Jalen Hurts: 'Standard changes,' as Eagles veterans scoff at Nick Sirianni firing questions

PHILADELPHIA − Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts came out more strongly in support of head coach Nick Sirianni on Wednesday, while still expressing surprise that questions about this return were even "a thing."

On Monday, after the Eagles' season ended with a 32-9 loss in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs, the Eagles' sixth loss in seven games, Hurts gave vague responses about whether he wants Sirianni back or if he has confidence in Sirianni fixing the problems, saying, "I have a ton of confidence in everyone."

Two days later, as the Eagles cleared out their lockers following the final team meeting of the season, Hurts was a bit more definitive in his answer.

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"Owners own, coaches coach, and players play," Hurts said. "I was asked that question the other day about that and what did I say? ... I didn’t know that was a thing. I had no idea that was a thing, so I don’t see why that would be the case (now).

"We plan on fixing everything that we’ve done and growing together − Coach Sirianni, (offensive coordinator) Brian (Johnson), everyone."

Defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, meanwhile, turned confrontational when he was asked a similar question. Like Hurts, Cox was surprised that Sirianni's return was in question.

"Come on, man. He’s the head football coach of this team," Cox said. "Come on, man. There ain’t even no (expletive) discussion about that."

He was then asked to clarify if he meant that he's unaware of speculation about Sirianni's job, or that Sirianni should return.

"What is there to talk about?" Cox said. "Because man, he’s a winner. He’s a winning head coach. Did we have some bumps this year? Yeah. But every team, every organization, everybody goes through it. We don’t look at firing a man who obviously won 10-plus games two years in a row, that took this organization to three playoff appearances three years in a row.

"That’s respect. He’s a good leader for this team. He does a really good job. Did we come up short? Yeah. Did things happen this year? Yeah. But I don’t discuss firing a man. This man got a family. I don’t discuss anything about that."

Other players also supported Sirianni. That included center Jason Kelce, who refused to take retirement questions after saying on his podcast that he hadn't made up his mind. But he did talk about Sirianni.

Like Cox, Kelce has been with the Eagles for more than a decade, and they have seen coaches come and go.

"I love Nick. I think Nick’s a great coach, I really do," Kelce said. "I think he’s a great head coach. Obviously, no one was good enough this year. I wasn’t. None of the players, none of the coaches were good enough down the stretch.

"That’s the reality of this business. When you’re that bad, it’s a collective thing. But I’ll always have faith in Nick Sirianni. ... Obviously, we got a lot of things to fix."

At some point in the coming days, Sirianni will meet with Eagles chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman to discuss the season, how to fix what went wrong, and how to prevent it from happening in the future.

No doubt, they'll also talk about Hurts, and how to make him better. Hurts struggled down the stretch just as his teammates and coaches did. When the Eagles were 10-1, Hurts was the favorite for the MVP award, with stats similar to 2022, when he was the MVP runner-up and led the Eagles to the Super Bowl.

But Hurts couldn't sustain that over the final seven games. Hurts said he has to change that, not only in his play, but in what he called "a new version of leadership." To do that, Hurts said "the standard changes," a corollary to his often-used saying of how "the standard is the standard."

"I think this year has taught me so much in terms of the many blessings and lessons that have come with it," Hurts said. "First thing you do is you look yourself in the mirror and what you could have been better at. How you could have led better. How you could have executed better. And those are all things that internally light a fire in me.

"I think the toughest thing about all of this right now is that someone else is going to win a world championship. That's a lot of motivation in itself. And there’s going to be a lot of reflection in that internally, so I can be the best that I can be to not only operate at a high level on the field, but just lead the guys."

But Hurts also admitted that there were new challenges this season, whether it was the franchise-record contract extension of five years worth as much as $255 million, a new offensive coordinator in Johnson and teams focusing their attention to stop him.

"I just think every new year proposes different challenges, and I think this year we weren’t able to do what we wanted to do in the end," Hurts said. "We see everything. Where you see problems and issues, I see opportunity. There’s a ton of opportunity in everything around here. Everyone views it that way. So, it’s my job in embracing those responsibilities and growing from it, growing from everything."

So when does that work begin? Will Hurts take any time off before diving in?

"Reality, unfortunately, the reality is it’s already begun," Hurts said. "The journey for this next year has already begun. The eagerness and the passion for that is only enhanced that much more."

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Eagles' Jalen Hurts' 'standard changes' as veterans back Nick Sirianni