Nick Sirianni hints at changes coming to Eagles' plan out of halftime

Nick Sirianni hints at changes coming to Eagles' plan out of halftime originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Eagles have gotten the football first out of halftime in all three of their games to start the 2026 season.

What do they have to show for it?

Three 3-and-outs.

After Jalen Hurts on Monday night stressed the need to be better in those situations, head coach Nick Sirianni hinted that changes are coming to the Eagles’ offensive plans out of the halftime locker room. He just wouldn’t say what those changes are going to be.

“Not going to get into what we’ll do as far as that goes. I don’t think that’s good for anybody,” Sirianni said. “But if you keep doing the same thing over and over again and it’s not working, then you’ve got to try to move on and fix it. Couple things that we’ll try to do that we’ve been able to accomplish sometimes in the past.”

Sirianni eventually said their failures haven’t been based on a theme from the defenses they’ve faced; it’s about the Eagles’ fixing their own stuff. And he added that they’re working on things in their first- and second-down game plan.

The Eagles might be the only team to win every coin toss and not be lucky. Because that’s what has happened in each of the first three weeks. The Eagles have won the coin toss and elected to defer because that’s what the analytics tell them to do.

But the Eagles’ three second-half opening drives have resulted in three punts. They have run four negative plays, have been called for two penalties and have exactly zero net yards to show from those drives.

This needs to change because the Eagles are squandering huge chances. We saw that on Monday night. They were able to score a touchdown on the final play of the first half to snatch the momentum from the Bears. And maybe the game would have been different if the Eagles were able to get points on that first drive after half.

Think of it like a 2-for-1 situation in basketball.

“Those are critical moments in the sense that you go down and you kind of work a double-dip,” Sirianni said. “Meaning you score at the end of half, you turn around and you score again. That’s a big momentum switch, especially if that’s like 14 points. Even if it’s field goal, field goal it’s six points. And so we know how critical that is and we have to fix that portion of our game right now.”

These early third-quarter drives have been driving the Eagles’ second-half failures. Through three games, the Eagles have been out-scored 40-20 in second halves and have been out-gained 563-334.

In the third quarter, the Eagles have just 115 total yards (31st in the NFL) and are averaging just 2.80 yards per play (dead last).

Here’s a recap of how those first drives out of the half have gone:

Week 1 vs. Commanders: 3 plays, 8 yards, punt
Start at own 26

1-10: Saquon Barkley right guard -1
2-11: Hurts pass short left to Makai Lemon for -3
3-14: Hurts pass short left to Dallas Goedert for 12
4-2: Punt

Week 2: 3 plays, 2 yards (-13 net yards), punt
Start at own 40

1-10: Barkley right end 1, Tyler Steen called for hold
1-20: Hurts pass short right to Johnny Mundt for 6
2-14: Hurts scramble up middle 6, Lane Johnson illegal formation
2-19: Hurts pass short left to Will Shipley for 7
3-12: Hurts sacked for -11
4-23: Punt

Week 3: 3 plays, 5 yards (5 net yards), punt
Start at own 20

1-10: Barkley right tackle for 7
2-3: Hurts pass short right to Barkley right for -2
3-5: Hurts pass incomplete short middle to Zach Ertz
4-5: Punt

“For us, in the first three games, we haven’t been good enough coming out of half,” Hurts said. “We have not scored on the first drive of half. We’ve gotten the ball every time. We love to score when you get the ball on the 40 (yard-line). You get some of these kicks. You get 60 yards of field to work with. We’ve just got to be better.”

from https://ift.tt/rUAmBxI