Eagles-Lions: Start time, how to watch and stream

The Philadelphia Eagles hope to turn their season around against the winless Lions in Detroit on Sunday, but all eyes will be on Birds head coach Nick Sirianni.

Sirianni, in his first year as an NFL head coach, continues to be mocked over comments he made to reporters about the Eagles being a flower that everyone needs to feed and nurture with water and fertilizer.

“The results aren’t there right now, but ... there’s growth under the soil,” Sirianni said. “The only way the roots ... grow stronger ... is that we all water, we all fertilize.”

“Sirianni’s been spreading fertilizer for months,” Marcus Hayes wrote in a column slamming the Eagles for passing on Duce Staley, who will be on the opposing sideline Sunday.

“That is a question I think that’s applicable to all walks of life: Have you watered and fertilized today?” NFL Network host Rich Eisen mocked. The 97.5 The Fanatic host, Mike Missanelli, was left speechless. And comedian and Philadelphia native Kevin Hart, appearing on ESPN’s First Take, liked Sirianni’s message, but thinks the rookie head coach “went with words that threw him off.”

“He sounded high,” Stephen A. Smith said.

Even with all the interest in Sirianni’s comments, Fox certainly doesn’t think two teams with a combined 12 losses will be much of a draw for national fans. The game is only airing in 20% of the country, centered mostly around Philadelphia and Detroit, but Eagles fans in Oklahoma will also be able to tune in.

Why? Fox gives a lot of consideration to the game’s local affiliates’ requests, and there are a lot of Dallas Cowboys fans in Oklahoma who apparently want to watch the Eagles lose. In addition, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is a local favorite after having played for the Oklahoma Sooners during his senior year of college.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch or stream Sunday’s Eagles-Lions game:

As with every Eagles game, staff writers Jeff McLane, EJ Smith, and Josh Tolentino will be covering the action live on Twitter, which you can follow live on GameDay Central. Notes and observations about the game will be at Inquirer.com/Eagles. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Inquirer Sports Daily Newsletter.

Smith and Tolento will host GameDay Central live prior to kickoff at Inquirer.com/Eagles/GamedayCentral.

For the second straight week, Eagles fans will hear Kenny Albert and former Pro Bowler Jonathan Vilma calling the Birds game on Fox.

Albert, the son of recently retired broadcasting legend Marv Albert, has quietly amassed one of the longest careers calling NFL games. Hired by Fox way back in 1994 after it secured the rights to the league’s NFC TV package, Albert will provide play-by-play for his 448th NFL game on Sunday — the eighth-most in the history of the league.

This is the second season he’s been paired with Vilma, who is somewhat unusual among announcers thanks to his experience as a defense player (most NFL analysts are former offensive players, usually quarterbacks). But Albert has been paired with his fair share of former defenders over the years, including Charles Davis, Rhonde Barber, and John Lynch.

“He’s such a bright guy, and knows the game as well as anybody that I’ve ever been around,” Albert said of Vilma, noting their chemistry has improved as COVID-19 protocols have been lifted, allowing them to sit closer to one another in the booth.

“It’s just a little thing that viewers wouldn’t even notice,” Albert said. “Whether it’s hand signals, gestures that we make to each other, a little tap on the shoulder if he’s talking and I have something important I want to get ... it really does have an effect. I never realized how important it was until we were socially distanced last year.”

» READ MORE: Superstitious Eagles fans won’t like who’s calling Sunday’s game on Fox

In Week 15, two out of five games chosen by the NFL will be played on Saturday, with the rest played Sunday. Eagles-Washington is one of those games, and the specific dates and times will be announced by Week 11.