3 Eagles on Thin Ice Following Week 5 Bye
By Jovan Alford
After an inconsistent first month of the regular season, the Philadelphia Eagles entered October with a Week 5 bye. The bye week came at the right time for the Eagles, who got hammered by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 33-16 in Week 4.
Based on the moves the team made in the offseason on the roster and coaching staff, there was a belief that the Eagles would be a better football team in 2024.
However, this season has been far from perfect for a team that struggled massively down the stretch last season and hasn’t done much to change the narrative about them. The Eagles will return to the practice field this week as they prepare to play the Cleveland Browns in Week 6.
The Browns have been one of the more disappointing teams in the league and will be a good test for the Eagles to see if they’ve learned from their mistakes.
If Philadelphia cannot fix the issues that plagued them in September, it won’t be a great rest of the regular season. Below, we’ll highlight three Eagles on thin ice coming off the Week 5 bye.
1. Nick Sirianni
Thin ice is usually reserved for players, but the Philadelphia Eagles head coach hasn’t done a great job suppressing the talk about his future with the organization.
The Eagles decided to bring back Sirianni after the team lost seven out of their last eight games, which included a terrible playoff road loss. Philadelphia made wholesale changes to its coaching staff, bringing on new offensive (Kellen Moore) and defensive (Vic Fangio) coordinators.
However, things haven’t improved with the Eagles despite the abundance of talent on offense and a new defensive coordinator calling the shots. Sirianni has been under fire for some of his decisions in the Eagles’ Week 2 and 3 games against the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints.
While Sirianni’s decision-making played a part in the Eagles’ heartbreaking loss to the Falcons in Week 2, the Eagles overcame those same puzzling decisions in Week 3 against the Saints.
That said, the Eagles’ Week 4 performance was a huge indictment on Sirianni as they looked unprepared and could not make the proper adjustments. With guys like Bill Belichick and Mike Vrabel lingering as potential head coaching candidates after this season, Eagles fans aren’t too fond of keeping Sirianni around if things do not improve.
Nevertheless, the veteran head coach has a chance to change the trajectory of his coaching career with the Eagles as Philly will play a struggling Browns team in Week 6. If Sirianni can’t get his guys to play fundamentally sound and make the necessary plays to win, the calls for him to be fired will only get louder.