Inside the Eagles' Obsession That Has Fueled The Franchise's Greatest Run

PHILADELPHIA - Nick Sirianni’s Eagles have elevated ball security into an art form.

Sunday’s 16-9 win over the Detroit Lions was the 42nd time Philadelphia has won the turnover battle since Sirianni was named the head coach in 2021.

In those 42 games, the Eagles have an almost unthinkable .952 winning percentage, which works out to 40-2, including 6-0 this season.

During individual drills, Sirianni’s practices are full of circuits designed to teach protection of the football, and taking it away.

You’ll see coaches like Jemal Singleton with boxing gloves trying to punch the football away, or Bobby King running Thursday strip circuits in an effort to tear the football from ball-carriers. Sirianni himself will show off a powerful arm by throwing skipped balls to diving players near the sideline.

Nothing is left to chance.

Inside the NovaCare Complex, signs are littered throughout the facility, including a giant banner inside the auditorium showing off perfect technique to both keep the football and to take it away.

You’ll quickly learns about the “Eagle Claw” or the difference between city and country fumbles. Then there is the letters and logos teaching point that we could tell you about, but we’d have to kill you or risk being exposed in Sirianni’s secretive world.

This reporter once asked Sirianni about all NFL teams’ devotion to winning the turnover battle and there was push back.

Few go to the lengths the Eagles so.

Since Week 5 of last season, quarterback Jalen Hurts has thrown the football 581 times and has had only two interceptions, the only 500-plus span in NFL history with two or fewer INTs.

A Product Of The Right Obsession

Former Indianapolis Colts running backs coach Tom Rathman. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Sirianni offered a rare glimpse of where his devotion to winning the turnover battle turned from a prime directive to a necessity.

“I think you're a product of everything that you go through as a coach, as a player,” the Eagles coach said Monday. “It's always been about the ball. I've always admired [Raiders Head Coach] Pete Carroll's programs and how much they talk about the football.”

Former San Francisco fullback Tom Rathman, who coached with Sirianni in Indianapolis, took the Eagles coach to another level.

“I thought I knew how to teach ball security and all those different things until I got around Tom Rathman in Indianapolis, and he was a maniac about it and just relentless about it,” Sirianni said.

The Eagles coach then uncovered his own version of Rathman in assistant head coach/running backs Jemal Singleton, who is inventive as it comes when teaching ball security, whether it’s the boxing gloves or a chain to jerk that is attached to the football.

“Jemal Singleton is very similar. If I had worked with Jemal before Tom, I would've said, 'Well, hey, I've got to run this guy Jemal Singleton,' because Jemal does a great job on it as well, but it's just this obsession there with the football,” Sirianni explained. “We always talk about, 'Victory favors the team making the fewest mistakes.' There's a sign of that up on our wall and it's about playing with great detail with your fundamentals, and so that's obviously something that's very important to us.”

Despite that large 42-game sample size, Sirianni immediately knew the two games that weren’t won despite having the turnover edge.

“The two games that we did lose, one in '21 was to Kansas City in the regular season, the other one with last year against Washington. But when you combine good talent with good detail and good fundamentals, that's where you get some special things happening,” the coach said.

“I think that's been a big key, the talent combined with the fundamentals and then you add the defense, taking the football way and doing the things that they do and being just as obsessive about it on that end as well,” Sirianni continued. “It is just something that we've been very obsessive about. Our guys have done a great job of paying attention to it and playing to their strengths with the ball in their hands and trying to take it away.”

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