Eagles coach Nick Sirianni downplays suggestion he’s fighting for his job

Nick Sirianni tried his best to do what he does so well — even when it seems Philadelphia has turned on the Eagles coach — and put a positive spin on an epic collapse.

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Should Eagles fire Nick Sirianni for ongoing season-long struggles? Does anyone still believe in the Eagles?

“It wasn’t too long ago that we beat Tampa up there,” Sirianni said.

Not too long ago?

Try the third game of the season. Back when the Eagles had that fresh, defending NFC champions feeling and the “tush push” was about to take over the NFL. Back when Jalen Hurts was healthy and had another run at an MVP season in sight.

Back before it all went wrong.

The Eagles (11-6) are a shell of the team from that game in the wake of an epic 1-5 collapse that has them on the road to play Tampa Bay in an NFC wild-card game. Hurts threw for a touchdown, ran for another and the Eagles dominated the Buccaneers 25-11 in Week 3.

Hurts heads into the rematch with a mangled middle finger suffered in Sunday’s 27-10 loss to the New York Giants. Wide receivers A.J. Brown (knee) and DeVonta Smith (ankle) are hurt. Cornerback Darius Slay hasn’t played in weeks since he had knee surgery.

The biggest ache of all may belong to Sirianni’s bruised ego.

The third-year coach — nearly 11 months removed from leading the Eagles to the Super Bowl — could be coaching for his job in the playoffs. If the Eagles won 12 or 13 games this season (they won 14 last season) and still lost a playoff game, there’s little chance Sirianni would be on a hot seat.

Instead, player after player after player was asked in a somber locker room if he still had faith in Sirianni.

“I think everybody in the locker room has faith in Nick Sirianni,” center Jason Kelce said. “It hasn’t been pretty the last month. But we’ve had a lot of really, really successful football with Nick. I think he does a lot of really, really good things organizationally.”

Should Eagles fire Nick Sirianni for ongoing season-long struggles?

Sirianni tried to downplay talk that the locker room no longer believes in him.

“I know I felt in that locker room that we’ve got a lot of belief in that locker room,” he said. “We know everybody, there are a lot of teams that would want to be in our position of making the playoffs. We’re in the playoffs, and we’re moving on to Tampa Bay, and everything.”

That is the good news. The Eagles still have a chance. And if they can find the groove that got them to 10-1 — when they were the best team in the NFL — then they can find a way to beat Tampa Bay.

The Eagles might want to look at what worked in the first game against the Bucs. D’Andre Swift ran for 130 yards on 16 attempts for Philadelphia. Hurts was 23-of-37 passing for 277 yards and two interceptions, while Brown finished with nine receptions for 131 yards.

But Hurts got injured Sunday against the Giants in large part because the offensive line has struggled to pick up the blitz and with pass blocking in general.

“Sometimes we weren’t ready for them and that’s my job,” Kelce said. “I need to put us in a good situation and sometimes we just didn’t pick it up, or it was missed blocks. It was one of those where they just had our number.”

Does anyone still believe in the Eagles?

It’s hard to find a silver lining in the Eagles’ playbook. In their last six games, they have been outscored 182-123. With playoff seeding on the line, the Eagles were humiliated in consecutive weeks by the four-win Cardinals and six-win Giants. If the Eagles couldn’t beat the worst of the NFL when they absolutely needed to, how are they going to rebound in the playoffs?

They can only really bank on the fact they beat Tampa Bay before.

“It’s about taking advantage of the opportunity,” Hurts said. “Do I think we’ve done a good job of doing that? No. Not as of late. That takes complete ownership of every individual doing that. Now, it’s about finding that deep in our souls and figuring out ways to win.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.