Sirianni says Eagles are ‘meshing' systems to create their offense

Nick Sirianni on Tuesday talked about meshing systems to create the Eagles' offense in 2024.

By Dave Zangaro • Published February 28, 2024

 

INDIANAPOLIS — If you thought Nick Sirianni was taking a complete hands-off approach to the Eagles’ offense in 2024 … 

Think again.

When we last heard from the Eagles’ head coach at his year-end press conference back in Philly, he talked about hiring a new offensive coordinator who would "be in charge” of the Eagles’ offense, although Sirianni admitted he wasn’t exactly sure what it would look like. And at that time, we didn’t yet know that new offensive coordinator was going to be Kellen Moore.

But at the NFL Combine on Tuesday afternoon, Sirianni talked about a "meshing” of offensive systems to create the Eagles’ offense in 2024.

“[Moore] has been highly successful, and we've been highly successful,” Sirianni said. "And I think that I'm really looking forward to meshing what he's done really well together with the things that we've done really well. I think it's going to be a really good match, and Kellen's track record speaks for itself.”

While the Eagles had an almost-complete overhaul of the coaching staff on defense to surround veteran defensive coordinator Vic Fangio with his own staff, the changes on offense were much less pronounced.

Moore, 35, was able to bring Doug Nussmeier with him from Los Angeles. Nussmeier is the Eagles’ new quarterbacks coach and has worked under Moore with the Chargers and Cowboys.

But aside from that? The Eagles kept passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo, offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, running backs coach Jemal Singleton, tight ends coach Jason Michael and wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead.

"Obviously, we know those are really good coaches,” Sirianni said. "I have a lot of faith in them.

"And it's meshing of two systems, to grow in both systems so we can put the best product on the field. So, that's why that's kind of stayed similar is because we're going to be doing a lot of different — we're going to be doing different things, but also we're going to be doing things that we've been successful at as well. Obviously, those guys that I just mentioned on offense have been here through the success and look forward to growing from that.”

There’s no question that the Eagles have had success on offense under Sirianni at times. They had the No. 3 overall offense in the NFL in 2022 in scoring and yards. They were an elite group.

But in 2023, the Eagles weren’t nearly as good. While their defense completely collapsed under Sean Desai and Matt Patricia, the Eagles’ offense went the wrong way too. They were still a top 10 unit but top 10 wasn’t nearly good enough and even Sirianni admitted after the season that they needed fresh ideas.

The plan is for those fresh ideas to come from Moore. But just how successful will the Eagles be in blending two offenses together? Because in January, Sirianni talked about the next OC bringing in a scheme for the Eagles to run but there’s clearly going to be a blending of offensive schemes, philosophy and perhaps even play designs.

And we won’t really know how well all of that blends together until we see it on the field.

It’s pretty hard to hear all of this talk about a new coach bringing fresh ideas to the offense without thinking back to the 2020 season when Rich Scangarello was forced upon Doug Pederson in Pederson’s final season at the helm in Philly. That year, Scangarello was hired as a senior offensive assistant and the ideas was that he’d bring some concepts from Kyle Shanahan’s offense to the Eagles.

Instead, those ideas blended like oil and water and Scangarello ended up being unable to get any of his ideas to stick. Pederson still maintained control of the offense. Heck, if you’re going to fail, you might as well fail on your own terms. Ultimately, the Eagles puttered to a 4-11-1 record and Jeff Lurie eventually cleaned house.

So that’s the fear. And it’s hard to avoid that fear creeping into your mind..

But there are also some more reasons for optimism too. One of them is that Moore isn’t just an add-on coach. He’s the Eagles’ offensive coordinator and that means real power because he’ll be calling plays too. And he’s bringing a quarterbacks coach with him. That seems to present a system of checks and balances for the offense that wasn’t around in 2020.

But ultimately, this is still Sirianni’s team. He’s still the head coach and it’ll be up to him to figure out a way to successfully blend these systems into an offense that is unique to the Eagles. That’s the goal, anyway. 

"Obviously, I hired Kellen because I felt like he was the best guy for the job, and Kellen's been successful in every place that he's been,” Sirianni said. "I know it's relative, really a young career, but he's been successful as a player. He's been successful as a coach.

"I like the way he thinks about football and the way he takes everything in and is able to make decisions off of that. So, it's been fun getting to know him. Obviously, I've always had respect for him from afar, and it's been fun getting to know him and work through these things together to build our offense for next season.”

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/sirianni-says-eagles-are-meshing-systems-to-create-their-offense/567569/

Moore should be coming in here to run the offense. If he wants to mesh some of the old concepts then OK fine but it should be his decision. If Sirianni is still in charge or having a significant say in the offense then it’s going to be a long hard and ultimately disappointing season.

The offense will be tush push meshed with Moore's offense mixed with the necessary adaptations/fit/crutch/opportunity/whatever that are mandatory in a Jalen Hurts offense.

1 hour ago, eagle45 said:

The offense will be tush push meshed with Moore's offense mixed with the necessary adaptations/fit/crutch/opportunity/whatever that are mandatory in a Jalen Hurts offense.

And if it isn’t then it’s going to be bad…

I can't wait to see the Offense!

I think it will be dynamic.

I'm personally optimistic about the new offensive scheme. But I agree with UK in that if Sirianni is too tight-fighted with control of the offense, he will be shown the door. 

This isn't anything new.  When Sirianni mentioned during his end of season PC that the offense had gotten stale and that they would be bringing in someone to bring new ideas he did also say at that time that there were things they did well that would still be a part of the offense moving forward.  

This is not a concern.  If things don't go well then that likely means Sirianni is gone after the season.  

Everyone will obviously be very curious/excited to see what the O looks like this year.  For the record, I'm optimistic about it...mainly because we do have some really good talent. It should be hard to look bad with as much talent as we have...sans injuries.

That said, we can all say that if it ultimately fails, Siri will be gone, etc. 

If that happens, we'll be left with Hurts and we'll have to see how he plays this year.  It's always so hard to know where a true problem is when it comes to QB play and coaching.  Coaches can design and teach and try to build a scheme around the QBs strengths, but ultimately it's up to the QB to be able to execute.  Hurts, many times, reverts to old habits...leaving the pocket too soon, running, not seeing open receivers because he only has eyes for certain guys, etc.  I'd love to give Siri truth serum and ask him if he thinks Hurts just isn't capable of processing information fast enough and therefore has to "dumb down" the offensive design (or maybe he'd admit he was the stooge).

There's a reason why most coaches want their guy at QB.  A guy they pick and/or a guy they believe has the personality/mental capability to play within the construct of their scheme.  

The pessimist in me sees "Sirianni says Eagles are ‘messing' systems to create their offense"