After starting 10-1 last season, the Eagles looked set to return to the Super Bowl. Then everything fell apart and Philadelphia failed to win a playoff game.
The team’s head coach Nick Sirianni and star quarterback Jalen Hurts were not on the same page and must work together to find a better way to move forward in their fourth year.
According to The Athleticsthere was a ‘gap’ between the previous two seasons that has not yet been closed.
The Eagles are expected to be competitive again in the NFC this season, two seasons after losing by 3 points to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
It’s clear that Philadelphia is making progress with both Hurts and Sirianni, so there will be fences to mend.
Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni were out of sync last season and still aren’t perfect
The duo are said to have had a ‘disconnect’ during the Eagles’ collapse at the end of last season
Sirianni became the Eagles’ head coach for the 2021 season, while Hurts was drafted by the team in 2020.
Last April, Hurts received a five-year, $255 million contract extension, of which $180 million is guaranteed.
“We’ve seen Jalen Hurts on the sideline with Nick Sirianni, and they’re not going at each other. But there’s definitely a personality difference,” said Dianna Russini of the Athletic.
“The way I would describe it, the relationship is still a work in progress. There was some distance between them last year, because of their personalities,” Russini continued. “Nick, as we’ve seen, is a very emotional guy. Jalen is a very private guy.”
“They are different people, and that’s fine. You don’t all have to be the same, but you have to be on the same page in terms of what you want to do in attack,” Russini concluded.
The aftermath of last year’s late-season collapse will remain in the back of everyone’s mind until Hurts, Sirianni and the rest of the Eagles can prove that the overwhelming losses are a thing of the past.