Eagles' Owner Echoes Nick Sirianni's Passing Game Sentiment

Winning is making revision easy for the Eagles entering Super Bowl LIX
Feb 3, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie walks across the field during Super Bowl LIX Opening Night at Ceasars Superdome.
Feb 3, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie walks across the field during Super Bowl LIX Opening Night at Ceasars Superdome. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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Winning makes revision easier in the NFL.

Rewind to the spring and summer of last year and the Eagles spent their offseason trying to evolve their offense after a perceived poor 2023 campaign in which Philadelphia finished No. 8 overall (a disappointing at the time 16th in passing and No. 8 in rushing).

The scapegoats for the perceived underachievement were former offensive coordinator Brian Johnson and ex-quarterbacks coach Alex Tanney.

In came Kellen Moore and Doug Nussmeier to clean up the passing game and evolve it with more motion and “creativity,” the buzzword among fans that essentially means aesthetics.

Make it look good.

The opposite happened as the Eagles stayed stagnant on offense at No. 8 overall and the passing game bottomed out to No. 29 while the running game was boosted by the presence of All-Pro superstar Saquon Barkley and finished No. 2 overall.

Eagles QB Jalen Hurts
Feb 4, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts speaks with the media during a press conference at Hilton New Orleans Riverside. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The difference is the 2023 team finished by losing six of seven and the current outfit has won 15 of 16 entering Super Bowl LIX against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Had this offensive group been tethered to a poor defense like last season instead of the top-ranked unit in the league and Barkley had not played Superman most weeks, Moore would be on the verge of unemployment. Instead, he’s 60 minutes away and a contract from being the head coach of the New Orleans Saints.

The success has been so strong that even Jeffrey Lurie had to walk back his belief in a high-octane passing offense being the key to winning at the highest level shifting to more of a Nick Sirianni-like spin.

"If we have to run it 40 times we will, if we have to throw it 40 times we will,” Sirianni has often said when the passing game has sputtered.

Lurie went the “multiple” route on Super Bowl Opening Night.

"What you've got to be is always be multiple and have that chance. ...You got to be both,” Lurie said. “To me, that's the key with offense. I've always felt you can run the ball 30 straight times, you can pass the ball 30 straight times, but you've got to be good at both.”

The Eagles have been good in the passing game in certain instances, think Pittsburgh and Washington in the NFC Championship Game. The ground game has been consistently good and there is no reason to upset the apple cart right now. 

“People say our passing game isn't what we want it to be,” Lurie correctly claimed before a misstep. “When our passing game is where we want it to be, it's great.”

“Jalen throws the ball beautifully. Washington, Pittsburgh, all those games,” Lurie continues. “When you need it, it's awesome."

The problem with that line of thinking is that the Eagles haven’t really “needed it” and the passing game has rarely been where the Eagles "want it to be." The highs through the air come when things are clicking. There's no fighting through adversity and when the lows arrive it’s reboot to Barkley’s historic season behind the NFL’s most dominant offensive line.

The Eagles might even win a second Super Bowl that way but it’s not sustainable on a consistent basis.

That’s why win or lose in Super Bowl LIX, the No. 1 objective for 2025 starting in the spring with a new OC will seem awfully familiar – evolve the passing game.

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John McMullen
JOHN MCMULLEN

John McMullen is a veteran reporter who has covered the NFL for over two decades. The current NFL insider for JAKIB Media, John is the former NFL Editor for The Sports Network where his syndicated column was featured in over 200 outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Miami Herald. He was also the national NFL columnist for Today's Pigskin as well as FanRag Sports. McMullen has covered the Eagles on a daily basis since 2016, first for ESPN South Jersey and now for Eagles Today on SI.com's FanNation. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey and part of 6ABC.com's live postgame show after every Eagles game. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen