Shane Steichen Details Eagles' Fast Starts and His Play Calling
PHILADELPHIA – If you hang at the pregame tailgate too long or take too much time doing that one last-minute errand before kickoff, chances are you’re going to arrive at your seat inside the stadium or in front of your 85-inch television screen already playing catch-up.
You wouldn’t be alone, of course.
Most Eagles opponents have found themselves playing catch-up all year because nobody has mastered the fast start better than Philly.
“The preparation, I truly believe the separation is in the preparation every week, and the way we go about our business up in the meeting rooms and carrying it down to the players and trying to put our guys in position to make plays,” said Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen on Tuesday afternoon.
“Obviously, they have to go out and execute, which they've been doing, but it's the communication part and seeing what we're seeing on tape and trying to take advantage of those things.”
Asked by SI Eagles Today to give a little detail into that preparation, Steichen obliged.
It starts with the whole offense being together on Wednesday when the game plan – particularly the opening script of plays - has already been hatched.
It’s not the quarterbacks getting the plan in one room, the receivers in another, the running backs in other, and so on.
“Everyone is hearing the same message, and I think that's big because when you can communicate and everyone knows exactly what we're doing, that's when you have success,” said the OC.
“I think that's the preparation and the process that we go through, and coach (Nick Sirianni) talks about all the time is double down on the things you know and believe are true, and I think the preparation part of knowing that everyone knows exactly what's going on at all times instead of having like you break up, hey, we're not going to install this together but we're going to do this together.
“Like we're in here together, and I think that's what it is. You want to win, you've got to do it together, and that's our preparation part of it.”
That’s one ingredient that has led the Eagles to score touchdowns on their first offensive possession in seven of the last eight games.
There’s also the play-calling element.
Steichen grew up in the league with Norv Turner as his influence and was impressed by Turner’s ability to not look at the play sheet once he got a feel for the game and saw how his team was rolling.
“I've had a few drives for sure where we've been rolling, but I'll look down at it every once in a while, but when it's going good, yeah, you're usually not looking at it,” he said.
Steichen appears on a fast track to a head coaching job, perhaps even after this season, though he said he’s only worrying about playing the Chicago Bears on Sunday and continuing to grow as a play caller.
He was an offensive coordinator in L.A. for Justin Herbert’s rookie season with the Chargers. Perhaps it’s more than a coincidence that Herbert had arguably his best season with Steichen.
Asked how much he has grown as a play caller, he said: “I think just situationally from a down-and-distance standpoint, how the game is going, when to call certain things, how to get us back on track if things aren't going bad. I think that helps, just doing it.
“Just like with the players. The more you play, the more you see, the more you call games, the more you see and the more you have a feel for it and when to call things at certain points in the game. I think that's the biggest thing.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
