Eagles’ Nick Sirianni explains heated sideline exchange with defensive line coach after Jalen Carter penalty

PHILADELPHIA — There never appears to be a week where the Philadelphia Eagles have a quiet victory.

Even in the midst of a dominant 27-13 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni found himself in the center of another on-camera moment — for doing his job of all things. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter was flagged for unnecessary roughness on Steelers tight end Connor Heyward in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win, only to be approached by Sirianni soon after the violation. 

Sirianni was then caught on the sideline in a verbal exchange with Eagles defensive line coach Clint Hurtt while trying to approach Carter regarding the penalty. Hurtt was blocking the pathway to Carter, who was smiling as the exchange was going on.

Carter couldn’t be reached for comment, but Sirianni did his best to fan the flames heated from the exchange after the game.

“I’ll never get into the conversations that I have with players, but he made a play that is not part of our standard, so my job is to correct that,” Sirianni said. “Regardless of what it is, we’re going to correct the things that we need to do better and praise the things we need to do well.

“In that moment, that’s what that was. I love Jalen Carter. I love what he brings to this football team. Right there, he needed to be smarter in that situation because it could have given them [the Steelers] the ball back. It didn’t give them the ball back, but it could have. So, we’re going to need to get better at that.”

Carter is tied for the league lead in unnecessary roughness penalties this season (2), making Sirianni even more aware how important it is to stay cool in the moment. Of the Eagles’ four unnecessary roughness penalties in 2024, Carter has half of them. 

Sirianni and Carter hugged out the situation moments later, indicating all is good between the two. The Eagles head coach gets emotional on the sidelines during games, making this one par for the course. 

“That’s what you do as a coach,” Sirianni said. “Again, he played a good game, and I’ll watch the game to see how good of a game he played, but we need him to be better in that scenario and be the consistent player he’s been for the entire year.”