PHILADELPHIA — Nick Sirianni likely knew the question was coming. How could he not?
The Philadelphia Eagles went scoreless in the first quarter in their first game coming out of the bye week. Sirianni’s Eagles are the only team in the NFL to not score a point in the first quarter this season, the first time since 1934 the Eagles don’t have any first quarter points through five games.
That was the second year of the franchise’s existence, back when Swede Hanson was running through defenders at the Baker Bowl. The Eagles have a 1930s style offense in the first quarter of games, an indictment on Sirianni and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
Sirianni, one who clearly reads what is written about him (and doesn’t hide it), masked with his three kids next to his side as he was forced to answer the question about why his football team got off to another slow start. Just like how he was aggressive toward his own fanbase when the Eagles barely beat the Cleveland Browns, that belligerence carried over into the press conference room.
“I mean, you guys keep talking about it and we have to — defense started fast, right?” an emotional Sirianni said as he was finding the words to say. “Defense started fast. We’ll say it about the offense. The defense started fast. You know what? We [the offense] started slowly. First two series we didn’t score, but then they put their head down and went down and got points and then they did it again.
“So, I don’t want that to be in their heads. We didn’t execute. We didn’t call good enough plays, and we didn’t score early on, but we scored and got up 10-0.”
The touchdown was scored with 7:17 left in the second quarter, on the Eagles fourth possession. The Eagles had just 63 yards in the first quarter, as Jalen Hurts went just 2 of 7 for 19 yards. On the first two possessions, the Eagles had 10 plays for 21 yards as Hurts went 0 for 4.
The Eagles are last in the NFL in first quarter scoring (0 points), 27th in yards per game (48.0) in the first quarter, and 27th in yards per play in the first quarter (3.9). Jalen Hurts is completing 58.6% of his passes in the opening quarter, with no touchdowns and one interception. The 59.3 passer rating is 29th in the NFL.
Perhaps there’s a reason why the slow starts are a point of emphasis.
“It’s definitely on our mind,” said Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson. “It’s something that we haven’t done for a long time, really dating back to last year. We would love to see it coming up.
“A win’s a win. It wasn’t pretty, but like you said, the way we start games needs to be better.”
The poor starts aren’t just a narrative, they are historic in the 92-year history of the Eagles. Even with A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith back, the first quarter scoring woes still existed.
“Everybody wants a game of perfection, you know. They get paid too,” Brown said. “They gonna do a job to try to stop us. That’s why I’m not too worried about it. You make the judgment as you go. Most importantly you learn. We got the win.”
The players certainly handled the slow start questions better than Sirianni did. Those questions aren’t going to go away until the Eagles score in the first quarter.
“You guys have a job to do and you’re going to fixate on one thing and say, ‘Oh, they haven’t started fast and turned the ball over,'” a defensive Sirianni said. “We’ve got it. We’re going to do everything we can do to fix it. I don’t want that to be in their heads.
“That’s why I’m basically telling you guys that we got it. We’ll figure it out. Sometimes you get things in your head, and you continue to — and it kind of works there.
“The defense started their ass off. The defense started their ass off. It was 10-nothing to start the football game off and the defense didn’t let up a play. So, they played their ass off. They started fast, right?”
The combative Sirianni will likely get the same questions later this week. The answers could go in plenty of different directions.
