Nick Sirianni gave his coordinators a vote of confidence Tuesday, the head coach explaining that football is the ultimate team sport, and no single guy is to blame for the issues on offense and defense that have enabled the Eagles to be blown out in back-to-back games.
“You hear me all the time say this is the greatest team sport there is,” Sirianni said. “Usually when I’m talking about that, I’m talking about the good things that happen. But it’s also the truth when bad things are happening, too. To single somebody out, to single one person out is not the right move here. It’s how do we get better as a team? And we have to get better as a team, make no mistake about it.”
Once alone atop the league, the Eagles’ two-game losing skid has turned the NFC into a three-team race with the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, all the teams sporting 10-3 records. Worse, the 49ers and Cowboys have defeated the Eagles by an aggregate score of 75-32. Those are the worst back-to-back beatings in Sirianni’s tenure.
Sirianni bristled when asked if he was considering taking over the play calling duties from first-year offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, snapping off a blunt “No.”
Asked to elaborate, Sirianni offered tough detail.
“I feel good with the people we have in this building,” Sirianni said. “We’re 10-3. We’re in control of our own destiny. And we’re going to keep rolling and finding answers with the people that we have.”
The Eagles need to get rolling again this week when they hit the road to take on the Seattle Seahawks Monday night. The Seahawks might be the best 6-7 team in the league as they fought the 49ers tooth and nail with backup quarterback Drew Lock before succumbing, 28-16, to Deebo Samuel, who had two more touchdowns.
Quarterback Geno Smith could return this week. Two weeks ago he had the Seahawks on the doorstep of upsetting the Cowboys, who rallied behind Dak Prescott for a 41-35 decision in Seattle.
Though the Eagles lost their last two games to opponents that had extra time to prepare having played the previous Thursday, Sirianni would not use that as an excuse. The same with turnovers. With 19 giveaways, the Eagles have matched their 2022 total over 17 games.
“Last year at this time, I think I saw a stat we were plus-14,” Sirianni said of the team’s all-important turnover ratio, “Right now we’re minus-4. Huge, huge, huge difference. And so, again, we know we’re doing the right things as a team, how we coach it, how we protect it, how we go about our business. You want to look for every answer you can, and we will look for every answer we can, but it’s smacking the table and saying, ‘no, double down on the things we know to be true.’ That’s still our ball security circuit to start off any practice and take away circuit.”
Quarterback Jalen Hurts is the biggest offender as he’s committed 15 turnovers, tied for fourth in the league with Tua Tagovailoa. Hurts has at least one fumble in the last seven games, including one lost early against the Cowboys.
Sirianni attributes part of that to fumbled snaps and handoffs, explaining that if Hurts touches the ball he’s credited with the fumble. Beyond that, it’s difficult practicing ball security.
“There are different ways to simulate going to the ground,” Sirianni said. “It’s one of the most unnatural things that you can do in football, to be able to protect the football as you go to the ground, because naturally your body wants to sprawl out to catch yourself and sprawl out with the arm that’s carrying it. So, we got to put them in those situations even more. That’s my job as the head coach. Let’s make sure we simulate this drill of more going to the ground. That’s what we have to do to help the players out.”
On the defensive side, there is no question the Eagles lack experienced talent in the secondary. Cornerbacks James Bradberry and Darius Slay, both over 30 years of age, have been exposed along with nickel back Bradley Roby. The defensive line has been unable to apply enough pressure to help the defenders in coverage. And the linebacker corps needs a makeover unless Shaq Leonard suddenly returns to pre-injury form.
Against that backdrop, Sirianni was asked if he was OK with the job done by defensive coordinator Sean Desai.
“Total confidence, that’s why we hired him for the job,” Sirianni said. “I think really where it is, the yards pile up on you when you’re giving up some third downs. And that is (there are) problems everywhere there. We’ve got to coach them better. We’ve got to put them in better spots. We’ve got to detail it out for them. And we’ve also got to execute better. Everybody is in on that. … But I think it’s more situational. You bleed a little bit in the yardage areas when you’re staying on the field in third down. The big one is third down and being able to get off the field on third down. And obviously we haven’t been good enough there.”
The Eagles are allowing the opposition to convert on 48.1 percent of third downs, the worst figure in the 32-team league.
Source: Berkshire mont
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