Eagles Can't Be The Anomaly Again

Ball security has been the messaging this week after the Eagles were the only team in the NFL to win Week 1 while losing the turnover ratio.

Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni at the press conference at the Neo Quimica Arena. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA - Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni wasn't paying lip service to those outside the building regarding his team's 34-29 Week 1 over Green Bay.

Winning in the NFL is the cure for many things, including the mood of a passionate fan base. Sirianni, though, wasn't ignoring the one issue he called "not sustainable" against the Packers.

Philadelphia lost the turnover ratio to the Packers by a 3 to 1 margin and were the only team during Kickoff Weekend to find a way to persevere despite that fact.

"We can't be in the negative in the turnover [ratio]," Sirianni said. "We're the only team in the NFL this week that lost the turnover battle and won the game. 1-10 [was the record around the league]. We're the only team that won. That's not sustainable."

To highlight the point Sirianni made it twice.

"That's not sustainable. So, protecting the football, taking the football away, the details. The details [are important]."

The poor turnover ratio could have even been worse if A.J. Brown hadn't turned defensive back to keep another interception away from Jaire Alexander and the break of a potential pick-six that Keisean Nixon couldn't come up with was somewhat wiped out by the next play, a poor Jalen Hurts throw across his body in the red zone that Alexander did get.

The so-called turnover-worthy throws from Hurts were among the worst of his career during any start. Meanwhile, the early communication issues between the QB and new center Cam Jurgens resulted in a shotgun snap fumble and a near-tush push catastrophe saved by the alertness of Saquon Barkley.

Sirianni took the same messaging in-house.

"The messaging from the turnovers is that [the coaches] showed people who won and lost the turnover differential and out of the 12 teams are at the bottom, we were the only team to win and that's an anomaly," left tackle Jordan Mailata said. "We shouldn't have. And the big emphasis this week is ball security, making sure that we're not turning the ball over and putting our defense in s#@$ty situations. So that was the message this week. Just you know, we got lucky."

Mailata noted there is a silver lining born from the perseverance of surviving the issue against a good team but expecting that to be the anomaly each week is a fool's errand.

"I want to say we got lucky, but when we watched the tape we showed up for each other last week and this week we're going to protect the ball so we're not that anomaly again," Mailata said.

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