After splitting their first four games of the season before the bye, the Philadelphia Eagles have looked unstoppable, ripping off eight-straight wins on the way to a 10-2 record.

Suddenly, the Eagles are the cream of the NFC's crop, with their unconventional offense on pace to break Eric Dickerson's all-time individual rushing record and their young defense buying into Vic Fangio's archetypical defense to become one of the NFL's best individual units.

But what is the Eagles' secret sauce? How did they go from pretty good to elite over one additional week away from the game, let alone improve so spectacularly from last season? Well, in the opinion of head coach Nick Sirianni during his final media session of Week 14, the secret is rather simple: the 2024 Eagles run on collective joy.

“The journey should be the joy, coming into work every single day. There are obviously moments you have after games. There are moments you have throughout the week. But I think that the most special thing is the time that you spend grinding out the week together, the work that goes into it. As boring as that sounds, or as not joyful as that sounds, there is joy in the process,” Sirianni told reporters.

“That's what we talk about a lot. Yeah, we're focused on the next game, but it's been fun. I think you can see our team having joy. I think you really can see that from how they celebrate together.”

Wait, so the Eagles are winning games because they are having fun? In Sirianni's case, the answer to that question is a resounding yes, as he went on to further explain.

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni reacts to the touchdown pass and catch of quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) and wide receiver A.J. Brown (11) during the second quarter against the Cleveland Browns at Lincoln Financial Field.
Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
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Nick Sirianni reveals how having fun has brought the Eagles together

Continuing his quantification of how joy has impacted the Eagles' success in 2024, Sirianni ran through some plays that really lit up the sideline over recent weeks, suggesting that, when the team is playing for one another, they all can take collective joy from each player's individual success.

“The cool play in the Baltimore game on the 3rd-and-1 stop by [LB] Zack [Baun] where you see all the white jerseys around, running together and celebrating. [RB] Kenny Gainwell's touchdown against the Rams, you can see how cool is it on the sideline, them celebrating together,” Sirianni told reporters.

“And so, again, we are talking about work, work, work. But there are elements – you can see it on tape, the joy that's on the field. I see that every day here in the building, some things you guys don't get to see every day in the building. The guys hanging out in here, shooting baskets. Hanging out together in the locker room. Hanging out together in the cafeteria, eating meals together. So I really see that joy and our team continuing to come together. And that's what our mission is: to get better at that each week. We will keep trying to improve on that.”

So are, shall we say, less good teams simply not having enough fun, focusing too much on individual goals instead of collective achievement? It's hard to say, really, but when you consider just how miserable the Eagles appeared to be last season as the campaign came off the tracks, maybe Sirianni is onto something.