It was an odd game for the Philadelphia Eagles, who came out on the short end against the Atlanta Falcons at home, losing 22-21 in the final minute. The game felt practically decided going down the stretch, and the Eagles had a chance to put the nail in the coffin swiftly, defeating quarterback Kirk Cousins once again in a primetime setting. In the end, this loss was a microcosm of a major issue that still exists in Philadelphia.

With only 1:46 left on the clock, the Eagles faced a 3rd and 3 on the 11-yard line, while holding a 18-15 lead. The Falcons held only one timeout left, and with one more first down, the game was all but over.

We all know what happened next, a Saquon Barkley drop on a slide route. That drop stopped the clock and allowed Atlanta to not only hold the Eagles to a field goal, but also save themselves a lot of clock with their offense set to take the field for one final effort. That whole offensive process was significantly flawed.

“If Barkley catches the football, nobody is complaining.” 

You can spin it that way if you want but the Eagles had run for 186 yards on the ground, while averaging five yards per carry in the contest. The offense would have had two running plays to pick up three yards, and the odds of converting were very high on one of those two plays. In the worst case scenario, you still have the chance to work the clock more and force Atlanta to go the length of the field while playing against the time.

The Eagles settled for a field goal. Then the Falcons went right down the field. Jalen Hurts threw an ill-advised pass. That’s the ball game.

Nobody wants to get too hyperbolic after one loss, especially this early in the season, but major issues once again showed its ugly head on Monday night. The issue is, and continues to be, head coach Nick Sirianni.

For anyone who follows the Eagles, or lives in the area, it was an exhausting offseason. The main talking point has centered around Coach Sirianni, who was very much on the hot seat at the end of the year. That’s following the epic collapse we saw of the team last season, including losing seven of the last eight games of the 2023 season. There was an awkward multi-day meeting with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, which ended with Sirianni retained but with a weird aura around the organization.

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The big change was to find two new coordinators, swapping out Brian Johnson for Kellen Moore on offense, and a combination of Sean Desai and Matt Patricia for Vic Fangio on defense respectively. Sirianni was set to have less control over either side of the football, and instead focused on the everyday duties of being a head football coach. Building the culture and game day decisions were the main areas of focus.

We have done nothing but hear about core values from Sirianni since he arrived in Philadelphia, and yet there have been some fractures in the culture recently. We know about the Haason Reddick issue, although there might be a lot more there than anything the Eagles necessarily did. Reddick and his camp simply wanted a lot more money than what was being offered by either Philadelphia or the Jets. We can’t really hold that against Sirianni.

The issues surrounding his relationship with quarterback Jalen Hurts, however, is a completely different conversation. When Hurts had the chance to back his coach this offseason, he didn’t. Things will be solid as long as the team wins football games but if there is anything close to a collapse like last year, don’t expect things to remain as kept under wraps.

Circling back to this loss against the Falcons, we continued to see issues that could cost the Eagles down the stretch of football games if not corrected. As the head coach, Sirianni is going to have the ultimate decision for what to do in the biggest moments of the football game. In that third down decision, he is going to have to okay the play call, and whether throwing the football is the correct option.

That late-game blunder takes the focus off of some early decisions as well. Sirianni is an aggressive decision maker, which certainly has its place. Again, when things are going great, people are going to let it slide. But when you end up losing a football game by one point, people are going to talk about your decision to go for it on 4th and 4 in field goal range, opting instead to chase points early. You live by the sword, and you die by the sword. 

It’s probably never a good sign when in order to make something work, the answer is to take responsibility away from someone. Sirianni has been left as more of a symbol than actual CEO. It has long been theorized that Mr. Lurie just wants a puppet at head coach, a person who is easily manipulated. Maybe that is all Sirianni is.

At the end of the day, these in-game blunders aren’t going to be ignored. Neither is the decision to not heat up a pocket quarterback like Kirk Cousins who is clearly less mobile following the Achilles injury. Fangio might be the defensive coordinator but it’s your responsibility to have him make up for the lack of quality defensive line play, especially with the game on the line. That is always going to come back to Sirianni as the head coach.

All of the conversations will always circle back to one important question: What exactly is Nick Sirianni good at? If you have to think about it, you already know the answer.