The sky isn’t falling yet in Philadelphia, but the sirens are sounding. The Eagles are 2-2 and have stumbled to even get to this point. Individual brilliance from the likes of Saquon Barkley have been the difference, but this is not a team that is meeting the lofty expectations of becoming a dominant Championship contender.
With the Eagles on a bye week and coming off of a simply horrible loss to the Buccaneers, it’s time for action. The season won’t save itself, and Nick Sirianni now needs to prove his salt as a coach and get this team back on the right track. Here are 3 ways he can do that.
Before we dive into the practical measures he can deploy, it’s worth noting that this won’t feature schematic suggestions. The schemes are what they are, the coaches will make the decisions they make, and that’s that. But there are off-field decisions that can be made to at least nullify the bad decisions and restore the confidence that has been sucked out of the locker room.
The Eagles need to set the tone…off the field
You’ve got Chauncey Gardner-Johnson chirping before games only for Darius Slay to hop on the podcast a rival player to lightly badmouth him. You’ve got Devin White tweeting former teammates after a big play against…the team he currently plays for, and you’ve got a flurry of players who simply aren’t performing.
Whether it’s a trade, a release, an intent to bring more physicality to practices, there has to be something beyond a ‘players only meeting’ where the team takes it upon itself to try and fix this mess. It starts at the top, and it’s down to the brass to take an executive stance and rid the roster of players who aren’t bought in to what Sirianni and company are selling.
Re-evaluate the Eagles’ leadership core
Darius Slay is the player circled in red here. His bizarre Twitter antics have enraged Eagles fans, with the veteran corner consistently going into business for himself after a tough defeat and quickly taking to social media to toot his own horn. That’s not the attitude that a team captain should be displaying.
We can’t vouch for what Slay does in the locker room or on the practice field, but we can say that way he portrays himself online has been problematic at best on multiple occasions. When you factor in rookies Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, and a swarm of hungry young corners all learning from Slay, this hardly sets the precedent for years to come.
Strip him of his captaincy and give it to a player who plays just as hard and won’t add distractions at a time when the Eagles need to be completely focused on getting better as a team.
Play the hungriest players
Avonte Maddox has been sloppy. Missed tackles have been an issue across the board. Bryce Huff isn’t ready for a three-down role. John Ross was practically jogging on his routes last week. Special teams has been an utter mess with players running into each other, and miscommunications continue to be costly.
Right now, it doesn’t matter how good a player is If they’re not hungry to succeed. Make a tough call. Bench a starter who isn’t performing at a satisfactory level. There are enough talented young corners, hungry receivers, and versatile pass-rushers (hello Jalyx Hunt) to play hard if given the opportunity.
Get the players who will fight on every snap and hustle for every extra yard. That alone will overcome a chunk of the coaching woes and at least establish a core base of playing identity. THEN you can tinker with the players and sprinkling the higher-paid players back in.
Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
