Nick Sirianni, Kellen Moore, and the Eagles’ ‘collaborative’ play-calling

Two days after Nick Sirianni revealed that he made the play call on the Eagles’ failed fourth-and-1 attempt at the end of the first half against the New Orleans Saints, Kellen Moore echoed the head coach’s sentiment that play-calling is collaborative in nature.

The offensive coordinator explained Tuesday how the staff is “constantly talking” about different scenarios throughout a game and when to call a particular play, not limited to high-leverage situations such as fourth downs. Moore said that different coaches are influential in various areas, whether offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland is offering his input on the running game or the assistants in the box upstairs are helping to identify a defensive look when the offense is using tempo.

“I think we have a really fun, collaborative group on our offensive staff,” Moore said. “Nick’s certainly a part of that, heavily, so what it allows us to do is really team up on all these different situations, talk through the possible outcomes, and make the best decision possible.”

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In the example of short-yardage play, such as the Tush Push fake that morphed into a handoff to Saquon Barkley on the fourth-and-1 at the end of the first half, Moore said the team carries a number of them and the group collaborates on determining when it’s appropriate to call any given one. Sirianni took responsibility for that play call and for putting the team in what he called a “bad spot” on Sunday afternoon, but Moore put the blame on his own shoulders, too.

“Obviously, we certainly feel really good about the quarterback sneak, and there’s a few plays off of it that we feel like we can build a package,” Moore said. “So, ultimately, [it] did not work. Didn’t execute it in the right situation. That’s on us. That’s on me to try and put ourself in the best situation in those circumstances, and those things unfortunately happen.”

Moore, a sixth-year offensive coordinator who previously held the same title with the Dallas Cowboys (2019 to 2022) and the Los Angeles Chargers (2023), said the collaborative approach among the Eagles staff is similar to his past stops. That emphasis on collaboration comes as no surprise to Moore, who called it the team’s “goal” upon his hiring in February.

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After the Eagles parted ways with Brian Johnson at the end of the 2023 season, Sirianni reiterated throughout the offseason that the next offensive coordinator would “mesh” elements of Eagles offenses of the past with that coach’s concepts in the 2024 offense. Within that offense, Moore called the process of collaborating on the play calls “excellent” through three games.

“I think we have a really, really good group,” Moore said. “We’re able to team up on this thing. Invest a lot of time. Not losing any of the things that’s been in place that we can continue to build off of and continue to evolve and utilize different tools, whether they came from my past or anyone else’s past, continue to evolve from an offensive perspective.”

With less than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Darius Slay suffered an undisclosed injury when he was the victim of a block out of bounds at the hands of Saints right tackle Trevor Penning. Slay got up and managed to walk off the field under his own power, but he did not return to action.

Vic Fangio turned to Kelee Ringo in Slay’s place at outside cornerback opposite Quinyon Mitchell for the rest of the game. The defensive coordinator explained the decision for rolling with Ringo over Isaiah Rodgers, who initially appeared to be a front-runner for the position during training camp.

“Kelee was up and ready to go for the game because if we had played any six DBs, he would’ve been in there,” Fangio said. “We just thought [of] the guys on the sideline, he was more into it and ready to go in a spur-of-the-moment thing. ... If this had happened earlier in the game, there’s still a lot of football to play, probably would’ve seen Isaiah out there.”

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By this logic, if Slay is unable to play against the Buccaneers, it’s possible that Rodgers could make his Eagles debut on defense in his hometown of Tampa, Fla. Through three games, Rodgers has had just four special-teams snaps. While Rodgers took most of the first-team reps on the outside in camp opposite Slay, Mitchell surged up the depth chart and earned the starting job out of camp.

Ringo ultimately took 11 snaps on defense against the Saints, including two before Slay’s injury as the fourth cornerback on the field in dime packages. The 2023 fourth-round pick out of Georgia was targeted once, allowing a 29-yard completion to Chris Olave that led to a Saints go-ahead touchdown later in the fourth-quarter drive.