Eagles Hire Kellen Moore: Why Cowboys Ex Coach is Here and What it Means
PHILADELPHIA - “Fresh ideas” turned into Kellen Moore for the Philadelphia Eagles.
The 35-year-old former backup quarterback in Detroit and Dallas will be entering his sixth season as an NFL offensive coordinator when he brings his tint on things to the NovaCare Complex moving forward. Moore spent four seasons as the OC with the Cowboys before being scapegoated for playoff disappointments there and stayed one season in Los Angeles, tutoring the immensely talented Justin Herbert.
The immediate thoughts on Moore vs. Nick Sirianni as offensive leaders is that the former uses motion and puts the quarterback under center much more than the latter but those simple facts ignore the context of the strengths of Dak Prescott and Herbert vs. the skill set of Jalen Hurts.
kellen dak sirianni hurts
The truth is that Moore did the right thing for the QBs he had and Sirianni proved malleable enough to build an offense around what he had in Hurts.
Whether that clashes in Philadelphia will be perhaps the most interesting storyline of the upcoming 2024 season for the Eagles after Sirianni was essentially told to bring in fresh faces and new ideas for a stale and stagnant offense.
The Eagles hope fresh ideas can get Jalen Hurts out of a late-season funk.
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The Eagles organization’s interest in Moore dates back to at least 2021 when they interviewed him to be the head coach. It’s worth noting, however, that Jeffrey Lurie hired Sirianni so it would be disingenuous to say that the interest in Moore lapped Sirianni’s thoughts on offense at times.
Despite his young age, Moore is experienced when it comes to designing passing concepts, putting together game plans, and calling the actual plays, something important coming off Brian Johnson, who was a first-timer at that sort of thing at the professional level.
Moore’s offenses have been very successful from a statistical standpoint as well. He's piloted two No. 1 units from both a traditional standpoint and an advanced DVOA measure.
Generally, it’s been very pass-heavy, however, and the knock on Moore going out the door in Dallas was his inability to use the dampener to close out games with McCarthy claiming he wanted a more complementary approach to offensive football.
The Chargers, meanwhile, really struggled running the football in Moore’s lone season there so Jeff Stoutland’s continued presence as the run-game coordinator will be important for the Eagles.
The concern is that using motion and putting Hurts under center more are just overreactions to the perceived struggles late last season by Philadelphia. Sirianni though often contradicted himself by saying you never want to be bottom five in anything in the NFL yet was consistently exactly that when it came to pre-snap eye candy.
Moore was No. 8 in the NFL using pre-snap motion with Herbert and the Chargers last season.
Another criticism of Sirianni’s offense was the failure to employ enough blitz-beaters for Hurts and Moore’s offenses have a history of handling that well. Dallas was No. 1 against the blitz in 2022 with Prescott and Herbert had a historic game against Brian Flores’ ultra-blitz-heavy scheme last season.
There will be no more excuses for Hurts if he fails to navigate the blitz successfully in 2023.
This will also be the second consecutive season Moore will be at the right hand of a head coach who is perceived in some circles as a lame duck. Brandon Staley did get fired by the Chargers and another underachieving season could mean Sirianni will be on the unemployment line as well. By extension Moore will be working in a fourth city in four years at least the Eagles want to elevate him in such a circumstance.
Even success will likely come with a short-term expiration date for Philadelphia. If the Eagles rebound to the top of the league in 2024, presumably Sirianni will regain his footing and Moore will be a hot coaching candidate elsewhere. Considering that no current NFL OCs have been in place pre-2022, however, means upheaval is just part of the modern landscape.
The term “uncomfortable” has been thrown around the NovaCare Complex quite a bit since the disappointing end of the 2023 season to describe Jeffery Lurie’s plan for shaking things up.
The owner has now placed both Sirianni and Hurts outside their respective comfort zones to breathe new life back into the franchise.
It’s a gamble but one Lurie felt was needed.
