There’s no denying it: the Philadelphia Eagles played sloppy football against the Washington Commanders in Week 16.
Need evidence? Just listen to head coach Nick Sirianni, who used those very words to describe his team’s poor performance across the board—offense, defense, and even special teams.
When asked on Monday to expand on his postgame remarks, now that the dust had settled, Sirianni explained that Philadelphia’s first loss since September couldn’t be pinned on any single player, coach, or play. Instead, the overall performance simply fell short against Jayden Daniels’ late-game heroics.
“It was a lot of different things. When you look at it, it’s never just about ‘Hey, this is defense,’ or ‘This is offense,’ or ‘This is special teams.’ You have to look at the big picture. In the second half on offense, we only scored four field goals, right? If we finish one of those drives, it’s a different scenario for the defense. Then there’s the kickoff coverage, which wasn’t up to our standard. We gave them good field position multiple times. We gave them a short field off an offensive turnover. All these things contribute,” Sirianni told Eagles reporters.
Related Philadelphia Eagles News Article continues below NFC playoff picture after Falcons win, Buccaneers stumble in Week 16 “I’m always going to tell you and our guys that we missed some tackles that gave up extra yards. We weren’t on the same page in some areas. We gave them free yards with penalties. There were sloppy plays on defense, but everyone contributed to those 36 points, just like the offense and special teams. This is a team sport, and it requires everyone. Just like we talk about complementary football when we create turnovers and then score, or have a big return and do something positive on offense, the same applies when things don’t go well.”
While some fans may not appreciate Sirianni’s approach of taking a broader perspective rather than pointing out specific players for their poor performances, this has been his style with the Eagles: accepting more responsibility than necessary while defending his players individually, instead of calling them out in public. If the Eagles respond in Week 17 with a strong performance against the Dallas Cowboys, regardless of who’s under center—Jalen Hurts, Kenny Pickett, or even Tanner McKee—fans will quickly forget about this sloppiness.
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