Nick Sirianni addresses ‘unacceptable’ penalty from Derek Barnett
Nick Sirianni has talked a lot about clean slates since his arrival in Philly.
It took Derek Barnett two games to spoil his.
The former first-round pick with a history of committing boneheaded penalties picked up another one in the fourth quarter of the Eagles 17-11 loss to the 49ers on Sunday afternoon.
I can’t speak to anything that is in the past, Sirianni said. Obviously any personal foul is an unacceptable foul that happens after the ball is out of bounds, so that will be addressed just like it is throughout the entire organization after a win or a loss.
Barnett was flagged for unnecessary roughness with just around 6 minutes to go in the game on Sunday. The Eagles were down 14-3 but still had a real chance to still make a comeback.
On a 2nd-and-7 from their own 35-yard line, Jimmy Garoppolo pitched the ball to JaMycal Hasty, who fumbled immediately. The ball bounced around and out of bounds for a big loss to bring up a 3rd-and-long.
But then, with the play already over, Barnett shouldered Hasty 5 yards away from the ball for absolutely no reason.
Look how far away this hit was from the ball:
So instead of a 3rd-and-15 from their own 27-yard line, the 49ers got a 1-and-10 from their own 42. They then used up another minute of valuable clock time and kicked a field goal to go up 17-3.
It just cant happen.
And the problem with Barnett is that it always seems to happen. This was the eighth personal foul six unnecessary roughness calls and two roughing the quarterback calls of his NFL career.
10/8/17 vs. Arizona: Roughing the passer
10/12/17 at Carolina: Unnecessary roughness
9/15/19 at Atlanta: Unnecessary roughness
9/26/19 at Green Bay: Unnecessary roughness
10/6/19 vs. Jets: Unnecessary roughness
1/5/20 vs. Seattle: Roughing the passer
12/20/20 at Arizona: Unnecessary roughness
1/19/21 vs. 49ers: Unnecessary roughness
So maybe Barnett had a clean slate with Sirianni, but he has earned his reputation in the NFL.
Barnett has actually been a solid player for the Eagles in his first four years. He hasnt been worthy of the No. 14 pick in the draft and hes struggled to stay healthy, but he hasnt been a bust either. Its fair to want more out of Barnett. And its certainly fair to get frustrated every time he gets called for a stupid penalty.
In his career, Barnett has been called for 19 penalties for a total of 155 yards.
The Eagles, by the way, have been hit with 22 penalties this season. Thats the most in the NFL.
After Barnetts penalty on Sunday, KVon Wallace was called for another unnecessary roughness for his hit on Trey Sermon. It was a call Wallace disagreed with, while Sirianni said he doesnt want his players to criticize the officials.
But at least Wallaces penalty was in the play. Its not ideal but he was at least making a tackle. Barnetts was simply inexcusable.
It’s just one of our core values is we hold each other accountable, Sirianni said on Monday. These are not fun days. You come in after a loss and it’s not a fun day. You’ve got to have tough conversations; You’ve got to hold each other accountable and get better from it. But that’s the only point of this whole thing, is how do we get better from the letdown that we had? So, it will be no different with Derek.
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