It's another week of Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni standing in front of the podium defending the performance of his offensive coordinator, Kevin Patullo.
This time, though, it's in the playoffs with everyone on the line as the Eagles take on the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Wild Card. Sirianni has spent the whole season backing Patullo every step of the way, and that continued with his response on how his offensive coordinator has handled the job and the pressure of the criticism from the media and fans.
"I thought he is done a nice job of handling everything that's come his way, staying mentally sharp and staying mentally tough because I know there's always going to be criticism and you're probably not -- as offense coordinator, you might not get as much praise, but you're always going to get some criticism," Sirianni said via The Athletic's Zach Berman.
"But I think he's done a nice job handling that, and I think that we've done some really good things and we're getting better as the season goes through. We got to be even more consistent, and obviously there's always times coming out of every game. There's going to be calls you want back, players are going to have plays that [they] want back. I'm going to have decisions that we talk through or throughout the week or during the game that I'm going back, and that's the nature of this thing."
Any possibility of Kevin Patullo turning a corner as offensive coordinator for the Eagles?
It's been as bad as it has been in a long time for the Eagles' offense in Patullo's first season running the show. The Eagles are ranked 24th in total offense (311.2 yards per game), 23rd in passing (194.3 yards per game), 18th in rushing (116.9 yards per game), and 19th in scoring (22.3 points per game).
Most of those numbers are stats where the Eagles are usually in the top 10 during the Sirianni era. This is the first season in which a Sirianni offense has finished in the bottom 10 in total offense and outside the top 10 in rushing yards.
The criticism of Patullo has been fair, as his inconsistent, conservative play-calling has really hurt the team. Where he deserves credit is that he has handled the criticism and tough questions from the media well, without ever snapping at reporters. He has sat in front of the microphone each week and answered all the tough questions.
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While no Eagles fan buys into the fact that the offense is going to completely change all of a sudden, Patullo has a chance to prove everyone wrong with a deep postseason run, with the offense showing some of the great things they did in 2024. If he can do that, he might completely change the narrative of his tenure as offensive coordinator and save his job.