The Philadelphia Eagles haven’t scored more than 24 points in a game this season, and their offense has once again fallen into despair with their seven-game losing streak. With the Eagles entering their bye week in last place as the NFL’s third-lowest-scoring team, coach Nick Sirianni said everything is on the table when it comes to potential changes, including shakeups in the coaching staff.
The first task for Sirianni between the Week 9 loss to the New York Giants and his next appearance on Nov. 22 is to determine where the issues come from. He’ll be responsible for his team putting up the worst offense in the NFC East and thus could jump ship, but if he determines the crux of the scoring problems will fall on someone else, now would be an opportune time to make a change.
“We’ll talk,” Sirianni said after the 19-11 loss. “Obviously right now my job is to be there for our guys and watch tape and see everything. I’m going to do everything I can to help this team win football games. I’m going to look at myself first and then go out there. My job is to coach players and coach coaches. Whatever I can do to help this team win games, but we will. I think everything can only change in table.”
As a first-year play-caller and the orchestrator of the system, offensive coordinator Sean Mannion is under the microscope. His arrival in the offseason should help the Eagles return to prolific status on his side of the ball, but the team has done anything but that.
Sirianni deflected some of the blame directed at Mannion, however, and noted that all coaches have their hands in the offense. The Eagles will be looking for ways to simplify the offense during the bye week, whether or not it involves leadership changes.
“Obviously none of us offensively did a good enough job,” Sirianni said. “We’re not going to sit here as coaches — and not Sean; we all are, and it starts with me. The right question there, to me, is ‘Do you think you’ve done a good enough job?’ Obviously I didn’t do a good enough job. We all have things we need to improve on.”
Perhaps the biggest question guiding the decision-making process on potential personnel changes is whether Philadelphia’s problems are more a product of dysfunctional coaching or of deep personnel deficiencies. For example, how much blame should Mannion have when he’s forced to call plays for backup quarterbacks in Jalen Hurts’ absence? The prolonged absence of Devonta Smith with a hamstring injury and the loss of multiple starting offensive linemen also put Mannion in a tough spot.
In the weeks since Hurts was shut down for the year because of blood clots, the Eagles have scored 14 points, 21, 10 and 11. They’ve lost all those games by eight points or more. They’re hardly a high-scoring team with their starting quarterback, but they’re even lower without him.
“Whether it’s up to us as coaches or whether it’s an execution thing, it’s still up to us as coaches,” Sirianni said. “It starts with me. It’s always on me. Every product that’s on that field is my responsibility. There was an execution error on this play or that play. Well, did I put him in every position I could possibly put him in to go out and execute that? I’m always going to look internally first and look at myself first.”