A Not-So-Jolly-St. Nick, and Irritated Elves?

I’ll just acknowledge right away that Boxing Day got off to an awkward start for me.

I’d only recently learned of the holiday, promptly circling it on my calendar. Been working on my left hook, and I can say it definitely left an impression on the postman. But after I helped him extricate himself from the porch-side rhododendron, he was kind enough to explain that the term actually has to do with boxing up extra Christmas presents and giving them to poor people, or some such.

Easy mistake to make, if you ask me.

Speaking of easy mistakes and Dec. 26 awkwardness, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni spoke to the media Tuesday afternoon after his team’s latest narrow escape from inexplicable (but by now all-too-familiar) self-sabotage.

Sirianni answered several questions that required him to parse the mood of the team. This was after FOX TV cameras caught an end-of-game sideline exchange in which Sirianni seemed to trade heated words with pass rusher Haason Reddick and wide receiver DeVonta Smith.

Reddick and wideout A.J. Brown declined to speak with reporters after the 33-25 win over the New York Giants, which broke a three-game Eagles losing streak. In my experience, players tend to be happy to talk after wins, especially wins that break losing streaks. Also, they tend to just be plain happy in general after winning, but Smith most decidedly was not happy Monday night.

Smith articulated the frustration fans felt, after watching their team at long last start off strong and set the stage for an easy romp, taking a 20-3 lead into the third quarter, receiving the second-half kickoff —- only to have Olamide Zaccheus bounce off a Giants player, go airborne, and land on unsuspecting Eagles return man Boston Scott. Scott fumbled, leading to a quick Giants touchdown that made it 20-10 and changed the game.

Then the Giants got another crazy touchdown, when Dallas Goedert’s stumble led to a pick-six, and the Eagles, despite statistical dominance, were hanging on by fingernails that by this point in the season have been chewed to bloody nubs.

Usually after games like this, Jalen Hurts talks about not having met the standard of excellence the team has set for itself. This time, he didn’t. Instead, Hurts seemed to wonder aloud if being consumed with having fallen short of perfection might be giving off bad vibes, might be causing tension and dysfunction.

“It’s like a double-edged sword of what’s more important, winning or ‘the standard’?” he said. “It’s a very manipulative thing to the mind sometimes.”

Tuesday, Sirianni said the balance between appreciating winning while not being satisfied with sloppy play is a tricky but important one.

“There was moments in that game yesterday where I felt like I was too tense, on the sideline,” Sirianni said. “I need to be better about that … If I’m going to ask the players to do a better job … then I have to do a better job myself.”

Asked a follow-up question, Sirianni said: “I need to be better in those scenarios. There are some high-pressure areas where (players) need to see me calm, and not tense there. There’s a time and place to be intense, and there’s a time and place not to be. And I know that’s something … I’m constantly working on.”

My read on all this is that you need to be critical of sloppiness, of course. But the 2023 Eagles have played 15 of their 17 regular-season games. I see them trying to come to terms with the fact that this is who they are, at this point — a talented, 11-4 team that wins despite serious flaws, some of which might not be fixable until the offseason.

Some mistakes, you yell at, absolutely. Jalen Carter can’t hustle off the field on fourth down and the opponent gets a first down? I don’t care if he plays another down all day, he needs to learn to be a professional. Whatever the hell that was that Zaccheaus did, if it really was his fault and not a fluke of momentum or physics or something, sit him for a week. (Wait, that might mean more Quez Watkins. OK, maybe just ask Zaccheaus nicely to get his head out of his ass.)

But a pick-six because Dallas Goedert fell down? Merry Christmas to the Giants. Sometimes things just happen. The Tyrod Taylor touchdown bomb that made the score close at the end — the Eagles’ defense isn’t very good right now. The construction of the back end is flawed and the pass rush seems to have run out of gas. The Giants hadn’t scored a true offensive touchdown all day. They finally got one. Realistically, you have to live with that.

I think the Eagles are going to end up well short of the Super Bowl this season, and then, that will trigger changes in the coaching room (no, not Sirianni) and with personnel.

Until it’s time to grapple with all that, maybe just hold on tight and try to enjoy the ride?