Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

OC/DC

Posted January 28th, 2024 | 2 Comments »

With a flick of the switch, the Eagles filled both of their open coordinator spots. Rather than ride on further into the offseason with openings, the Eagles decided to shake a leg and make their hires. Vic Fangio will run the defense and Kellen Moore will run the offense.

Good moves.

I think.

History will tell you that it is hard to judge coaching hires. Shane Steichen was unknown when the Eagles hired him. That turned out pretty well. There have been plenty of examples of coaches with good track records failing in jobs where everyone thought they would be a good fit. You never really know.

I like the Moore hire for a few reasons. Most importantly, I like the fit. Moore has experience running an offense. He’s done it enough that he knows what he’s doing, but Moore is also young enough that he’s got fresh ideas and isn’t going to be married to something he’s done for years and years. He’s worked for offensive head coaches and produced good results. Moore knows how to get the best out of good players.

The Eagles won’t be asking him to do anything new. He’s had big success in similar situations in the past.

I’ve always been impressed with Moore as a play-caller. The Dallas offense was creative and aggressive with him running the show. They were Top 6 in scoring in 3 of his 4 years. His offenses score points.

I like the fact Moore is comfortable with the run and pass. His teams have been Top 10 in passing attempts in 4 of 5 seasons. They were Top 10 in rushing attempts in two of those seasons. He’s not afraid to let his QB sling it all over the yard. He’s also comfortable with feeding the ball to Zeke 25 times. The best coaches adapt to their personnel and the situation at hand. Moore can do that.

We’ve already talked about Fangio for several days. Let’s find out what Chris Long thinks.

https://twitter.com/greenlight/status/1751320458069160147

The Fangio scheme has produced mixed results. But Fangio has had success everywhere he’s been. After Jalen Ramsey returned from injury, Miami’s defense was Top 10 in DVOA for the rest of the year.

You need the right players to make any scheme work. It also helps to have a veteran coach running the scheme. Fangio has seen it all. He’s had to come up with schematic answers for 30 years. He’s faced every king of QB and offense you can imagine. He’ll have good ideas on how to adjust when an offense is getting the best of his defense.

For now, I like both hires a lot.

*****

One of the big differences between this year and last year is experience. Nick Sirianni hired coaches who can succeed on their own. He hired coaches with strong track records.

Last year Sirianni hired two young coaches. Johnson had never been an OC in the NFL. He’d only been in the league for two years. Sean Desai had been in the NFL for a decade, but only had one season as DC.

You can’t blame Sirianni for hiring young coaches. He did that with Steichen and Gannon and it worked really well. Johnson and Desai just didn’t work out. We could discuss why for a while, but for now let’s just focus on the fact they didn’t work.

There isn’t a lot of guessing or projecting with Fangio and Moore. They both have strong track records.

*****

Desai and Johnson are getting interviews for open coordinator positions. That tells you they are well-regarded by other teams. Things just didn’t work out in Philly. That stuff happens.

Both of them seem like good guys. I’ll be pulling for them.

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Assistants Update

Posted January 26th, 2024 | 1 Comment »

The Eagles are doing their research and looking at different assistant coaches. They haven’t named offensive or defensive coordinators yet, but we know Vic Fangio is basically a done deal as the DC. The OC is still wide open, as far as we know.

Or maybe not.

If the Eagles are letting Tanney and Brady look at other jobs, that tells you there is a possibility the Eagles know who they want at OC and have an idea that new assistants will be needed for that coach and his offense. Or maybe we’re just bored and connecting dots that shouldn’t be connected.

If there is an OC the Eagles want but can’t name, that would likely mean he is still alive in the playoffs. Looking at the coaching staffs, Klint Kubiak from SF is the one who seems to make the most sense. He was an OC with the Vikings in 2021. He was the passing game coordinator with Denver in 2022 and has that same role with the Niners this year. In the past, he was a QB coach with the Vikings.

Kubiak isn’t exactly a veteran coach, but he has run an offense. He has worked closely with productive QBs. He also knows the Shanahan offense, which means using motion, a creative run game and QBs playing under center. That would seem to check a lot of the boxes that the Eagles should be looking for. This is just a guess on my part. The Eagles have not been linked with him at all.

It is possible that Sirianni was given a mandate to get rid of Tanney and Brady and upgrade from the outside. We’ll get some answers soon enough.

I still think Eric Bieniemy and Kellen Moore should be key OC candidates. Bieniemy is a veteran coach with a good track record. Moore is young, but has been an OC for five years and is a creative play-caller. Both make a lot of sense to me.

*****

Onto the defensive side of the ball.

Barry has been a LBs coach in the NFL for 15 years. He worked under Brandon Staley in 2020 so he’s been part of the Fangio system before. He was the DC for the Packers for the past three years. Barry got good LB play from Quay Walker and DeVondre Campbell last season. He is a solid candidate.

Caldwell was the DC for the Jaguars the past couple of years. He was a LBs coach from 2011-2018 for the Eagles, Jets and Bucs. Caldwell both played for and coached for the Eagles. He worked under Todd Bowles in NY and TB. If you can coach LBs for Bowles, that works for me.

If the Eagles aren’t going to invest big resources at LB, they better find a top notch coach who can get the most of what he’s got to work with.

Hill was an NFL safety for 10 years. He has been a DBs coach and DC at the NFL level. He has worked for Fangio a couple of times so the two of them reuniting in Philly would make sense.

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