January 16, 2024
Kate Frese/for PhillyVoice
PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 14: A photo of Nick Sirianni from the Philadelphia Eagles game against the Minnesota Vikings on September 14, 2023 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Photo by Kate Frese/PhillyVoice)
Someone has to be held responsible for what happened to the Eagles over the last six weeks.
Should, and will that someone be Nick Sirianni?
There were few coaches who felt like bigger locks to safely have their job next season than Sirianni, but a worst case scenario confluence of events transpired that put him not only on the hot seat, but possibly out of a job, seemingly out of thin air.
While the Eagles take a long hard look at themselves to figure out how to fix the problem, we decided to try and help. Here's a look at five reasons why keeping Sirianni makes sense, and five reasons why jettisoning him for greener pastures makes sense:
• He has the best winning percentage in Eagles history.
No coach in the city has ever been more successful — from a win percentage basis, than Sirianni. If you exclude a few short-stint interim coaches, his .667 win rate (34-17) is top in franchise history. He has also coached in the fourth most playoff games in Eagles history, five of them, behind Andy Reid, Doug Pederson and Dick Vermeil. Three seasons — three playoff berths. Can it get better than that? Sure, he is 2-3 in those games, with his only two wins coming last year against the short-handed Giants, and the Niners who lose two quarterbacks. But still, Sirianni objectively has a track record to earn himself a fourth campaign running the team.
• He's less than a year removed from a Super Bowl run
If the legendary 2017 Super Bowl campaign was the best run in franchise history, the 2022 team has to be somewhere in the top five. Those Eagles went 14-3, boasted a top five offense and top five defense, and was really a juggernaut all season. There are clearly pieces for a championship football team still in place and it would be almost unprecedented to cut bait this quickly.
• The players seem to (we think) like him?
Sirianni has a reputation as a player's coach, in contrast to being an X's and O's type. And the general sense, even now is that the locker room supports him and responds to him. Over at Citizens Bank Park, a similar collapse took place last October, with a player's manager blowing it for a team with championship aspirations. And the Phillies chose not only to stick with Rob Thomson, but to extend him. It's a different situation, but if the team really does want Sirianni calling the shots, the players feelings about him is a variable worth considering.
• The collapse wasn't solely his fault
Let's set aside for a moment the (huge) role Sirianni played in the Eagles' horrible downfall. He was not the only reason for it. The team got older and slower. The league adjusted to his scheme from a year ago. Injuries to superstars seemed to pop up over and over again, including missing Darius Slay down the stretch, and A.J. Brown for Monday's playoff game. He also had a coordinator situation (more on that later) that seemed to be a detriment to the team. There is blame to go around and it is possible for Philly to shake things up while still letting Sirianni keep his job.
• It might be too late
News of Bill Belichick meeting with the Falcons broke on Monday. The coaching carousel has been churning for a while now, with a half dozen teams well-prepared for the process. They have already had a head start making moves, interviewing candidates and getting a leg up on a late-moving team like the Eagles could be. It would be understandable, and reasonable to think that the Eagles front office is not nearly as prepared as the other teams that have coaching questions heading into this offseason, and the result of this could be a very big disadvantage when it comes to landing a new head coach. The second tier candidates may not offer an upgrade over Sirianni and this is a factor that the Eagles are hopefully being mindful of.
• The candidates to replace him may never be better
That being said, the Eagles should be willing to pounce if they believe they can actually land one of the esteemed coaches on the market. Arguably the greatest to ever do it, Belichick, is looking for a new home. Pete Carroll has won a Super Bowl and could be coaching a new team in 2024. Mike Vrabel is available, and Jim Harbaugh may be making the jump back to the NFL. This all in addition to top NFL coordinators like Ben Johnson and Bobby Slowik being out there. The pool of new coaches is really impressive and the Eagles need to be involved.
• They lost six of their last seven games
It can't really be understated how ridiculous the team's collapse was. After beating the Bills in overtime in epic fashion, the Eagles were 10-1, the talk of the NFL, and really close to clinching the division and a first round bye. And then they just imploded. They rolled over and died against the 49ers and the Cowboys. They lost to a backup quarterback in shocking fashion in Seattle. They lost to the Giants and Cardinals, two of the NFL's worst teams. There really is no excuse for a team doing a 180 like this, and the head coach is the clear top violator.
• He seemed tone deaf, and did not adjust when he needed to
An argument could be made that the Eagles were unimaginative and predictable on both sides of the football this season. Whether it be other teams having a good spool of film on Sirianni, paired with sheer stubbornness or a lack of self awareness — Sirianni did not adjust. He didn't try anything new. He didn't make seemingly obvious decisions (like throwing more slants to A.J. Brown or running it more with D'Andre Swift) — and as a result, the Eagles were an easy opponent for everyone during the season's second half.
• They can't possibly just run it back?
It seems clear that regardless of Sirianni's fate, new coordinators will be in place next season. But that might not be enough. The coordinator situation all by itself could be enough to get Sirianni fired. Set aside for a moment that Brian Johnson may not have had the resume to be the Eagles' offensive coordinator to begin with — the decision to move from Sean Desai to Matt Patricia in the middle of the season was... outrageously odd. Patricia was the defensive coordinator in 2018 when the Eagles decimated the Patriots defense to win the Super Bowl. He was clearly not an upgrade over Desai — who oddly was not fired, and stayed on in an ill-defined role. The defense didn't change or improve after the coaching swap. What was this all about?
• Does Jalen Hurts want a new head coach?
We wrote about it earlier Tuesday, but the Eagles' franchise quarterback — who deserves his own share of the blame for the team's collapse (though he was playing through about five brutal injuries) — deflected after Monday's loss when asked about Sirianni. He refused to say he wanted to coach to return and it would not be surprising to hear of a rift between the two in the coming weeks and months based on how things deteriorated so quickly offensively for the once vibrant unit.
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