The Philadelphia Eagles had the horses to make another Super Bowl run. Aside from free-agent departures here and there, this was largely the same exact team that fell one pass interference penalty short of a Lombardi Trophy last February. Running it back felt like a surefire guarantee that the Eagles would, at the very least, get a chance to defend their NFC title.
None of it mattered.
Not when Jalen Hurts bizarrely called out his teammates’ commitment after a tough loss in Seattle. Not when the rival San Francisco 49ers came to Philadelphia and took the Eagles behind the woodshed with no mercy. Certainly not when A.J. Brown repeatedly took to the media to try and shield the Eagles from warranted criticism. Definitely not when Philadelphia lost five of its last six regular-season games in humbling fashion, practically handing the NFC’s No. 2 seed and an NFC East title to the Dallas Cowboys on a silver platter.
In concept, the Eagles had another Super Bowl-worthy team. In practice, Nick Sirianni lost control of the reins on a fragile team that never had its head in the right place. They never had their eyes on the prize; they never even considered fixing what ailed. That’s all because of their leader.
Nick Sirianni on his job security:
“I’m not thinking about that. I’m thinking about the guys. There’s a lot of guys in that locker room that put their heart and soul into this. I’m not worried about me. As the head coach, I’m just trying to be there for our guys and our staff.”
— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) January 16, 2024
Sirianni showed he was unconventional from the jump of his Eagles’ tenure. He delivered an elevator speech that sounded like he was cutting a WWE promo, threatening the rest of the NFL that Philadelphia was coming. It is this very same mentality that ingratiated Sirianni to his players and a football city hungry for another Super Bowl title.
He defended Frank Reich’s honor while standing on an Indianapolis bench. He dropped a classic f-bomb on national television after beating the Cowboys. He once yelled at the refs for daring to question his competence (in his mind) on the sideline. Sometimes, he’d made it seem like he’d throw fists with opposing coaches before a game even started! A no-nonsense hothead, Sirianni was a Philadelphia sports coach through and through. He fit his team and his city like a glove.
This mentality of wearing your heart on your sleeve served the Eagles well when they were steamrolling everyone. When you’re at the top of the world, when you’re the NFL’s de facto bully, not taking anyone’s crap is an empowering feeling. The Eagles of 2022 were perfectly built, a machine that channeled Sirianni’s brashness into a weapon at nearly every turn.
But the Eagles of 2023 had more fatal flaws than they’d ever admit.
A star-studded secondary showed its age as opposing offenses treated Darius Slay and James Bradberry like pinatas. An offensive line with multiple potential Hall of Famers like Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson showed more cracks in the armor than expected. Brian Johnson’s offensive scheme amounted to spamming screens and four verticals, seemingly hoping that opposing cornerbacks would suffer Madden glitches and let receivers run free. (They did not do this.) Sean Desai’s defensive strategy left much to be desired, but he didn’t deserve to be thrown under the bus for professional doofus Matt Patricia.
As talented as they were, the Eagles could never quite figure out how to evenly distribute the ball between A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert. Note: It’s not clear this was an actual problem to anyone but the Eagles’ skill players.
Jalen Hurts was under pressure in under 2.5 seconds (i.e., quick pressure) 13 times against the Buccaneers defense, tying a career-high.
The Buccaneers generated 10 unblocked pressures, tied for the most in a game by any defense this season.#PHIvsTB | #RaiseTheFlags
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) January 16, 2024
How did the Eagles respond to their rash of problems?
When it wasn’t working, they pointed fingers at each other. When that 10-1 start felt extremely shaky (yes, seriously), they operated as if it was business as usual. Instead of providing concrete answers for his players and subordinates, instead of addressing significant roster drawbacks, Sirianni never veered away from the script. He wanted everyone to get the grit and sandpaper out because nobody believed in them … or something.
At a certain point, this sort of messaging wears thin.
I’m told the main message from Nick Sirianni in last night’s Eagles team meeting was just like his message all week long, get back to being a physical & violent team
I’m told in the team hotel when the Cowboys got blown out, the Eagles were hyped and it lit a fire in them pic.twitter.com/cTBQKIllik
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) January 16, 2024
It’s OK to be the rah-rah football coach. It’s OK to show passion and energy. But there’s a statute of limitations on this having a positive impact. If professional athletes are experiencing a collective slide together, they’ll expect more from their coach than diatribes about punching the other team in the mouth and how no one [expletive] respects us. They’ll turn a cold shoulder to the hackneyed cliches without hesitation. They know better.
Everything about the Eagles’ fall from grace this year showed that Sirianni might be too much of a one-trick pony. Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon — two popular punching bags for the organization after falling short in Super Bowl 57 — were missed. Dearly. Steichen took a backup quarterback to the doorstep of the playoffs in his first season as a head coach. Gannon, meanwhile, has the Arizona Cardinals sitting pretty in a promising rebuild around Kyler Murray.
And while his two former top assistants coached their tails off, all Sirianni could offer was rote platitudes about playing with a fire in your belly. Gee, I wonder why the Eagles looked so lost so often.
After a stunning collapse, the Eagles will look in the mirror this offseason. They’ll have to address an aging roster that is veering past its expiration date. They’ll have to ask themselves whether Sirianni has anything to offer in their retool beyond chest pumps and cockiness.
The answer is as subtle as an impassioned Sirianni press conference.
