Nick Sirianni Has An Identity Crisis

The biggest talking point throughout Philadelphia today has been whether or not the Eagles should have handed the football to Saquon Barkley instead of throwing it to him which led to an incompletion. Before I continue, let me get this out of the way, it was a perfectly drawn-up play. Whether you would have called a pass or a run in that spot is up to you. I also believe it is up to Nick Sirianni to decide if he wants to be aggressive or not on a consistent basis.

Being the Head Coach of an NFL team is hard. We have it easy. We get to react to every decision that is made. When a play does not go in our favor, we get to say how bad of a decision it was. You are only a smart decision-maker if it works. For many people, that seems to be the bottom line.

What my problem is, is the identity of Nick Sirianni. In 2022, when Nick Sirianni was the next Bill Belichick, he was one of the more aggressive coaches in the NFL. The Eagles finished with the fourth most 4^th down attempts in the NFL. Of the top four teams in the NFL in terms of 4^th down attempts, they had the best conversion rate. No one questioned his decisions.

Then came the Super Bowl. The only questions we had, were why he didn't continue being the aggressive head coach we saw all season. During the biggest game of his life, he went against everything he believed in during the season. He kicked field goals when he normally would have gone for a first down or a touchdown, and he punted when he normally would have let his offense make the play. 

Since then, I think he has been spooked. Last season the Eagles dropped from number 4 in terms of attempts on fourth down, to 13th. What we saw in the Super Bowl was more consistent with what we saw last season. Someone who wasn't as aggressive except for the tush push which were the majority of those attempts. In 2022, they didn't rely on the tush push, they found multiple ways to secure first downs.

So far in this season, we have scratched our heads in both games. In week 1 against Green Bay, the Eagles and Saquon Barkley had their way with the Packers defense. Until the fourth quarter. When it was clear that they could run out the clock, they started to throw the football which eventually led to an interception. When they were 4^th and goal on the Packers 3-yard line, they elected to kick a field goal which kept it at a one-score game.

If you agreed with the notion of taking the points because Green Bay had to score a touchdown to win, congrats, it worked. If you feared your young inexperienced defense would not stop Jordan Love before he got hurt, I totally understood. Sirianni is smart, because they won which means he was right, but had Love stayed healthy and they moved downfield and scored, then what would we be saying?

Now to the biggest talking point of the day. The throw on third and 3 on the Falcons 10-yard line. My problem is not with the play call. If Barkley catches it, game over. Should the Eagles take into account a what if Barkley drops it scenario? Absolutely. But my biggest issue is the identity crisis. 

If you watch the Ravens play football, you know what you are going to get from John Harbough. 4th down attempts, and instead of kicking extra points late in a game to tie it, he would rather go for 2 and the win. I HATE that style of thinking in most circumstances, but at least if I was a Ravens fan, I knew what was coming.

Doug Pederson in 2017 and 2018, you know what you were getting out of Riverboat Doug. Hell, Philly Philly will forever be considered the greatest play in Eagles franchise history. Don't forget about Zach Ertz and his fourth-down catch either. Again, the point is, you knew what you were getting out of Pederson.

With Sirianni right now, I don't know what I am getting. On one drive in the first half he elects to go for it on fourth down, the next he kicks the field goal. Both times the "analytics chart" said to go for it, he picks and chooses when to listen to it. Then in the fourth quarter, he makes the aggressive decision to throw on third and 3, but then is conservative and kicks the field goal on fourth down. If you were aggressive on 3rd, be aggressive on 4th. If you are aggressive all game, stay aggressive. He needs to figure out what he wants to do and stick with it.

In terms of All-Time Great Philadelphia Eagles, we can all run down the list of who we like at each position. Donovan McNabb, Brian Dawkins, Reggie White, Chuck Bednarik. The Eagles have 25 Hall Of Famers, so if you just put them all on a team it would make up almost half a All-Time Roster. Those names are easy to come up with. But what about guys who don't get that level of love? Guys who maybe got forgotten or overlooked in their time here. Guys like Jeremy Maclin, Andy Harmon, and Chad Lewis. The players where if someone brings them up, we will all go, "Oh yea, that guy was great."

Some just got overshadowed because they played next to guys like Reggie White or Brian Dawkins. Others may have played positions that just don't get enough love to begin with. And some are just guys who just did their job, but never got the love. But all of them are guys we tend to overlook. So I figured it is time to give those guys some love for once.

I did my best to build out a roster on both offense, defense, and special teams of these guys who deserve more love. What QB did we not appreciate enough? Which WR deserves more love? What CB do Eagles fans overlook? I picked who I think are the most underappreciated at every position.

You'll notice they are all from the 90s and 2000s because that is what I know. Bill Bradley may be a great CB we underrate, but his career began and ended way before I was born. So I apologize for leaving him and other guys from that era, or earlier eras, off the list. And obviously, some of them are actually great players. Underrated is a vague term, but in one way or the other, all of these are underappreciated.

In the era between Randall Cunningham and Donovan McNabb there was a lot of bad QB play in Philly. Only one guy, Rodney Peete, stands out as doing anything special. Peete was by no means great, but compared to what the Eagles were dealing with outside of him, he was a Star. Peete went 9-3 with the eagles in 1995 after replacing Randall Cunningham, and even beat the Lions in the playoffs in a game where he put up over 450 total yards.

Playing with Desean Jackson took some of the shine away from Maclin. But 4,771 yards, 36 TDs, and 343 catches in 5 seasons is pretty damn good. And the one year he had a chance to be the WR1 with the Eagles he put up 1,381 yards. He showed up in the playoffs too, even if the team around him didn’t. In his 2 playoff games here he had 219 yards, a TD, and 9 First Downs. Maclin was very good for the Eagles.

Fryar’s time with the Eagles was short, and came at the end of his career. But he was great those first two years. 1,195 yards the first season, and then 1,316 the second, with 18 TDs between them. What makes it more impressive is who he had throwing to him. Mark Rypien, Rodney Peete, Bobby Hoying, Ty Detmer, and Koy Detmer. Peete is the only one of the bunch with any talent.

Buck lived in the shadow of Duce Staley and then B West. Which is a trend you will see a lot on this list. But Buck was as good of a backup RB as you could ask for. In 5 seasons, he averaged 4.5 yards a carry. He unfortunately missed a lot of time, 3 out of 4 years in the mid 2000s. But when he was healthy he was the perfect complement to B West. 2,155 yards and 21 TDs from a backup across 5 seasons is nothing to sneeze at.

FB barely exists in the NFL anymore. But I had to give some love to Leonard Weaver. I am the only person I know who still has a Leonard Weaver Jersey, or even had one to begin with. He only spent one year here, but in that year he was an All-Pro. He was very effective as a second back behind LeSean McCoy. Maybe he could have repeated it a second year if it wasn't for a career ending injury in the first game of the following season.

The Eagles have had a lot of great Tight Ends. Dallas Goedert, Zach Ertz, Keith Jackson. You can even throw Brent Celek in there who was maybe not as great as those 3 but was an exceptional Tight End for years. But Chad Lewis is one name that goes under the radar a bit. He was a Pro Bowler for 3 straight seasons at one point. Was he a Super Star? No. But he was a solid and reliable target for Donovan McNabb.

Big V! Nick Foles gets all the credit for filling in as a backup and playing great in the Super Bowl, but Big V fits that bill too. Jason Peters was a Hall of Fame LT. And him going down to be replaced by a backup was a big issue at the time. Thankfully Big V filled his shoes near perfectly. Great enough to get himself a big deal elsewhere. And he is still playing well for the Lions after moving inside.

Mathis was sneakily great during his time here. Almost every Offensive Guard is under appreciated, just because it’s a position that rarely ever gets any shine. But Mathis played at an All-Pro Level for his 4 seasons here. Playing in between Jason Kelce and Jason Peters helps a lot. But Mathis was great in his own right.

Jackson was a mainstay at Center for the Eagles for several years before Jason Kelce came onto the scene. You can tell when an O-Lineman does their job well when you don’t hear much about them. And we did not hear from Jackson much at all during that time. He was no Jason Kelce, but few are. Still, he was reliable for a long period of time.

Herremans also spent time at RT, but for most of his 10-year career with the Eagles, he played either Right or Left Guard. You don’t keep a job for 10 years not playing well. But like we said with Mathis, Guards just don’t get much love. Herremans does deserve lots of love though.

Picking an underrated Tackle for the Eagles is hard, because for so long they have had long term stability there. And we can’t exactly call Runyan, Peters, or Johnson underrated. Brooks fits the bill though. Was he a Hall of Famer like some of the others guys who have played Tackle here? No. But he was a solid reliable tackle.

Playing on the same team as Reggie White can make it hard to get noticed as a pass rusher. And while Clyde was not as great as Reggie, few are, he is still a borderline Hall of Famer. Clyde is currently 3rd on the Eagles All-Time Sack list, behind Reggie White and Trent Cole. Brandon Graham has a chance to pass him with 4 more sacks, but no other active player is even close. He is 31st on the All-Time Sack list with 121.5. Ahead of JJ Watt and Aaron Donald.

Being A DT who is not a pass rusher tends to get you a bit overlooked. But every team needs a run stuffing DT. Patterson fit that role for 8 years with the Eagles. While he did not rack up a lot sacks, he still found ways to be disruptive, slow down the run, and help other guys pile up stats.

Like Clyde, Harmon gets overshadowed by what Reggie White was doing. But 39.5 sacks in 4 seasons as a starter is fantastic. Especially for a Defensive tackle. That isn’t even taking into account how great he was against the run.

Yes I know. He was not a good draft pick. Mamula never lived up to his draft status, especially considering Warren Sapp went after him. But Mamula was still a decent player. 31.5 sacks in 5 seasons is not bad. People call him a bust because of where he was picked. But he was still a decent player and not worthy of the hate he gets. People put him among the worst busts in Eagles history. But there are waaaay worse busts. Look no further than Danny Watkins to see what a real bust looks like.

I think we are all learning this year how underrated TJ Edwards is. He was no star, but the downgrade from him to what they have this year is clear. He was solid in coverage, a good tackler, and always seemed to be in the right place. Linebacker has been a big issue for them this year, but it never was with TJ Edwards on the field. I myself am guilty of overlooking his loss and saying it wouldn’t be a big deal.

There are only two linebackers in NFL history with 25 interceptions and 35 sacks. Ray Lewis, and William Thomas. Thomas never gets talked about here. But he played Linebacker for the Eagles for 9 years and put up great production for a LB in almost every one of them. There were so many great players on that early 90s defense that Thomas gets overlooked. But he was a genuinely great player.

We were spoiled with Secondary talent in the Jim Johnson era. Brian Dawkins at Safety, Lito Sheppard at corner. Sheldon Brown almost gets over looked. But in terms of being a shutdown corner, Brown may have been better than Lito. And of course who could forget the big hit he put on Reggie Bush.

Okay, Eagles fans don’t underrate Allen. But I put him here for one reason, because he is somehow not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is 21st all time in interceptions, more than Deion Sanders and Champ Bailey. Allen was a force, and part of one of the best defenses ever. He 100% deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame. And until he is in there, he is underrated and eligible for this list.

Like Sheldon Brown, Bobby Taylor gets overshadowed by who he played with. He also had Brian Dawkins at Safety, and then he had Troy Vincent across the field at the other CB spot. You could argue that 2002 CB tandem of Vincent and Taylor was better than Lito and Brown. Both are great. Taylor had 19 interceptions in 109 games for the Eagles.

Like with Clyde Simmons, Mikkel was overshadowed by Brian Dawkins. No one is going to notice the other Safety when one of the best of all time is lined up next to you. He spent two years playing alongside Dawkins before Joe Banner let one of the best players in franchise history leave for no reason. And he was as solid as they come in that role, and continued to play at a high level even after Dawkins was allowed to leave.

Malcolm Jenkins gets all the attention as the Safety on that Super Bowl team, But McLeod was very good as well. 11 interceptions, and 4 forced fumbles is solid production And outside of making those plays, he quietly was very reliable in coverage, holding opposing QBs to a QB Rating under 60 in multiple seasons during his time here.

Cody Parkey is not on this list just because of what he did with the Eagles. Though he was great his rookie year, and set a record for most points scored by a rookie. But then he was bad his 2nd year and got replaced. Why I put him on the list is for what he did against the Eagles. The double-doink FG. Thank you Cody.

Almost every good punter is under rated, because no one ever gives punters much credit. But in terms of just not getting enough credit for being a good punter, I went with Jeff Feagles. Feagles could boot the ball. He punted a ball 77 yards once. But he also had finesse, pinning teams behind the 20 32.4% of the time with the Eagles. Oh, and like Parkey, he was also part of a play that benefited the Eagles when he was on a different team. Thank you for punting it to Brian Westbrook Jeff.