Nick Sirianni, Jonathan Gannon respond to Fletcher Cox statements

They say that winning cures all issues. One would have to assume that’s true. After all, we’ve all seen plenty of Philadelphia Eagles football and evidence to corroborate that theory over the years. Head coach NIck Sirianni isn’t winning a whole lot though, and by the looks of things, it’s wearing on him. Then, you know what they say. Teams tend to take on the personality of their head coach. Guys are frustrated, and it’s obvious.

The players probably wouldn’t be too stressed about how many sacks they have or whether or not they’re hauling in touchdown receptions if the Birds are 5-2. Unfortunately, as you know, that isn’t the case after seven games. As a matter of fact, you have to flip that win-loss total.

Philly is 2-5, and though they’ve had their moments (normally, late in games, when opposing offenses take their foot off of the gas pedal, the defense softens, and after the result has seemingly been decided), it’s become obvious that this isn’t a very good football team.

What’s worse is the fact that they’re closer to being a team that’s going to get worse than one that will turn this around and right the ship. The Detroit Lions are on the horizon, the NFL’s only winless football team, and quite frankly, that feels like a game the Philadelphia Eagles can’t win.

For whatever reason, the Birds have always had trouble with the Lions. They’ve lost the last three meetings to the guys from the Motor City. They’ve lost four of the last five meetings, and if we’re being honest, though they haven’t won yet, Detroit looks like the more competent football team seven weeks into the season.

Nick Sirianni and Jonathan Gannon share their thoughts on Fletcher Cox’s statements.

As mentioned, guys are frustrated, and though this may be jumping the gun some, it feels like the finger-pointing has begun. It began with post-game player interviews following the Eagles’ gut-wrenching loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. Longtime Eagle and team captain Fletcher Cox shared some of his frustration about the defensive scheme and his role in it. As you might imagine, that was one of the first things Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was asked about in his Monday afternoon press conference.

"Frustration is, everyone has frustration after you lose, that’s players, coaches, everybody is going to have frustration. And so, we’ll talk about everything. We’ll talk through it, as far as, because we’re going to address anything that is, you know, what we need to address as a team, but, I’ll keep those conversations private that we’ll have there. I understand Fletch’s frustration. I’m frustrated. He’s frustrated, and we just have to do everything we can do to get the ship right."

As is customary, the coordinators spoke with members of the media on the following day. Here’s what the team’s defensive coordinator, Jonathan Gannon had to say on the same subject.

"I understand Fletch’s point. What any player says after a game out of frustration comes from a good place of ‘we want to win.’ That’s what this game is about, winning and losing. And that’s where I think that comes from, from Fletch. I love that about him… He’s got good points. I need to do a better job of (allowing Cox to display and play to his strengths), and the key thing with that is, player and coach, coach and player, how we do that, and how we go about that? He’s had some very good ideas as have some other players… It’s up to us as coaches to get that done and execute those things."

Cox also lamented that he didn’t feel as if it was his job to speak to coaches on these matters. Who knows where he came up with that as a team captain, but perhaps, after publicly saying a few things that, to some, might have been statements that would have been better to have been made in private, perhaps the Eagles coaches will listen, read the room a little better, and take a cue here.

Nick Sirianni and his staff know more about what they’re doing than the fans. That isn’t to say that fans don’t come up with good points (some of them at least), but even though this staff is clearly in over their heads, this ship can be steered back in the right direction. From the outside looking in, it feels like one of the modes of doing so is obvious. Stop playing passive football. Stop being reactionary and cautious. Let these guys compete.