Eagles' Offense Must Show Some Life Vs. Chargers

Several team sources confirmed the reporting of ESPN’s Tim McManus earlier this week, explaining that Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was more involved in the offensive preparation leading up to Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium.

Philadelphia's star-studded offense enters Monday's game ranked 24th in the NFL -- No. 22 running it and No. 23 passing it. The test on on the field is the Chargers' third-ranked defense.

From what Eagles On SI was able to gather, nothing really shifted as far as the game planning in which Sirianni typically has significant input, or the crux of the offensive meetings, which embattled offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo still ran.

Meanwhile, Sirianni has already confirmed multiple times that Patullo will remain the play-caller, something that is the main sticking point with outside critics.

That doesn’t mean Sirianni or someone else on the offensive staff can't chip in or hasn't chipped in at some point this season with play-calling.

In 2020, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, when then-Eagles head coach Doug Pederson felt his offense needed a spark, he handed off some hurry-up play-calling duties to senior offensive assistant Rick Scangarello, and red-zone work to pass game coordinator Press Taylor, while obviously retaining veto power as the head coach.

Sirianni has always stepped in when he feels it’s needed since 2021 when he handed off the bulk of the play-calling duties to Shane Steichen, although Kellen Moore did have more autonomy last season as the OC.

As a CEO, Sirianni’s belief is to drift to where he’s needed the most at any particular time.

Per the ESPN report, Sirianni kicked off the offense meetings and spoke longer than he typically does.

The idea was to drive home what was largely messaging and culture issues with best described to us as ‘stop pointing fingers.’ However, there was an amped up presence in the nuts and bolts of the offense as well.

In Sirianni’s mind, the Eagles’ offensive problems can’t be laid at any individual's feet and are a more layered issue with everyone involved sharing some culpability.

Perception Problem

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The goal is to work together to reach firmer ground.

The belief in the building is the offense has been efficient when avoiding mental errors and negative plays, and that’s been the focus of the clean-up for weeks, not just during the latest mini-bye in advance of Monday night.

Sirianni also spent the additional time to take the temperature of Jalen Hurts, something the QB1 confirmed last week.

“A lot of conversation with Coach Sirianni this week about how we can improve and what his vision is and the direction that we're going in, and I have a lot of confidence in where we're headed,” Hurts said.

The last time Sirianni upped his input into the offensive issues was during Brian Johnson's one-and-done stint as OC in 2023.

Fair or not, that means Patullo is on notice with five games and a playoff run to solve perceptions that are quickly becoming cemented as reality in Philadelphia.

Monday Night Prediction: Eagles 23, Chargers 20

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