And when all the winning lines up with aesthetics both head coach Nick Sirianni and quarterback Jalen Hurts find it hard to play Barry Sanders and hand the football to the nearest official. Instead, it’s always Rob Gronkowski with the monster spike.
Sunday’s 55-23 drubbing of the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game was too dominant a performance to stay in the shadows.
For the understated Hurts, it was a question about Sirianni and how he likes playing for his boss that unleashed a passive-aggressive sentiment aimed at the narrative of a risk-averse offense since the team’s Week 5 bye.
“He’s done a great job,” a wry Hurts said with a smile. “I guess he let me out of my straight jacket a little bit today.”
The far more verbose Sirianni found Joe Montana and Tom Brady tangents when discussing his QB1.
“We’ve been through a lot together. A lot of wins, some down times. That’s what kind of forges relationships,” said Sirianni. “I don’t want anybody else leading this team at quarterback other than him.
“He’s a winner.”
Then came the sharp left turn.
“Again, he deals with so much criticism which just blows my mind because of the questions I have to answer,” the coach claimed. “I don’t look too much into that. The questions I have to answer it’s just like, man, this guy wins. He’s won his entire life.
“That’s more important. Winning at quarterback is more important than any stat that you go through. I’m sure it’ll be the same thing. ‘Oh, he’s got great players around him.’ Well, you tell me a quarterback that’s won like this that has s@#$ around him.
“It doesn’t happen, right? Talk about Joe Montana. Who is he throwing to? Oh, Jerry Rice. So, these guys have been so good at this position have had great players around them. Whether it’s Brady with the defense early on in his career or Edelman or Gronk. I mean, you don’t win in this game unless you have great players around you. You don’t win consistently unless you have great players around you.”
The kids might say ‘tell me you listen to the outside noise without telling me you listen to the outside noise.’
“Sometimes I feel like it’s a negative on him. It kind of blows your mind,” Sirianni continued. “He wins. He’s a winner. I don’t want anyone else leading us other than Jalen Hurts. I’m proud of the way he went out there and battled today and played today.
“He doesn’t care about anything other than winning, and I know that and that’s selfless.”
At the end of the day, use what works. If being fueled by engagement grifters trying to ignite a volatile, passionate fan base that will do a 180 anyway when the style points do show up can be manufactured into bulletin-board material, mass product it.
As noted fabricator Goeorge Costanza once said, “Just remember, it’s not a lie if you believe it.”
The Eagles are 60 minutes away from derailing a dynasty and if the imagined-disrespect card is believed to the point it’s going to win the hand you might as well play it.