The Eagles had a few extra days to try and find some solutions to the long list of problems they’ve been having lately, specifically on offense. Head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters on Monday as the team returned to the building and talked about their approach over the weekend, he confirmed Kevin Patullo is still the play caller, and talked about the importance of keeping Jalen Hurts healthy and how that affects designed QB runs.
“Obviously, we’re evaluating everything. You don’t have as much time as you have in a normal bye week, but it’s a mini-bye and so everything was being evaluated. We will think about some different things that we want to do all over the place: scheme, everything. I don’t think it benefits us for me to share in particular what that is.
Just know this: We want to get this thing fixed more than anybody. We live it, breathe it, and [are] involved in it every waking second of our lives. That’s what we’re working on right now.”
Here’s what else the head coach had to say:
On the offensive play calling
Sirianni said changing play callers in 2021 and 2023 were different scenarios than the one they find themselves in, and he has faith in the players and coaches to make changes and execute – including the play calling.
“We’ve just got to execute it better and scheme it better, and that all can be true, we’ve got to call it better. It’s every area that we need to improve on. That’s why we always say we look internally through all these things. Like I said to you guys, if all that’s not gelling, to me, that’s on me first. It’s my job to do whatever I need to do to help get it fixed and that’s what we’re working on right now.”
He was then pushed to clarify that OC Kevin Patullo is still the play caller, to which he succinctly replied, “Yeah.”
On Jalen Hurts as a runner
Sirianni was asked if Jalen Hurts’ rushing numbers were down this season related to the QB wanting to rush less this year – as has been recently reported. The head coach attributed some of that to keeping Hurts healthy, while saying they’re looking at everything they do.
“We’re always thinking about how to protect Jalen and make sure that he is healthy for the long haul. Different plans have different reasons of why you run different things, and like I said, we will do everything we need to do to help this offense get rolling. Jalen’s talented in running the football. He is talented in also holding the backside when he doesn’t run the football, so a lot of different ways to do that. Again, always looking at everything and how we can improve.”
The head coach later said that even when they are calling quarterback runs, there are ones that are somewhat safer to call than others, but there’s always a risk. He noted that no one really wants Hurts to come out of a game with 15 designed carries, but they’ll see how that looks moving forward.
On Grant Calcaterra as a blocker
Sirianni was asked about TE Grant Calcaterra being asked to block a defensive end one-on-one, and the head coach defended using the tight end in that situation.
“On that play and the one you’re talking about, they obviously brought the nickel off the edge and kind of stunted the other guy down in there pretty far inside, which is going to be a tough block regardless of who’s in right there. We have a lot of faith in Grant [Calcaterra] and the things that he can do. Like I said, it’s always our job as coaches to first start them off in positions that they can succeed. Sometimes the loss is drawn up to execution. Sometimes the loss is drawn up to the scheme. Sometimes the loss is drawn up to, you might’ve loved your scheme, but they did something that made it really difficult to do, and I think that was the case right there.”
On the run defense
“Obviously, we’re not going to say, ‘Hey, this is what hurt us,’ or ‘This is what we struggle with.’ I don’t think that benefits us to talk through that. At the end of the day, fundamentals come into play. At the end of the day, having different things to help the guys out come into play. It’s always going to be the same thing with that. We’ve got work to do on the practice field when we get back out there, in the meeting rooms as we’re sitting in here right now.”
Sirianni went on to explain that if the fundamentals aren’t done well, they look at themselves as coaches to figure out better ways to teach the details. That includes finding better drills to help them execute and different things in the meeting room.
On schematic advantages
“As we go through game planning, we’re always thinking about how we help guys do their jobs better, how we attack versus different looks, what you do well, what you don’t do so well. Obviously, as we think through it and look at it, we’re hypercritical on ourselves as well and say to ourselves, ‘We might’ve thought this was the best going in, but as we look at it, we have to change some things, too.’ You can’t just keep doing the same thing over and over and over again and expect different results.
So, we’re hypercritical of ourselves and we’re looking for ways to help the guys be able to execute better. It always goes hand in hand right there. What necessarily worked for us in the past doesn’t always mean it’s going to necessarily work for you in the future. That’s what the weekend was about. Looking at ourselves first because we’re going to ask our players to look at themselves, and everyone looking internally.“
Other notables
- Sirianni touched on his philosophy of scheming to fit the players, and explained that you always want to be doing things the players do best. There are different ways to attack different looks, but if you’re asking someone to do something they’re not good at, it doesn’t matter how it’s drawn up.
- The head coach talked a bit about the lessons they learned in 2023 and how that adversity helped them get to where they did in 2024 — a Super Bowl win. He didn’t want to get into specifically what he learned, but said that he wrote down exactly what they learned and how they learned it, as well as how they moved forward.
- He threw his support being the position coaches on offense, as well, and talked about the collaborative effort among all of them.
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