The first results of the Eagles coaching team were predictable

PHILADELPHIA – A single dropped pass in Week 2 highlighted just how precarious the situation is in Philadelphia, which comes as Jeffrey Lurie tries to gain the upper hand after the Eagles collapsed last season.

Having Nick Sirianni's teeth pulled is a sign that Lurie was fed up with his head coach, and that creating little fiefdoms for Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio was a not-so-subtle approach to relaxation.

Sirianni seemingly maintained control, keeping a 30,000-foot view of the Eagles, and Lurie avoided being labeled a reactionary owner who fired another head coach with a Super Bowl appearance still in sight.

At times, Sirianni seems to have grown tired of his attempts to take political control of this chaotic system.

While the head coach still speaks dutifully, as if everything that comes onto the field is his responsibility, Sirianni occasionally rolls up his eyes at those who believe that movement is some kind of golden ticket to offensive success.

Or perhaps point to the team's historic run from 2-5 in 2021 to 10-1 last season, in which the offense was more consistent than in any other era in the 91 years of Eagles football.

When pressed to overlook the play by Moore that led to the blatant drop of Saquon Barkley heard about throughout the Delaware Valley and a disappointing but hardly devastating 21-22 loss to Atlanta that exposed all of those flaws, Sirianni reacted with incredulity. Sirianni technically hasn't called a play for the Eagles since Week 9 of the 2021 season.

“Kellen is the offensive coordinator who makes the decisions, yes. If you try to provoke that. I'm the head coach,” Sirianni said.

Outside the NovaCare complex, the story is meaningless, except in moments like this, when the notion arises that Sirianni did not hire his coordinators and cannot overrule them anyway.

Lost in the ether of a Week 2 collapse is the question of why anyone would want to override a very effective play that was poorly executed when a team was up 1-0 and less than two minutes away from making it 2-0, when said execution could have secured the latter.

Sirianni's rather trivial dismissal of Lurie's alleged loyalty to his analytics department has led some outside voices to believe that the head coach has reached the stage where, after his departure, he can do whatever he wants in the limited areas in which he can influence the team.

“There are about 20 websites where you can enter a number … you can see that,” Sirianni said dismissively earlier this week. “I rely on [decisions] of what I have studied and of my beliefs about what I am studying.”

Lurie ultimately controls everything that goes on in his building, and instead of showing the courage of conviction earlier this year, the Eagles owner presented a painstakingly crafted compromise that was so shaky that one small hiccup exposed too many potential flaws.

What does the table say about this?

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