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Eagles' Nick Sirianni Praises 'Unbelievable' Kellen Moore But Keeps Offense a Mystery

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said his new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has done a good job "directing the ship" but declined to reveal what the offense will look like in Moore's hands.

Nick Sirianni seems ready and willing to let Kellen Moore drive the Philadelphia Eagles offense this year.

There will be a meshing of ideas of what Sirianni deemed successful from his first three years behind the Eagles' offensive machine, and Moore’s concepts, brought in from the outside at places such as Boise State, where Moore played quarterback and was a two-time first-team All-American.

Exactly what that meshing will look like, the head coach isn't saying. Understandably so. Besides, the offense is still a work in progress.

"I will say I haven’t been in there as much. I obviously have other obligations, but a similar process," said Sirianni. "I think if you ask somebody around the entire NFL, everybody will have a similar process throughout the offseason and processes you try to perfect as you go on with what you do, but it’s similar.

Sirianni talked to reporters gathered in Orlando for the NFL Owner’s Meetings during the annual NFC coaches’ breakfast on Tuesday morning. There were plenty of questions about Moore and what the offense could look like this season with the former Dallas Cowboys and L.A. Chargers’ offensive coordinator sitting in that same chair for the Eagles.

Kellen Moore

Kellen Moore

“He’s unbelievable,” said Sirianni. “I really enjoy working with him. I’ve worked with a couple guys from that Boise tree, two guys from Indy – Klayton Adams and Chris Strausser, who I thought were outstanding coaches. They were coaches there when Kellen played there.

“I just have so much respect for (former OC and head coach at Boise) Chris Petersen, their coach that they grew up under. They know football, they love football, they have great thoughts about football and that’s why we hired Kellen. He's done an unbelievable job so far just directing the ship. I have a lot of respect for him.”

It was interesting to hear him use the words “directing the ship.” The head coach is on board it would seem with letting Moore fully run the offense.

And why not?

Owner Jeffrey Lurie, who spoke to reporters later in in the day, said that it was Sirianni who wanted to hire Moore, saying he was encouraged by the support his coach has given to Moore.

“Nick really brought Kellen into the picture of who we should hire,” said Lurie. “It was his first choice, and you know had the fortune of really getting to know Kellen quite a bit in the head-coach interviewing process (in 2021) and we all did.”

Lurie said his interview team spent five to seven hours with Moore in their most-recent head coaching search.

“I rely on Nick's judgment on this (but) on the other hand, I think internally he's one of the most dynamic offensive coordinators there is in football,” said the owner. “We had to play against him every single year and he's worked with outstanding young quarterbacks, and he's always had a sort of difficult to defend multiple attack.

"Nick, who was his biggest supporter in this, basically went through how he thinks Kellen will transform our offense into something that is more unpredictable and more dynamic in a great way.”

Lurie added that he liked the way Sirianni has been supportive of Moore since joining.

The coach was cagey when asked about how the offense would look and even whose terminology would be used - Sirianni's or Moore's.

There will be some obvious crossover between what Sirianni has run that was successful in his first three seasons – and, let’s face it, there has been plenty of successes for a coach who is 36-20, counting playoffs, with three straight playoff trips and a Super Bowl appearance in that span – meshed with whatever Moore brings in.

Sirianni said a few times, too, that it will be “Kellen leading the offense.”

“I hired Kellen to do a job and we’ll mesh things together,” he said. “Like I said from the very beginning, we’ll have some good things we’ve done in the past, he’ll bring some new elements to it, but to say 27 percent is going to be this, you know.

“There’s a lot of similarities within it, too. Again, Kellen is doing a good job of leading the offense and we’re really excited about that.”