Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

They Speak

Posted January 24th, 2024 | 1 Comment »

Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni finally held their postseason press conference. Howie explained the delays were due to exit interviews, the weather and the organization binge-watching season five of Fargo, which is excellent. At least I think that’s one of the excuses he used.

There is truth in some of what Howie said, but we all know there had to be some tough discussions between Sirianni and his two bosses on the future direction of the team and how he would fit into that. One thing we found out on Wednesday is that the new offensive coordinator will run the offense. Sirianni will be involved, but the OC will call plays and run the offense. That’s interesting.

Someone asked Sirianni if the OC runs the offense and the DC runs the defense, what do you do? That’s a fair question. We’re used to Andy Reid running his offense and the team. Or Buddy Ryan running his defense and the team. But look at the final four teams this year. Reid and Kyle Shanahan run their offenses and the team, John Harbaugh and Dan Campbell are head coaches who don’t run one side of the team. There is no magic formula for winning. There is plenty for a head coach to do beyond running one side of the ball.

Sirianni said several times that the offense got stale. I was happy to hear him admit this. He didn’t just talk about the need to be better. I don’t think he’s ever said something like “the offense got stale”. That’s an admission that there is a need for change, not just improvement.

Sirianni wouldn’t commit to any type of offense or defense he wanted. He’s looking for the right coaches more than the right schemes. I did like the fact he talked about bringing someone from outside the family of coaches on the offensive side. There is a need for new ideas.

I thought the press conference was solid overall. Howie and Sirianni had the right tone, focusing on the bad ending, but also keeping the big picture in mind. They didn’t have any magic comments that gave me total faith that all the problems will get solved, but this is a situation where actions will be more important than words.

Some people didn’t like the press conference. I just don’t know what they expected. This wasn’t a time for fiery speeches. Sirianni needs to hire better coaches. Howie needs to find better players. The solutions are simple in theory. Getting them done is the challenge.

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One important bit of news…

Nothing is set, but it sure sounds like Fangio will be the next DC. That would be good news.

I’ve mentioned wanting to get away from the Fangio scheme, but that assumed it would be someone else running it. Fangio is a different story. He is a veteran coach who can run the defense. He’s had Top 10 defenses with five different organizations. That tells you he can coach. The first season was 1995 and the most recent was 2023. Again, that tells you he can coach. His success isn’t based on a short time span or a few special players. Fangio has won with a lot of different guys through multiple eras.

Fangio might have some core principles, but he can adjust his scheme and ideas.

Miami finished 8th in takeaways. Fangio’s defenses have finished in the Top 10 eight times over his 20 years as a DC. He knows how to generate pressure and force turnovers. That’s critical to winning.

I also thought Miami had some guys really step up. DL Zach Sieler had 10 career sacks coming into 2023 and had 10 on the season. I thought LB David Long had his best season. He was really good against the Eagles. Safety DeShon Elliott had his best season. LB Andrew Van Ginkel had his best season.

The Eagles defense needs a lot of work, both in scheme and personnel. Hiring Fangio would be a good start.

I think one of the keys would be that Fangio could help to build his defensive staff. You need all the coaches on the same page so they can get the different levels of the defense to work together and to function as one.

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As for the OC position.

Johnson is the lesser name, but he is the more intriguing candidate. He was with the Eagles in 2011 as a player and bounced around a couple of leagues. Johnson left playing and moved into coaching in an entry level position in 2017. He became a quality control coach with the Colts in 2020, working with Sirianni. He has since worked for the Vikings and Texans. He was CJ Stroud’s QB coach this past season. Stroud had arguably the greatest season ever by a rookie QB.

Kingsbury was an Air Raid coach in college and then ran a version of that offense with the Cardinals. Kyler Murray had some success with him. Kingsbury spent last year as the OC with the USC Trojans. His offensive ideas feel too close to those of Sirianni in terms of shotgun, spread sets and limited motion. One thing to like is that his offense did have success with yards after the catch, something the Eagles have struggled with for a long time.

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More Coaching News

Posted January 22nd, 2024 | 2 Comments »

The Eagles haven’t hired anyone, but we are starting to get a clearer idea of what could be happening in the coming days or weeks. Let’s start with the biggest item.

Gunn is still pretty plugged in when it comes to the Eagles. If he’s hearing this, that must be the direction the Eagles are heading in.

I thought keeping Johnson might make sense, but it probably wouldn’t help him. If there is a new play-caller and the offense looks better, Johnson isn’t getting any credit for that. If he goes to a new team and does well he gets the credit or blame based on how they perform. High risk, high reward situation.

This frees up the Eagles to bring in a new offensive coordinator and let them call plays. They’ll have to balance their ideas with Nick Sirianni’s existing playbook. I have to stress that I don’t think the Eagles need to scrap that. They need to build on it. That’s why outside ideas can be so valuable.

I’m interested in Kellen Moore of the Chargers (formerly Cowboys OC). Unfortunately the Chargers just blocked him from interviewing with the Bears. LA still considers him a candidate to be the head coach (he already interviewed). Eric Bieniemy makes a lot of sense to me. Arthur Smith is fascinating, but I’m not sure he’s got the answers needed to fix the passing game.

We are starting to hear some leaked names for the open defensive coordinator position.

That is an interesting pair of names.

Jim Johnson was the Eagles DC from 1999-2008. His LBs coach from 1999-2003 was Ron Rivera. One of the LBs was Mike Caldwell, from 1999-2001. Nick Sirianni has no ties to Andy Reid, but this would make some sense.

Sirianni needs a veteran DC. He needs someone who can run that side of the ball. Rivera has 6 years of DC experience and was a head coach for 13 seasons. He certainly knows how to run a defense and handle his side of things.

Rivera has struggled with consistency, but has gotten excellent results in each stop. He was part of Top 5 defenses in PHI, CHI, SD, CAR and WAS. That’s pretty impressive. In that sense, he might remind you of Jim Schwartz. When he had the right players, his scheme thrived. When there were personnel issues, the defense was up and down.

Caldwell was the ILBs coach when Tampa won the Super Bowl in 2020 and when they beat the Eagles in the wild card round in 2021. He then became the DC for the Jaguars for the next two seasons. They had mediocre defenses both year, but finished Top 8 in takeaways both times. I’m sure that caught Sirianni’s attention.

I like the fact that Sirianni is looking at different types of coaches. Rivera’s background is mainly 4-3. He’s always been good with LBs. Caldwell has 3-4 and 4-3 experience and understands blitzing. Sirianni isn’t just focused on the next person in the Fangio style. The Eagles could take a look at Brandon Staley, but they aren’t focused on that style. Focus on the coach more than the scheme.

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This should be interesting.

Keep your expectations reasonable. You aren’t going to get the hard-hitting answers you might want. Remember that Sirianni will always take the blame publicly. He’ll say something about doing what is in the best interests of the team, but he’s not going to start ripping Sean Desai or Brian Johnson. Nor should he. There’s just nothing to gain from that.

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Jason Kelce continues to be awesome.

https://twitter.com/JeffSkversky/status/1749562007315964227

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