McMullen: Eagles Might Have a Nick Sirianni Problem After Loss to Commanders

With his team in freefall, Eagles HC Nick Sirianni has spent the past several weeks stressing the idea of attention to detail. But is his message getting through?

Despite the message that head coach Nick Sirianni sends, the Eagles continue to be their own worst enemy. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

LANDOVER, M.D. — With his team in freefall, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni has spent the past several weeks stressing the idea of attention to detail.

The message landed with team leaders like Saquon Barkley and Jordan Mailata, and the trains have run on time from Monday through Saturday if you believe the self-scouting, only to derail on game days.

On Sunday night at Northwest Stadium, the Eagles opened an early 10-0 lead, while trying to halt the only five-game losing streak in the Sirianni era, only to watch the limited Commanders lap Philadelphia with 27 unanswered points the rest of the night, sending Sirianni into “uncharted territory.”

Devil is in the details for Eagles

A frustrated Sirianni played what's becoming an all-too-familiar hit, holding himself accountable while shielding his assistant coaches and players.

“Until we coach better, until we have better detail as coaches, until our players play with better detail, then we’re gonna see the same results,” he said. “And that falls on me."

“I feel like with all the detail that’s not happening right now, I got to try a different approach. And so that’s 100% on me. With how many of those issues are happening right now, I’ll do everything I can to try different things to make sure that we’re getting that point across.”

Detail is literally part of Sirianni's coaching mantra of “tough, detailed, together.” The coach is obsessed with “mastering the things that require no talent,” yet in the biggest moment of the game, the Eagles draped themselves in unforced errors.

Eagles' struggles are a result of self-inflicted wounds

Trailing 16-10, Philadelphia was moving the football and preparing to go for a fourth-and-four conversion at the Washington 13-yard line with 9:04 left in the game. 

The Eagles were late on the play clock as Tanner McKee began imploring for the snap. Feeling the urgency, rookie right tackle Markel Bell moved early, forcing the Eagles into a 36-yard field goal attempt that Jake Elliott drilled.

That successful kick would have made it a 16-13 game with plenty of time to keep pressing, but the attempt was wiped out because Jordan Mailata was not on the line of scrimmage. The illegal formation penalty backed the kick up five yards, and Elliott banged it off the left upright.

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The Eagles got nothing out of the drive. 

Subsequently, the Commanders responded with an eight-play, 45-yard march, ending with a 42-yard Drew Stevens field goal—his fourth of the night—making it a two-possession game, 19-10 with only 3:43 remaining.

A six-game skid for the Eagles was assured, not to mention being outclassed by two division foes with a combined record of 5-9-1 on national television in less than a week.

Straining for answers, Sirianni mused about messaging.

“If my delivery needs to be even harsher, it needs to be harsher. Whatever that may be, I’m open to try anything to help us."

Nick Sirianni, Eagles HC

Mailata was angered by his own miscue, throwing a tablet to the ground after rewatching his mistake on the sideline.

"It sucked the wind out of our momentum," Mailata admitted. 

The blame game

You can blame Bell, McKee, Mailata, Elliott, or all of the above, and that's kind of the point. In the ultimate team game, too many are contributing to the Eagles' poor results.

Sirianni, though, wears the product on his sleeve.

“Every product on that field—Offense, defense, special teams, fundamentals, situational football, player making a mistake, coach making a mistake—that’s my freaking job,” Sirianni said. “And so I’m pissed at myself, and I know I’ll fight like hell to do everything I can to get it fixed.”

When discussing a conservative offensive approach at the end of the first half instead of a bolder approach, Sirianni sounded defeated.

“That’s just kind of a product of what we have been," he admitted.

And that product has now bled over to the other phases.

"I feel like we’re doing a great job in practice and throughout the week,” Barkley said. “And for some reason, it’s not transferring over to the football field when it matters most.”

The Eagles are 2-6 because those details have gone missing when the bright lights are on. Whether that will be corrected or just another routine postmortem against the Giants in Week 9 will be decided on the field, not in lip service.

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