Eagles HC Nick Sirianni addresses lack of passing game
Following two subpar outings, the Philadelphia Eagles are 2-0 heading into Week 3. So, how did they get here? By relying heavily on the run game. In fact, they've logged a total of 356 rushing yards on 73 attempts through their first two games. And 259 of those yards on 48 rushing attempts came in […]
Following two subpar outings, the Philadelphia Eagles are 2-0 heading into Week 3.
So, how did they get here? By relying heavily on the run game.
In fact, they've logged a total of 356 rushing yards on 73 attempts through their first two games. And 259 of those yards on 48 rushing attempts came in Week 2's win over the Minnesota Vikings.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts has only thrown for a total of 325 passing yards so far this season, which raises some concern considering the Eagles team that made it to the Super Bowl was averaging 241.5 passing yards per game last year.
However, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni feels there's no need to panic.
“We're not in a panic mode or anything like that,” Sirianni said during Monday's press conference. “Have the pass numbers been down? Yeah. Does the defense play into that? Of course it does. Fortunately for us — and not everybody has this luxury — but fortunately for us we're able to win on the ground and we are able to win in the air, and so you are able to balance off what the defense does.”
It's worth reminding folks that the Eagles are trying to get into sync under new offensive coordinator Brian Johnson and while it has looked perfect, it's been working.
“I thought Brian and the offensive staff,” Sirianni continued, “did a phenomenal job of saying, ‘Hey, OK, they're packing this in the middle of the field right here and keeping all these guys high and having this three-down front. All right, cool. You guys are doing that. We'll do what we have to do to win the game.’
“So, Jalen [Hurts] was, what? 18 of 23 in that game so he was completing a high percentage of his passes. It was just, hey, we had 48 runs to 23 passes. Well, of course your run stats are going to look different than pass stats and it's going to appear that your pass stats may be down. Was our first game our best game passing the football? No. But there were some similarities in that game plan as well.”
Sure, the Eagles' run formula has been working for them early in the season, but they're going to need to figure out their passing game sooner rather than later if they plan on getting through better defenses.
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Featured image by Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
