It didn’t take a football polymath to see a broken Eagles‘ offense at work in 2023, and naturally, fingers started pointing to head Coach Nick Sirianni. The play-calling was predictable to the point of stagnation, exposing one coach’s unwillingness to think outside the box.
After weeks of people trying to work out who was at fault, jettisoned offensive coordinator Brian Johnson took the brunt of criticism. While the former quarterback whisperer surely had a hand in it, the brunt of the blame ultimately fell on Nick Sirianni and his stubbornness. According to The Athletic’s Diana Russini, the head coach was 100% responsible for the play-calling and Johnson was the Danielsan to Sirianni’s Miyagi.
“It was 100 percent Sirianni’s offense you were watching last season, and Sirianni wanted to do it his way,” Russini told the “Scoop City” podcast. “That meant a conservative, run-first approach, especially when they got near the red zone. And last year, opposing defenses were ready for it. Johnson wasn’t calling plays. He was solely focused on giving Sirianni the offense that Sirianni wanted to run.”
This new report isn’t surprising to anyone who watched the team last season, particularly down in the red zone and goal-line situations. The Eagles invariably handed it off every time: 67 rushes compared to 19 passes inside the 10-yard line, 104 rushes compared to 53 passes inside the 20-yard line. They did own the ninth-best touchdown percentage (59.68%) in the NFL, although a lot of that success can be chalked up to the brute force of Jalen Hurts and the “tush push.” He racked up 15 of their 22 rushing scores in the red zone. Nothing was easy, at least not behind the scenes.
Russini said: “What I was told: Those 10 wins were a grind. The Eagles were winning, but things weren’t exactly perfect behind the scenes and from a culture standpoint. One issue: Sirianni is a conservative play-caller, and that never goes over great with a franchise quarterback.”
Did Jalen Hurts Challenge Nick Sirianni’s Play-Calling?
Another key point from Diana Russini’s reporting called out the dynamic between Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni. Everyone knows their personalities are uniquely different, a private guy versus an emotional guy. It didn’t matter when the Eagles were winning games, but losing exposed the idea that the head coach and quarterback weren’t “on the same page.” That can’t happen when an offense is trying to develop its identity.
Case in point, the humiliating 42-19 loss to San Francisco on December 3. There was an awkward moment in the third quarter — a fourth-and-two from the 32-yard line — where Sirianni elected to punt. Twelve plays later, the 49ers marched right down the field and extended their lead to 35-13. Why am I bringing this play up? Because Hurts seemed to question Sirianni’s play-calling while denying that he had any input on the decision to punt during his post-game press conference.
“I don’t know that I was, I don’t think I was,” Hurts said when asked if Sirianni asked his opinion. “I don’t know if we, you know, knew how far away we were from it (the first down), but, you know, in a game like that you definitely want to be aggressive and we have been aggressive in the past but, you know, we always support whatever call is made in that situation, we just have to execute – I don’t think we should have even been in that situation to be honest. So, you know, we learn from it and grow from it.”
That’s one side of the story. Take from it what you will. Meanwhile, Sirianni was quick to justify his decision to not go for it there.
“Yeah, to me there was a lot of football left to play in the third and fourth quarter,” Sirianni told reporters that day. “So I don’t regret that decision. To me, with that much time where that ball is right there, yeah, I did what I felt like I needed to do in that particular time.”
Is Nick Sirianni on the Hot Seat in 2024?
The calls for Nick Sirianni’s job grew loud at the end of that dismal 2023 campaign. The Eagles decided to keep the status quo, choosing instead to hand-pick his new coordinators on both sides of the ball. It was a directive straight from the desk of general manager Howie Roseman. Kellen Moore now has autonomy over the offense, for better or for worse. Know this: Roseman expects nothing less than a Super Bowl championship. And Sirianni will be on the hot seat if there is no parade down Broad Street in February.
“It’s not about getting to the playoffs or getting to the Super Bowl, it’s about how last season ended,” FOX Sports analyst David Helman said. “That’s not just disappointing, to go from 10-1 to 11-6 and just getting shown the door in the wild-card round by a Bucs team that had been mediocre all year … it got really bad in Philadelphia.
“The play wasn’t good. The vibes were terrible. I’m not in that locker room. I don’t know what happened but it was so obvious the confidence of the team, the satisfaction, the happiness, the vibes that go along with being a good football team were gone by the end of that year … If that doesn’t get fixed then yes, he will be on the hot seat and it’ll be justified.”
AP Photo/Matt Slocum
