Measuring Criticism of Kevin Patullo & Eagles’ Passing Game
The intense scrutiny of the Philadelphia Eagles will inevitably occur even after a 2-0 start. First-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo is already under pressure after two underwhelming performances from an…
The intense scrutiny of the Philadelphia Eagles will inevitably occur even after a 2-0 start. First-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo is already under pressure after two underwhelming performances from an offense loaded with top-tier talent in the passing game.
A revolving door of offensive coordinators is a reality of the organization’s coaching structure under Nick Sirianni. The fifth-year head coach doesn’t call offensive plays and doesn’t factor into the offensive scheme as heavily as many established NFL head coaches.
The ability to replenish offensive play-callers who can help the talented unit evolve will factor heavily into the Eagles’ ability to sustain success in yearly Super Bowl contention. Their recent mixed bag of effective changes has correlated with their overall success and failure as a team.
Patullo hopes to avoid a similar fate to Brian Johnson, who lost his job after one season calling plays on Sirianni's staff as a casualty of the plumet from success to finish the 2023 season.
NFL Insider Quotes Draw Dooming Comparison
The Eagles grew stale offensively toward the end of the 2023 season just one year removed from a Super Bowl appearance. They relied too heavily on Jalen Hurts to simply feed talented receivers like A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith without enough added wrinkles to help the unit evolve.
The unit fell flat during a 1-5 stretch to end the regular season and an ugly loss in the NFC Wild Card Round.
Jeremy Fowler told Kincade & Salciunas during the ensuing offseason about internal and external sentiments about an offense that fell from grace.
“I really think that’s where the frustration (came from when they) struggled last year and how things boiled over with the Eagles offense. You have all this talent. I do think there was a feeling –and I’ve talked to a few scouts about this and they pointed this out– they kind of felt like the Eagles rolled the ball out last year like ‘Hey, what we do isn’t broken. Let’s not fix it. Let’s go after it.’ And because of the talent they had, (they thought) that they could just mow people over. That worked for a little bit, but teams adjust and evolve.”
-Jeremy Fowler on 97.5 The Fanatic
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty ImagesJeff McLane used eerily similar language on unCovering the Birds after a Week 1 victory over the Dallas Cowboys to begin the 2025 season.
“As one player put it to me just this week, the Eagles may need to lean on scheme and new ideas more than they ever have under Sirianni. The player told me ‘We have a lot of talent. We’ve mostly just relied on that. Just roll the ball out, and our talent will win. But we’re returning the same offense with the same players. We need to scheme things up and get guys open.’”
The Eagles impressively rebounded from the nightmare in 2023 by maximizing a running game that carried them to Super Bowl LIX. However, are they on track to repeat their mistakes in handling success after their appearance in Super Bowl LVII?
Eagles Start Slow in 2025
The Eagles rank dead last in the NFL in passing yards with 253. They’ve created only two pass plays of 20+ yards in two games, fewer than any other NFL team. Opposing defenses have kept Saquon Barkley reasonably in check on the ground. The offense has shown presnap formation patterns that indicate pass or run without enough variance to keep defenses guessing.
“I think we need to be better in the explosive play battle. There’s no doubt about it. We have some thoughts. We’ll watch the tape and go from there, but it’s been efficient. The pass game’s been efficient. We just haven’t hit the chunks... We know we need to do that. That’s going to open up everything.”
-Nick Sirianni
Patullo certainly hasn’t hit the ground running as a play-caller. The offense's shortcomings in the first two games under a new coordinator resemble certain flaws the Eagles showed when Brian Johnson called the plays.
Protection issues sank the 2023 Eagles. The inability to handle the blitz too often forced Hurts out of the pocket for a throwaway, and the coaching staff failed to adjust effectively.
The 2023 offense also relied too heavily on the notorious “tush push,” an effective short-yardage weapon that doesn’t define a championship offensive blueprint.
Shortcomings in the victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2 looked all too familiar. An intense media market and fan base will acknowledge the track record of the Super Bowl LIX champions, but they’ll also remember the flimsy 10-1 record from the 2023 season when shortcomings in tight, early-season victories ultimately came back to bite the Eagles.
Room For Improvement
The coaching staff and the players haven't meshed talent with the right amount of schematic complexities. However, the first two weeks of the season don’t paint a picture of a dooming future with no room for growth.
The counting stats oversimplify the evaluation of the Philadelphia offense during Patullo’s first two games as an NFL play-caller. Sirianni has stressed the efficiency of a passing attack that executed key plays in turning points of both victories.
Hurts landed a deep ball to DeVonta Smith in the fourth quarter of Week 2 at Arrowhead Stadium. The 28-yard completion utilized a top-tier skill player to move the Eagles inside the five-yard-line for the touchdown that ultimately stood as the game-winner.
“Overall, the efficiency was high, which was a great sign. Obviously, the ball didn’t go down the field as much. We did hit the one big time play to DeVonta (Smith), which was a really good answer to what they were doing and something we were able to kind of push through during the game.”
-Kevin Patullo
The Eagles rank 10th in the NFL in offensive success rate and 15th in EPA per play. Both stats measure efficiency with better consideration to down and distance and other contextual factors than volume stats skewed by game situations.
The Eagles also didn’t develop the most complex offensive schemes on the way to NFC Championships in 2022 or 2024. They relied on outstanding talent, a physical rushing attack, and Hurts’ ability to keep defenses guessing with his versatility as a "triple-threat" quarterback.
Kevin Patullo doesn’t need to develop a Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan scheme to help the Eagles reach their ceiling in 2025 in the passing game or the running game. The veteran NFL assistant worked extensively under Chan Gailey with the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets before joining Sirianni’s staff in 2021. Gailey has in the past been willing to let offensive skill players, especially wide receivers, operate with freedom to accentuate their skill sets without overloading a system approach.
Sirianni and Patullo have both admitted the shortcomings of Philadelphia’s 2-0 start. Their tendencies might concern an audience with nerves about the recent history of the franchise.
However, the luxury of top-tier talent, the small sample with room for improvement, and the already present positive takeaways eliminate the need to hit the panic button… yet.
Advanced stats via Pro-Football Reference, Sumer Sports, NFL Next Gen Stats
