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Nick Sirianni Says Eagles “Weren’t All on the Same Page” When Commie Ran Right By Landon Dickerson for Sack
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This was sort of detailed from Nick Sirianni’s Monday press conference. A little bit of word salad, a little bit of an explanation.
It’s about the play in which a Washington defender went right around Landon Dickerson for a sack:
Q. The unblocked pressure rate is probably the highest in the NFL, and you still had a number of them again in this game. I’m sure if I asked you about it generally, you’d say it’s a number of things, but I want to focus on one play in particular early in the second quarter, second-and-five at the Washington 44. It looked like there was a — I don’t know what it was. Can you tell me how three guys went to block one guy and a free rusher sacked QB Tanner McKee? What went wrong there? Can you help us understand how that happens? (Jeff McLane)
Nick Sirianni: Yeah. On that particular one, I’m just trying to think about how much I want to give you on that without getting too much into it.
Q. I mean, you can even say, is it mental error? Is it execution? Is it communication? Is it wasn’t taught right? I think there’s a way without saying a person’s name without – (Jeff McLane)
Nick Sirianni: Thanks for helping me with that. On that one, got in, there was a check on the play. We’ve got to be able to get the play in and get to the line of scrimmage so we can go through our process as fast as we possibly can, so everybody then, if you do have a check, is able to make their calls in an appropriate time before you’re up against the play clock. You go in a lot. Sometimes there’s call-it-and-haul-it plays and sometimes there’s checks on plays. That particular one had a check on it and they ended up getting us there. I think at the end of the day, we weren’t all on the same page with the check and there’s many reasons for that of when we got up to the line of scrimmage, when the check was made. So again, many things and then just the communication within it.
I think it’s going to look like, on that one, that it’s all on [G] Landon [Dickerson] and that’s not the case. I though Landon played really solid yesterday, and it’s not the case. Obviously, you saw that we were messed up there and different things accounted for that and we weren’t all on the same page. Really, back at the end of the day, you’re not going to pitch a perfect game and being on the same page — a hundred percent on mental errors. It’s just an imperfect game. As much as you try for that, that’s your goal. But when you’re not, those are the things that can happen. Defensively, you can give up an explosive play. Offensively, you can give up a negative play that can be disastrous. Obviously, that stalled the drive out, and we all have to be better as coaches, from the communication of who’s in the game, to us getting the play in, to us calling the play in the huddle, to us getting to the line of scrimmage, to us making a check in the right amount of time, to all the guys being able to make a call, and then going out and executing.
So again, it isn’t just one thing. Hopefully I gave you a little bit there that helps you answer your question, but it isn’t ever just one thing. It is the series of things that lead to it and we all have to be better in that moment. I know you guys think that it’s cliche, but it’s truly the greatest team sport there is. And maybe I’m the only one that thinks that, but I do believe this is the greatest team sport there is, in good times and in bad times as well, or on positive plays and on negative plays. Everybody has a hand in it and that’s why it’s so important that a connection is made with players, players to players, coach to player, because those are so important and you need your teammates to be successful.
“We weren’t all on the same page with the check.”
Seemed obvious at the time! Landon Dickerson didn’t leave a guy completely unblocked because he’s an idiot. He didn’t slide right for a triple team because he’s an idiot. There’s a lot of this stuff on tape in 2026, so it’s clear that it’s a coaching and/or communication problem. It always seems to happen with slide protections, which don’t seem to make any sense schematically:
This is another five-man pressure from the Commanders. They were doing it all night. They send Frankie Luvu and the other Commies behind them are in quarters coverage. The Eagles have six players to block five, and the numbers are fine, but Dickerson turns to his right and ends up in a fugazi triple team that leaves Shy Tuttle unblocked.
Not sure why it’s happening, but an easy fix would be getting the play in earlier, getting up to the line of scrimmage earlier, and giving yourself time to diagnose the defense and process these checks, because they’ve been slow in this department over the years, There’s no stat in our database that signifies when they break the huddle, but we do have stats for when they snap the ball:
- 2026: Snapping with an average of 8.54 seconds remaining on the play clock (7th-slowest / 26th in most time remaining).
- 2025: Averaged 7.81 seconds remaining (4th-slowest / 29th).
- 2024: Averaged 8.56 seconds remaining (4th-slowest / 29th).
It’s hard enough with Jalen Hurts and DeVonta Smith and guys who have played together for a while. Yet they continue to play slow with a backup QB and a bunch of backup skill players. Throw in a new offensive coordinator and offensive line coach and it’s really not surprising that they look this bad from an operational and schematic standpoint.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com