ESPN Offers Insight on Sirianni-Hurts

Tim McManus is one of the best reporters covering the Eagles. He and Jeremy Fowler wrote a piece for ESPN that took a deep dive into what happened last year with Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts.

Eagles look to bridge Nick Sirianni, Jalen Hurts divide

This wasn’t a hit piece looking to rip either one of the guys. This wasn’t a puff piece with someone’s agent pushing an agenda. My takeaway is that both Sirianni and Hurts had flaws that hurt them and the team last year. Importantly, both guys are working to fix their issues and get the team back to where it wants to be.

When Shane Steichen left to take the Colts job, that changed things for Sirianni, Hurts and new offensive coordinator Brian Johnson.

Following the Super Bowl run, Sirianni dug in. He got more hands-on last season and took more control, including holding private meetings with Hurts, a team source said. While head coach-quarterback meetings are not uncommon and something Sirianni had done before, the source believed, in this case they muddled the staff’s ability to convey one consistent message to the quarterback.

The Hurts-Sirianni dynamic does not work as well when it’s one-to-one, a team source said, requiring a third party to be prominently involved for the offense to run at a high level. “Nick can press on you,” a source close to Sirianni said.

Johnson was the playcaller, but Sirianni would make his presence felt, sometimes overruling Johnson in real time, as he did on a critical third-and-long play against the Washington Commanders in Week 4, when Johnson wanted to pass and Sirianni dialed up a run, which didn’t pan out. The line was blurred enough that some offensive players didn’t know for sure who was calling the plays, a team source told ESPN in January.

Steichen did a great job as OC in 2022 and 2023. He and Sirianni had built a strong relationship over the years and trusted each other. With him out and Johnson being new to his role as OC in the NFL, Sirianni tried to do more. That didn’t work well.

When things broke down, Hurts tried to do too much on his own.

One team source described it as Hurts trying to play “hero ball.” Another put it this way: “He was trying to prove he was worth $250 million every throw.”

The guy I feel bad for is Johnson. He was caught in a tough situation and lost his job without getting a fair shot to prove himself. Sirianni and Hurts get do-overs. Sirianni hired Kellen Moore to come in and run the offense. Sirianni has taken a step back and is more of a CEO coach this year (so far). It seems like he’s genuinely bought into the idea. The challenge will be keeping that going during the season.

Hurts seems to have bought into the new offense and is having a terrific Training Camp. The challenge for him will be sticking with the offense and not freelancing when things aren’t going smoothly.

The piece didn’t touch on the overall team issues beyond this line.

“Even when we were 10-1, everyone was walking around like their dog died,” a team source said. “All year, instead of having fun playing, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we lost the Super Bowl.'”

The offense fell apart late in the year and had issues all season long, but no one should read this piece and think the Sirianni-Hurts issues were the main culprit to the Eagles epic collapse. That debacle was a total team effort.

The piece is worth reading. You get some insight into what happened, even if there aren’t people going on the record. McManus and Fowler are good journalists with strong track records.

In some ways, this was the most interesting note in the piece.

With the playoffs approaching and the hunt for improvement unending, Hurts made an unusual move. He called former Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, who had parted ways with New York following Week 18.

“I’ve been doing this for 40 years,” said Martindale, now the defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan, “and it’s the first time I’ve had an opposing quarterback call me up. I thought it was pretty cool that the guy called. It shows you what kind of pro he really is. He’s just looking at every angle that he can to get better.”

The phone call lasted about half an hour, Martindale told ESPN. They discussed weaknesses in Philadelphia’s protection and how New York tried to game-plan him.

“It was very effective and he knew it, and he just wanted to know why we did certain things that we did. Then he went to work on that,” Martindale said.

That is highly unusual, but I love the fact Hurts was willing to do anything and everything to try to get better and help the team win. That is the mindset of a winning QB.

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Practice Notes Links

Jimmy Bama

Brandon Lee Gowton

Fran Duffy

Jeff McLane

I’m not going to cover a ton of notes. Here are a few things that stood out.

Jimmy Bama on the backup TE.

Grant Calcaterra made a bunch of catches today, both from Hurts and Kenny Pickett. Calcaterra has often been injured during training camp in previous seasons, but this year he has been healthy and is building momentum as we get closer to the season. He is unquestionably an upgrade as a receiver over Jack Stoll, the Eagles’ former TE2 who signed with the Giants this offseason.

It sounds like Calcaterra is going to earn the backup TE spot and not just get it by default. Dallas Goedert usually misses some time so the Eagles need a backup TE who can be a legitimate contributor and not just a guy with some potential.

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Tyler Steen is back practicing, but Mekhi Becton continues to run with the 1’s. Becton might have the advantage on him as of now, but there is a lot of time left in camp for both guys to state their case.

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Johnny Wilson keeps getting some time with the 1’s. Parris Campbell has missed a lot of practice time. Both Wilson and Britain Covey have taken advantage of it. The Eagles have great starting receivers. They need some backups to emerge and show what they can do.

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McLane has good info on Jeremiah Trotter Jr.

Jeremiah Trotter Jr. started camp mostly at weakside linebacker, but he was in the middle calling plays for the second-unit defense on Wednesday. He beat fellow Clemson rookie Will Shipley on a blitz for what may have been the fifth practice in a row. Trotter probably was credited with a sack, but he eased up on Pickett.

During a later set, Barkley called out to Trotter from the sidelines. “Trot, Trot,” the veteran running back said as he grabbed his own jersey. “No holding.” A couple of plays later in the red zone, McKee threw to running back Tyrion Davis-Price on a naked bootleg, but Trotter followed him and touched him up just short of the goal line.

Baun congratulated the rookie. “Great eyes,” he said.

It feels like there is some hope at LB. Devin White has shown real ability this summer. Zack Baun has looked good. Now Trotter is starting to come on. Let’s hope these guys are able to keep this going in the regular season.

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Good stuff here from the Duff Beer Man.

The action is underway, and after the defense forces a sack on play one, Hurts responds with a nice throw down the seam to Calcaterra for a big gain. Hurts layered this throw between the safety and the linebacker for his best throw of the day. The defense responded with a couple of negative plays, first with Jalen Carter and Baun combining to stuff Saquon Barkley at the line of scrimmage. Carter has not just been disruptive against the pass this summer – he’s been really strong at the point of attack as well. Baun joined Jordan Davis to corral Hurts in the backfield on the next play for a likely sack. Hurts faced pressure from a blitz again on the next rep, but he was able to escape and scramble for a nice gain. Pickett’s first throw of the period was a beauty. It was, again, under pressure – but the young veteran threaded the needle between multiple defenders after having to change his arm angle against pressure, putting the ball right on Britain Covey for a first down on the deep crosser. A couple of young players flashed later, with Will Shipley reeling in a screen pass and Moro Ojomo ending the sequence with a hurry that resulted in a scramble.

Love hearing that Jalen Carter is standing out vs the run and the pass.

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