The Philadelphia Eagles jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter Sunday night against the Washington Commanders. But similar to previous games, the Eagles offense then went very quiet for the rest of the night.
The Commanders scored 27 unanswered points as the Eagles posted just 211 yards in the final three quarters. Philadelphia didn’t have a drive longer than 27 yards in the second or third quarter.
Behind the inept offense, the Eagles lost their sixth straight. The defeat had head coach Nick Sirianni again receiving questions about first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion and his job status.
In the face of that question after the loss to the Commanders, Sirianni tried to deflect attention from Mannion as much as possible.
“I’m not thinking about any of that stuff right now. I’ve got a bunch of guys in that locker room that are hurting, every player, every coach,” Sirianni told reporters. “Right now, I’m getting through this moment with those guys. I’m not thinking of any of that stuff right now. We need to get better as a whole, and I’ve got a lot of faith in everybody in that locker room.
“I’ve got a lot of faith in the coaches in that locker room. I’ll keep it at that.”
Eagles Offense Struggles Again vs. Commanders
Fans who have followed the Eagles all season understand that Mannion isn’t the only problem. He might not even be the biggest one.
But the offensive coordinator could get a lot of the blame going forward because of the situation he stepped into in Philadelphia. The Eagles offense wasn’t particularly good at the end of last season either. But the Eagles tried to convince the media Mannion was the right choice to fix the issues.
Instead, they are worse.
Against the Commanders, quarterback Tanner McKee struggled behind a porous offensive line. McKee took five sacks and threw an interception while averaging 6.2 yards per pass.
Unlike last week against the Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles rushing attack didn’t amount to much either. Saquon Barkley only had 13 carries for 30 yards although he did have a 24-yard reception. Elijah Mitchell led the Eagles but with only 34 rushing yards.
The Eagles averaged 3.9 yards per play and committed two turnovers. They were also 5-for-15 on third down and only scored one touchdown on two red-zone possessions.
Changes Coming to Philadelphia?
While Sirianni wouldn’t comment on the possibility of parting with Mannion or at least changing play-callers, the head coach didn’t rule out other changes. NBC Sports’s Ryan Fowler reported after the Eagles loss that those changes could be very significant.
“This [Eagles] team is going to look very different come the bye… it’s a loss that loses people their job.” wrote Fowler on social media. “They just got their a** kicked back to back weeks in primetime, there will be changes.”
Philadelphia won’t immediately go on its bye week. First, the Eagles will face the first-place New York Giants on Sunday, November 8.
If nothing’s different for Philadelphia’s offense in that contest, then the Eagles will get the perfect opportunity to make changes during the team’s Week 10 bye.
Eagles’ Nick Sirianni Responds to Calls to Fire OC Sean Mannion