Nick Sirianni says the Eagles are ‘searching for answers’ on offense, but Kevin Patullo will call plays

One day after the Eagles offense stalled and was shut out after building a 21-0 lead 18-plus minutes into the game, Nick Sirianni said the Eagles are “searching for answers” for their ailing offense.

But the quest for more consistency won’t include a change to the play-caller.

“I haven’t considered that,” the head coach said when asked Monday if he had considered taking play-calling duties away from offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.

“It’s every piece of the puzzle: coaching, playing, execution, scheme, everything. We’ve got to be better in all those aspects. And so yesterday, I thought Kevin did a good job of calling it. Obviously, he’s going to want some plays back, just like every player and myself, we all want plays back.”

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The Eagles hurt themselves with self-inflicted wounds. Of their 14 penalties, seven were on the offense. Two of them erased gains of 16 and 20 yards and had a major impact on the game. But even still, the offense that looked dynamic and creative for the first few series went silent. The Eagles didn’t get past the Dallas 28-yard line in the second half. They have consistently failed to run the football and adjust to opponents who take the run away. They have been unable to consistently sustain a passing offense through a full game.

What gives Sirianni confidence that the Eagles can make a course correction this late in the season?

“I feel like we’ve got the right people, as players, as coaches, that have had success,” Sirianni said. “And we’re all searching for answers to make it more consistent. There are some good things, obviously there are some not-so-good things. And we’ve got to find the things that we really can hang our hat on, and then the complements that come off of that.”

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Left guard Landon Dickerson said the Eagles were surprised by Dallas’ frequent use of a five-man front. Jalen Hurts said “that’s how they’re built now” after the Cowboys acquired Quinnen Williams and retooled their defense.

The front gave the Eagles fits at times, especially as they tried to establish a running game that never got going. Saquon Barkley rushed 10 times for 22 yards.

Dallas showed that five-man front a week earlier vs. Las Vegas. So, were the Eagles prepared for it or were they not?

“You go into every week and you’re trying to play the game in your mind as much as you possibly can, not just with how you call it but how you plan it for practice as well, and how you plan for drills,” Sirianni said. “The walk-throughs, the practice, your drill work, you’re trying to identify what you think and what you’re always trying to do is say, ‘How many reps do I need to devote toward this? How many reps do I need to devote toward that?’ And you try to make educated guesses there.”

Which is to say …

“We devoted time for all of them,” Sirianni said. “We knew they had that in their package and their plan. They played a little bit more there, even than anticipated. So, of course, as coaches, you say to yourself, ‘Well, I wish I would’ve gave them a couple more reps on this one.’

“Now, you’re limited as far as how many reps you actually have at walk-through, at live, at drill work. … No one’s ever going to pitch a perfect game here. Looking back at it, yeah, sure, I wish I would’ve given us a couple more reps there.

“We prepared for the things that we thought we were going to get, some more than others, and then sometimes it doesn’t play out that way when you look at it after the game.”

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The Eagles matched their high for penalties in the Sirianni era with 14. As mentioned, seven of them were on the offense and a few of them wiped out key plays.

The Eagles had three false starts. They also had an illegal formation penalty out of the jumbo package with Matt Pryor on the field as an extra blocker.

The Eagles, according to NFL Stat OASIS, have the sixth-highest percentage of offensive drives with a penalty.

Sirianni said it’s “hard to sustain the success of a game when you have those.”

It has made a struggling offense’s problems even worse.

“Any time it’s penalties like that, or any time it’s ball security, or any time it’s the fundamentals, or something within ‘tough, detailed, together,’ I’m going to put that on myself,” Sirianni said.

“Just point-blank, I have to do a better job of coaching it and finding different ways to make sure it gets through.”