Philadelphia Eagles’ Late-Season Slide Raises Concerns for Coach Sirianni

Philadelphia Eagles’ Late-Season Slide Raises Concerns for Coach Sirianni

At the beginning of this season, most analysts praised Nick Sirianni and the Philadelphia Eagles. The team looked completely dominant, aside from a weird loss to the New York Jets, when Philadelphia went 10-1 in the NFC through its first 11 games.

Apparently, the wheels have completely fallen off the wagon this season, as Philadelphia has gone 1-4 in its last four games. The team we all remembered beating almost everyone they played seems like a distant memory as Philadelphia failed to even get a win against perennial underdog Arizona last week in a 35-31 loss to the Cardinals.

Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni Finally Faces a Real Regular Season Test

 

After a 33-19 start to his tenure in Philadelphia, Siranni’s team has finally had a rough patch here over the past month, and the man suddenly named the best coach in the NFL has some highlights. question marks The elite defense he’s shown in recent seasons seems completely overwhelmed, and the offense can’t get much of a rhythm going. Not even the patented “tush push” could help this team.

 

My hypothesis is that even though he reached the Super Bowl in his second season as head coach in Philadelphia, Sirianni is simply the benefactor of a fairly common late impact. Because of how the NFL salary cap and the draft work, it can take time for a team to click even after the team has made great decisions.

Elite coaches have made great draft picks, built a great team in free agency, only to be fired right before the team really has a chance to pick up steam. I have argued this with several NFL coaches including Sean McVey, Mike Tomlin and now Nick Sirianni.

 

Sean McVey and Mike Tomlin benefited from the big decisions that Jeff Fischer and Bill Cowher made before them, but (especially for McVey this season) showed that they can at least limp past a half-full rotation on the team. Sirianni has yet to prove he can adapt. That’s why the real hero of Philadelphia’s elite team last season is current Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson.

 

 

In reality, Pederson was fired in 2020 due to an injury to MVP candidate Carson Wentz, though the offense was never able to recover. For example, Pederson built an elite offensive line that was a real force in the Super Bowl last season. Pederson drafted current superstar quarterback Jalen Hurts, and Pederson put together an elite defense that pushed Philadelphia through the postseason last season. Sirianni simply benefited from another person’s talent.

Sirianni’s only big move was A.J. Brown in 2022. Now the man has to figure out how to deal with an aging defensive and offensive line on the brink of retirement. I would argue that this is Philadelphia’s last chance, with key members of their units likely to retire in the offseason and the team taking another big step back.