Stop Blaming Nick Sirianni
Sep 16, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni reacts during the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images/File Photo
After last season’s collapse, a lot of fans and media were calling for Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni to be fired. While he kept his job, it was made very public that he was stripped of a lot of responsibilities. The Eagles then hired Kellen Moore to run the offense, and Vic Fangio to run the defense. It was made very clear from both Nick, and the organization that he was taking a step back, and Fangio and Moore were running their respective units. So why is Nick still getting the blame?
During Monday night’s 22-21 loss to the Falcons, there were a ton of questionable play calls by Kellen Moore. At times the offense looked like the stale offense of last season. From running screens that went nowhere, and QB draws on third and long, to rarely having Jalen Hurts go under center. Many have wondered why the offense looks like it hasn’t changed much, and some are even blaming Nick Sirianni for it. The reality is that Nick Sirianni was stripped of offensive duties, and Kellen Moore is the one creating, and calling the offense. While I think it’s naive to think that Nick doesn’t have his imprint on the offense, I do believe that Moore is the main creator.
If to this point Brian Johnson and Kellen Moore have a similar-looking offense then maybe the reason is not because of Nick Sirianni, but because of Jalen Hurts. The main job of an offensive coordinator is to build an offense around their quarterback’s strengths. This leads me to believe that Jalen Hurts is not comfortable throwing the ball over the middle of the field, playing under center, along with a lot of other things we want the offense to do. In year five this is a concern for me, as he should have grown and improved in these areas, but it seems as if he still has not.
As for the defense, not many people think Nick Sirianni has much involvement on this side of the ball, which I think is correct. Vic Fangio was hired to run this defense, and so far he has done a poor job. Vic is known for a specific style of “bend don’t break” defense which has worked so far, but as we have seen in Philadelphia is bound to break. While Vic might not have the talent to make a great defense, he needs to start being more creative with how he attacks the Quarterback.
If you want to blame Nick for something you can blame him for his decisions on 4th down. Early in the game, Nick decided to go for it on 4th, instead of taking the points. I liked his aggressiveness at that moment, but I also understand the opposing argument of taking the points. Later in the game, in a similar down and distance with the game hanging in the balance he went conservative, and kicked the field goal. At the time I agreed with that decision, but looking back at it with a 20/20 vision, I wish he had kept the same aggressiveness.
It’s still early in the season, and the sky is far from falling, but if this season doesn’t go the way we all hope, Nick may be the fall guy, even if he is not lol to blame.
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Sam Heine
Sam has been with Philly Sports Reports since 2022. He is a contributor for both the Eagles and the 76ers. Sam is hoping to pursue a full-time job in sports in the future.
