‘Culture Is Your Habits’
Birds Believe In Culture Could Be 'Super'
It was Wednesday before the NFC Championship.
Nestled deep into the confines of the NovaCare Complex locker room, the players’ lounge served as a hot spot.
Three Eagles – quarterback Jalen Hurts, cornerback Isaiah Rodgers and offensive lineman Darian Kinnard – were engaged in a spirited game of pool.
It wasn’t long before Hurts emerged from the room with a smirk before making his way through the locker room toward the exit, ahead of his weekly media availability.
Hurts didn’t have to say anything; his expression told the story.
And Kinnard, the team’s resident ping-pong champion, soon confirmed the inevitable. Hurts had won, handedly.
Making the post-practice pool session even more compelling was that Hurts, rarely spotted in the lounge, was fiercely competing with teammates.
But as Hurts will tell you, he’ll pop in every now and again, depending on the circumstance.
“Depends on who I see in there,” Hurts said grinning. “Sometimes I get a little triggered and, ‘Come get you some.’ I won today.”
That scene was emblematic of the enduring chemistry and brotherhood among teammates that’s been apparent all season.
It all begins with Hurts, the franchise signal-caller, who sets the temperature. His pool triumph hardly constituted as the lone recent example of this team’s close-knit nature.
Hurts, who also emerged from the players’ lounge on a separate occasion last week, tapped practice squad wide receiver Danny Gray on the shoulder while walking past, as if to acknowledge his practice effort.
“J!” Gray responded, as Hurts continued toward his own locker.
A minor gesture, for sure, but an example of the team’s biggest star recognizing a job well done and demonstrating inclusion.
When comparing this year’s Eagles to the 2022 Super Bowl version, perhaps the most discernible difference has been the universal closeness and relationships.

GETTY IMAGES: Eagles HC Nick Sirianni (right), QB Jalen Hurts embrace during the team’s NFC Championship win over Washington.
The energy and camaraderie is always palpable, with teammates on different sides of the ball often conversing, savoring every moment of what’s been a special season.
“I think this team is more close and more special than the last team that went to the Super Bowl,” left tackle Jordan Mailata observed Thursday at the podium before expanding.
“Relationships on a personal level are much more closer, and it carries over to the field. Professional side.”
Whether it’s a defensive leader such as safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson opening his doors and spending Thanksgiving with practice squad safety Andre’ Sam or veteran offensive lineman Brett Toth working with a young pass-rusher in the back of the Eagles’ locker room, examples of team cohesion this season are endless.
Gardner-Johnson and Sam had established a strong relationship dating back to their training at “The Lab Performance & Strength” in New Orleans.
Younger players have sought veterans for tips. Position groups have conversed among each other. The bonds have also extended off the field.
After the 55-23 win over Washington in the conference championship, position groups posed for photos together with the trophy.
And for as much as Hurts sets the overall temperature, head coach Nick Sirianni initiates, promotes and encourages the connection piece of his core values perhaps more than anything.
Sirianni, the epitome of a player’s coach, has drawn widespread praise for his leadership, receptiveness, emotional intelligence and willingness to connect with his locker room.
It’s common practice for Sirianni to call a player into his office to check-in, ask about their day, or even discuss what music they’re enjoying.
“With me, I would say, randomly, he’ll call you in his office and just kind of ask you questions to get to know you better,” tight end Grant Calcaterra said. “He did that with me. He asked what I like to do in my free time, what kind of music I like to listen to.
“You know, sh-t like that. And then, I guess just day-to-day, always coming in the weight room – and sometimes he’ll pop into the meeting room and just say, ‘What up?’ and shoot the sh-t for a second, which is pretty cool.”
Second-year defensive tackle Moro Ojomo recalls being on scout team as a relatively anonymous rookie, miring during the developmental periods, hoping to endear himself to coaches.
But as Sirianni often says, “Everybody’s role is not the same, but everybody’s role is vitally important,” and Ojomo’s efforts weren’t lost on his head coach.
After a good week of practice, Ojomo said, Sirianni would send him a text message, an encouraging gesture to a rookie relegated to a role behind the scenes.
Fellow defensive tackle Milton Williams, when asked, rewound it back to earlier this season for an example of Sirianni connecting, when each player was asked about their recent favorite song.
The songs would be played when the players walk into their team meetings, and you’d be able to see who picked the song.
Williams and Sirianni had discussed music before, with Williams sharing with his coach that he’s currently into older rap groups, like Outkast and UGK.
And, according to Williams, Sirianni was a big fan of his song selection.
“It was BigXThaPlug,” Williams said. “His new album, the song, ‘Change Me.’ And he liked that song a lot, so he be playing it at practice.”
These individual examples speak to a larger point, one that showcases the sense of togetherness of this team.
Sure, the 2022 team was plenty close, which showed on the field, but the 2024 version is perhaps the NFL’s most complete team.
But talent and togetherness isn’t always enough to slay the dragon that is the Chiefs tandem of quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid.
It takes more.
And with two so closely comparable teams set to clash on Sunday in Super Bowl LIX, it’s sometimes the team that has an advantage outside the margins that prospers.
In this case, the togetherness, confidence and mutual belief – a pristine culture established by Sirianni, Hurts and a slew of prominent leaders, including running back Saquon Barkley – could be the difference.
“I think at the end of the day, I got my start, learned as I was growing up from a high school coach,” Sirianni said earlier this month. “And then in the college world is where I started.
“We talk a ton about culture and connecting. And I always thought of it this way: When you play in high school – like the guys that came to our game a couple weeks ago were my high school buddies. I knew them my entire life growing up, so you have a natural connection with them.
“The guys you go to college with, you’re all away from home for the first time, and y’all are living right in the same dorms or whatever it is, hanging out with each other. There is a natural connection here.”
Sirianni then noted the difference in the NFL, where the age range of players is different, along with living conditions and personal lives.
“Everybody is in a different stage a little bit in the NFL,” he added, “so you have to work at that to create that.
“I think that’s what you appreciate so much about these guys, is how much they’ve worked to connect with each other. I know this. At the end of the day, if you’re a connected football team, that doesn’t guarantee you win anything, but it guarantees that you don’t want to let that person down.”
Sirianni reflected on Lane Johnson’s recent assessment that nobody wants to let down anyone else on the team.
“That’s the key to it,” he said. “I want there to be joy when they walk in here and see their pictures on the walls and on the video screens and have success and root for the success of the other guys there.
“All those things that I just talked about don’t happen without special people. We have some special, special guys here that make that happen.
“Culture is your habits. Your habits are what happens by the team. We have some special guys that accomplish that.”
– Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) is a Staff Reporter/Content Producer for InsideTheBirds.com.
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