Philadelphia Eagles have bright offensive mind in Nick Sirianni

It’s official, and Nick Sirianni is a great fit for the Philadelphia Eagles. The Birds have hired the former Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator as their 24th head coach. Of the remaining candidates, he was at the top of our list here at ITI. Getting this Eagles team back on track is a tall task and there’s a lot on Sirianni’s plate. Fans will love what he brings to the table in terms of offensive knowledge though.

This is a coach who was well respected by his players in Indianapolis and for good reason. He has a strong track record of coaching both quarterbacks and wide receivers. He puts his players in the best position possible to succeed.

When Sirianni was hired in 2018, he did an exclusive interview with Caroline Cann discussing some of his offensive philosophies with film. He used the Philadelphia Eagles game-winning Super Bowl touchdown with Zach Ertz as one of his examples.

The Birds had a bunch formation to the boundary side. Corey Clement ran in motion for a swing pass out of the backfield towards the boundary side. That caused the safety to follow him and the defense to shift. Ertz had a one-on-one matchup and we know how those usually ended in 2017.

Here are a few things to know if you’re a Philadelphia Eagles fan.

This is something Sirianni loves: one on one matchups for his bigger playmakers. The Colts used a decent amount of 12 and 13 personnel this year (two and three tight ends). In the Wild Card game versus the Buffalo Bills a couple of weeks ago, Jack Doyle, Trey Burton, and Mo Alie-Cox combined for 13 catches and 136 yards. Dallas Goedert could have a monster 2021 season under the new coach.

Sirianni not only looks to attack matchups with tight ends but with the rest of his lineup as well. He knows the strengths of his players and looks to use those strengths. In that interview, he talked about getting the ball into the hands of playmakers within five yards of the line of scrimmage. We saw the Colts do that a lot this year. This is something that players like Marquise Goodwin, Jalen Reagor, Quez Watkins, and John Hightower will benefit from.

This obviously gets the ball out of the quarterback’s hands quickly. This past year, we wrote about Pederson sending every wideout downfield too often even though Carson Wentz was not seeing the field well and that the offensive line could not hold up.

Whichever quarterback is under center in Week 1 could see a lot of success. It’s closer to a west coast system emphasizing horizontal routes. That’s what had fans excited about this season. Instead, Doug got away from it too much. Sirianni could reel this offense back in and both quarterbacks will have a real chance of succeeding.

This is really going to be good for a certain NFL running back.

Watch for Miles Sanders to be more involved in the receiving game again like he was his rookie year. With the Colts, we saw guys like Nyhiem Hines utilized in that regard to take advantage of the matchup with a linebacker. When Sirianni coached in San Diego, Danny Woodhead was one of their leading receivers one season.

This year, Colts also did a really good job of balancing the run and pass since they had two talented running backs in Jonathan Taylor and Hines. Similar to Goedert, Sanders could also benefit greatly from this hire. There’s a good chance we won’t be complaining about Sanders not getting the ball anymore.

Sirianni brings plenty of good ideas and concepts to give his players and offense as a whole an advantage. None of us can truly know how this season or hire will pan out. We’re likely going to be in a transition year in 2021 but Sirianni should give this fanbase much-needed hope about the future.