PHILADELPHIA -- Wins are hard to come by in the NFL. Celebrating wins is more than OK when they come, even if it's an ugly victory against an inferior opponent.
What Nick Sirianni did in the final minute of Sunday's victory over the Cleveland Browns was way over the top. The Philadelphia Eagles head coach decided to get into a shouting match with some Eagles fans when the Eagles were in victory formation during the 20-16 win.
Gloating over a victory is nothing new in the Sirianni era, but this one went too far. Sirianni went against his better judgment, or perhaps this is how he wants to be perceived.
"I was having fun, and I was kinda getting some feedback from the guys in the sense like, 'We need you back Nick,'" Sirianni said with a smirk. "'We need your energy. We need your focus.' When I'm operating and having fun, I think that breeds to the rest to the football team.
"If I want the guys to celebrate and be themselves after big plays, then I should probably do that myself."
The Eagles did come away with a victory, but there were plenty of jeers from the home crowd. With A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith back, the Eagles went three-and-out on the first series. The boos reigned down on the offense, despite only running three plays.
Brown gave a better answer than his head coach on handling the adversity from the home crowd.
"No pressure at all. I love the fans, but the fans doesn't exist for me when I'm out there playing," Brown said. "It's just what it is. They may boo. They may cheer. We don't hear none of that. We're just trying to get going and stick to our game plan.
"There's no added pressure. As you see, we got going. And it happens."
The Eagles' head coach treated the victory like it was season-changing, and it may have been. There are a lot of questions on this Eagles team that need to be answered, but the head coach is creating controversies that don't need to be there.
Arguing with the fans of Philadelphia is a lose-lose situation, no matter how Sirianni wants to dissect it.
"It was just all out of fun," Sirianni said. "We thrive off the crowd when they cheer for us. We hear them when they boo. We don't necessarily like it. I don't think that's productive for anybody. When they cheer for us, and when we got them rolling -- we love it."