Sirianni Was Protecting Himself Not His Players

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A.J. finally broke his silence and talked to the media after weeks of visually displaying frustration on the field. Phew, thank the Lord. I haven’t experienced that much anticipation since waiting for the final season of Mad About You.

Brown explained his media avoidance by saying that he didn’t want to be negative and had nothing nice to say at the time.

Reporters pressed Brown about his relationship with Nick Sirianni. He put to rest any speculation that he had any issues with Sirianni. Brown expressed his admiration for Nick and his loyalty to his players. He told of how Sirianni covered for himself and Jalen Hurts for the last play at the end of the Seattle game, in which they decided to improvise and go for a deep play when they only needed a field goal. Sirianni later claimed he and/or Brian Johnson called the play hoping for a pass interference call.

Here’s AJ telling his version of Nick protecting his players.

The press asked Sirianni about his protecting the players at his next press conference. He indicated that it’s just something coaches do and that he always appreciated when coaches did it for him.

First thing is first. Where did coaches ever do this for Sirianni? What coaches faced the media and had to answer for Sirianni’s mistakes? Was it the student newspaper when he played at Southwest Central High School in Jamestown, NY, or was it at Mount Union College? Do Division III college coaches even have press conferences? Who’s the local beat writer for Lycoming College Football?

This is nonsense.

What else is nonsense is that Nick Sirianni took responsibility for the moronic deep play to protect his players. Nick Sirianni made up that pass interference story to protect one person—NICK SIRIANNI.

He would rather take the heat for a boneheaded play-call that the media and fans could second-guess than take the heat for a mutiny against his scheme and the coaching staff’s playcalling, rightfully so. Coaches are second-guessed all the time for playcalling. That’s part of the job.

Having the media, the fans, and ownership know that your players are on the field ignoring the playcalling and calling their own “go-deep-and-I’ll-launch-it” is an entirely different situation. It’s total disrespect by the players. It’s embarrassing.

A.J. Brown may have thought he was doing Sirianni a favor by shining a light on that play at the end of the Seattle game. He ended up shining a light on something Sirianni probably hoped never saw the light of day—the offensive players have lost faith and respect in either Sirianni, his scheme, the playcalling, or all of the above. That’s not great when the defense happens to suck.

Go Birds!