For Philadelphia Eagles, Bye Week Offers Healing And Planning

For the Philadelphia Eagles, wild card weekend offers both opportunities and unanswerable questions. There’s an opponent still to be determined, the health of vital players on offense, defense and special teams to navigate (quarterback Jalen Hurts foremost among them), and even the potential for major staff changes looming at the conclusion of the season.

So head coach Nick Sirianni, who thrives on routine and uses one week at a time as a mantra, wasn’t pretending this was a normal week, even as he reiterated the plans and processes Philadelphia has in place. That’s a reasonable approach, considering it helped the Eagles to a 14-3 record, a top seed in the NFC playoffs, and the very week of rest the team is now not only enjoying, but needs.

“Naturally as you go through that process, things pop up, right?”, Sirianni told assembled media on Tuesday. “We talk about sacks. You might have gone in and examined why this was a common denominator, and then something pops up. So, what you’re doing through that, at the end of the sack reel, you say, ‘Hey, anything pop up right there?’ And naturally, we’ve had three things pop up, and that will be tomorrow. Let’s take care of all the pop-up things within the next couple of days.

“We like that process. We feel like we’re very systematic with that process. It’s really the only way I know how to do it, and then just try to improve it each time.

“So, it’s very, very, very similar because when you go back, I don’t know, I make taco soup sometimes for my family. I make the taco soup how I made it the last time because, well my kids don’t love it, but my wife likes it. I make the taco soup the way I did last time. Why do my kids not like it? Well because I didn’t give them enough Frito’s on the side. So maybe then I’ll add a couple of Fritos.”

A critical part of any family meal is who will be around to contribute to it, and the questions around Hurts are foremost in the minds of everyone, Hurts included. The quarterback has not shied away from acknowledging that he’s not 100 percent, still navigating the shoulder injury that cost him two regular season games and inhibited him in the regular season finale against the Giants.

But the 22-16 win in that game bought him more time.

“We are fortunate that we have two weeks till the next time we play, depending on if it’s Saturday or Sunday. We’re fortunate there,” Sirianni said.

“Again, he’s going to be a little bit healthier than what he was obviously the other day. He came out sore, as expected. He came out of that game sore because it’s still healing, right? Like, we didn’t feel like we were putting him at any more risk of getting more injured, but we knew it was going to hurt him like hell, he knew it was going to hurt him like hell. That’s the kind of player he is, that’s the kind of teammate he is. He fought through it because it was important for him to be out there, he knew how important it was for him and his teammates to be out there.”

While receiving less attention, the vital contributors Josh Sweat on the defensive line, and punter Arryn Siposs have both been trending toward healthy this week, giving Philadelphia a potential advantage at the margins they’ll need come next weekend and the divisional playoffs.

And then? At least as long as they play ahead of the Super Bowl, games will be at Lincoln Financial field in front of their rabid home fans. If the journey ends there, or at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, what will follow, potentially, is the departure of both Shane Steichen, their offensive coordinator, and Jonathan Gannon, their defensive coordinator, both understandably in the running for multiple head coaching openings.

It should not surprise anyone that Sirianni has already begun contingency planning.

“Like I said, I know you’re going to hear me say we take it one day at a time. Still as the head coach, I still have to think about those things because that is a very important part of being a head coach, is who you replace guys with. You’re hoping that you have success. You’re hoping you lose guys for the benefit of them and their career and their family.

“You hate to lose guys because the reason they’re here in the first place is because I felt like they were really good coaches. Just like you go into a job interview and you say, ‘I want this guy, this guy, and this guy.’ That’s not always the reality that you’re going to get all those guys.

“It’s the same scenario here. Of course, I want to keep these guys, they’re great coordinators, but in the event that I lose them, I have an idea of what I want to do at both spots. The answer is sometimes, yes, it’s in the building, sometimes it’s outside of the building. But I feel like we have a lot of good options, and I feel like we have a lot of good options in the building that we’d be excited about if that were to happen.”

One day at a time, for sure. But plenty of reasons for excitement is coming for the Eagles in the weeks ahead.