Patience Pays Off

[time2rock]

Patience Pays Off

Posted: November 27th, 2023 | Author: Tommy Lawlor

Knowing when to wait and when to make changes is a critical part of success in the NFL. That is true for owners, GMs and coaches. The Eagles have been a patient franchise in the past couple of years and that patience has paid off. Not always, of course. The Eagles will walk away from someone when they feel the move is needed, but they don’t do it at the first sign of struggle. They give the person a chance to turn things around.

 

If you follow Les on Twitter (and you should), you know he wasn’t a fan of Michael Clay’s last year. That was understandable. Clay’s special teams unit struggled more than you want. We all wondered what would happen at the end of the season when Nick Sirianni reviewed the situation. After all, STs was one of the problems in the Super Bowl.

Sirianni stuck with Clay. And it looks like that was the right decision.

The Eagles have quietly built up a good STs unit.

• Jake Elliott might be the best kicker in the league. He certainly seems to be the most clutch kicker.
• Braden Mann is off to a good start as the punter. He’s 9th in the league in gross average and 11th in net average. Mann has done a good job as the holder for kicks.
• Rick Lovato is the long snapper and we never hear his name called. That’s a sign he does a good job.
• Britain Covey is 3rd in the league in punt return average at 14.8 yards per return. He’s developed into a weapon.
• Covey and Boston Scott each have KORs of 30 or more yards.

The group isn’t perfect to be sure. Some of the punt coverage in the KC game was porous, but Josh Jobe did make a great tackle late in that game that helped the Eagles to win.

The Eagles stuck with Clay and upgraded his personnel. Suddenly STs is part of the winning equation.

*****

Think about the patience the Eagles showed with Covey. He struggled in the first half of his rookie year. There were more fumbles than good returns. The coaches kept working with him and Covey finally adjusted to the NFL. He played well down the stretch and has been terrific this season.

There’s no more dancing or hesitation. He tries to stay as north-south as possible. When he finds a seam, Covey hits it and bursts up the field. We’ll see if he’s got a TD in his future.

*****

There was a time this year when the Eagles were 27th in the league in red zone offense. People got out their pitchforks and went after Brian Johnson. To a certain extent, it made sense. He’s new to calling plays in the NFL. He must have been the problem.

When you watched the tape, poor execution was as much a problem as play design or play-calling. The Eagles made red zone offense a point of emphasis since mid-October and the results are impressive.

The Eagles are now 5th in the NFL in red zone offense. How’s that for improvement?

People wondered if Sirianni should start calling plays. They sure thought something needed to change. Johnson and the players figured some things out and the Eagles are now once again scoring TDs. That’s been critical to them beating good teams. If you kick FGs against Dallas, KC or Buffalo, you’re not likely to win.

Sirianni showed patience with his young offensive coordinator and that worked out.

*****

Frank Reich didn’t get much patience from David Tepper, the owner of the Carolina Panthers. Reich was fired on Monday morning. Immediately you have to think Sirianni would be interested in hiring his former mentor. Sirianni was asked about that on Monday, but said he’d been focused on evaluating the Bills game and had not had a chance to think about adding anyone.

I’m sure he’ll reach out to Reich to see if he’s interested in a role. I don’t know that Reich would be significant schematically, but he might be valuable for getting the fiery Sirianni to settle down a bit. We’ll see what happens.

*****

Barnett did nothing this year so I’m glad the Eagles let him go. I hope he goes to Houston and plays well.

I know some of you don’t care for Barnett. I get that. I also know he was a key part of the DL rotation in 2017 and helped the Eagles win their first Super Bowl. I’ll always be thankful for that.

*****

I hope Cunningham is okay, but if not, going after Leonard would make sense. Leonard will be in Dallas on Tuesday to talk to the Cowboys. We’ll have to wait and see how things play out after that.

Sirianni was asked about Leonard and said the two had a good relationship so that could be important in the LB choosing where to play.

http://igglesblitz.com/2023/11/patience-pays-off/

[PoconoDon]

Leonard is in Phila. PA today.

[Rob331]

I guess Bradley and McPherson were't the special teams aces our media made them out to be. When they were there we stunk, with them gone we're very much better.