PHILADELPHIA, P.A. — With the Eagles mired in a five-game losing streak and a 2-5 record that mirrors their worst start under Nick Sirianni, special teams coordinator Michael Clay offered a pointed defense of his head coach’s approach, emphasizing consistency and a return to the process that fueled a 2021 turnaround.⁠

The Eagles opened the 2026 season at 2-0 before dropping five straight, including an ugly 38-21 home loss to the Cowboys on Monday night. Star quarterback Jalen Hurts is out for the season with blood clots; Tanner McKee has taken over under center; A.J. Brown was traded in the offseason and the roster has been further depleted by attrition and the retirement of right tackle Lane Johnson. 

With the season on the precipice, Philadelphia sits third in a wide-open NFC East ahead of a Sunday night prime-time road game against the Commanders.⁠

Eagles betting on process again: Clay backs Nick Sirianni’s consistency

Clay, the Eagles' well-regarded special teams coordinator, was asked what stands out about Sirianni’s leadership during the skid earlier this week, and stressed that the head coach has kept a steady hand through adversity.

“Nick is the same person each and every day, regardless of if you’re 2-5 or you’re 7-0,” Clay said. “He approaches the day the same way, approaches the meetings the same way in terms of he’s not going to waver off what he truly believes in, and we’re going to back him in those scenarios and get these guys playing to an ability they know how to play."

Staying steady is not easy in a high-pressure environment like Philadelphia, which is used to success and expects it in perpetuity.

“I think that’s pretty hard to do for anybody in general, is to be the same person each and every day. I think Nick does a really good job of that, and you don’t see a different person on a Tuesday that you’ll see on a Thursday. You see the same Nick each and every day, which you respect and you want to play for or coach for.”

Michael Clay on Nick Sirianni

The parallel to 2021 is hard to ignore. That season, Sirianni’s first as head coach, the Eagles also sat at 2-5 before winning seven of their final 10 games to finish 9-8 and reach the playoffs. The injury situation is far more difficult this time, making a similar turnaround even more difficult.

Clay, who returned to Philadelphia on Sirianni's first staff, was asked how the staff approached the climb in 2021.

“I think it’s just doubling down on what you really believe in and selling it to the guys that this is how our process is and how we’re going to be able to dig ourselves out of it,” Clay said. “The players take pride in what they put on tape or whatever it may be, Monday, Sunday, Thursday night, whatever it is. It’s just one of those things.

"We have a great group of guys in here that are going to take some leadership roles in terms of getting everybody out of this little rut that we’re in. The most important game is the one on Sunday, more than anything else. Can’t look forward—Can’t look behind. The results are the results; you’ve got to live with them, but now you have the opportunity to change those results into a favorable way on Sunday night.”

Sirianni has struck similar notes in his own recent comments, telling reporters after the Cowboys loss that the group talked about remaining “the same version of yourself every single day” and referenced the 2021 finish as an example of growth through process rather than panic. 

Sirianni has repeatedly framed the team as “results-aware but process-driven,” stressing his core values of tough, detailed, and together over reactive changes.

Results-aware, process-drive

“Let me say it this way: to give yourself the best chance to win each week, you have to have a great process,” Sirianni said Friday when asked about his process by Eagles On SI. “That guarantees you nothing, not one thing. It doesn't guarantee you anything, but it puts you in the best position to win each and every week. You can't completely correlate that. My thing is, if we go and do everything the right way throughout the week and we end up losing the game, I can handle that.

“When our preparation isn't the way that we want it to be, or our week isn't the way we want it to be, and it can be a lot of different things. It's not just studying tape on your own time. It's not that. It's just the focus in a meeting, the focus in a practice, or anything like that by all parties. If you don't do that, which every season there's games where that happens, then you don't give yourself the best chance to win. Let me be very clear: it's not a results-based thing. 

“We are very results-aware, but we are process-driven.”

Blocking out the noise

Clay’s remarks arrived amid growing external scrutiny around the Eagles. 

Some analysts and former players have questioned the team’s culture and Sirianni’s job security after the longest losing streak of his tenure. 

Inside the building, however, the message from Clay and others is one of continuity: the daily approach does not shift with the record; the focus stays on the next game.

Whether that formula can produce another late-season surge without Hurts remains the central question heading into the Commanders matchup. 

For now, Clay’s public backing underscores the staff’s bet that the same steady presence that helped right the ship five years ago can do it again.