'There's No Silos' with Eagles' Coaching Staff
PHILADELPHIA - In far too many NFL buildings, each side of the football is its own fiefdom.
That’s not the case in Philadelphia where Nick Sirianni has quickly developed into the best young coach in the league as the steward of the 12-1 Eagles, who became the first team to clinch a postseason berth in 2022 by routing the New York Giants on Sunday.
A CEO coach, Sirianni was sinking in the quicksand that too many owners provide by ignoring some very valuable advice espoused by more than one GM who has learned from mistakes in the past.
“If you’re hiring a scheme you’re doing it wrong” has become a cliche around the league yet most owners default to the hot candidate with the en vogue system.
Like most first-time head coaches Sirianni felt the need to call plays when he arrived in Philadelphia and struggled early before he deftly pulled the plug and allowed Shane Steichen to handle that role.
A 2-5 start to his head-coaching career wasn’t about poor play-calling by Sirianni, though. The coach felt that other areas of the team were not running up to the standard that he wanted and by getting bogged down with play calls on game day, Sirianni could not easily toggle to other areas that needed his attention.
“Everything that goes on that field is my responsibility, and it's my responsibility first,” Sirianni has said repeatedly.
According to a team source, Sirianni handed the baton to Steichen before a 27-24 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Nov. 7 last season. Since that day, the Eagles are 18-3 in the regular-season heading into Sunday’s game at Chicago.
The three setbacks were at the Giants last season in Jalen Hurts’ worst game as a starter that still likely would have been won if not for a couple of drops by Jalen Reagor, a Week 18 loss to Dallas in which Philadelphia sat its starters, and the perfect storm loss to Washinton on Nov. 14, the lone blemish this season.
The foundation for the Eagles’ success is laid during the week behind the curtains at the NovaCare Complex.
“Honestly, it goes back to the preparation and the work that the guys put in every week,” said Steichen. “When you're on the same page and you're communicating and you're clicking, things are going to go well.
"Obviously, there could be some mistakes here and there, but when you've got the players that we've got and the way they're practicing and preparing every single week, good things are usually going to happen.”
The secret sauce to those things is communication, which extends to the coaching staff.
Sirianni not only expects his coaches to use each other’s expertise, he demands it.
“I tell you guys all the time, you want to learn defensive football, talk to offensive coaches, and I truly believe that,” defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said. “They see the game from the offensive perspective where we're looking at it from a defensive perspective, and the ideas, the teaching of it, the reason why behind a lot of things, what we do on defense is because of our offensive coaches' brains.
“So that's been huge for me, for our staff, for our players.”
Gannon even offered up an example.
“Even listening to Stout [Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland] talk to our D-line about hey, this is what this combo block is trying to achieve, and this is what kind of ruins that combo block if you can do this,” he said.
“I use those guys weekly, daily, and the off-seasons are big when we do Eagles versus Eagles, that's a great week for us because you just learn a lot about offensive football, and then you apply it to what you're doing on defense.”
Both Steichen and Gannon are expected to be on the short lists for more than one head-coaching opening after this season and Sirianni has already started to think about the future whether its Kevin Patullo and Brian Johnson on the offensive side or Dennard Wilson and Nick Rallis on the defensive side.
“This staff is tremendous with what Nick has set up for the communication between offensive and defensive guys, and there's no silos,” said Gannon. “I'm in each one of those guys' office all the time as the position coaches are, and it's a good back and forth, and then we talk to offensive players.
"We've talked about what's hard on - do you want to play a zero or a shade, talk to [C Jason] Kelce, he'll tell you, and we do. The learning that has gone on since we've been here has been invaluable.”
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
