how many one-score games there are in the NFL, a league built on parity, situational football is everything. How any team handles three or four big moments during a particular week is likely going to be the difference between winning and losing.

Common sense says all 32 teams understand just how important situational football is and everyone works on it but the Philadelphia Eagles have seemingly distanced themselves from the pack by stressing the specialty more than most.

How much more?

Here’s how veteran linebacker Nicholas Morrow described it earlier this spring.

“Since I’ve been here for six weeks … this is the most that I’ve learned situationally,” Morrow said. “We’ve really emphasized situation awareness, and this is probably the most I’ve learned in my seven-year career.”

Morrow’s previous stints were with the then-Oakland Raiders and the Chicago Bears. His experience, coupled with Campbell’s Day 3 emphasis in Detroit gives you a little window into how the Eagles are winning outside the margins by always marrying situational football with its daily preparation, be it the teaching in the spring, the evaluation in the summer, or the game-planning in the fall.

Armed with Morrow’s sentiment, SI.com’s Eagles Today went to Philadelphia coach Nick Sirianni to better understand what makes his team different.

“We talk about it a lot. We talk about it an awful lot,” said Sirianni as he contemplated how much of the secret sauce he was willing to share.

“In the offseason, I can give you some things,” he continued. “... After we have a practice, after we have an OTA, we'll come in here, we'll review the practice film together as a team, our accountability piece, and then we'll get into situations.

“Today it was two-minute. Yesterday was four-minute. The day before that was backed up [near our own goal line]. Whatever it is -- and we go over the things that are required amongst that situation in the game for us to be successful.”

It’s not necessarily a daily routine in other cities and for Sirianni it’s not just about prepping his players. The coach also stresses that he and his assistants are razor sharp so the right information will be given to those on the field in big situations.

“We're just diligent with that,” Sirianni said. “We want our players to feel that. We want our players to walk out on the field and say, ‘Hey, we're a physical team, we have an advantage here,’ and we want them to walk out there and say, ‘Hey, we're a smart football team, we have a high football IQ, and we have an advantage here.’

“You're always trying to work on football IQ.”

Football IQ is one of Sirianni’s five core values as a coach and he harkened back to his poorly received introductory press conference ultimately panning out.

“What did I say in my opening press conference that everybody would make fun of? I want a smart team,” the coach said with chip firmly planted on shoulder. “That was really funny, everyone was making fun of it, but we’re a smart football team. I guess I was on to something there.

“Anyway, that's what you're trying to do in those things. You're trying to create football IQ, and you're doing that through situational football”.

The values aren’t a catchphrase.

“I can't say this enough. Core values aren’t just something on the wall that says connect, compete, accountability, football IQ, and fundamentals, and we say that, and we walk out, and we don't do that anymore,” Sirianni explained. “We practice it and we preach it every single day.”

The fact that Morrow spent six years ill-equipped only came into focus when he was given the tools to be prepared for any situation.

“I’m glad [Nick Morrow] feels that way because we want him to feel that way,” said Sirianni. “We want our guys to feel equipped to handle situations. We want our coaches to feel equipped to handle situations.

“Today, it was the two-minute situation about us as coaches putting them in the right call based off the situation, and then the players going out and doing that call. But I made it very clear to the coaches, we have to get you guys in the right call.

“...We feel like that's an edge that we have when we step out onto the field because we work on it a lot”.

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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today 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 YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen