Despite the Eagles’ offensive woes, head coach Nick Sirianni has no intention of taking play-calling duties away from OC Kevin Patullo.
“We’re not changing the play caller, but we will evaluate everything,” Sirianni said after Philadelphia’s 24-15 loss to the Bears (via Zach Berman of The Athletic). “It’s never just about one person. You win as a team, you lose as a team, and you try to evaluate everything, win, lose or draw and get better from it.”
But Eagles fans do not agree. Chants of “Fire Kevin” rang out at Lincoln Financial Field on Friday as Philadelphia’s offense converted only four of their 12 third downs and turned the ball over twice. The Bears finished with a massive advantage in rushing yards (281-87), number of plays (85-51), and time of possession (39:18-20:42). But Sirianni does not think Patullo is the problem.
“I know it will keep coming back to Kevin, but again, if I thought it was one thing, then you make those changes,” Sirianni said. “Obviously, it’s a lot of different things, but I don’t think it is Kevin. Now, we all have a part in it. Kevin has a part of it. I have a part of it. All the coaches have a part of it. All the players have a part of it.”
However, Patullo’s offense is the Eagles’ worst in years. Currently, the unit are ranked 19th in points and 24th in total yards, which would be the franchise’s worst finishes since 2020. That, of course, was Doug Pederson‘s last year in Philadelphia before Sirianni took over the top job. In other words, this is the Eagles’ least productive offense in the Sirianni era.
Patullo is also the Eagles’ fourth coordinator in four years. After running Sirianni’s offense for the first two years of his tenure, Shane Steichen took the Colts’ head coaching job in 2023 and was replaced by Brian Johnson. But Johnson’s offense sputtered in the second half of the season and only put up nine points in a wild card loss to the Buccaneers. Kellen Moore took over in 2024, and he put together a dominant offense that fueled the Eagles’ playoff run, especially in the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl. He was hired as the Saints’ next head coach, and Patullo was promoted from pass game coordinator to OC.
As a result, Sirianni may be hoping that he can weather the storm with Patullo in the hopes that the 44-year-old coach can bounce back by the rest of the season. That would prevent Sirianni from finding another offensive coordinator and, ideally, allow Patullo to learn from his initial mistakes and put together a stronger campaign next year.