Nick Sirianni has made a grand announcement about the official addition of another important prospect to the team.
Even during the Eagles’ 2022 Super Bowl run, Jonathan Gannon remained a divisive figure in Philadelphia.
As defensive coordinator for the Eagles, Gannon’s team recorded the third-highest number of sacks ever last season with 70. On the other hand, Patrick Mahomes scorched the Eagles for 24 points in the second half of Super Bowl LVII against the Kansas City Chiefs, throwing for three touchdowns and just six failures.
Gannon’s hiring as head coach by the Arizona Cardinals two days after the Eagles’ Super Bowl defeat fulfilled the dream of many Eagles supporters.
“Obviously we didn’t finish the job last year, which all of us have the taste in our mouth of, dang, wish we finished the job,” Nick Sirianni, the coach of the Eagles, told ESPN.com “but there still were a lot of special moments last year and in 2021, and Jonathan Gannon was a big part of that.”
This Sunday, Gannon returns to Philadelphia to lead the 3-12 Cardinals against the 11-4 Eagles. The main reason Gannon has had a difficult first season in the desert is because starting quarterback Kyler Murray missed the first nine games of the campaign due to an ACL tear sustained in December of last year.
The Eagles, meanwhile, have just ended a three-game losing streak with a 33-25 victory against the New York Giants. Though it’s ironic that Philadelphia has been struggling recently on one side of the ball, the team still has a good chance of winning the NFC East.
It still baffles me why so many people cheered Gannon’s departure given the overall effectiveness of Philadelphia’s defense in his two seasons as coordinator.
In 2021, Sirianni’s first season as head coach, the team did indeed get off to a slow start. Gannon’s defense gave up 24.2 points per game in the first nine games, which is why Philadelphia lost six of them. The Eagles unexpectedly won six of their following seven games to secure an NFC playoff wild-card spot. The defense played a great seven-game run, giving up 16.5 points per game. (The Eagles’ starting lineup was rested in Week 18.) Despite this, Philadelphia’s youth and inexperience were evident in their 31-15 wild-card loss to Tampa Bay.
For the Eagles, everything came together in 2022. Thanks to a potent offense and solid defense, they won a franchise-high 14 games during the regular season. In their playoff victories over the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia gave up a total of 14 points. During the regular season, Philadelphia allowed 20.2 points per game, which was eighth best in the NFL.
The Eagles offense, which scored 28.1 points per game in 2022 and 26.1 through 15 games this season, has only somewhat regressed.
However, compared to last season, the defense is giving up 24.4 points per game, or 4.2 more than before. Despite adding a significant amount of on-paper talent in the 2023 NFL Draft, the unit has collapsed over the last five games, giving up 30.8 points per game. In order to fix the problem, Sirianni gave veteran New England assistant and former head coach of the Detroit Lions, Matt Patricia, play-calling duties from defensive coordinator Sean Desai, who was in his first season.
The Cardinals are a formidable opponent for the Eagles, who are a double-digit favorite according to DraftKings as of Friday.
Arizona has averaged 20.6 points in six of Murray’s starts, up from 16.7 in the nine games he did not play.
Gannon should have the last laugh even if he is unable to pull off the upset, given the recent collapse of Philadelphia’s defense.
