Nick Sirianni did not make a defensive play call in the Eagles’ win over the Browns on Sunday, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said on Tuesday.
Didn’t happen.
So what did?
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“It wasn’t a defensive call,” Fangio explained. “It was just a situation thing to where he just said, ‘Hey be alert for this.’ He didn’t call a defense.”
Sirianni on Sunday afternoon fell on the sword for both sides of the football and tried to reveal a mistake he made on the defensive side of the ball. He also accepted fault for an offensive play call that didn’t work.
But it’s becoming clear that Sirianni is happy to operate as a lightning rod of sorts for the coaching staff. Something goes wrong? Blame it on the head coach.
“I made a call on defense,” Sirianni said after the 20-16 win over the Browns. “It didn’t work out just so, you know, I’ll put that out there. That wasn’t on Vic. I won’t tell you which play. I’m going to do that from time to time. This time it didn’t work. That’s on nobody else but me.”
Fangio, 66, has spent the better part of three decades as an NFL defensive coordinator, first taking such a position in 1995, when Sirianni was an incoming freshman in high school.
So it seemed a little strange that Sirianni would overstep on Sunday and make a defensive play call in a crucial moment. And Fangio doesn’t need the head coach taking any blame away from him.
What was the situation on Sunday when Sirianni spoke up?
“It was just when they had the ball near midfield and it was 3rd-and-long,” Fangio said. “He said, ‘Hey, be alert that they may check it down’ or something. They’re trying to get in field goal range.”
It seems likely the instance Fangio was referring to came in the second quarter when the Browns faced a 3rd-and-14 from the Eagles’ 44-yard line. The Eagles gave up a 10-yard pass to Amari Cooper to set up a 4th-and-4 from their 34, which the Browns converted on their first scoring drive of the afternoon.
While Fangio said the Eagles gave up more yards than he wanted on that 3rd-and-long, he deemed Sirianni’s alert as “inconsequential.”
And when asked about Sirianni’s level of involvement with his defense compared to other coaches he’s worked for, Fangio said, “It’s pretty similar.”
Sirianni’s role this season is a tad different. He’s supposed to be a CEO head coach that oversees both sides of the football. But aside from having some extra time to periodically pop in on defensive meetings, Fangio clearly has autonomy over his defense. And he should.
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