NEW ORLEANS — Wedged within a waterfall of words, these from Nick Sirianni were most true:
“This is not sustainable.”
Sonnets can be written using the head coach’s soliloquies on his team’s resilience, on his staff’s corrections, on how his quarterback “is a freaking winner.” But much of the adversity the Philadelphia Eagles overcame in their 15-12 win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday was self-inflicted.
A penalty- and turnover-riddled offense was scoreless through three quarters. A blocked punt worsened their odds. Were it not for timely explosive plays and an exceptional turnaround by a once troubling defense, the tone within Philadelphia’s locker room would’ve once again resembled a funeral second line.
Instead, Rebirth Brass Band’s “Do Whatcha Wanna” blasted from two tower speakers while Eagles players lounged and laughed and smiled. At 2-1, they could carry themselves with joy and relief. They could focus on the game’s heroes and not what could’ve made their evening hell. Left tackle Jordan Mailata, surrounded by reporters, shook his sweaty head in disbelief, considering the 65-yard touchdown run by their prize free-agent signing.
“Saquon mother—-ing Barkley, man,” Mailata said. “Pardon my language. Saquon mother—-ing Barkley.”
Barkley left the New York Giants in the offseason to join an offense he presumably wouldn’t need to carry. His 74 touches now make up nearly half of Philadelphia’s total offensive plays through three games. They’re 53 more touches than any other Eagles player. Injuries necessitated his workload. On the play preceding Barkley’s score, DeVonta Smith exited the game with a concussion after Saints defensive tackle Khristian Boyd dislodged Smith’s helmet with a brutal hit from the backside.
TAKE IT @Saquon!
65-YARD RUN FOR THE LEAD! pic.twitter.com/644j4kcyAQ— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 22, 2024
Already down A.J. Brown, sidelined for the second week with a hamstring injury, Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore shifted toward the run game. Barkley, who finished with 17 carries for 147 yards and two touchdowns, turned the shotgun handoff into his fifth-longest rushing touchdown in his career, which gave the Eagles a 7-3 lead with 13:17 left in the game. The breakthrough belittled what to that point had been a third sloppy performance under a rethought offensive system under a reorganized coaching staff.
Jalen Hurts was repeatedly pressured and made questionable choices in situations that were sometimes complicated by penalties. The Saints sacked Hurts four times, twice before right tackle Lane Johnson (concussion) and right guard Mekhi Becton (finger) exited the game with injuries. On Philadelphia’s second drive, Hurts was picked off in the end zone while trying to fit a pass to Smith over the middle. On the third drive, Hurts lost a fumble while carrying the ball with one hand on a second-and-10 scramble. Twice, Hurts completed passes that resulted in negative yardage when he’d have been better suited to throw the ball away.
Few NFL coaches, if any, speak publicly about ball security more than Sirianni. Hurts is featured on a banner that hangs above the team meeting room’s stage in the NovaCare Complex. His portion preaches ball security. He’s thrown four interceptions through three games, the most of his career in that span. Two have been thrown in the end zone, huge swings that have taken potential points off the board. Moore called his quarterback’s first two picks “outliers.” Sirianni also defended Hurts on Sunday, saying “the interception has a lot of moving parts” and what’s behind the turnover isn’t “all that meets the eyes.”
“First and foremost, the interception’s on me,” Sirianni said.
He did not disclose how.
Sirianni did disclose, unsolicited, how it’d been his play call — not Moore’s — to run an unsuccessful end-around to Barkley on fourth-and-1 out of the offense’s Brotherly Shove formation. Sirianni offered this detail after praising Moore’s play call on a critical third-and-16 completion to Dallas Goedert on Philadelphia’s game-winning drive. Sirianni seemed to be attempting to take the heat off Moore, a week after the Eagles lost to the Atlanta Falcons partly due to a fourth-and-3 play in which Barkley dropped a last-minute pass in the flats.
GOEDERT GETS 61 YARDS ON 3RD & 16!
: #PHIvsNO on FOX
: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/EBe8TFImy9— NFL (@NFL) September 22, 2024
But Sirianni’s explanation raised more questions than answered.
Had Sirianni made this fourth-and-1 call in response to what had happened last week?
“This play I thought was working in the best situation in that particular case,” Sirianni said. “It didn’t work. And that’s not on Kellen, that’s not on the players. I put them in a bad spot, and I made that call.”
Has he made other offensive play calls?
“Come on, man,” Sirianni said. “Yeah.”
Those answers bucked against the notion that Sirianni has fully loosened his grip on offensive duties upon Moore’s hiring. As head coach, he indeed oversees the team’s operations. He’s often said he’s responsible for everything that happens on the field. (The Eagles were penalized seven times for 45 yards Sunday, when the offense once broke the huddle with too many players on the field.) But if Sirianni indeed called the fourth-and-1 end-around, it at the very least suggests that Sirianni retains (and uses) veto power over Moore within critical moments in the game.
But Sirianni has also been known to fall on the sword publicly when something else happened secretly. Last season, regarding a critical interception in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Sirianni gave a curious explanation that he’d called a play believing they could draw a pass interference. Brown later revealed that Sirianni had publicly taken the fall when instead the players had instead improvised the decision on their own.
Did Sirianni do the same for Moore on Sunday? And does it matter? As an offensive-minded head coach, it can be easily argued that Sirianni should have the power to make a play call when the game is on the line. But that makes the instances in which Sirianni chooses to exercise that power important.
Of course, the play occurred on a fourth down. Sirianni, who manages the game, would be chiefly responsible for deciding whether to go for it. The Eagles were 1-of-3 on fourth-down attempts Sunday. They’re 4-of-7 for the season. Sirianni, a historically aggressive coach, elected to go for it against the Saints on the following situations:
- Fourth-and-1 at the Saints 46: Hurts completed a 6-yard pass to Goedert. (Hurts later fumbled).
- Fourth-and-1 at the Saints 15: Barkley was stopped for no gain on the Brotherly Shove end-around.
- Fourth-and-3 at the Saints 34: Hurts was sacked for a 6-yard loss. (Jake Elliott was within field goal range in a 3-0 game).
Sirianni also chose for Elliott to attempt a 60-yard field goal with a 7-6 lead and 6:41 left in the game. This gave the Saints the ball at the 50. Derek Carr led a 9-play, 50-yard touchdown drive in which the Saints took a 12-7 lead with 2:03 remaining. To that point, an improved Eagles defense had been holding the Saints to 3.2 yards per play. Punting would’ve forced the Saints to drive further. Sirianni had bet on his defense against the Falcons when it was performing far more poorly.
The Eagles entered Sunday surrendering the NFL’s most yards per carry (6.4). What had been a feckless defense quickly became formidable under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
The Eagles outgained the Saints 460-219 in total offensive yards. They limited the NFL’s top scoring offense to its season low in points and the league’s top rusher, Alvin Kamara, to his lowest yards per rush (3.3). An Eagles defense that had been exploited when playing nickel mostly ran out of its base 3-4 front. The Eagles surrendered 3.2 yards per rush when playing base. The Falcons had often attacked the Eagles on outside runs. Linebacker Zack Baun, playing against his former team for the first time, was often placed in “over” fronts along the defensive edge. Baun had a game-leading 13 tackles.
Along the defensive interior, Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis fielded the sort of game they’d been expected to produce. Carter had two tackles for loss and swatted two passes incomplete. One of Carter’s batted passes forced a field goal, and one of his tackles for loss forced a punt. Davis logged a sack and a tackle for loss. His sack eventually forced a three-and-out on the Saints’ second drive.
“Defense balled out today,” center Cam Jurgens said. “We’re not winning this game without the defense.”
But the Saints seemed to secure momentum with their final touchdown drive. Carr attacked a secondary that lost starting cornerback Darius Slay, who’d been injured while being illegally hit on the sideline. Hurts and the Eagles offense found themselves down with 2:03 left in the game. Reed Blankenship, who snagged an interception against the Packers, picked off Carr to close out the game.
Three plays into his game-winning drive, Hurts was sacked. That led to a fateful third-and-16. Goedert crossed over the middle, Jahan Dotson set a legal pick on his defender, and Hurts hit Goedert on the run in the open field. Goedert scampered for 61 yards to the Saints’ 4. One play later, Barkley barreled into the end zone for the go-ahead score.
Sirianni lauded Moore’s play call, but several players, including Goedert, also said Hurts checked the play before the snap. Goedert said the play came with two options. It was initially built for zone coverage. But, if the Eagles identified man coverage from the Saints, Hurts could check it to the resulting play.
“When I caught the ball, I looked, and I said, ‘Where is everybody?’” said Goedert, who finished with a career-high 10 catches for 170 yards.
It’s a fine question within that context. But as it relates to Sirianni and how he picks his spots with Moore, an offense that too often seems out of place, or the injuries that seem to keep piling on, it’s not a question the Eagles can afford to ask for long.
(Top photo: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
