Eagles not making ‘earth-shattering’ offensive changes after Nick Sirianni endorsed Sean Mannion as play-caller
Mannion said he thinks the Eagles, ranked 30th in yards per game and 29th in points, have fixable problems on offense.
Two days after Nick Sirianni said that Sean Mannion will keep calling plays, the Eagles offensive coordinator said he’s confident the Eagles will turn things around because the issues plaguing one of the NFL’s worst offenses are “fixable.”
“It’s a double-edged sword,” Mannion said on Wednesday. “You look at that and you can get frustrated by it, but you can also look at that and put a silver lining on it and say, ‘Man, if we just handle our simple, simple stuff, we’re going to yield a better result.’”
Mannion did not want to delve into schematic things when later asked if he could share the things he deems fixable.
“Are we communicating with each other properly? Are our fundamentals sound? And then is our level of execution where it needs to be? It can kind of fit into those buckets,” Mannion said. “Those are the three main focal points for us.”
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Eagles coaches often like to say “it’s never just one thing” when talking about problems. But Mannion highlighting all of those areas drives home the point that the offense right now isn’t being held back by one specific thing, it’s nearly everything.
Personnel has been an issue. The Eagles have been banged up in multiple key spots. But even at its healthiest, the offense was not executing in a way that would lead to long-term success.
Sirianni used the phrase “everything is on the table” after Sunday’s 25-14 loss to Carolina when asked how the Eagles could change things up now that Tanner McKee is locked in as the full-time starter. He endorsed Mannion as the play-caller a day later, but didn’t want to go into details about what may be on the table.
“Obviously, we are looking at everything, right?” Sirianni said on Monday. “Again, I think those are conversations that I’ve had with the staff this whole morning and everything’s on the table. ‘Oh, but we’ve done this.’ ‘Yeah. Well, maybe this isn’t working quite as good.’ ‘All right, so this is on the table.’ Without getting too much into scheme, I’m saying to you, obviously it hasn’t looked the way we wanted it to look and we’re not scoring enough points. So, everything is on the table.”
Mannion was asked Wednesday if any changes were being made in the process leading up to games, how the Eagles call plays, or the roles on his staff.
“I feel confident in the approach that we’ve had throughout the week,” he said. “We’re always looking at what we can be doing schematically. I think as a staff we’ve worked really, really well together. I feel totally confident in that. There hasn’t been anything that’s, I think, earth-shattering this week as opposed to the previous six weeks.”
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The 2-4 Eagles rank 30th in yards per game and 29th in points. They lead the NFL in punts and three-and-out percentage. Their revamped offense that was supposed to marry the run and pass games using under-center play-action has not looked as advertised. The Eagles have been the least successful team when under center, and opposing defenses have increasingly sent extra rushers to blow up their under-center play-action attempts and take advantage of a team struggling mightily to handle blitz protections.
Mannion now will be forced to tailor the game plans around McKee. The first-year coordinator thinks McKee can run the scheme as intended, though McKee does not have a lot of experience under center and struggled enough in camp that he lost the No. 2 job to Andy Dalton, who is no longer with the Eagles.
Mannion said he still feels good about the under-center looks, but the Eagles may be forced to go even heavier in the shotgun to get things back on track.
“Obviously things to clean up, but I think what it is schematically I’m still a believer in it,” Mannion said when asked his thoughts on the under-center game and whether it maybe needed to be scrapped. “Every week you may approach things differently, based on your opponent, based on your own personnel, based on your own tendencies that you may be trying to break. I’m still a believer in it, but like every week you’re always being as flexible as possible.”
There were enough caveats in that answer to infer at least some change could be coming.
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Jalen Hurts has been around the team
Mannion said Jalen Hurts, who is being treated for blood clots and is expected to miss the remainder of the season, was around the team leading up to the Panthers game and will continue being a valuable asset to McKee and the offense moving forward.
Hurts, Mannion said, will be especially helpful over the next three weeks as the Eagles face their three divisional foes, against whom Hurts has plenty of experience.
“Obviously just want him to get healthy and [I] just care for the guy and the work that he puts into our team each and every week,” Mannion said. “Certainly want him to continue to be around and be a positive impact for us while he’s getting himself healthy.”
Roster moves
The Eagles on Tuesday shuffled things with their running-back depth. They signed Elijah Mitchell to the practice squad. Mitchell was with the team during training camp before getting injured.
They also waived Jaydon Blue and waived/injured Carson Steele, who left Sunday’s game after suffering a shoulder injury. Both of those players were on the active roster.
The Eagles now have two open spots on the 53-man roster, as well as three practice-squad openings after they released center James Brockermeyer and running back Ian Wheeler from the practice team.
There are a few candidates on injured reserve who could fill those active roster spots imminently, like left guard Landon Dickerson and tight end Eli Stowers.
The news keeps getting worse. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts will likely miss the rest of the 2026 season with a deep vein thrombosis blood clot, as well as bilateral pulmonary emboli. Moments after the story broke, The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Marcus Hayes reacted to the news, looking at what the diagnosis means for the Super Bowl MVP, how the Eagles handled the situation dating back to their trip to London, and whether backup Tanner McKee is ready to take the helm on a full-time basis. Listen here.
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