Nick Sirianni has no plans to give up play calling

 

 

 

Reuben Frank

EAGLES INSIDER

If you've been curious what the Kevin Patullo offense might look like or wondering how the Shane Steichen scheme might operate or daydreaming about Brian Johnson calling plays, you can stop.

Nick Sirianni is not giving up play calling.

Sirianni said Friday he has no plans to give up play calling duties despite leading an Eagles offense that’s been sputtering for much of the season, in particular the last two weeks.

"We're going to continue to do the things we've been doing, as far as play calling and game planning,” he said. "We feel like we have a good process there of how we go through it. I am fortunate that on this staff, I have guys that have experience calling games, which is helping me throughout games. So we're going to continue to stick with that.

"We've got a lot of confidence in that, and we've just got to execute and do better, but confident in our process there.”

The Eagles (2-4) have netted just 273 and 213 yards from scrimmage the last two weeks, the first time they’ve been under 275 in consecutive weeks since 2016, Doug Pederson’s first season. Their 213 yards in the loss to the Buccaneers Thursday night marked their fewest at home since 2014.

They’re now 22nd in yards per game, 24th in passing yards, 24th in first downs, 19th on third down and 30th in time of possession.

But more than the numbers has been Sirianni’s inability to get the offense in a rhythm early in games, his refusal to involve Miles Sanders in the offense, the lack of creativity and inventiveness in his game planning and his failure to find ways for Jalen Hurts to get the ball to the Eagles’ playmakers.

Thursday night was a real low point.

"It's always execution and it's always our ability, as coaches, to put them in positions to succeed,” Sirianni said. "It's the ultimate team game. It's never going to be, ‘Hey, it was just execution,’ or, ‘Hey, it was just the play calling.’ It's together.

"When you play the way we did, it's never on just one person. We've all got to accept that responsibility. We've all got to be accountable for that, and we've all got to get better from that.”

Thanks to the Thursday night game, Sirianni and his staff have three extra days to take a long look at the offense and try to figure out ways to fix it.

Other than firing the play caller.

Sirianni did acknowledge – again – that his absurd pass-run ratio has to change: "Never be above 75 percent in anything because we know that's where defenses really look at that and make plans off of that.”

But that’s only one issue. One of many.

"We have more time this week to be able to not only go into the run-pass ratio of things but also into marrying some plays together and also go into just what you do well as a team and what your identity is as a team and who you are as a team and what you've succeeded in as a team,” he said.

"Sometimes on a normal week, you don't get the opportunity to do that as much.”

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-coach-nick-sirianni-has-no-plans-give-play-calling

I know a lot of you are calling for Sirianni to give up play calling and/or to play Minshew instead of Hurts.  I'm not there ... just as I think Hurts should be given all of 2021 to see if he correct some of his mistakes, improve some areas that are weaknesses now, and develops the potential to be more of a long term QB, I think Sirianni should be given the same opportunity to see if he can learn from the mistakes he is making and improve on what he is trying to do.  This year is going NOWHERE regardless so why not give them both a longer evaluation period.  

Sirianni will need at least 5 years of play calling experience before a true grade can be given. Fast tracking these guys to HC while skipping over necessary developmental phases, like a fully empowered Coordinator position, is a huge mistake. When it works, that is the exception to the rule, not a new rule. Look at Belichick, Defensive assistant and LB'ers coach from '79-84, Defensive coordinator from '85-'90. His defensive game plan against the Bills in SB25 was put in the Pro Football HOF...his GAME PLAN! 

See that's a fully developed coach who is ready to go and still struggle as a HC, which he did in Cleveland. Even with all his training and ability, he needed to learn that final coaching position, which he eventually did and is now considered the GOAT HC by many.

If BB was a fully trained Post-Doctoral level coach when he got his 1st HC position, then Sirianni is a kid fresh out of Elementary school. Due to their insane meddling though, that's all Jeffrey and Howie will get going forward. No fully developed coaches will want the job, nor should they.

Thank God, the Universe, or whatever for the SB52 victory. It really, really looks like there won't be any more of those in the next oh...30 years and maybe a lot more when Analytics Lurie Jr. takes over. Time will tell, but it's certainly going that way.

So look... I've said I think Sirianni should give up play calling for the time being and I stand by that. He's a rookie HC with not a lot of experience in general. He's young with a young coaching team around him for the most part and that's why I think he should step back for some time. 

And I know what coaches say in PCs needs to be taken with a pinch of salt but I do find some of the above quite concerning. I mean...

21 hours ago, time2rock said:

We're going to continue to do the things we've been doing, as far as play calling and game planning,” he said. "We feel like we have a good process there of how we go through it

Really Sirianni? Really? The play calling, the game planning has been one of the biggest issues so far. The play calling and the scheme so far has been so poor it is laughable. You can't continue to do the things you've been doing because that's just dumb. 

1 hour ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

So look... I've said I think Sirianni should give up play calling for the time being and I stand by that. He's a rookie HC with not a lot of experience in general. He's young with a young coaching team around him for the most part and that's why I think he should step back for some time. 

And I know what coaches say in PCs needs to be taken with a pinch of salt but I do find some of the above quite concerning. I mean...

Really Sirianni? Really? The play calling, the game planning has been one of the biggest issues so far. The play calling and the scheme so far has been so poor it is laughable. You can't continue to do the things you've been doing because that's just dumb. 

I never liked the model where the HC is also calling plays either on offense or defense (that is especially true of a rookie HC as green as Sirianni is with minimal (if any) previous experience in that area.  Always like when the HC focuses on being the HC and has strong coordinators that he entrusts to run those units.  But seems that is what he intends to continue doing.  Like giving more time to evaluate Hurts, he should be given more time to work on this aspect to see if he can improve.  If by season's end he is still making the same dumb mistakes, then he absolutely should give up those duties.  This season isn't going anywhere regardless so ... 

1 hour ago, time2rock said:

I never liked the model where the HC is also calling plays either on offense or defense (that is especially true of a rookie HC as green as Sirianni is with minimal (if any) previous experience in that area.  Always like when the HC focuses on being the HC and has strong coordinators that he entrusts to run those units.  But seems that is what he intends to continue doing.  Like giving more time to evaluate Hurts, he should be given more time to work on this aspect to see if he can improve.  If by season's end he is still making the same dumb mistakes, then he absolutely should give up those duties.  This season isn't going anywhere regardless so ... 

It seems to be the trend now especially with offensive HCs. They want to call plays but I agree certainly a young rookie HC should take a step back. And I don't really get why they don't do that? I swear if Sirianni was to take a step back and see what we are seeing then during the game he would be chewing the play caller out.