Eagles Coordinator Responds to Nick Sirianni Challenging His Play-Calling

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Eagles Coordinator Responds to Nick Sirianni Challenging His Play-Calling

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• By Mike Greger

• Updated Oct 19, 2022 at 7:50pm

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Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon is being mentioned as a head-coaching candidate.

The Philadelphia Eagles appeared to be in cruise control going into halftime on Sunday Night Football. They held a 20-3 lead, but Dallas Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush was getting into a little bit of rhythm at the end of the second quarter, as Dallas went 29 yards in nine plays before settling for a 30-yard field goal.

That was enough to demand an adjustment. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni told defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon to switch things up. He instructed Gannon to "keep the ball in front of him” and not surrender the big play. Rush had a 12-yard touchdown toss to Noah Brown called back after the replay showed he didn’t land in bounds.

"One thing I said at halftime is big plays. I said, ‘Hey, defense, big plays will hurt us here and turnovers will hurt us here offense.’ Because they hadn’t shown that they could go the distance on our defense,” Sirianni told Angelo Cataldi on Audacy’s SportsRadio 94WIP. "So I know [Jonathan] Gannon was trying to keep the ball in front of him because I told him to. I told him that’s what we needed to do.”

Sirianni was quick to blame the offense for not taking advantage of short fields to start the third quarter. The Eagles punted on their first possession after running 4 plays for 15 yards: a 14-yard completion, 1-yard run, incomplete pass, and sack.

"They were having a hard time with a long field,” Sirianni said. "That’s where you want to get that extra score right there, to make it where they just pass, pass, pass, pass. We got the ball at the start of the second half and we weren’t able to do that.”

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Jonathan Gannon Responds to Sirianni

Jonathan Gannon confirmed that he and Sirianni had a conversation at halftime about tweaking things defensively. The head coach talks with all his coordinators throughout the game, looking for tells and competitive advantage. Sirianni is constantly in Gannon’s ear and his input is welcomed.

"I would say probably not just at halftime, he’s on the headset a lot,” Gannon said. "Hey, JG you got to be thinking about this, got to be thinking about this. Make sure this happens or this happens, whatever the case may be. That’s his job, and he helps me a lot with that as far as because I might not be thinking a certain thing and he’s looking at all the factors in play, how the offense, special teams, how we’re doing, the score, how many more possessions, the time, the wind.

"So, there are a lot of things that he helps me with that I don’t have to put mental energy to because he’s handling that. So, I value the conversation that we have all the time within that. We don’t change much. It’s just you might call a certain call a couple more times or not.”

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C.J. Gardner-Johnson Robbed of Player of the Week

Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson had his coming out party in Week 6. He was all over the field, collecting 2 interceptions and 5 tackles, despite playing with an injured hand. His pick with 5:03 left in the fourth quarter sealed the deal.

Gardner-Johnson should have been named NFC Defensive Player of the Week, right? No, that honor went to rookie cornerback Tariq Woolen of the Seattle Seahawks. The Eagles’ amazing streak of five straight weekly award winners has been snapped.

https://heavy.com/sports/philadelphia-eagles/nick-sirianni-jonathan-gannon/

[Rob331]

Can you imagine Pederson and Schwartz in a similar circumstance? I can't. 

[Rob331]

CGJ has silinced the Rodney Mcoud talk