Eagles Offensive Tweaks Are Popular Despite Results

PHILADELPHIA - You can never make drastic changes in Week 14 of an NFL season, but Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni certainly made sure that some passing game concepts that had gone dormant this season were emphasized more during a 22-19 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night.

Some of the reviews were far too kind, as a pass-heavy approach with more 11 personnel, motion concepts, and in-breaking routes were utilized but produced unsuccessful results in what turned into a career-high five-turnover performance by quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Not surprisingly, the idea that the passing concepts and scheming were better took the forefront for the crowd that has been advocating that approach all along.

However, those concepts in practice weren’t kind to the imagination of what they would be, perhaps highlighting that the Eagles’ risk-averse offense was playing to the strengths of Hurts.

In a non-ironic fashion, the pundits who disliked the ugliness of Philadelphia’s scaled-back approach retreated away from results back to process and the comfort of their imaginations.

All of a sudden, execution wasn’t an excuse; it was now context.

If A.J. Brown caught the football with his usual acumen or DeVonta Smith didn’t slip, some of Hurts’ interceptions would evaporate.

Execution Is Needed No Matter The Style

Dec 8, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) passes against the Los Angeles Chargers in the first half at SoFi Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Sound familiar?

The execution argument had been used to explain many of the struggles the Eagles had while playing it conservatively. More so, had Philadelphia stuck to their less-than-aesthetic approach, it probably would have won by two scores against what was a limited Chargers offense.

In a get-right week with 2-11 Las Vegas set to visit Philadelphia this Sunday, the path forward becomes a chicken vs. egg causality dilemma.

Did Hurts struggle more than he ever has due to added weight placed on him with the offensive changes, or was his performance an anomaly that will be helped by he tweaks in the long run.

Sirianni wasn’t about to shed too much light on what his embattled QB is going through.

“Every time that Jalen has the ball in his hands, he's got to make the decision of where the football goes based off of the read on the play and what the defense is doing,” Sirianni said when asked about the changes and their impact on Hurts by Eagles On SI. “I don't think there's anything different as far as that goes.”

Sirianni also noted that nothing you saw in LA was anything new to his offense or Hurts.

“I've had some of those concepts in before, did a couple of them a couple different ways to create some explosives, but again, I thought there were some things to be encouraged by,” the coach said. “We thought we were more explosive than-- we won the explosive play battle, I guess is what I'm saying, but just got to win that turnover battle and we've got to finish drives to see the full array of what we want to be on offense.”

The question is the juice of that encouragement worth the squeeze of what was seen on Monday night?

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