Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

The First Domino

Posted January 21st, 2024 | 1 Comment »

Let the firings begin.

This one isn’t a firing, but still…

Neither of those is a shocker.

Desai seems like a good guy so I’m sorry for how all of this turned out. At the same time, coaches are hired to be fired. That’s the nature of the business. Hopefully he’ll learn from this situation and do a better job when he gets another chance, if he gets another chance.

Patricia has failed in his past few jobs so I’m not sure what his future is. He better hope Bill Belichick gets a job and wants to bring him along.

We haven’t heard anything about the offense yet. They might not fire Brian Johnson, but rather add an outside coach and change up duties. The offense failed at the end, but was successful for much of the year. You don’t need to wipe the slate clean and rebuild that side of the ball. It is also possible that the relationship between Johnson and Jalen Hurts complicates things. They have been friends for year. The Eagles might fear that firing Johnson would have a negative effect on Hurts. We’ll see.

The defense needed a complete overhaul.

Martindale would seem to be opposite of what Sirianni wants because of all the risk-taking he does. Still, the Giants did lead the NFL in takeaways and didn’t exactly have great talent so Martindale is worth checking out.

Nielsen did a lot of good things in his one year with Atlanta. He had been with the Saints prior to that so he’s been part of some good defenses.

*****

Congrats to the Lions on making the NFC title game.

More than a few people tweeted that the Eagles should have kept CJGJ.

They tried to. Howie made him an offer. CJGJ was looking for a huge deal. He turned the Eagles down and then was shocked when the rest of the league showed minimal interest. Finally Detroit offered him a deal and he took it.

The league knows CJGJ is really talented. He also has an awkward reputation and teams were scared to give him big money. We’ll see how free agency goes this offseason.

*****

Jason Kelce went to the KC-BUF game to support his brother. I’d say he had a good time.

https://twitter.com/PHLEaglesNation/status/1749234763615850710

I hate that the Eagles are out, but I love that Kelce is able to go have a good time. He is good for football as a sport and as a business. He seems less like a Hall of Fame player and more like your cool cousin.

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Waiting

Posted January 21st, 2024 | 1 Comment »

Another day, but still no update. Or maybe the lack of an update actually is an update. The Eagles would make an announcement if Nick Sirianni was getting fired. Not saying anything hints that Sirianni will return as coach. That doesn’t make it a lock of course, but it feels like we’re heading in that direction.

The meeting, or meetings, was going to be a chance for Sirianni to explain how to fix the Eagles. Maybe Jeffrey Lurie liked what he heard and we’re now in the process of seeing what changes will be made.

It is also possible that Lurie is thinking about Sirianni’s comments and hasn’t made a decision. We’ll find out soon enough.

*****

Interesting idea. JBC worked with Sirianni in Kansas City in 2012 and then in Philly in 2021 so they have a relationship. JBC worked for Jim Caldwell in Indy and in Detroit and had success in both spots. JBC worked for Doug Pederson and Shane Steichen. That’s a lot of smart guys to work under.

JBC ran the Lions offense when they finished 7th in the league in scoring in 2017.

2021 – PHI – 12th in points
2022 – JAX – 10th in points
2023 – IND – 10th in points

JBC didn’t call plays for those offenses, but was part of the braintrust and helped them to function at a high level.

My argument against JBC would be wanting someone with a different offensive background. You can definitely argue that Sirianni needs to go outside of his circle of coaches to find someone with new ideas.

This is all just a rumor at this point so don’t get too fired up one way or the other.

*****

No word on defensive coaches the Eagles might be interested in.

Do you want a former head coach like Brandon Staley or Ron Rivera?

Do you want a super-aggressive DC like Wink Martindale?

There are interesting guys like Shane Bowen, Ryan Nielsen and Ejiro Evero.

There are also a lot of interesting coaches in college. Jim Leonhard is a guy I liked a lot last year. Former NFL safety who spent a lot of time playing for Rob Ryan. Ran the defense for Wisconsin from 2017-2022. Showed the ability to develop players and also to run a creative, effective scheme.

Some other names to keep an eye on.

Sirianni preaches takeaways and limiting explosive plays.

I think the key is finding someone who matches the roster building philosophy. Howie Roseman wants to focus on the DL. So hire a DC who knows how to get the most out of a good DL. I also want a DC who knows how to put together a creative gameplan. Jonathan Gannon struggled with this. Sean Desai showed some potential. This is where having someone with experience would make sense.

*****

It was frustrating to watch the Packers blow a lead and let the Niners steal their way into the NFC title game. Let’s hope the Lions win on Sunday and then next week. There was bad coaching from both sides in that game. No idea why Matt LaFleur didn’t use his timeouts at the end of the game.

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