Blame Game: Eagles Fire Brian Johnson; Coach Nick Sirianni’s Fault for Offense Failure?
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Eagles will be moving on from offensive coordinator Brian Johnson in an effort to assign blame for what went wrong on an offense that still managed to finish No. 8 overall and a tick better than that at No. 7 in points per game.
Top-10 finishes aside it’s fair to claim that the Eagles did underperform on that side of the football in 2023, especially late in the season.
More creativity, along with the evolution of Nick Sirianni’s schemes was needed for a system that seemed to stagnate. That system, though, is Sirianni’s, and firing Johnson for painting inside the lines the OC was given is the equivalent of middle-school logic.
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni (L) and quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) and offensive coordinator Brian Johnson (R) talk during the second quarter against the New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
With a net worth approaching $5 billion, it’s safe to say Jeffrey Lurie is smart enough to understand that but once you decide to move forward with Sirianni, the number $255 million prohibits a move with franchise quarterback Jalen Hurts so Johnson ends up as the sacrifice to the barbarians at the gate of the NovaCare Complex who needed a target to direct their anger at.
The disconnect is assuming you have to satiate that anger.
Lurie’s Eagles have the luxury of not having to play the game many other franchises need to. For as many callers as WIP gets claiming they’ll never attend or watch a game if [insert name] returns, the number who might follow through with that threat serves as a rounding error for Lurie’s bottom line.
The owner could practice patience if he wants to but the only difference between Lurie and those angst-ridden sports-talk callers are the zeros at the end of the owner's bank account.
Lurie is being every bit as erratic and emotional as the most devoted of his fan base. He undoubtedly cares deeply about the franchise but in times of turmoil, the first plan of action is always to assign blame.
Sometimes that’s even a necessary evil in the NFL but to those who know Sirianni even tangentially, blaming anyone other than the head coach for the Eagles’ offense is the equivalent of worrying how the lawn looks while the foundation of the house is rotting.
Rewind to Dec. 20, two days after a disappointing 20-17 loss at Seattle when Sirianni defended his offense by lamenting the scapegoating of Johnson.
“We have to put the players in more positions to create explosive plays but make no mistake about it, this offense is being run the exact same way the offense was run last year and the year before that,” Sirianni said.
Then the kicker, something Sirianni has mouthed multiple times since he arrived in 2021 both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes.
“This offense is my offense; right? This is my offense,” he reiterated. “So, the criticism on the offense I think unfairly goes to Brian. Brian calls the plays. Brian calls the plays. It unfairly goes to Brian. The criticism on this offense should come at me because this is my offense.
“I was hired to do a job here and got hired because I was successful as an offensive coordinator with our schemes and the different things that we did to coach players and help players win.
"I'm committed to that.”
Even if you want to conveniently forget the organization’s lionizing of Johnson over the past three years and the impact it might have on those who understand he’s being served up as a lightning rod for those who don’t know what they don’t know, going one step further and making Sirianni an impotent head coach for the sake of public perception is pressing pause on the inevitable.
The names Sirianni trusts and would be comfortable with moving forward are quietly being erased as options. Former Notre Dame and Alabama OC Tommy Rees is stepping back into the NFL but in Cleveland, Jim Bob Cooter, an early potential candidate is trending in a negative direction, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane.
That leaves veteran options like Mike McCoy and Frank Reich, and in-house candidates such as Kevin Patullo and Jason Michael, the latter duo a non-starter because of the taint on the 2023 staff.
Philosophical and/or schematic changes with a new voice from outside the organization might be needed for the Eagles. If that’s the belief, however, Lurie should have shown the courage of his convictions and not straddled the fence with a watered-down Sirianni.
