PHILADELPHIA — There were no high-fives, no giggles, no “should I take this question,” or “you take that one” interaction during the long-awaited end-of-season news conference Wednesday featuring Eagles general manager Howie Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni.
Instead, there was Roseman saying he was accountable, and yes, so was Sirianni for an epic, late-season collapse that turned an early 10-1 run into an 11-7 season stumble and wildcard ouster at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
There was Sirianni answering questions more openly about more topics while Roseman was present, which was interesting because Sirianni typically deferred to his boss to approve or block touchy questions. Among other admissions was the need for an offensive coordinator with ideas “that’s not part of this family of coaches.”
The honest fellows missed the only humorous moment during the 30-minute availability that began 27 minutes and a few days late. It came about seven minutes into the show when Roseman interrupted five straight questions and lengthy answers by Sirianni with “Let me answer a question.” Roseman wasn’t kidding. He was tired of being quiet.
The basic talking points gleaned?
- Offensive coordinator Brian Johnson was let go because Sirianni thought it was in the best interest of the Birds to add an offensive coordinator with “fresh ideas.” The plan is for the new coordinator to install a new offense minus the naming rights.
“This will be our offense,” Sirianni said. “This will be the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense, not whoever, name the coordinator’s offense, or my name on it or whoever. … This will be our offense.”
Let the ambiguity begin. Without new ideas, Jalen Hurts is in trouble. Kliff Kingsbury, who as a head coach with the Cardinals developed Kyler Murray, already has interviewed for the vacancy.
- According to Roseman, it was Sirianni’s idea to make Matt Patricia the defensive playcaller over coordinator Sean Desai with four games left in the regular season.
“No different than when Nick decided to give Shane (Steichen) the play-calling duty,” Roseman said referencing Sirianni’s move in his first season. “He said, ‘Hey, this is what I’m going to do.’ I trust him with the coaching staff. That’s his responsibility, just like he trusts me with my front office staff. That’s how the relationship works.”
Or doesn’t work. Roseman should have had his head examined for signing off on that change. Desai and Patricia are both looking for work.
- Sirianni felt he had to convince Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie at their end of season meeting that he was still the guy to do the job. Just guessing he mentioned the 34-17 record (.667) in the regular season and trips to the playoffs in each of his three seasons.
“You’d better believe that I’m thinking, after that 1-6 finish after starting the way we started, and doing the things that we’ve done in the past, that I’m thinking I’m going to prove them right again, and we’re going to prove them right,” Sirianni said of the Birds’ 10-1 start before the collapse. “We’ve got to re-prove ourselves. We’ve got to go prove it again. That’s how I feel right now. That’s how I’m attacking this offseason. That’s how I’m attacking this upcoming season as we get ready for it. Just hungry to be able to prove myself again to Mr. Lurie and the faith that he’s had in me and Howie and the faith he’s had in me and the rest of the team and the city.”
- There is a leader in the clubhouse for defensive coordinator. That would be Vic Fangio, the defensive coordinator the Eagles wanted when Jonathan Gannon left them high and dry. Fangio and the Dolphins have mutually agreed to move on from each other. Fangio has head coaching experience and an incredible grasp of how to mesh the pass rush with the coverage.
Cornered by reports that Fangio was tops on the Birds’ list, Sirianni tried to play defense but didn’t deny the interest.
“We’ve got a lot of good targets that we’re working through, and there are a lot of guys that have done really well in their interview process,” Sirianni said. “And I look forward to continuing on that process. We’ll see what happens.”
Other big coordinator prospects here are Ron Rivera, who has a history with the Eagles and was just deposed from his head coaching position with the Commanders, and former Eagles linebacker Mike Caldwell, fired by Doug Pederson and the Jaguars.
- Roseman doesn’t know if the Eagles’ collapse was more because of the coaching or his roster building, but he’s working on it.
“Sometimes you can have a vision, have a process, and the result is not what you want,” Roseman said. “So you’ve got to make sure that you’re not overreacting to a result that maybe just kind of was an aberration in the moment, and then you’ve got to look at maybe is the process right. … To me, we’re at a point here where the only thing that matters is winning. That’s the only thing that matters, is for us to put out a product on the field that gives us the best chance to win a championship every year, and I know we can do that because we’ve done it. And we’ll continue to work as hard as we possibly can to continue to grow and learn from any adversity we have and do whatever we can to overcome that.”
Contact Bob Grotz at rgrotz@delcotimes.com.
Source: Berkshire mont
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