BGN: I’m definitely one of Sirianni’s bigger skeptics.
On one hand, I feel insane for saying that since he’s won a Super Bowl, been to two, and owns the fourth-highest winning percentage of any head coach in NFL history. He ranks only behind Guy Chamberlin, John Madden, and Vince Lombardi.
On the other hand, I feel like we have to parse through correlation and causation. Sirianni massively benefits from Howie Roseman being an elite general manager and Vic Fangio (whom he didn’t hire) being a top-notch defensive coordinator. Those guys have driven the Eagles’ success since the start of last season more than Sirianni has.
Though he no longer calls plays (because he was bad at it), Sirianni plays a major role in the Eagles’ offensive struggles. Number one, he hasn’t been able to provide answers to big-picture problems (he might not feel like they have problems since they don’t turn the ball over and win but you can’t tell me leading the league in three-and-outs is a smart thing to do). Number two, Sirianni not calling plays creates a situation where the play-caller is bound to change often (either because 1) the OC is hired away as a head coach or 2) he underachieves and gets fired). Number three, the current offensive coordinator is his right-hand man: Kevin Patullo. They’ve been connected for some time now.
At a very basic level, good coaches do more with less talent. I sometimes feel like the Eagles are doing less with more. Though their 8-2 record looks good on the surface, and they’ve certainly beaten a number of high-quality opponents through a difficult schedule this year, they’re 6-1 in one score games. They’re good, yes, but they’ve also been lucky. They should be better than just good, they should be elite.
And for all the talk about his culture-setting, the vibes in Philly don’t feel so great right now. There are leaks about how players are frustrated with Hurts. Brown clearly looks miserable. Lane Johnson called the offense predictable. And so on.