Nick Sirianni admits Eagles' blueprint is out: We have to stop the run

Nick Sirianni speaks with Ross Tucker on 94WIP

 

The blueprint on how to beat the Philadelphia Eagles is out: Run the ball and keep the offense off of the field.

Nick Sirianni understands that teams will continue to use this game plan going forward against his 8-1 football team.

"This is a copycat league in some respects," Sirianni told Ross Tucker (filling in for Angelo Cataldi) on Wednesday's 94WIP Morning Show, less than 48 hours after the Eagles lost their first game of the season to the Commanders.

"There's a lot of people that study a ton of tape and they're going to figure out how you attack. I know I've been a part of that, right? When the Chiefs were rolling in 2019, I remember the Colts went in there—I was obviously the offensive coordinator of the Colts. And we had a similar blueprint of what we did on Sunday Night Football and went out and was able to win. And that blueprint was copied by a couple team afterwards, and we copied it from somebody else."

The Philadelphia Eagles have allowed 124, 134, 144, 168, and 152 rushing yards, respectively, in each of their last five games. For the season, the Eagles are now allowing 124.8 rushing yards per game, which ranks 20th in the NFL out of 32 teams.

The Commanders piggybacked of what the Steelers and Texans did vs. the Eagles and took it to an extreme, running the ball 49 times, winning the turnover battle, and dominating Philadelphia in time of possession 40:24 to 19:36, despite rushing for just 3.1 yards per carry in the 32-21 win at the Linc.

"We know that's the narrative and when that narrative is out there, that's what teams are going to do," Sirianni said of teams running the ball against the Eagles. "I know the Colts are good at running the football and so we're going to have to be prepared for that. We're going to have to be prepared for stopping the run and keeping our [defense] off of the field...It's like a blitz that the defense sends at you. If you can't pick that blitz up, why would the defense not keep throwing that blitz at you? If you can't prove that you can do something and stop something, then why wouldn't they keep throwing that at you? That's good coaching and that's what people should do. Our job is to make sure that's not an area they can attack and we get off the field on third downs and they can't continue to run the ball that way."

Eagles rookie defensive tackle Jordan Davis, one of the team's best run stopped, has missed the last two games with a high ankle sprain. However, the 6'6", 330-pound run stopped has not played more than 42-percent of the snaps in any game this season.

Next up for Philadelphia is the NFL's reigning rushing champ Jonathan Taylor and Sirianni's former team, the Indianapolis Colts. This season, the 4-5-1 Colts have struggled, rushing for just 98.7 yards per game, 5th worst in the NFL.

However, Taylor, 23, has missed three games but seems healthy now, rushing for 147 yards and a touchdown in last week's win over the Raiders, earning him AFC offensive player of the week honors.

The Eagles are 6.5 point favorites on Sunday at 1pm at the Colts.

https://www.audacy.com/94wip/sports/eagles/nick-sirianni-eagles-blueprint-stop-the-run-copycat-94wip

Stop the run. Get off the field. Make sure our offense can control the clock and stay on the field. That's been the blueprint of this team this year. They got away from that on Monday as they were sloppy on both sides of the ball.