A coaching finalist? | Sports Daily Newsletter

The Saints traveled to Philadelphia on Monday to conduct a second interview in person with Kellen Moore. New Orleans is the only remaining NFL team with a head coaching vacancy, and what a coincidence it is that the Eagles’ offensive coordinator will be at Caesars Superdome, home of the Saints, for Super Bowl LIX.

It’s almost feels like a flashback to 2023, when former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon stayed in Phoenix after the Birds’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium. Two days later, Gannon was named the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. Will Moore follow a similar path?

He initially interviewed with the team virtually on Jan. 18 ahead of the Eagles’ divisional-round game against the Los Angeles Rams. The 35-year-old has been a popular candidate across the NFL throughout this hiring cycle for head coaches and has interviewed with two other teams.

Nick Sirianni, however, pushed back on the notion that Moore would be distracted from the Eagles’ postseason run by participating in interviews and believes he “will be a great head coach” when his opportunity comes.

— Isabella DiAmore, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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On the Eagles’ sideline Sunday, Nick Sirianni had seen enough of Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu jumping over the line of scrimmage and onto the injured back of his Pro Bowl center, Cam Jurgens. So the coach asked the referees, “’Hey, [if] they keep doing this, it can be a touchdown, right?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, that is correct.’” A few years ago, Sirianni had no clue that rule existed. Until he learned from Dan Shamash, aka “Smash.”

Also, sources say, that Landon Dickerson plans to play in the Super Bowl. Dickerson exited the NFC championship game with a left knee injury and did not play in the second half.

In unCovering the Birds, Jeff McLane shares exclusive locker room insights from the win over the Washington Commanders and previews the epic rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs. Listen here.

The last time JJ Redick played at the Wells Fargo Center was in 2019 as a visitor after signing with the New Orleans Pelicans. It was the first time he played at the arena since leaving the Sixers in free agency. But on Tuesday, the former Sixers guard returned to the arena he once called home, this time as the head coach of the L.A. Lakers.

The shorthanded Sixers provided a rude welcome to Redick and Co., despite playing without Joel Embiid and Paul George once again. Tyrese Maxey led the way with 43 points, outdueling LeBron James (31 points) in the 118-104 Sixers win.

Sam Ersson is showing just how good he can be when healthy. Since the holiday break, the Flyers goalie has eight wins in 10 starts with the sixth-best goals-against average (1.96) and eighth-best save percentage (.925) in the NHL among goalies who have played at least seven games. And Monday against the New Jersey Devils, the 25-year-old had one of his best games as he finished with 31 saves.

Off the ice, the Flyers are helping abandoned puppies find forever homes. Nine pups were recently found in a box in a Lower Merion park. With help from the PSPCA and John Tortorella’s “Hockey and Hounds” initiative, six have been adopted so far.

The Union will not play in this year’s Leagues Cup. Instead, they’ll return to America’s oldest soccer competition, the U.S. Open Cup. The club is pre-seeded for its first Cup home game since 2018.

They’ll be one of 16 teams to participate, an increase from last year when MLS threw a fit at U.S. Soccer over the event. Though MLS still isn’t letting all 27 of its U.S. clubs’ first teams into the field yet, it doubled from last year’s eight.

Who led the Eagles in rushing yards in their 38-35 loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII?

C) Jalen Hurts with 70 yards — Thomas M. was first with the correct answer.

We asked: What’s your favorite aspect of the Eagles? Among your responses:

As this season got going I was really impressed by Uncle Vic’s defense that looked to me to be outstanding, but then suddenly Saquon came on so strong after years of obscurity with the Giants, that his running game greatly helped by our excellent offensive line became weekly front page news. Hopefully, the fear of him exploding for long TD runs will keep Spagnuolo’s blitzing to a minimum. — Everett S.

The Eagles were very good before the season started, but got so much better in the offseason. The roster in 2023 was a strong one, but the collapse in ‘23 revealed many holes. My favorite aspect of the 2024 Eagles is how they plugged every one of those holes, which were:

Coaching: Sirianni raised his game and [Vic] Fangio and Moore are tremendous upgrades

RB: the addition of Barkley made a good ground game extraordinary

QB: Hurts matured. He was good, but is now more consistent

OL: excellent backfill for [Jason] Kelce and [Mekhi] Becton upgraded the OL

DL: [Jalen] Carter has exploded, new backups make a fine rotation

LB: tremendous improvement with [Zack] Baun and [Oren] Burks added, and [Nakobe] Dean got better

CB: a significant transformation with rookies [Quinyon] Mitchell and [Cooper] DeJean

S: [Reed] Blankenship was good, [C.J.] Gardner-Johnson’s return made it solid across the board

This roster is the best Eagles team ever, including the whole depth chart. As we saw, an injury did little to degrade the lineup power. Kudos to [Howie] Roseman and [Jeffrey] Lurie. — John W.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Jeff McLane, Olivia Reiner, Jeff Neiburg, Jonathan Tannenwald, Jackie Spiegel, Ariel Simpson, Sam O’Neal, and Paulie Loscalzo.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thanks for reading, have a wonderful Wednesday, Philly. Kerith will be in your inbox tomorrow. — Bella