The Eagles ought to win 11 or 12 video games this season.
They need to.
The depth and personnel are there. The expertise, although it took successful with the retirements of Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox, is there. The teaching, with the addition of two assertive, revered coordinators in Vic Fangio and Kellen Moore, is there. The schedule, regardless of an early bye, is extra favorable than not.
The whole lot seems proper for the Eagles to win the NFC East for the second time in three years and to make a deep playoff push.
The one dangling caveat is whether or not head coach Nick Sirianni can return to the coach he was when this staff bought off to a mixed 18-1 begin over the primary eight video games in 2022, and first 11 in 2023. He’s 34-17 in his first three years, which is extra victories than any earlier Eagles coach in that timeframe. He has confirmed he can win within the NFL—with Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon as his coordinators.
However there have been indicators all through the 2023 season that one thing was flawed, and nothing was being mounted. When adversity struck, panic appeared to reach and unfold. And nothing from the commander, Sirianni, appeared to quell the itemizing.
Even when the issues have been blatant.
In Week 8, the evident fissures on protection allowed Washington 7 of 12 third-down conversions, when the Commanders entered the sport changing simply 29.41% on third down, which was thirty first within the NFL on the time (solely the New York Jets have been worse). The Eagles suffered two turnovers contained in the Washington 5, which put them at 13 (They didn’t flip the ball over 13 occasions till Week 15 within the Tremendous Bowl 2022 yr). The Commanders additionally amassed 472 yards of offense in an Eagles’ 38-31 victory.
Nobody appeared to care as a result of the Eagles have been 7-1.
They have been 10-1 in Week 12, although tendencies continued, and nobody had solutions after the Eagles’ 37-34 extra time victory over Buffalo. Defensively, the Eagles gave up what had been on the time a season-high 505 yards of offense to the Payments and Josh Allen.
Alarm, it seems, might have set in after the Eagles’ 33-13 Week 14 debacle in Dallas. That’s when the Eagles changed defensive coordinator Sean Desai with assistant coach Matt Patricia to deal with the defensive play calls, a transfer many consider was made by Jeff Lurie and Howie Roseman than by Sirianni.
Whoever made the choice to interchange Desai with Patricia, it appeared to undermine Sirianni, whether or not he made the selection or not, and set off issues within the locker room. Who was operating the 2023 Eagles? Are the orders coming from Sirianni and the sideline, or from up prime within the govt suite? It was fascinating what Eagles’ operating again Kenny Gainwell went public with on the Javien College podcast a couple of weeks in the past on the Eagles’ 1-6 collapse:
“I believe it was a connection piece. Groups just like the (Kansas Metropolis) Chiefs are well-connected, upstairs and downstairs. Entrance workplace and the locker room. Everyone’s related. When you could have a connection, every thing simply clicks. However if you bought guys that aren’t speaking to one another, you by no means know what’s happening…”
What was truth, for everybody to see, was that the 2023 Eagles give up the final two months of the season. Sirianni might have taken extra management of the play calling on offense late within the yr, pushing out Brian Johnson, who might have difficult the offense for Jalen Hurts.
For the best way the Eagles laid right down to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers within the wild card spherical playoff loss, Sirianni needs to be grateful that he acquired a reprieve.
He is aware of the skinny rope he’s on this season.
Can Sirianni regain the boldness of his gamers and restore a successful tradition to a flagging staff?
Including a powerful locker room presence like Saquon Barkley absolutely helps, as doesn’t having to babysit first-year coordinators who appeared to do extra guessing than being assertive.
Sirianni is well liked by his gamers, although there might be various that query how a lot in command he’s, particularly with what occurred late final season, and with the hiring of management hounds like Fangio and the 35-year-old Moore, who’s aspiring to be an NFL head coach (and beforehand interviewed by the Eagles for a similar job Sirianni was employed for).
The puzzle is laid out. The items are there to win. It will likely be as much as Sirianni to place them collectively.
He has earlier than—with Steichen and Gannon.
Ballot
How do you are feeling about Nick Sirianni?
Joseph Santoliquito is a corridor of fame, award-winning sportswriter primarily based within the Philadelphia space who has written function tales for SI.com, ESPN.com, NFL.com, MLB.com, Deadspin and The Philadelphia Inquirer/Each day Information. In 2006, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for a particular venture piece for ESPN.com referred to as “Love at First Beep.” He’s most famous for his award-winning ESPN.com function on highschool wrestler A.J. Detwiler in February 2006, which appeared on SportsCenter. In 2015, he was elected president of the Boxing Writers Affiliation of America.
