We rarely see NFL head coaches cracking jokes with each other, but this time, they did plenty. Taking a break from scouting the next generation of talent at the 2025 NFL Combine, several coaches, including Nick Sirianni and Dan Quinn, debated which of their peers was best at convincing the referees.
Michael Tomlin Top Contender For Best Sweet Talker Among NFL Coaches
Aditi Kinkhabwala, an NFL reporter at CBS Sports, asked a group of head coaches which of them does the best job of sweet-talking to the referees. While there was no clear winner, Pittsburg Steelers’ Michael Tomlin was the only one to receive two votes.
“I think Mike Tomlin has some secret sauce that gets spread over his way, and I’d like to know more about that,” said the Washington Commanders’ head coach Dan Quinn.
We asked some head coaches which of their colleagues best sweet talks the refs, and the answers were gold 😂
🎤: @AKinkhabwala pic.twitter.com/zqS21da6tC
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) February 27, 2025
Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris agreed and said Tomlin was ‘smart and sarcastic’ at the same time.
“I’d have to say Mike Tomlin ’cause he probably goes over the top, and he’s so smart and sarcastic at the same time. You don’t know whether he is picking on you or he’s giving you a compliment to get those guys to be able to turn the tides in his way.”
Meanwhile, each of the other coaches had different choices, with the Philadelphia Eagles Nick Sirriani picking his former defensive coordinator and Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon.
“Jonathan Ganon, I can imagine, is very outstanding at that,” Sirianni said
However, Sirrianni was himself found true to the sweet talking description by the Tennesse Titans Brian Callahan.
“I feel like Nick Sirriani gives him a pretty good earful,” Callahan said.
Sirianni’s Eagles thrashed the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 to win their second Super Bowl championship, finishing the season 16-1 after a Week 5 bye and 2-2 start. It marked the 43-year-old’s first Super Bowl trophy and he now has an impressive record of 48-20 in three seasons with the Eagles which includes two Super Bowl appearances.
MORE: List of NFL Head Coaches
Sirianni revealed the details of Philly’s dominant season in a postgame interview with PFSN and other reporters, saying the team remained glued together throughout the entire season.
“We had great OTAs and training camp. We were developing as a team, and just because the outside world tells you to feel a certain way, doesn’t mean that we were feeling that way.”
We knew we had a special team. We knew we had a group of guys that could do special things, but it was going to take day-in and day-out work. It was just putting your head down and working and saying, ‘How are we going to put ourselves in the best position to win that Cleveland game.’
“It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, how are we going to get to 6-2.’ It was, ‘How are we going to win this game.’ Then, it was going to be, ‘How do we win the next game.’ It’s boring, but it’s truly just trying to get a little bit better each day. But that’s the thing that you’ll remember, is the daily grind of emptying the tank every week to try to win each week.”
“We just doubled down on the things we knew to be true. We knew we had special players, we knew we had special coaches, we knew we had a special front office and special people in the building and our goal was to do it together and stick together and go.”