After year two of the Andy Reid era, an Eagles squad that had three straight losing seasons to end the Ray Rhodes era (and begin Reid’s run) were a playoff team with a playoff win, en route to what would be six division titles, five NFC Championship Game appearances, and just the second NFC title in the Super Bowl era.
Chip Kelly went 10-6 in back-to-back years after Reid was fired following 2012, and three years later, the second year of the Doug Pederson era ended with the Birds’ first Super Bowl win.
Now, two years into the Nick Sirianni era, the latest head coach is 23-11 with an NFC title under his belt…so how are we feeling as we enter a Year 3 that was Reid’s first conference championship appearance but also Kelly’s end in Philly and the beginning of the end for Pederson?
“If the Phillies don’t start playing better, we’re going to start talking about the Eagles a lot more real soon, and Friday night was the low point for Rob Thomson,” Joe DeCamara said to open Monday’s 94WIP Morning Show. “It reminded me how fast the reversal can be sometimes here in Philly and how quick things change – so I want to tackle Nick Sirianni.”
As Joe said, Year 2 under Sirianni was ‘just spectacular,’ but he does wonder exactly what Sirianni is as an NFL head coach?
“I remember the last two coaches were flying really high after Year 2, and by Year 3 or 4 or 5 it was donezo,” Joe said. “Chip Kelly was 10-6 and 10-6 and convinced Jeffrey Lurie to give him all the power, and 15 games later it was done. Doug Pederson won a Super Bowl, and three seasons later, it was done – and it wasn’t great in those three years. There’s no doubt Sirianni is flying high, but what will the next couple years look like? Where are you with him?”
“I am not sold,” Jon Ritchie replied flatly. “I believe he’s tough, and tough-minded, and I like him a ton, but I don’t love him a ton. I recognize he’s growing and developing and that’s part of the Eagles plan – we were told that when he came here, and he has improved – but best case scenario, as an Eagles fan, I want that savant that outwits and out-schemes everyone, like Sean McVay. I wonder how well respected Nick is around the league as a football mind.”
The biggest reason for that, it seems, is that Sirianni was quietly switched off play-calling, and the offense took off once Shane Steichen, the former OC and now Colts head coach, replaced him.
“The players love and respect him, but I’ll never see it as a good thing that he started his career as a play-caller, and after six or seven games, he was removed in some fashion, quietly handed to someone else,” Ritchie said. “After the season, that play-caller, Shane Steichen, let us know he was the one who was successfully calling plays, and now he went and got another job, and we don’t know how much input Nick has to have with his new coordinators to bring them up to a level where we feel great about what they’re putting out there. I don’t know where Nick fits in with that in the grand scheme of things. Is he Sean McVay, or is he more of a rah-rah guy?”
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“I think that you talk about this big brain thing, but just because Sirianni stumbles in press conferences doesn’t mean that he might not be better than McVay when it comes to drawing up X’s and O’s on the chalkboard,” DeCamara responded, before the guys debated who are the best offensive geniuses in the league. “I think he’s better at drawing up plays than we commonly give him credit for, and I like the accountability aspect of what he brings to the table, which we found out about after Zach Ertz left.”
DeCamara also lauded Sirianni’s role in Jalen Hurts’ development, and gave him ‘big props’ for in-game decisions, calling him one who ‘knocks it out of the park,’ but Ritchie wonders if he is ‘among the best of the best when it comes to that.’
Listen to Joe & Jon’s entire conversation about Sirianni above!
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