Bill Belichick’s resume as an NFL head coach: has won six Super Bowls, made nine Super Bowl appearances, recorded an NFL-record 31 playoff wins and 280 regular-season wins and compiled .673 winning percentage.
Nick Sirianni’s resume as an NFL head coach: Has overseen 12 practices.
Eagles-Patriots joint practices Monday and Tuesday at the NovaCare Complex will present a fascinating contrast between the 40-year-old Sirianni and the 69-year-old Belichick.
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When Sirianni was born, Belichick was already in his seventh year as an NFL assistant coach.
But for the next couple days, they’ll be equals as their teams practice against each other in advance of their preseason game at the Linc on Thursday.
And while the main point of these joint practices is for players from both teams to get better, Sirianni said he hopes to get better as well just by watching one of the greatest in history.
“I’ve mentioned before that I really enjoy watching documentaries on great teams, great coaches, great players,” Sirianni said. “Well, shoot, this is the best in the business ever, ever to coach. I mean, this is the best NFL coach ever. So I'm really looking forward to learning from him.
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“Just like we watch tape of guys, just like we throw on the tape of players in the NFL and say, ‘Hey, look how you watch this guy run this route, look how to read this play,’ I'll do the same thing here with coach Belichick. I look forward to getting to know him.”
This will be the third time the Eagles and Patriots have gotten together for joint workouts, the first two times during the Chip Kelly Era.
In 2013, they practiced together at the NovaCare Complex and a year later in Foxborough, Mass. But Kelly and Belichick go way back. Belichick and Kelly first became friends somewhere in the late 1990s or early 2000s when Belichick was coaching the Patriots and Kelly was offensive coordinator at nearby New Hampshire.
Sirianni and Belichick, on the other hand, have never met and never spoke until the spring, when they began planning for these two practices.
“You just want your team to work and get better from the scenario, and you want his team to be able to work and get better from it, so you continue to build a relationship and work with each other,” Sirianni said.
Belichick loves joint practices, and the Patriots almost always schedule two sets of them every summer.
This year, they're holding joint practices with the Giants as well as the Eagles.
"We've certainly seen plenty of ourselves vs. ourselves out here (at practice)," Belichick said. "If that's what it is, that's what it is. Last year that's all we had, but we have an opportunity to work with another team that helps players playing against different players, but it also helps us see different schemes. The way another team does something is different than the way we do it, so it's a great opportunity.”
Can Belichick learn anything from Sirianni? For all his success, Belichick is always open to studying new coaches, new offenses and new schemes.
Who knows, maybe he’ll steal a play or two out of Sirianni’s playbook.
Whatever happens, it will be fun watching the interaction between these two head coaches.
“Haven't really crossed paths with him,” Belichick said of Sirianni. “He's had a lot of success as a coordinator, and I look forward to working with him this week.”
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