Kellen Moore

[time2rock]

Kellen Moore

Posted: January 30th, 2025 | Author: Tommy Lawlor

There is one coaching vacancy left in the NFL and it seems like Kellen Moore is the favorite to land the Saints gig. Good for him if that happens. Assistant coaches all dream of getting a chance to be the head man. Moore has done a good job with the Cowboys, Chargers and Eagles so he might get his chance next week.

 

 

Losing Moore certainly isn’t ideal for the Eagles. There are some critics who would like to see him go. I certainly get that. The offense has been odd this year. The passing game hasn’t been nearly as smooth and productive as it should have been. It feels like the Eagles should be better than they are on offense.

I don’t think enough people appreciate what a complicated situation the Eagles have. Nick Sirianni has an offensive background and will always have his say in the offense. Jeff Stoutland is in charge of the run game. Kevin Patullo is going to be involved in the passing game.

There is also the Jalen Hurts factor. You have to build the offense around his skill set. You also have to listen to what he wants. Hurts has strong ideas on what he wants to do and that affects the OC’s play-calling.

The offensive coordinator doesn’t have the freedom to run his system, his way. He’s got restraints. The OC has to be able to fit his ideas into what is already in place. Go watch the Dallas offense from a few years back and then watch the Eagles. Those game tapes aren’t going to be the same.

Moore just called his best game of the year in the NFC championship game. He called passing plays that gave Hurts quick reads and allowed him to get the ball to Dallas Goedert and AJ Brown. Moore mixed in the jet sweep to DeVonta Smith. Motion was used effectively.

Moore shocked us all with two handoffs to Goedert. Those were great calls. DG is a good runner so why not find another way to get the ball in his hands. Moore was able to be creative and aggressive within the framework of the offense.

The other thing that has made this year so challenging is Saquon Barkley. He’s been so good as a runner that the Eagles don’t have to throw the ball. They were dead last in the league in passing attempts this season. Moore has done a good job with calling the right run plays to help Barkley post his insane numbers. Stoutland comes up with creative runs that stress a defense and Moore has called the right play at the right time more than once as you can see by all the long runs.

If Moore sticks around, I think he and the others will be able to get on the same page and develop this offense into something better than what we saw this year.

If he leaves, that means Hurts will have to adjust to a new OC again. In the last seven years, he has had 6 different OCs. Shane Steichen was the only guy to repeat. When did Hurts play his best football? In his second year with Steichen. It would be interesting to see Hurts and Moore get a chance to grow together.

I’m not going to get into potential replacement targets for Moore. We don’t know if he’s going to get the job or not. The Saints have had a hard time getting top candidates to show interest in the opening, which is never a good sign.

Will Moore’s situation affect the team heading into the Super Bowl? We know the Jonathan Gannon situation certainly didn’t help two years ago. I’m sure Sirianni and the team learned from that so this should be more of a minor distraction than a huge factor.

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Speaking of the Super Bowl…

The Eagles have a lot to get ready for. The Chiefs have a complex defense that loves to blitz. They caught Buffalo off guard in the most critical moment of the game. The Eagles have to prepare for all kinds of looks and blitzes.

Andy Reid threw some new plays out on the field last Sunday so Vic Fangio has to prepare for what he’s seen and then try to have his guys ready for the unexpected. The extra practices will help a lot.

Health is a big question for the Eagles right now. They put out an estimate yesterday and it wasn’t great. That might be a case of them trying to play mind games with KC on who is good and who isn’t. We’ll get a better feel for the practice reports that come out over the next few days when the Eagles are actually practicing and the players need to be on the field.

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In case you missed it, here are my notes on Day 2 from the Senior Bowl.

http://igglesblitz.com/2025/01/kellen-moore/

[JohnB]

good read

[UK_EaglesFan89]

I guess you could look at the Moore situation 2 ways.

On the one hand yes he’s potentially limited by all the inputs here. How much control does he have? How much of this offense is his? So you can say he’s done a good job of allowing the right voices to be heard to get us to this point.

On the other hand… If he’s not fulfilling the role of a true OC then becoming a HC is a huge jump and a real gamble for him and his new team.