Should Nick Sirianni take fall for Eagles’ collapse?-ZoomTech News

It could have been unthinkable that Nick Sirianni’s job was in any form of jeopardy simply two months in the past. It hadn’t even been a yr since he took the Philadelphia Eagles to Tremendous Bowl LVII. They have been 10-1 and seemed like they have been rolling to the NFC championship once more.

The collapse that got here subsequent was unfathomable and took the whole Eagles group abruptly proper up till the anticlimactic ending on Monday night time in a humiliating, 32-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers within the first spherical of the playoffs. There will likely be months of inner discussions wanted to determine the way it all went so improper so quick, how the defending NFC champs might lose six of their final seven video games.

However earlier than the soul-searching begins, there may be one large query dealing with Eagles proprietor Jeffrey Lurie:

Is Sirianni guilty?

Solely the 72-year-old Lurie is aware of how he’ll reply that query within the coming days, however a number of individuals within the Eagles group are a minimum of bracing for the chance {that a} teaching change is coming. It would not be unprecedented to fireside a coach one season after a visit to the Tremendous Bowl. The Denver Broncos did it to John Fox after his crew went 12-4 in 2014 and misplaced within the divisional playoffs, one yr after a Tremendous Bowl journey.

However it will be a daring and dangerous transfer regardless to jettison a coach who took over a crew that went 4-11-1 the yr earlier than he arrived and has produced successful information and playoff berths in every of his three seasons, going 27-11 (together with the playoffs) within the final two years.

It is simply not unthinkable anymore.

“I am not serious about that,” Sirianni stated after the sport. “I am serious about all the fellows in that locker room that put their coronary heart and soul into this. I am not frightened about me.”

“I actually do not know what will occur,” added Eagles proper sort out Lane Johnson. “It’s extremely irritating. You see what this crew was and also you see how the crew ended and the slide that we had. It is a wild enterprise we’re in. No one’s secure.”

There are numerous explanation why Sirianni won’t be secure. One large one is what is perhaps an unprecedented pool of teaching candidates out there. The sphere is crammed with among the greatest names within the business — Invoice Belichick, Jim Harbaugh, Pete Carroll and Mike Vrabel — plus a formidable group of youthful offensive minds, headlined by the Lions’ much-coveted offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson. If Lurie nonetheless believes his crew is constructed to win now, it may very well be laborious to cross on a gaggle like that.

However first he’d must conclude that Sirianni is not the proper man to get the job accomplished anymore. And there are some good causes for him to be skeptical.

Maybe the most important is that this: It isn’t clear in any respect that Jalen Hurts, the Eagles’ $255 million quarterback, has Sirianni’s again. Hurts has reportedly been sad with the course of the offense all season lengthy, and he is typically appeared pissed off on the sidelines. Then on Monday night time, given an opportunity to endorse Sirianni after the painful loss, Hurts did not precisely sound enthusiastic.

When requested if he wished Sirianni to return, Hurts stated “I did not know he was going anyplace.” When he was instructed there was hypothesis about his job safety, Hurts stated “I did not know that.” And when requested if he nonetheless had confidence in Sirianni, Hurts stated “I’ve a ton of confidence in everybody on this constructing.”

It is laborious to know if Hurts was being purposely quiet and cryptic or simply wasn’t in a talkative temper. However different gamers supplied far stronger help to their coach.

Even when he had Hurts’ help, although, there are different lingering questions on Sirianni — like his selection of a employees. A yr in the past, Lurie had excessive reward for Sirianni’s employees, which included Shane Steichen as his offensive coordinator and Jonathan Gannon as his defensive coordinator. He even praised the way in which Sirianni went about changing them in the course of the offseason.

However a crew supply stated that Lurie, like many within the group, has soured on his selections. In actual fact, one crew supply stated that if Sirianni was allowed to maintain his job, Lurie and basic supervisor Howie Roseman would possible insist that he fireplace each his coordinators, if he wasn’t planning on doing it anyway.

Sirianni already demoted defensive coordinator Sean Desai late within the season and handed the play-calling over to senior defensive assistant Matt Patricia, although the protection solely acquired worse from there. 

There may be an inner perception that he made a giant mistake hiring Desai from exterior the group whereas passing over common defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson, who instantly left to take the identical job with the Baltimore Ravens. They may repair that by hiring Wilson to switch Patricia and Desai.

And there was lots of frustration with offensive coordinator Brian Johnson’s play-calling late within the season — together with his pass-happy method in opposition to the Bucs though Hurts was taking part in with a dislocated finger on his throwing hand and with out No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown. Johnson was Hurts’ option to succeed Steichen when he left, however there’s some hypothesis that relationship has soured too.

One crew supply stated Hurts audibled and freelanced extra often late within the season, and that he and Johnson not often gave the impression to be on the identical web page. Hurts regressed badly in the course of the six-game slide, throwing simply six landing passes with 5 interceptions. And the Eagles acquired away from their harmful run-pass choice assault, as Johnson shied away from the operating sport normally. In actual fact, Hurts unbelievably had only one carry within the loss to the Bucs, and that did not seem like a designed run.

None of that displays nicely on the pinnacle coach, who might have stepped in and adjusted the method on both facet of the ball at any time. 

However the greatest problem for Sirianni remains to be the plain: He wasn’t capable of cease a slide that lasted seven weeks. It was by no means going to be simple to repeat as NFC champs and hold their power all the way in which as much as a second straight Tremendous Bowl. The Eagles would not be the primary crew to hit a post-Tremendous Bowl wall or undergo the dreaded “Tremendous Bowl hangover.” However since December, they seemed like a crew that anticipated they’d merely be capable of flip all the pieces on when it mattered, that as unhealthy as they have been taking part in it will all work out.

Sirianni sounded satisfied that may occur too. In fact, it by no means did.

“Clearly, we have been in a giant slide, and any time that is the case I all the time take a look at myself first,” Sirianni stated. “I did not do a ok job. It was virtually like we could not get out of the rut we have been in, and that is all of us. We’ll must look ourselves within the mirror and settle for that and discover solutions, discover options.”

“However clearly, if you begin 10-1 and also you get into what is going to occur for us, the expectations have been excessive. We fell right into a skid. So I will take a look at all the pieces. I will clearly take a look at the play calling, I will take a look at the scheme, I will take a look at practices. I will take a look at all the pieces.”

So will Lurie and Roseman. And they’ll certainly do one thing, as a result of the collapse was too dramatic and too painful to excuse.

“It is embarrassing if you begin 10-1 and lose six of seven,” Lane Johnson instructed reporters after the sport on Monday night time. “We had six weeks to let you know how we have been going to repair it, we did not do s—t. It is the primary time I’ve ever been in this sort of place and I by no means wish to be on this place once more.”

Neither do the Eagles, which is why Lurie is now dealing with one of many greatest moments of his practically 30-year tenure because the crew’s proprietor. And solely he is aware of if he desires to present Sirianni an opportunity to repair the mess he made, or if he plans to herald another person to wash it up.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports activities, overlaying the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the earlier six years overlaying the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and earlier than that, 16 years overlaying the Giants and the NFL for the New York Each day Information. Comply with him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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