2021 McDaniels was as ego-driven and power hungry as a coaching candidate gets and he and Howie were ready to work together until Lurie threw that idea in the bushes.
As far as Doug, we'll always love him but the issues Lurie/Howie had have only been proven more right as time passes
What were those :
1) Mike Groh is not an OC. What's happened since then : Groh's bounced around as a WRs coach, never ran an offense in his life before that promotion from Doug, hasn't since then and never will again
2) Doug's loyalty to coaches like Press Taylor isn't conducive to winning. What's happened since then : the Jags are going through the same sputtering on offense we did circa 18-20 while their young QB stalls because Doug sticks with "his guys" even when the results don't add up
I know it gets crazy when a season starts to get out of control but this isn't that deep or complicated. The issues we've seen on offense this year are the same things they struggled with in 2021 when they were 2-5 and Nick was OC (abandoning the running game, lack of rhythm, obscure screens and draws), this isn't some gameplan or approach that's being forced on Nick from above. We know that for a fact because as soon as Steichen took over that season the offense flipped the switch. Steichen is an incredible playcaller, he has a great feel for getting his QB in rhythm, when to lean into the run game, when to be aggressive over the top, and how to bounce back and forth between the two. This is what it looks like without him and either Nick calling plays or a rookie OC who's basically an extension of him.
Facts. Just to add on. Lurie is pretty hands off until he isn't, one thing he does not do is jump in or change things during the heart of the season.
A constant now is that Lurie now only hires offensive minded head coaches ... Ray Rhodes was the last defensive minded head coach that Lurie hired and that was in the 90s.
With that, It's Sirianni's ship during the season and when the offensive results aren't right or just embarrassing that is when Lurie steps in the off season and demands changes on the offensive coaching staff. Lurie was even more hands off
on the defensive side too but
Remember the Juan Castillo pick as defensive coordinator by Reid in his final years and Bill Davis by Chip
Cause of that, recently, Lurie and Howie hire the defensive coaches seperately from the head coach . They hired Schwartz seperately from Doug and most recently, they asked Sirriani what defensive scheme and philosophy he prefers. Nick wanted that prevent Fangio style defense. Nick suggests Gannon cause he worked with him on the colts (a change from the Pederson hire) Then Lurie and Roseman interview a bunch of defensive coordinators including Gannon, they liked Gannon and hired Gannon separately to implement that scheme and philosophy.
The difference now is that Sirianni picked Desai all by himself cause they wanted to keep Gannon but they lose Gannon to the Cards and Miami picks up Fangio himself very early before the Eagles could possibly hire him. Sirianni picks Desai cause he was a Fangio understudy and Nick gave the okay for Patricia too cause he didn't fully trust Desai (who has only one year of experience as a defensive coordinator), he came in wanting the experienced Fangio if Gannon left and not Desai.
That panic move from Desai to Patricia was all Sirianni,... Sirianni was ready to do it when they were 8-1 cause of the worst third down defense, the blown coverages, confusion on defense and some of the players complaining. Patricia is here because Sirianni wanted him here if Desai falters. The Irony is that the Patricia move caused the the same third down inefficiency defensively and even more confusion and blown coverages to make the defense below average bad to now atrocious.
Sirianni should ve let Desai learn and grow but he was impatient thinking he has a superbowl window this year and he was free to do this because it was his hire rather than Lurie and Roseman's hire.
Offensively,
If you look back at it. Andy Reid had alot of control until that dream team year and year after, the offense sputters, he is let go.... Chip had a lot of control until they didn't make the playoffs that one year, offense sputters and was fired on the spot, .... Doug wanted to keep his offensive guys after a 4-11-1 year where the offense sputters and Doug said fukk this when Lurie said he'll have to let some of his offensive guys go.
If the Eagles lose to Tampa or get embarassed in the divisional round, Lurie is gonna put Sirianni on that short leash, (not fire him since he has made it to the playoffs every year with one super bowl appearsnce) but demand changes to his offensive coaching staff and he is gonna get the scapegoats on the offensive coaching staff. The defense for sure gonna get gutted with a more autonomous defensive coordinator given how historically bad it is and Lurie's recent approach with defensive coordinators.
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