PHILADELPHIA – Shortly after another uninspiring offensive performance that left the barbarians at the gate demanding their pound of flesh, embattled Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo and Jalen Hurts quietly chatted at the quarterback’s locker minutes after the Eagles’ ugly 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears.
Only a fly on the all could tell you what the pair was discussing but Hurts was given the opportunity to talk about the diplomacy and kept things close to the vest.
“We’re all pressing forward trying to improve and make the most of the opportunity we have,” is all Hurts would offer about the conversation.
When the Eagles next take the football field on Dec. 8 at the Los Angeles Chargers, Patullo will remain the Eagles’ play caller, at least if Nick Sirianni isn’t usurped in the meantime.
“We’re not changing the play caller,” Sirianni emphatically stated before adding a trap door, “but we will evaluate everything.”
That evaluation has already been made by an increasingly entitled fanbase which is pushing back with the Amazon 4K television cameras catching chants of “Fire Kevin” in a standalone game with the entire league watching.
“I know it will keep coming back to Kevin, but again, if I thought it was one thing, then you make those changes,” Sirianni explained. “Obviously, it’s a lot of different things, but I don’t think it is Kevin. Now, we all have a part in it. Kevin has a part of it. I have a part of it. All the coaches have a part of it. All the players have a part of it.”
The NFL has a way of humbling you and making matters worse on a Black Friday that the Eagles took far too literally was the presence of Ben Johnson on the other other sideline.
Poor Optics
Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images
The offense wunderkind has a flair about him that can even dress up the the power running game into something that appears complex even if it’s about powerful right tackle Darnell Wright caving in the left side of the Eagles’ defensive front like a soda can.
Conversely the Sirianni-Patullo offense is best described as utilitarian even in good times. It can be useful and functional when executed correctly but style points didn’t get the job.
Despite the weekly slog, the Eagles believe there is still time to patch the tire and get to the preferred destination of another Super Bowl appearance.
Sirianni has often described the issues as layered, fighting the tide of a general public that wants the problem tied into a tidy bow.
“I wish I could tell you this is exactly what it is, and this is hard,” Sirianni said. “It’s not easy to be successful, stay successful, so we have to, again, do it collectively. We have to do it collectively as a unit. Obviously, if I knew exactly what it was and everything that it was, then we’d have fixed it.
“But right now, we’re still searching and we’re still looking, and (there’s) a lot of football left to play.”
Patullo has become the organic poster child of the problems, something tied to both his relationship with Sirianni and the winning that masked some of the same issues under Kellen Moore last season.
In-house the firewall surrounding Patullo seems to be holding with the players.
Hurts held himself accountable and pointed to his two turnovers against the Bears.
“Ultimately, you look inward first and I see it as how the flow of things has gone for us this year and being practical about that: I can’t turn the ball over, so the ultimate goal is to go out there and find a way to win,” Hurts said. “That’s been a direct correlation with success for us being able to protect the ball and so that really, really killed us.”
A.J. Brown, typically a staunch defender of Patullo, claimed that the right people are in place.
“We got the right people in this locker room to get it fixed,” the star receiver said after breaking out with 10 receptions for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
Superstar running back Saquon Barkley claimed the film still shows some real positives.
“I know what everyone’s probably saying. You go back and you watch the film, we’ve got some great calls,” Barkley insisted. “We just didn’t make the plays. Or we’ll have a penalty. And the thing is, we keep saying the same stuff.”
What’s been missing in the identity of what was a historic ground game last season.
“I have confidence in us when we’re collaborative,” Hurts added. “I have a lot of confidence when we have an identity, so I think that’s the first thing that we have to establish that we’ve talked about.”
Perception, however, has overtaken reality with the most passionate of fan bases emptying out a cold and windy Lincoln Financial Field early with the intent on getting in on what was left in those brick and mortar Black Friday sales.
The key here is that the emotion of the “Fire Kevin” movement lacks an exit plan.
Adding an outside voice to the mix for Week 14 would be performative and without the teeth of time on task to change everything, while the in-house candidates who’ve called plays before like Jason Michael, Parks Frazier or Scot Loeffler would be choosing from the same menu Patullo is working with.
The other answer is Sirianni taking back the reins himself, something the coach has consistently claimed he does not want to do and would not exactly resonate in any popularity polls.
Change for change’s sake without purpose is an empty solution, perhaps offering up the illusion of progress to to those who believe any change is next to progress at Thesaurus.com.
The only real tangible solution for the Eagles is to move forward through the rough waters, fix the issues as best they can, and find calmer seas ahead.
“The reality is whether fans are booing or whatever you write or say in the media, you guys can’t go out there and make the plays,” Barkley said. “And we know we have the guys and we know we have the coaches. … Everything we want to accomplish is still there.
“We just got to come together. No pointing fingers.”
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