Four days after absorbing an unexpected beat down from the Giants up at MetLife Stadium, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was asked Monday about cleaning up the mess his team has become in its last two games.
A mini-bye afforded Sirianni and his coaching staff some extra time to prepare for Sunday’s road game against the Minnesota Vikings, who still aren’t sure if they’re going to start quartertback J.J. McCarthy, who is recovering from a high ankle sprain or Carson Wentz, who is dealing with a shoulder injury.
I vote Wentz, but only because it’s the better story.
Sirianni, of course, has enough to worry about with his own sputtering offense, which through six games is ranked 30th in yards per game.
“I think this weekend was good for us to be able to really dive into a lot of those things (causing problems),” Sirianni said. “Obviously, you don’t have the same amount of time that you have in a bye week, but you treat it as a mini-bye week and it’s also important that everyone gets a chance to rest and recover because when you’re on a short week — coaches, players, everybody — you put yourself behind a little bit in all departments.
“So there was a little bit of rest and relaxation, and then there was a lot of trying to figure things out. We have a lot of thoughts, a lot of things that we want to put into action. I know (offensive coordinator Kevin (Patullo) kind of talked about some of those things with our offense today.”
An area of offensive focus was third-down conversions. The Eagles were 1-for-9 in their loss to the Giants and are converting at a 34.67 rate for the season. That’s 27th in the league.
“I think (that’s about) just being more efficient on first and second down because right now we’re not near our standard on third down,” Sirianni said. “Well, why is that? Well, third-and-seven plus, eight plus, it’s going to be harder to convert than third-and-short. We looked at that … in the run game and in the pass game and coming up with solutions there.
“It’s always about finding solutions. We feel like we did some of that, now we’ve got to go put it to work and I’m excited about that opportunity.”
The defense has its own list of issues. After finishing as the No. 1 defense in the NFL a year ago, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s unit is ranked 21st so far this season. The Eagles are 26th against the run, 12th against the pass and they are tied for 25th in the league with just nine sacks.
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They woke up to more bad news on that front Monday morning when veteran Za’Darius Smith informed the team that he has decided to retire. Smith had moved into a starting role after Nolan Smith went down with a triceps injury following the team’s Week 3 game against the Los Angeles Rams.
“I wish him the best, and I really enjoyed having him on this football team while he was on this football team,” Sirianni said.
Fangio will have to figure out how to fill the void with one potential option being a move of rookie Jihaad Campbell from inside linebacker to edge rusher, which would allow Nakobe Dean to return as a starting linebacker.
The defense is need of some other fixes, too. Most notably, they haven’t found a suitable replacement for Darius Slay, who was set free as a free agent in the offseason after five seasons as the Eagles’ CB1. He went to the Pro Bowl in three of those seasons and the Super Bowl in two of them.
More painful than that, however, is that the Eagles thought they had set themselves up nicely to replace Slay by signing Isaiah Rodgers in 2023 despite the fact that the former Indianapolis cornerback had to sit out that season because of a gambling suspension.
Rodgers returned in 2024 and provided the Eagles with outstanding depth in the secondary when injuries sidelined Slay. Rodgers started three games in the regular season, played 10 or more snaps in a total of nine games and was on the field for 92 snaps in the postseason, including 57 in the divisional round against the Rams when Slay left with a concussion.
The Eagles’ top two free-agent priorities in the offseason were keeping linebacker Zack Baun and Rodgers and, in this case, one of two wasn’t only bad, it was jarring. Instead of accepting the deal the Eagles had on the table (or trying to sweeten the pot), Rodgers’ camp signed a two-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings worth $11 million that could be worth as much as $15 million.
Three weeks ago he had the game of his life against Cincinnati, scoring two defensive touchdowns — one on an interception and another on a fumble that he forced.
Pro Football Focus has Rodgers graded No. 4 among the 107 cornerbacks that have played at least 105 snaps. That doesn’t come as a surprise to the Eagles because they loved Rodgers and they wish they still had him.
Instead, Fangio is still trying to decide upon Kelee Ringo or Adoree’ Jackson as his starting cornerback opposite Mitchell, who suffered a hamstring injury in the second quarter against the Giants and did not return.
Rodgers sure would look good in an Eagles’ uniform right now.
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