Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to the media Wednesday regarding the change he made on the defensive side of the ball and the offensive struggles during the team's three-game losing streak. While he made senior defensive assistant Matt Patricia the defensive play caller instead of coordinator Sean Desai, Sirianni was asked why he hasn't changed from offensive coordinator Brian Johnson.
Sirianni would stand by his peer and take accountability for the offense's shortcomings the past few weeks, especially last Monday night where the Eagles lost to the Seattle Seahawks led by quarterback Drew Lock. He said that “this is my offense” and that the blame goes to Johnson “unfairly” according to NBC Sports.
“We have to put the players in more positions to create explosive plays,” Sirianni said. “But make no mistake about it, this offense is being run the exact same way the offense was run last year and the year before that. This offense is my offense; right? This is my offense. So, the criticism on the offense I think unfairly goes to Brian. Brian calls the plays. Brian calls the plays. It unfairly goes to Brian. The criticism on this offense should come at me because this is my offense.”
Sirianni talks about the Eagles' shortcomings
While Johnson calls the offensive plays for Philadelphia, Sirianni said he was “hired” to bring the franchise his schemes to propel the team to win football games. That's why the offense coming up short as of recent is on him and not the offensive coordinator.
“I was hired to do a job here,” Sirianni said. “And got hired because I was a successful offensive coordinator with our schemes and the different things we did to coach players and help players win. And I’m committed to that. Like I said, the criticism should come to me and I think it unfairly goes at Brian a lot of the times because he’s calling the plays.”
When talking about making a possible change on the offense, he said that there should not be one since the offense has not changed that much. He said there are “multiple reasons” for it, but that is one big claim according to Yahoo Sports.
“But make no mistake about it, this offense has been consistently similar throughout the three years. Yes, there’s different things you do based off your personnel and different things you do based off the teams that you’re playing and what’s working for you. Again, it all starts there with me. I guess I’m not thinking that a change needs to be made there for multiple reasons and that’s one big one.”
Sirianni talks about the Jalen Hurts pick at the end of Seahawks loss
In the game against the Seahawks where the Eagles lost, 20-17, there was a chance for Philadelphia to tie the game and send into over time after the go-ahead touchdown from Seattle. However, quarterback Jalen Hurts went deep with little time remaining and got picked off, which Sirianni said there have been moments where a pass interference penalty has been called per NBC Sports.
“At times there, we’ve seen you can get a pass interference there,” Sirianni said. “It was what it was on that particular play, but if you get a pass interference call there and if a team is giving you a one-on-one shot for very similar to what happened on the other side of the ball, they ended up getting a one-on-one shot that had some different things there, and we’ve seen it. We had a one-on-one shot against the Rams, and you can get a pass interference, and now you’re in position to kick it.”
Eagles have some of the best receivers in NFL per Sirianni
He defended the decision from Hurts as he said the Eagles have some of the best receivers in the NFL in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. Sirianni said it has worked other times, in the game, it didn't, so they “understand the criticism” and that they will improve.
“So, we have some of the best receivers in the NFL outside,” Sirianni said. “So, there are times where you’re going to do that. We felt like in that situation we had an opportunity to. Hey, it didn’t work out that particular time. But we’ve done it at other times in two-minute drills, and it’s worked. In that particular time, it didn’t work, so we understand the criticism, but not only could you get a pass interference, but also A.J. has a tremendous ability to come down with the football in one-on-one situations. In this particular case it didn’t work out, but we’re comfortable with what was called and what we did in that scenario, and we’ll be better next time because of it.”
Even though the Eagles are on a three-game losing streak where they have not scored 20 points or more, they are still 10-4 on the season, but tied with the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East. Fortunately for Philadelphia, their final three games of the regular season are soft on paper as they face the New York Giants this Monday night, the Arizona Cardinals the week after, and then closing it out against the Giants again.
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