The Eagles went to Tampa and performed like a team lacking leadership, urgency and culture.
Please note: No stats. No rankings. Nothing to back up what I think about this team. Just pure, unadulterated WIP energy. Buckle up.
Nick Sirianni’s team played like a team 60 minutes from a week off. They might as well have said “1-2-3 Cancun” in every huddle. There was no urgency. There were was no fire. Most of the Eagles were on a bye prior to 1PM ET Sunday. And please stop with the excuses. Yes, three of our best players were missing. True. But ask yourself this: Should the presence or absence of a player(s) impact the effort of any other player? Did the Eagles play like a committed team? They dogged it up and down the field, missed tackles galore, horrific blocking, and yet another performance from a quarterback that could not care less.
Yes, Jalen Hurts does not care. Hurts is an All-Pro podium quarterback. He says all the right words, has all the cliches down and parrots the mindset of a champion. So what. It’s all useless vapor unless it translates to the field. With Hurts, the talk no longer makes it inside the lines. Hasn’t since the Super Bowl. Hasn’t since he got paid. Hurts is an All-Phony.
On the first play from scrimmage Hurts evacuated the pocket to his right. He found Saquon Barkley beyond the secondary by a good five yards. It was a huge play and likely a touchdown. All Hurts had to do was get Barkley the ball. Though pressured, there was time for Hurts to set and launch the football. He would’ve been hit, no doubt. Instead, Hurts threw while his momentum took him out of bounds. His throw wasn’t close. When you pay a quarterback a quarter of a billion dollars, you expect him to take the hit and make those plays. Not Hurts. He’ll tell you how he needs to play better. He acts like he’s accountable. The product never changes, though. He leads the league in turnovers over the last two seasons. Over the last 13 games his stats equal the likes of Daniel Jones, not Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson.
The truth is Hurts got paid and hasn’t been the same. You can tell me that’s not who he is, and the money has not and will not change him. Fine, show me where I’m wrong. Does he take hits? When does he play with anything resembling the energy of 2022 Hurts? He’s a sheep in wolf’s clothing. He’ll howl all day and growl with teeth bared for all to see. Then when we need him to bite, he’s curled up cowering under the insulation of his $51 million per year fur.
Hurts isn’t alone. The Eagles are a .500 team playing like a last place team with the gusto and arrogance of a contender. They’ve been on a sinking ship since last November and seemingly no one has picked up a bucket. I know there are veterans on the team, but just because you’re a veteran does not mean you’re a leader. That’s not a shot at Lane Johnson or Brandon Graham. It just may not be their role or personality. Johnson by all accounts is more quiet, go about his work and dominate kind of guy. That’s a great way to lead, but a team also needs a bold, boisterous leader, too. Graham gives off the lovable, Grandfather vibe. He’s not going to get on someone like Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes would. To be honest, the Eagles need a message sent. That message has to be loud. I can think of two that would send enough shockwaves through the locker room to maybe incite change.
First, and it’s apparently not going to happen, would be firing Sirianni. It’s been almost 3/4 of a season of pure awfulness. His team leads the NFL in turnovers. They’re sloppy. They can’t tackle. There’s been no improvement since their collapse began last November. His decision making is horrendous, the game plans are a disaster. Wins feel like losses and losses feel like the death of the franchise. It’s over. He should have been fired in the offseason but his Super Bowl run earned him a temporary stay of execution. The bye week was the last opportunity for Jeffrey Lurie to right the ship before it sunk.
I’m actually a little shocked. Lurie is bold and not averse to big swings. Firing Sirianni and bringing in a proven no-nonsense coach would have been the move. Mike Vrabel is out there. So is Bill Belichick. This team needs a hard dose of reality, not more of Sirianni’s emotional, let’s be friends approach. Besides, the quarterback clearly is not on good terms with the head coach. This is a problem. You can’t move the quarterback (unfortunately), so salvage the situation now and bring in a new, proven leader. Lurie didn’t. Now the next opportunity will likely be once the season is completely lost and a season of AJ Brown and Saquon Barkley’s prime will be lost with it.
Second, bench Darius Slay. He’s been on the James Bradberry trajectory this season and he’s the only one that doesn’t know it. He talks a big game but defenses have targeted him with success on a weekly basis. Even worse, after getting beat multiple times Sunday, he defended himself with his career accolades. This is Sirianni’s culture. We lost. I was horrible. But look at what I’ve done over my career. Get Slay out and make sure Avonte Maddox gets caught up in his wake. Slay is not going to lead this team and that defense where it needs to be in order to save the season. In fact, I think the Eagles need to do whatever necessary to purge the Slay personalities from the locker room.
There are real, young capable leaders in the franchise. Saquon Barkley has demonstrated this all season. He, and Smith have carried the offense in Brown’s absence. Barkley is on the side line with the defense, the quarterback and whoever else needs to hear from him. Brown has been living and dying on the sidelines. His passion is what this team needs, not the selfishness and attention-seeking antics of Slay and C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Let this defense find its own identity with Jalen Carter, Reed Blankenship and Quinyon Mitchell at the wheel.
A leadership void leads to culture decay. The Sirianni Eagles are past that point. They’re approaching full rot. Only a fierce, seismic event will induce a cultural refresh. Please Mr. Lurie, let the storm commence.