How Can the Philadelphia Eagles Fix Their Broken Offense?

Since the Eagles hired Sirianni, the former Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator, to be their head coach in 2021, Sirianni has made it abundantly clear which offensive philosophies he prefers. And this has been the case regardless of who has the title of offensive coordinator — Shane Steichen in 2021-2022, Brian Johnson in 2023, Kellen Moore in 2024, and Patullo in 2025.

There are a few things that some teams are using more and more to modernize their passing games; Sirianni isn't a fan of any of those things. The Eagles have the NFL's third-lowest rate of pre-snap motion this season (42%) ahead of only the Tennessee Titans and the New York Giants. Condensed formations? Sirianni would prefer to spread it out. The Eagles have run condensed formations on 32% of their offensive snaps, tied with the Las Vegas Raiders, Arizona Cardinals, and the Buffalo Bills for the NFL's third-lowest rate.

Under-center play-action has become a staple for a lot of the NFL's most explosive offenses, but this is another option that the Eagles tend to decline. Jalen Hurts has taken under-center dropbacks and used play-action on just 22 snaps this season, while teams like the Los Angeles Rams, Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks, and Dallas Cowboys are all about it.

Throw in the fact that the Eagles don't have a lot of advanced route combinations, and it becomes easier to understand why this offense is stuck. While Sirianni may prefer a more "My guys against your guys, and we'll see who wins the one-on-ones" approach, this worked much better last season when the run game was top-notch. At that time, this team had the guys to get that done. Now, scheme and deployment much become the orders of the day, whether Sirianni likes breaking his own tendencies or not. The best coaches switch their priors when they must.

With that, how can this Eagles offense get back on track without the physical dominance they had in 2024?

More man-based run concepts would help

Forget all the talk about banning the Tush Push; what really needs to go away in the 2025 Eagles offense is the zone run game. Last season, Barkley averaged 5.55 yards per carry and had a +0.171 EPA per play when running inside zone; those numbers have dropped this season to 3.62 yards per carry, and -0.061 EPA per play. Outside zone has seen a similar downgrade in performance. In 2024, Barkley averaged 5.32 yards per carry and an EPA per play of 0.019 when running outside zone; this season, it's 3.30 yards per carry and an EPA per play of -0.194.

The problem is not that Barkley has lost a step or anything of that nature; it's more that there are a lot of negative runs in which defenders are in the backfield before Barkley can get a head of steam. The offensive line is a primary issue there, which is obvious from the tape. Man-blocking schemes tend to work better for Barkley because as his linemen get a hat on a hat and are proactive instead of reactive in their blocks, he can then read the gaps and go. It's tough to read the gaps when they disappear quickly.

On pull/lead runs, where linemen and other blockers are pulling to the first and second levels to acquire those gaps, Barkley this season has run 16 times for 96 yards, a per-carry average of 6.0 yards per carry, and an EPA per play of 0.030.

Generally speaking, Sirianni's offenses have been more zone-based than man-based, but when things aren't working, and other things are... well, you have to look at that. Rams head coach Sean McVayturned his offense over from heavy zone to heavy man a few years ago to great effect, because he knew that his personnel was better-suited for it. This is what coaches are supposed to do.

It's time to condense the passing game

Sirianni's preference for spread-out formations as opposed to condensed formations, where it's tougher to get an identification of receiver distribution and deployment, is especially curious, because Jalen Hurts has been far more effective with condensed formations than not. Let's throw pre-snap motion in the mix as well, because it's important. On dropbacks with both condensed formations and pre-snap motion this season, Hurts has completed 42 of 67 passes for 481 yards, four touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 97.9.

Overall, NFL teams are using more condensed formations, in which all 11 players are inside the numbers to both sides of the field, because it's more difficult for defenses to diagnose where each receiver will be pre-snap to post-snap. And in the Eagles' case, when they used condensed formations in the passing game, you're more likely to see receivers motioning to create specific matchup advantages. More of that is always good.

I would argue that in Hurts' case, anything that muddies the coverage pictures for the defense is a good thing for him (well, it's obviously a good thing for any quarterback), because he's not a true field-reader in the traditional sense. He is more efficient when he has defined openings with which to work.

Which leads us to our next challenge for the Sirianni/Patullo duo.

Get the route concepts out of high school

Watching the Eagles' route concepts this season is a uniquely frustrating experience, because there are so few instances in which the coaches are setting the passing game up for success with multi-tiered route concepts that create those designed openings. It's as if Sirianni and Patullo have decided that iso-ball is the order of the day, and the last 50 years of schematic football doesn't exist.

When there are exceptions, they tend to work.

Sadly, it seems that Patullo is a bit behind the eight-ball when it comes to this one. This was his response on November 18 to a question about whether he thought he dialed up enough man-beaters to exploit a Detroit Lions defense that plays a ton of man coverage.

"I think when you look at it, obviously when we reflect back on the game, there’s always things you want to try to see if you can do more of and exploit after you play them. That’s kind of the process we went through yesterday as a staff and with the players. But in the moment, just trying to get a feel for what they’re doing and how it’s coming about when it’s happening, certain coverages. You always look back and say, ‘Okay, the next time, if we play them again, what are we going to do?’ That’s what we went through the other day."

So. The point is not what Hurts did in a particular game; in a 16-9 loss to the Lions two days before, he completed 14 of 28 passes for 135 yards and a passer rating of 63.8. The point is, how are the Eagles' staff scouting their opponents, and at what point are they applying the philosophy of using what works best for them against any opponent?

This season, these things seem to be in short supply.

It's time for Sirianni to take the coaching shortfalls seriously

No matter what Kevin Patullo does or does not prefer to do, this isn't really on him. If the offense belongs to Nick Sirianni no matter who actually calls it on gameday, then it's his responsibility to take an honest look at the entire operation, and fix what can be fixed with scheme. Because he's been so rigid in his preferences when other coaches are far more flexible, there is room to grow even in-season if Sirianni will simply use self-scouting to its greatest effect.

If he does, the 2025 Eagles have a chance. If not, it will leave many wondering not only how and why this offense failed so spectacularly, but also what's to come in 2026 and beyond.