Colts: Nick Sirianni quietly beloved in Philly after awful start

HOUSTON, TX - DECEMBER 09: Offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni of the Indianapolis Colts watches the scoreboard in the second half against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium on December 9, 2018 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - DECEMBER 09: Offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni of the Indianapolis Colts watches the scoreboard in the second half against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium on December 9, 2018 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /
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The Indianapolis Colts’ offseason truly couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. And for those wondering, we’re talking about before free agency even started.

Not only did they lose Anthony Castonzo and Philip Rivers to retirement, but the Colts’ coaching staff was absolutely pillaged, as a handful of Frank Reich’s most high-ranking assistants took promotions with other organizations.

Perhaps the biggest loss on the coaching front came when Nick Sirianni, Indy’s offensive coordinator for the last three seasons, took the Eagles’ head coaching job.

As fans will recall, things didn’t start off well for Sirianni, who found himself trending on social media after his disastrous introductory press conference.

We’ll get into the rest of Sirianni’s troubling start a little later on. What matters is that Indy’s former OC seems to have righted the ship.

Based on the latest photos from OTAs, it looks like Sirianni is well respected by the Philadelphia media. That could obviously change after a few losses, but it should still be considered a major achievement knowing the city’s unforgiving nature.

Former Colts OC Nick Sirianni is quietly beloved in Philadelphia after an awful star to his head coaching tenure.

Fans in Indianapolis were left with a sour taste in their mouths after it was reported Sirianni was hired as the Eagles’ new head coach. While he was a hot commodity on the coaching carousel, he was reportedly on vacation with his family when Philly’s brass called him for an interview.

There’s no rule preventing the Eagles from doing so, but there was definitely something unethical (or unprofessional) about their approach to poaching Sirianni from the Colts. Unfortunately for Sirianni, that process left many analysts speculating if he was hired as a puppet for ownership, which was obsessed with controlling the way Doug Pederson went about his business.

However, it seems like those concerns have been quelled on a semi-permanent basis. Not only is Sirianni making friends among the Philly media, but he’s also playing a prominent role during spring practices, going as far as to step in as a defender (albeit, one that wasn’t hitting players) during a running back drill.

We know Sirianni specializes on the offensive side of the ball, but a head coach’s job is to ensure the entire operation is running smoothly. Taking that into account, it speaks volumes about his commitment to the job that he took time to help the Eagles’ RBs.

Don’t get it twisted: it absolutely sucked to see Sirianni leave the Colts as abruptly as he did. However, we never had any ill will towards him. That was directed solely at Philadelphia for the indecorous way they went about interviewing and hiring him.

To put it simply, fans in Indianapolis should be thrilled Sirianni has managed to flip the narrative over the last couple months. After all, it was virtually impossible for his head coaching career to start off worse than it did.