During a timeout before a crucial moment of the Eagles’ season opening win over the Packers in Brazil, Nick Sirianni joined the group of his offensive players just in front of the sideline, said a few words and then walked away.
Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier remained out there to talk to Jalen Hurts and the offense.
Things have changed. In 2024, it’s not Sirianni’s offense anymore.
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But the Eagles are still his team. He’s still the head coach, but just with a different role.
On game days, not too much has really changed for Sirianni. He hasn’t called plays on offense since the first half of the 2021 season before turning over the play sheet to then-offensive coordinator Shane Steichen. He had Brian Johnson call the plays in 2023 and now Moore is doing it in 2024. So Sirianni has been freed up on the sideline during games for a few years.
The big difference this year?
As a true CEO head coach, he’s feeling more free during the week.
NFL
“Yeah, obviously love going into the offensive game plan meetings,” Sirianni said the week before the opener. “Obviously we're two days into — or we’ve been game planning a little bit longer than that — but going in there and sitting in there and listening and contributing.
“But also, being able to step out if I need to go talk to a player or being able to step out and go talk to Howie (Roseman) about the roster or being able to step out and check in on the defense.”
Such a big part of Sirianni’s weekly preparation in years past was working on an offensive game plan for the upcoming opponent because the Eagles were running his offensive scheme. That’s not the case anymore. While Sirianni’s expertise is still on offense, Moore is pulling the levers of his own scheme.
Sirianni still goes to the game plan meetings but they’re no longer his primary focus during the week.
“I find that very freeing that I'm able to stretch myself to different spots that I'm needed and not have to be hunkered down,” Sirianni said. “You ask Howie and he’d be like, ‘Man, I couldn't get in to see Nick for Monday, Tuesday.’ After the players left, just wasn't a lot of opportunities.
“Being able to do that is really important. But also, being able to give my expertise in the offensive room is really important as well. An offensive game plan is not just particularly the plays that you call. It's also how situations are played out and game management is played out, which at the end of the day is something that I take a lot of pride in, our game management, how we go about that.
“Kellen and I have to be on the same page of that game management and of those different things. It's still really important that I'm in there, but it is important that I'm able to stretch out and talk to other guys as well.”
So what is Sirianni doing with all this extra time?
He will pop into defensive meetings and special teams meetings. But he also uses the time to study. Sirianni has always been hyper focused on situational football and he is now using that time to prep more for game management situations.
“I can study fourth-down decisions throughout the league,” Sirianni said. “I can study two-point decisions throughout the league. I can watch all the four-minutes throughout the league and two-minutes and all those different scenarios throughout the league.
“It's just like practice, right? You're putting yourself in those scenarios so you can think through your process. Then you have to go back into the offensive meeting and say ‘Here is what I'm thinking here in these scenarios.’ Not necessarily play-wise, but whether it's run, pass, aggressive, not aggressive. These different things. And so that's where I think it's different. I have a little bit more time to study that on Tuesday as opposed to what's different on game day, if that makes sense.”
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