Eagles news: Nick Sirianni addresses A.J. Brown's post, aimed internally; NFL's first flex this season; injury updates

One year ago, the blowout Week 4 loss to the Buccaneers came ahead of the bye week and forced the Eagles to take a long look at what was going run and figure out how to correct their issues.

Head coach Nick Sirianni doesn’t like comparing seasons, but referenced last year’s course correction when talking about where the Eagles go next. The team is 4-0, unscathed through arguably its toughest four-game stretch on the schedule, but there is plenty to fix moving forward.

“I look at our first four games this year very similar to what our first four games were last year,” Sirianni said Monday. “We’ve obviously played a very hard September schedule, and coming out of September last year it was a good opportunity for us to sit and say, ‘Hey, what do we do good, what are we not doing so good,’ and try to figure that out and get better from it. It’s the same thing here, it’s just we have a different record right now. We have to have that same hunger, same humbleness, that we had last year, this year.

After escaping Tampa with a 31-25 victory, the Eagles will head back to Lincoln Financial Field to take on the Denver Broncos.

The last time these two teams met was in November 2021 in a game that saw the Eagles storm past Vic Fangio’s Broncos to a decisive 30-13 victory in Denver. Since then, a lot has changed.

To start, Fangio, then the head coach in Denver, is now the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, while Sean Payton is on the Broncos’ sideline. Darius Slay, who scooped up a loose football in their last meeting and ran it back 83 yards for a touchdown, is no longer with the Eagles. Denver doesn’t have Teddy Bridgewater under center and Philly has added some key players to its roster, including A.J. Brown and Saquon Barkley. Oh, and the Birds are the defending Super Bowl champions.

When a team’s offense ranks second-worst in the league and when the top-ranked defense that won it a Super Bowl last season now ranks 21st, there’s not a lot of compelling narrative when that team is still unbeaten. That’s probably why, instead of focusing on another ugly win, lots of folks are talking about Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni trash-talking Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield in the third quarter of Sunday’s win in Tampa.

Mayfield appeared to be minding his business as he walked past Sirianni, who just lit into Mayfield. Cameras caught the one-sided exchange, which included a not-so-subtle shoulder-to-shoulder bump from Eagles safety Drew Mukuba. Sideline reporter Tom Rinaldi said Sirianni had been yapping at Mayfield the entire game.

The point is, Sirianni again acted unprofessionally on the sideline. The point is, the Eagles seem to be following his lead, and getting penalized for it.

“Comparison is the thief of joy,” Teddy Roosevelt said. That doesn’t stop sports fans from needing a comp for every thing.

The Eagles are 4-0. They are, however, the weirdest 4-0 they could be. They have a Jekyll and Hyde offense. They won a game because they blocked two field goals in the fourth quarter. Their star wide receiver sent a cryptic social media post after declining an interview request in the locker room Sunday in Tampa.

It is easy, then, for many to view this 4-0 start as an unsustainable one, and to compare it to 2023, when the Eagles, coming off a Super Bowl loss, started fast and later collapsed.

Eagles edge rusher Ogbo Okoronkwo is believed to have torn his triceps, The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane reported Monday morning.

Okoronkwo, who was active Sunday with Nolan Smith (triceps) on injured reserve, played just four snaps before being knocked out of the game.

He will have more testing done, but a tear would land him on injured reserve and the Eagles will need to go even further down their depth chart.

Birds fans will go from one former foe to another.

Tony Romo, in his ninth season with CBS, will call the Eagles' Week 5 matchup against the Denver Broncos at The Linc. He'll be joined by veteran play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz, who has partnered with Romo since the former Cowboys quarterback retired to become a broadcaster in 2017.

In fact, the only other broadcaster to call a game alongside Romo is Tom McCarthy, the voice of the Phillies on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Kyle Brandt is sick and tired of all the griping about the Eagles

The NFL Network star and long-time Birds backer took to Good Morning Football Monday to defend the Eagles and their 4-0 start after their near collapse Sunday against the Buccaneers. 

“Guys, if we were coming down the home stretch right now, and it’s Week 16, I might have some concerns about the Eagles. They look ripe for the picking,” Brandt said. “It’s not even October yet! We haven’t even gotten out the boxes of Halloween decorations.”

Six times during the second half Sunday, the Eagles handed the ball to Saquon Barkley on a first down. It was the method to last year’s madness. Putting games away was so simple. The Eagles turned normal four-minute offense into eight-minute choke-outs. They held the ball for the final 10 minutes, 29 seconds of their Week 15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last season.

That was then, this is now.

Those six second-half first-down Barkley runs Sunday amounted to minus-1 yard. The Eagles, after building a 24-6 halftime lead, scored just seven points in the second half thanks to a short field after a forced turnover. They completed zero passes. Their running game was almost nonexistent, and because they couldn’t sustain drives, they opened the door for Baker Mayfield’s late-game magic before a defensive stand saved the Eagles from disaster.

Vic Fangio made a comment when asked last week about his safety rotation between Sydney Brown and Drew Mukuba that should have made Sunday’s development not too surprising. “That doesn't mean that's the way it will be all the time,” Fangio said last Tuesday.

Fast-forward to Sunday, and the rookie Mukuba played every snap while Brown was on the field for just one defensive snap. Brown had typically been on the field for 20 to 30% of the snaps, almost exclusively when the Eagles were in base coverage.

Is the safety rotation over with? Perhaps for now.

During Sunday's win, Fox's cameras caught Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni jawing with Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Following the game, Sirianni said it was just playful banter and explained some of his backstory with Mayfield, which dates to his time in Cleveland and Sirianni's stretch as the offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts.

"His quarterback coach, Ryan Lindley... played for me when I was a quarterback coach," Sirianni explained. "So I got to know Baker, I've got a lot of respect for him."

While Jalen Hurts spoke to reporters following Sunday's win, wide receiver A.J. Brown declined an interview request.

Brown did offer a few postgame tweets. The second was from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6, verse 11: “If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way.”

It was unclear exactly whom Brown’s message was directed at, if anyone at all. His earlier tweet — “I Love yall with all My heart” and a heart with a bandage emoji — wasn’t sent long after he shook a reporter’s hand and said, “I’m about to walk out of here.”

The Eagles (4-0) will be back in South Philly this week as they take on the Denver Broncos (1-2) at The Linc Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Broncos face the Cincinnati Bengals tonight on Monday Night Football.

It's been a minute since the Broncos have traveled to Philly. The last time Denver played the Birds at The Linc was in 2017, a blowout win by the Eagles. But that was four coaches (including current Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio) and 13 starting quarterbacks ago.