PHILADELPHIA — Nick Sirianni preaches core values that refrain to the Philadelphia Eagles — connect, compete, accountability, smart football, fundamentals. The 2024 Philadelphia Eagles are doing none of that after four games.
This Eagles team appears to be a far cry from what Sirianni has been preaching for four seasons in Philadelphia. Sirianni doesn’t have to lose the locker room in a situation like this. The players are demonstrating their actions off the field with their activity on social media.
The sad part is — one of the team captains is partaking in the circus. The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for a football team that has too many injured players and are trying to find themselves. The Eagles claim they are trying to find their identity, but their actions on social media may have determined it.
Fair or not, this is what the Eagles have established through four games. A team that creates their own adversity and has shown little signs they are past the collapse that rocked last year’s team.
How have the Eagles failed Sirianni? By not adhering to his core values, which ultimately may end up in his undoing as a head coach in Philadelphia.
Connect
For a team that’s supposed to have good leadership in the locker room, the Eagles have not demonstrated that with their actions off the field. After Sunday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Darius Slay went on “The Edge with Micah Parsons” podcast with the Dallas Cowboys star (the Eagles and Cowboys are arch rivals by the way) and was laughing with Parsons over his comments last week with teammate C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
“Eight gonna bring the noise, eight gonna bring the energy, eight gonna bring all the trash talking that half the team is not doing,” Slay said to Parsons. “So he fulfill that need for us.
“You gonna talk, you got to back it up at some point in time. And if you don’t, he know for sure the media gonna catch it, gonna catch all the attention — and he got to be ready to answer every time.”
Gardner-Johnson responded with a cryptic one-word answer on Tuesday morning.
Slay and Gardner-Johnson potentially need to work things out, as they are two starters in the Eagles secondary. This is a problem that could linger if it doesn’t get hashed out.
Then there’s Devin White, who hasn’t played in the first four games, retweeting a play where former teammate Lavonte David sacking Jalen Hurts — which was a strip-sack fumble and the most crucial play of the game for the Eagles. No matter how White explains it, this was another case of bad optics.
The Eagles need to correct these issues immediately.
Compete
Philadelphia was non-competitive in Sunday’s loss to Tampa Bay, being outscored 24-0 before the team even gained a yard. The Eagles looked ill-prepared for the Buccaneers’ blitz packages (the offense was also down their top two wide receivers and right tackle), whle the defense didn’t adjust to the quick passes and movement of the football fast enough.
The lack of early adjustments raised even more questions about Sirianni’s job, especially since the head coach is in more of a CEO-type role this year.
“I’m just worried about getting the team better,” Sirianni said to SportsRadio WIP on Tuesday. “I’m just worried about the bye week and putting ourselves in position to win coming out of the bye week and I’ll be worried about the Cleveland Browns. You can’t worry about any of those different things.
“Right now, we’re 2-2. We’ve got a lot of football in front of us and just put my head down and work.”
Accountability
The Eagles had to call a team meeting after Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers, as Brandon Graham had to get some things off his chest. Graham indicated the Eagles as a whole have lacked accountability.
“I just wanted the boys to know that wasn’t us out there,” Graham said on SportsRadio WIP on Tuesday. “At the end of the day, when we look at this film, be critical of yourself…It’s all accountability. We can’t keep going up and down like this.”
In addition to Graham’s speech, Slay took some of his frustrations out on social media after Sunday’s game. He posted his career stats in response to his performance, which are bad optics after a loss.
Slay did apologize, but the damage was mostly done.
Smart football
Are the Eagles are smart football team? Here are some of their cumulative mistakes this year:
- Jalen Hurts has seven giveaways in his first four games — three in the red zone — and has 27 since the start of last season (which lead the NFL).
- The Eagles have 28 penalties — 11th in the NFL. Their net count of -9 is fifth-worst in the NFL and their 12 pre-snap penalties are ninth in the league. Their three illegal formation penalties are tied for third most in the NFL
- Nick Sirianni has had questionable fourth down decisions throughout the season. In a Week 3 win over the Saints, Sirianni went for it on fourth-and-1 at the Saints’ 15-yard line in the final minute of the first half when the Eagles were trailing 3-0. The Eagles ran a fake “tush push” that led to Saquon Barkley getting stuffed for no gain instead of taking three points and tying the game up prior to the half. The Eagles finished 1-for-3 on fourth down in that win, failing to convert at the Saints’ 14-yard line and the Saints’ 34. Sirianni also had Jake Elliott kick a 60-yard field goal on fourth-and-11 at the Saints’ 42-yard line, after passing up opportunities for him to kick on fourth down earlier. The week before (a loss to the Falcons), Sirianni went for it on fourth down at the Falcons’ 9-yard line and didn’t convert, then kicked twice ln the second half on fourth down at the Falcons’ 6 and 10-yard line (both fourth-and-3 situations).
The Eagles have lacked in that aspect of football through four games. These mistakes are too frequent.
Fundamentals
Sirianni preached fundamentals after Sunday’s loss, a game which the Eagles had 12 missed tackles in total. Their 15 missed tackles against the run are ninth-most in the NFL, and their 36 total are 15th. The Eagles also are 30th in the league in sack percentage (4.2%) and 30th in yards per play allowed (6.0). They also are tied for the second most 25+ yard plays allowed with 12 and have the second-fewest takeaways in the league with two.
The Eagles are often out of position and not getting themselves in a situation to make plays on defense.
“I think fundamentals on defense are tackling, block destruction and how you get off blocks. Those are the main ones that are a defense of fundamentals. How you cover, how you rush,” Sirianni said. “I’m so passionate about details and fundamentals that that hurts me when we don’t tackle well. Because I know how much time we put into it.”
If Sirianni can change anything over the bye week, fundamentals may be the easiest correction. All five of his core values are in disarray with the 2024 Eagles, a major concern as the team is in the midst of its bye week.
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Author: Jeff Kerr
October 2, 2024 | 9:36 am