A Recipe for Rest
Despite Not Being Nominated for Coach of the Year, Nick Sirianni Has Positioned the Eagles to Win A Super Bowl.
Philadelphia is relatively healthy when the Eagles arrive in New Orleans this week after a grueling three-game NFC Playoffs and a seventeen-game regular season.
Being this healthy in February is a rarity in the NFL.
PHOTO: Philadelphia Eagles/Twitter/X
Since 1966, the NFL Playoff system has been relatively simple for nearly fifty years. Six teams from each conference made the playoffs, with the top two seeds getting bye weeks during the Wildcard Round. The only way the #2 seed would need to travel was if the top seed advanced to host the conference championship game.
This strategy benefitted the Eagles several times during Andy Reid’s era, including in 2003–2004, when they took advantage of a late-season St. Louis Rams loss to secure the #1 seed.
Then, in 2020, the NFL expanded the playoffs to allow seven teams from each conference to make the playoffs. The Eagles, as the #2 seed in these NFC Playoffs, had to play an extra round to advance to next week’s Super Bowl.
In one of his best moves of the season — Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni sat his starters in week eighteen — casting aside an enticing opportunity for his offense and his All-Pro running back to capture a place in the NFL record books.
The genius of this move is not only that the Eagles will arrive in New Orleans for Super Bowl week healthy—which is also a credit to the Eagles training staff—but also that it allowed the Eagles to be fresh for the Packers, Rams, and Commanders.
Creating his own bye week — is just another brilliant move for a man who should be NFL Coach of the Year.
PHOTO: Philadelphia Eagles/Twitter/X
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Categorized:Eagles