As Eagles keep losing, Nick Sirianni won't address the worst part

LANDOVER, Md. − The Eagles were finally out of answers.

You could tell by the glum expressions on the players’ faces after yet another humbling defeat, this one 27-10 to the Washington Commanders on Nov. 1. That came with the sad, defeatist answers to the same problems that pop up game after game.

It was the Eagles’ sixth straight loss, the most since 2012, the last of Andy Reid’s 14 seasons as the Eagles’ head coach. That year, the Eagles lost eight in a row. This Eagles team can break that mark on Thanksgiving against the Cowboys.

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Even head coach Nick Sirianni was humbled in defeat. After five straight playoff seasons, including two Super Bowls appearances and one victory, Sirianni couldn’t even offer much resistance.

The Eagles’ flurry of mistakes inside the Commanders’ red zone, trailing by six points with a chance to take the lead if they could convert a fourth-and-4 from the Washington 13, blew up in their faces. First, there was Markel Bell’s false start penalty that backed the Eagles into a fourth-and-9 and forced Sirianni to try a field goal instead.

Jake Elliott made that 36-yard field goal, but Jordan Mailata was called for an illegal formation penalty that pushed the Eagles back another 5 yards. Elliott’s 41-yard attempt hit off the upright and bounced out.

So, instead of a potential touchdown and a one-point lead, the Eagles came away empty. And then the Commanders took over. Just for good measure, Washington coach Dan Quinn decided to go for a 2-point conversion when the Commanders scored with 1:52 left.

“That was the right decision on their part,” Sirianni said when asked if Quinn was exacting a measure of revenge. “You can go up three scores in that area.”

Seriously? Quinn felt a 16-point lead with less than 2 minutes left wasn’t safe against this Eagles offense? The one that scored 10 points in the first quarter, then zero points the rest of the game? Or the one that fell short of 300 yards of offense for the fifth time during this six-game losing streak?

The one where Tanner McKee was sacked five times? Where the running game averaged 3.1 yards per carry?

It was as comical as it was sad that it has come to this for the Eagles. That’s because Sirianni couldn’t even be furious at Quinn for going for two points with the game out of reach because the Eagles themselves knew it was out of reach.

“I know I’ve said this, and until we coach better, until we have better detail as coaches, until our players play with better detail, then we’re going to see the same results,” Sirianni said. “And that falls on me. I feel like with all the detail that’s not happening right now, I’ve got to try a different approach.”

Oh, wait. Maybe there is a sign of life.

Does that mean taking the play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, who brought a new style of offense only to make it worse than the stagnant offense from last season?

“I’m not thinking about any of that stuff right now,” Sirianni said. “I got a bunch of guys in that locker room that are hurting − every player, every coach. … I got a lot of faith in everybody in that locker room. I got a lot of faith in the coaches in that locker room. I’ll keep it at that.”

Never mind.

Instead, this is what Sirianni meant by his “different approach”:

“I know we put a ton of attention on it, and so sometimes it’s just your delivery,” he said. “And so, if my delivery needs to be even harsher, then it needs to be harsher. I’m open to try anything to help us.

“Everything’s on the table there with that in my mind.”

That only goes so far, especially in the Eagles’ current state. A quick recap: Quarterback Jalen Hurts is likely done for the season as he takes blood thinners to get rid of clots in both lungs. Right tackle Lane Johnson retired. Center Cam Jurgens was traded. Wide receiver DeVonta Smith has been sidelined three times because of a hamstring injury.

And running back Saquon Barkley is on a pitch count after playing despite a hamstring and back injury. He had 13 carries for 30 yards. He can’t keep that up for the rest of the season.

“No matter how tough you are, no matter how together you are, if you’re not detailed, and we’re not locked into the little things, it doesn’t matter,” Barkley said. “It’s going to catch up to you, and it’s been catching up to us the whole year.”

The Eagles had a 10-0 lead with 4:27 left in the first quarter. Their final seven possessions consisted of four punts, a lost fumble, a missed field goal and an interception.

“This is something that’s unacceptable,” Mailata said. “You can’t win games by not being able to be efficient in the run game, not being able to protect the QB. It kills momentum, and it’s just bad ball, man. Bad ball.”

Even the Commanders, who came into the game at 1-4-1, were able to take advantage of that. Then they stuck the Eagles’ noses in it by going for the 2-point conversion near the end of the game, the Eagles already in full surrender mode. All the Eagles could do was sit there and take it.

Their season is in free fall, and they know it.

“I can sit here and say everything we want is still there,” Barkley said. “Yeah, of course, but that doesn’t really matter right now. That’s not the message, to be completely honest.”

No, the message is this, as Barkley himself put it: “We’re not the big, bad Eagles anymore. And we’ve got to understand that.”

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl. Sign up for the “Eye On The Eagles” newsletter, emailed to your inbox every Friday morning. Read his coverage of the Eagles‘ championship season in “Flying High,” a hardcover coffee-table book from Delaware Online/The News Journal. Details at Fly.ChampsBook.com

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: As Eagles keep losing, Nick Sirianni won’t address the worst part

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