McMullen: One Eagles Experiment Was a Major Mistake That Cost Their Identity

PHILADELPHIA, P.A. — Head coach Nick Sirianni’s latest comments about the Eagles offense should sound familiar to anyone who has watched the team spiral in 2026.

Asked by Eagles On SI whether the players have embraced Sean Mannion’s system and whether the growing pains have been harder than expected, Sirianni essentially described a coaching staff in the middle of a rescue operation: they have a preferred system, but they’re also doing things outside of it, adapting to what the players do well, and treating every week as a problem-solving exercise.

"You have a system of what you want to do and the things that you want to hang your hat on, but
you also have to have the ability to adapt to what you do well and what your players do well," Sirianni said. "Again, we're doing some things within the system. We're doing some things outside the system. Again, our job is to be problem solvers and if things aren't working, it's to figure out what gives our guys the best chance to go out there and succeed.

"That's what we're in the midst of. I don't think it's like, 'Hey, this is a scheme. This is the only thing we can do.' We're doing everything we can do to figure out what fits us the best, and what we will execute at a high level and what our players do well. ... I think there's a lot of different things that we'll continue to try, and we'll keep fighting, and we'll keep hammering at it."

That is not the confident description of a scheme that was carefully chosen for this roster. It is the sound of a staff that bet big on a trendy, copycat offense and is now quietly walking it back in the wake of disastrous results.

For how bad it’s been, I direct you to The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia:

If you look at all 27 Eagles teams that have played football this century, the 2026 offense ranks:

27th in points per game
27th in yards per game
27th in yards per play
27th in YPC
27th in 3-and-out percentage
27th in EPA per play
27th in success rate
27th in explosive play rate
— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) November 3, 2026

The decision to install a Shanahan/McVay-influenced offense—more under-center snaps, heavy pre-snap motion, play-action layered off wide-zone runs—was framed as a necessary evolution after the 2025 stagnation under Kevin Patullo.

Eagles' copycat decision was an overreaction

Dec 14, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo during the first quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders at Lincoln Financial Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Teams in that offensive tree use those concepts at high rates; the Eagles ranked near the bottom in motion and under-center usage under Sirianni.

The hope was that marrying the run and pass this way would create an identity the unit lacked in 2025. Instead, the Eagles have produced one of the league’s least efficient offenses, ranking at or near the bottom in yards per game, points, and overall production through stretches of the season, with under-center looks often generating far worse results than shotgun.⁠

The copycat element is at the core of the problem. The league’s best versions of this style succeed with specific personnel traits, continuity up front, and quarterbacks comfortable working under center with defined play-action windows.

Philadelphia’s recent success was built differently: a physical, Jeff Stoutland-coached offensive line and a quarterback in Jalen Hurts who had been most effective operating from the shotgun with a relatively static pre-snap picture.

Forcing the square peg into the round hole produced the predictable early-season mess—missed assignments, protection issues, and an offense that still looks like it is searching for what it does well rather than executing what it was built to do.

Sirianni’s own words now concede the point.

If the staff is already mixing “within the system” and “outside the system” while insisting they are not locked into one scheme, the original bet looks like an unnecessary overhaul rather than a tailored solution.

Missing Jeff Stoutland

The cost of that bet goes beyond the box score. Stoutland, the longtime offensive line coach and run-game coordinator who helped build two Super Bowl championship lines, left after 13 seasons.

Reports indicated he felt bypassed on run-game adjustments late in 2025 and that the impending scheme change under Mannion left little room for the approach he had refined in Philadelphia. He was offered a reduced role and declined. The relationship fractured not over a single play call but over the decision to prioritize a different philosophy without properly integrating the coach who had delivered the most consistent success in the trenches.⁠ All at the expense of the passing game, which is somehow getting even worse.

The results—sacks, negative plays, and an inability to sustain drives—have been visible even when accounting for injuries.

Sirianni has repeatedly said the staff’s job is to put players in the best position to succeed. The evidence so far suggests the opposite happened when the organization chased a successful schematic template for those who tailored to it at the expense of continuity and personnel fit.

It's not over... yet

There is still time to salvage pieces of the season, and Sirianni’s comments indicate the staff is willing to keep adjusting rather than die on the original hill.

But the adjustment itself is the indictment. If the scheme required this much midstream improvisation to fit the roster, the decision to install it as the foundation was the mistake.

The Eagles did not need to become a lesser version of the Rams or 49ers. They needed to keep maximizing what had already worked for their players.

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