Finding Solutions

Posted October 13th, 2025

If you needed a new drinking game, go watch Nick Sirianni’s press conference from Monday and take a drink every time he uses the phrase "finding solutions”. Just make sure you don’t need to be anywhere early the next day.

https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1ynJOMPNDLzKR

His point does have merit. Sitting around and blaming this player or that coach isn’t going to accomplish anything. It would make some fans happy and certainly WIP would love it, but it wouldn’t change anything. As Sirianni pointed out repeatedly, the key is finding solutions.

That said, part of finding solutions is identifying problems. And that does involve pointing fingers to a certain extent. You might need to point out to Kevin Patullo that he’s got to mix up formations better than he currently is. You might need to let the edge rushers know that sacks are a good thing. The OL could use a suggestion on actually playing well for a whole game. Heck, even three quarters would be a step in the right direction.

Playing on Thursday night means the coaches have had a few extra days to study tape and analyze data in their search for solutions. Let’s hope they found some. Sirianni wouldn’t go into details, as you would expect. Why would you announce to the world the solutions you figured out? Save them for the upcoming games.

Some of the problems seem pretty obvious so it would be highly disappointing if Sirianni and his staff were not able to find solutions. We’ll find out on Sunday when the Eagles go to play the Vikings.

*****

A new problem arose on Monday.

Mixed feelings on this. Smith had some good moments for the Birds. He had 1.5 sacks and 2 TFLs. There was a play in the Giants loss where Smith looked slow. Jaxson Dart is a good athlete, but Smith looked old and slow on the play. I wonder if he saw that or just started to feel that way.

As bad as the Eagles struggles feel to some, the team is 4-2. Guys don’t jump off that team. A two-game losing streak isn’t a big deal for most organizations. If the Eagles were falling apart like the 1-5 Ravens, that might be different. Smith missed Training Camp. He joined the Eagles after the

opener. You wonder if he’s fully committed or realized that he was simply ready to walk away. Football isn’t an easy game. It isn’t a casual game. You might fool yourself into believing you still want to play. For now we can just speculate on Smith’s thinking.

This does leave the Eagles light at edge rusher.

Jalyx Hunt
Azeez Ojulari
Josh Uche
Patrick Johnson

Nolan Smith will come off IR after the bye, but the Eagles still could be looking for help. The edge rushers haven’t been good enough this season. We know Howie is an aggressive GM who likes to trade. We also have to remember that it takes two sides to deal. You can identify a good rusher on another team, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be available.

The most obvious choice is Trey Hendrickson. The Bengals have fallen apart. I would assume he will be available. The problem is that he could cost a lot for a rental. If multiple teams are bidding, how high do you go. The real key here is for Howie, Sirianni and Jeff Lurie to have an honest talk and figure out if they think this team truly is  a title contender. The Eagles don’t feel like one right now, but that could change in a week or a month. Would adding a good pass rusher make a significant difference?

You’ll hear a lot of rumors. The Eagles will get mentioned a lot, partially because of Howie’s nature. He isn’t afraid to take chances. Some rumors might be true, but many won’t be. Agents, media types and other teams will leak all kinds of info. Only a portion will be true.

Howie will talk to everyone to find out what is possible. That doesn’t mean he’ll make a move. Again, he’s got to figure out if the risk is worth the reward. Adding Golden Tate helped the Eagles win a wild card game. Adding Robert Quinn didn’t do squat.

It is also important to remember that Vic Fangio will have some say in this. He’s picky about who/what he wants. He and Howie need to be on the same page. You wouldn’t want another Bryce Huff situation.

https://igglesblitz.com/2025/10/finding-solutions/

Another article from this dude which tells me NOTHING. Why do I waste minutes of my life reading this horrible dribble! 🧐

Solutions solutions solutions. To be honest I’m already getting tired of hearing it and hearing we aren’t far away. Mailata keeps saying we are one block away from getting the big runs. He also says they are working hard on the whole getting to the LOS quicker rather than having to rush to snap the ball. Well why aren’t they fixing these things then? And why does the result on the field look so poor overall?

I have a solution: It was about this time last year that Sirianni shaved his head and had us all wondering if he should be involuntarily committed. Somehow, it worked the team like AED paddles on patient in cardiac arrest.

Do that.

I think we all need to pump the brakes on giving up on the season.

The NFL season is a long season and so many issues are in play for every team. Injuries, player development, new coordinators, new schemes are just a few things that cause teams to have to adjust during the season.......the ups and downs from week to week get exaggerated by the fans and media and project those ups and downs to the future games.

Every team is dealing with issues that have to be adjusted to or fixed. When the season started, the eagles, ravens, bills, chiefs and packers were the "obvious" favorites......the eagles have lost to the giants, the ravens are 1-5, the bills just lost to the falcons, the chiefs are 3-3 and the packers are 3-1-1........the colts and Bucs have the best records in the league.

The issues that teams deal with make consistency difficult, especially early in the season. The eagles lost a bunch of players, mostly due to salary cap concerns. They brought in some new faces in free agency and the draft and they had some long guy who were emerging last year that they thought could become full time contributors. Those changes have not yet performed to the level we all expected...yet.

In my opinion, the offense is the biggest issue.......Clearly Patullo and the offense is not creative enough and not controlling the game like last year. This puts big pressure on the defense especially with the injuries and the subpar performances. But it's clear that Dickerson and Jurgens are still dealing with health issues and Steen is a step down from Becton. And since the Oline needs cohesion and familiarity, the Oline is not as good as last year, which reduces Barkley and Hurts effectiveness. Brown whining like a little girl only adds to the pressure on Hurts and Padullo.

How to fix it all? The eagles are still one of the most talented teams in the NFL. And everybody always forgets how young they are. Defenses are going to stack the box to limit Barkley and dare the eagles to have Hurts beat them thru the air......and that's just what they need to do....with the short to medium pass game, getting first downs, controlling the ball and clock, keeping the eagles defense on the bench and staying fresh. Get the ball to brown, smith and Dotson.......get Barkley in motion.....call some bootlegs for Hurts with a quick pass.

Defensively, getting Dean and Carter back is huge.....yes, these 2 guys can make a big difference. I think Fangio will get more creative with the linebackers to increase the pass rush. Fangio stated with Mitchell and Dejean in their 2nd year, it opens up other possibilities......But it still remains that the young guys like Ojomo, Hunt, Makuba, Young, Robinson and Ringo have to up their game. Ojulari and Uche need to earn a 2nd contract. Of those 8 guys, if 2 of them produced, the defense will make big strides.

It's tough to add players before the trade deadline that will make a big difference unless they pay a big price, which Howie shies away from.....with an expected 10 picks next year, Roseman is more likely to save those picks for draft day trades. And it's tough to project the salary cap issues that Roseman has to deal with over the next 2 years with the extensions he'll need to address.

So while it all seems like doom and gloom, this is normal for almost every NFL team......and I think the eagles younger were forced into an expanded role before they were ready. Ojulari and Uche are still adjusting to Fangio's system. It takes 6-8 games for a player to fully adapt to a new scheme......hopefully, the young guys improve and the new guys feel more comfortable over the next 2 games before the bye week.

Of course it would be silly to give up on the season. We were 2-2 last year and kinda looking the same before we turned it around and pretty much steamrolled through the rest of the schedule. I don't see the same type of steamrolling happening but we can certainly improve enough to be thought of as legit contenders. I think the main thing we need to do is get some of our players healthy. Dickerson, Carter, Mitchell, Jurgens ... some of our best players that are banged up. I know Mitchell is listed as a full participant and is supposed to play tomorrow - Carter and Dickerson are still questionable. It might be best to give them another week to continue healing up - in the big picture, having them close to 100% for the stretch run is more important. We want to be playing our best ball entering November/December and (**hopefully**) January/February.

Secondarily, we need Patullo and the offense to get on the same page and get a bit more creative. It is not likely the defense will rise to the 2024 level due to the players lost and having to rely on younger or lesser players, so the offense is going to have to step up to make up for the drop in overall defensive play.