Philadelphia Eagles: What Gardner Minshew taught us about Nick Sirianni

The New York Jets are bad.

They rank 29th against the pass, 30th against the run, and have been outscored by an average of 12.3 points per game, which, unsurprisingly, is also bottom-of-the-barrel stuff.

Of the three wings they’ve recorded on the season, only one, in Week 12 versus the Houston Texans, came by more than three points, and their nine losses came by a combined score of 135-298, which, again, is really bad.

With that context out of the way, Gardner Minshew took a Philadelphia Eagles squad he’d only joined back in August a few hours up I-95, marched them into a MetLife Stadium where they’d lost a stunner one week earlier and delivered the goods to secure the seventh and final Wildcard spot in the NFL standings, even if that could undoubtedly change next week while the team is on their bye.

Was he perfect? No. Minshew completed half of his passes for 10 or fewer yards and underthrew all four of his passes of 20 or more yards – seriously, rewatch his first touchdown of the game to Dallas Goedert here – but in a game where the Eagles were unquestionably the better team, “The Mustache” didn’t do a darn thing to put the game’s final outcome in jeopardy, or allow the Jets to hang around in a game that was effectively decided at the half.

So where does this leave the state of the Philadelphia Eagles’ franchise moving forward? Are we collectively about to enter yet another quarterbacks controversy a la 2020… or 2019… or 2018… or etc., or should the game be looked at more as a solid performance by a backup quarterback doing what he gets paid to do? Frankly, I don’t think this game says a whole lot about Gardner Minshew or, for that matter, Jalen Hurts. No, if Week 13 holds any relevance in the grand scheme of things, it’s for the insight it gives to Nick Sirianni as both a play-caller and a play designer.

The Philadelphia Eagles learned a lot about Nick Sirianni in Week 13.

From Weeks 9-12, the Philadelphia Eagles targeted running backs 13 times.

Not 13 times per game, mind you – the Eagles barely threw the ball 13 times per game over that tenure (sarcasm) – 13 times total, good for a 3.25 targets per game average.

In Week 13, the Eagles more than doubled that total, with Gardner Minshew throwing five passes to Kenneth Gainwell for five catches and 33 yards and Miles Sanders picking up 22 more yards on three catches/targets.

Is that a big difference? Not particularly, but it’s a notable change from what the Eagles’ offense has looked like over the past month and highlights how the team’s rookie head coach is capable of adjusting his offense to fit his personnel.

With Jalen Hurts on the sidelines in street clothes instead of a white 1 jersey with black pants, Sirianni knew he wouldn’t have a uniquely mobile quarterback capable of bailing him out of situations and would-be sacks. His solution? Embracing Minshew’s pension for check-downs by giving him a slew of easy options just a few yards in front of the line of scrimmage.

Want to know what else Sirianni did to take the pressure off of Minshew? He gave a ton more rushing attempts to Sanders, who finished out the contest with his most carries as an NFL player. Despite it looking an awful lot like Sanders wasn’t Sirianni’s preferred style running back, the Penn State product had one fewer rushing attempt than Minshew threw the ball and recorded his first triple-digit rushing yard game of the season.

With a strong rushing game in place and the play-action offense very much in play, Minshew was able to supplement his high-percentage short-yardage passing plays with choice intermediate passes down the field, which helped to pave the way for Dallas Goedert‘s best game as a pro and gave him an average yards-per-attempt of 9.7, which is notably higher than Hurts’ average of 6.9.

Sidebar: How was this only Goedert’s second 100 yard receiving game as a pro? That feels wrong.

All-in-all, a very good showing for Sirianni as a head coach, even if his decision to whip out a trick play versus the Jets was unusual and DeVonta Smith was criminally under-targeted for the second-straight game. But how can these changes further impact the team’s offense identity moving forward when Hurts is back in at quarterback – Sirianni’s words, not mine – and the team is facing off against a team that isn’t as bad as the New York Jets?

Well, for one, play-action works. With Jason Kelce’s status very much up in the air moving forward, the Eagles would be wise to run more plays from under center and try to trick would-be coverage linebackers into prematurely coming downhill. That would help to open up the middle of the field for players like Goedert to operate and potentially even open up running lanes for Hurts if he opts to kick it outside.

Speaking of running the ball with Hurts, what if he took a page or two from Minshew and opted to simply check-down a few passes instead of running the ball with three would-be sackers collapsing the pocket around him? Sure, many a Hurts run can generate more positive yards than a check-down to a running back would, but throwing a few more of those balls per game would force would-be tacklers to play both players honestly, which, in turn, makes both options more effective.

Sidebar: Fast forward a few months into the future, and the Eagles might just want to invest in a power rushing pass-catcher who can downfield block for Hurts on improvised runs. I know that’s a problem for another day, but still, such a player would be a welcomed addition to a Hurts-run offense.

Factor in a few more legitimate deep balls thrown down the field, think the would-be touchdown Jalen Reagor dropped on the final drive of Week 12, and the Eagles’ offense could actually find multiple ways to win games over the next month, which is very important, considering they are very much still in the mix for a playoff spot.

In the grand scheme of things, the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense is still a work in progress. They’ve cycled through like three different offensive identities so far this season and will surely fold in a few more looks into their bag of tricks by the time the Dallas Cowboys roll into the Linc for the regular season finale. But by updating his offense to take advantage of Gardner Minshew’s different style of play while keeping the run attempts up and many of his core offensive principles intact, Nick Sirianni proved that he is very much a viable NFL head coach who values winning over schematic purity, even if he has to consistently adjust week-in and week-out to make that happen.