Super Bowl

The Biggest Challenge Facing Eagles' Coach Nick Sirianni During Super Bowl Week

The biggest challenge facing Nick Sirianni Super Bowl week originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

All year, Nick Sirianni has preached focus on the moment. Don’t worry about the past, don’t look to the future, don’t let distractions change your process.
 
And one of the reasons the Eagles are where they are is because they’ve done that so well.
 
For 20 weeks, it worked.
 
Now this all becomes a lot trickier.
 
Because how do you focus on the moment when you’re in the middle of the most hyped sports event in the world? How do you avoid distractions when there’s a TV camera in your face every step you take? How do you make sure you’re not thinking about the future when you’re about to play in the Super Bowl?
 
That’s the delicate road Nick Sirianni has to navigate his team along once the Eagles make their way to Arizona.
 
Make sure his team stays focused when it’s virtually impossible to stay focused.

Sirianni addressed that Tuesday and his answer was long but it was fascinating and revealing.
 
“It's just like anything,” Sirianni said Tuesday. “You're going to just preach it and talk about it, and because we understand that it is real. Early in the year, I told you guys we do a talk about roles, what everybody's role is going to be. That's one thing you've talked to me about. Another thing that we talk about are distractions.
 
“You say distractions - and we'll probably give this talk again - but you say in distraction, your job, our job is to get a little bit better each day. To climb. ‘How do I get a little bit better each day?’ We don't need to think about getting way down the road here, but how do we get a little bit better today.
 
“And our formula for that, we always talk about this, is practicing with high, high intensity, high, high detail and job description in the meeting, and full speed to the snap in walk-through.
 
“Well, one thing that can stop you from getting a little bit better each day, even if you are doing those three things I just said, is distractions in the outside world. So we talk about that. Everybody's distractions look different. Everybody's distractions aren't the same. We all have different distractions.
 
“We'll touch back on that and just understand, ‘Hey, what can stop you from doing this, to go 1-0 each day so you can go 1-0 this week?’ Distractions can. 
 
“I already know what to expect when we go out there and practice. Our guys are going to practice their butts off, all those different things, all the things I just said.
 
“It's just how do we eliminate distractions, and it's hard. It will be hard. It will be a challenge. But again, when you're playing for something that's bigger than yourself, because of the relationships that you have with your teammates and your coaches, then you're willing to sacrifice things.
 
“And that's the definition I talk about all the time. That's the definition, the greatest motivator is love, and I know our guys love each other, and sacrificing things is one of the greatest indicators of love.”
 
Distractions at the Super Bowl come in a lot of forms. 
 
There’s an insane amount of media from all over the world. Parties everywhere. Unique family demands. Endless ticket requests. 
 
It’s non-stop. And it can derail any team if it’s not prepared.
 
Sirianni hasn’t been with a Super Bowl team, but he knows how important it is to double-down on everything he’s preached all year.
 
“Know your distractions is the first thing,” he said. “Try to eliminate them as much as you possibly can this week with what's going on so we can go 1-0 each day. That will be essentially the message we talk about, and it will be a repeat, and that's essentially a repeat message that we started the year with.
 
“You say, too, like, ‘Well, you guys have gone to such great lengths, such great lengths, put your bodies through so many different things, sacrificed all these different things to get to where you are now. Let's see if we can continue to eliminate distractions for these last two weeks so we can reach our goals.’”

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