Eagles

Nick Sirianni Notes that if He Benched Everyone who Made a Mistake, There Would Be No One to Put in the Game

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Oct 31st, 2023 · 11:28 AM EDT

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Nick Sirianni said on Monday that the Eagles spoke with Kenny Gainwell about using his phone at halftime of Sunday’s win in Washington.

The presumable CliffsNotes is that he shouldn’t be responding to dickheads on Instagram, preferably ever, but especially not during a game itself. You fumble, it happens, move on and make the next play.

That quote was part of a longer answer addressing red zone and running back usage:

“I think we’ve been on a climb. I think two weeks, three weeks ago we were 27th in the red zone; we moved down to 19th, or up to 19th. (Sunday) we were 3 for 5 with two turnovers in there. Obviously, any time you turn the ball over down there you’re going to be kicking yourself.

I would say the second turnover led to points. Let me rephrase that. The second turnover on the quarterback sneak we got a stop on defense, and then we got a good punt return and then scored the next possession.

But, again, it’s not one man’s job to score touchdowns in the red zone. So, you asked me about D’Andre and you asked me about Kenny down there. It’s us putting the players in positions to succeed. It’s the O-line leading the way and the tight ends leading the way on the blocks, it’s Jalen making the right read if we’re running the football down there.

Again, I’ve got a lot of faith in these guys. Alright, Kenny had a fumble this week, but he had an unbelievable run the week before against Miami. One reaction to a mistake, if we reacted sometimes maybe I feel like how people want us to react at times, then all of our guys make mistakes. We wouldn’t have anybody to put in. We would be putting in Brian Johnson to hand the ball off to Jemal Singleton, and we know nobody wants that.

I still have a lot of faith in these guys, and I still have a lot of faith in Kenny.”

Sirianni still has faith, but the fan base does not. It’s legit to ask what Gainwell provides that Swift, Boston Scott, and Rashaad Penny (always inactive) do not. Pass protection is probably it, unless Gainwell has pictures of someone that we don’t know about.

To the red zone statistics, Sirianni I think is talking about TDs. According to the SportRadar data, the Eagles have a 78.8% red zone scoring percentage, which is 28th in the league. That means that roughly one out of five times they’re entering the red zone and not scoring a touchdown OR a field goal. But if we’re talking strictly touchdowns, they’re at 51.5%, which is 18th, and middle of the pack. Certainly the turnovers hamper that. They’re one of just five teams with multiple red zone fumbles. Add to the fact that they’ve entered the red zone 33 times, which is second-highest in the league, and the numbers should be much better there.

There are certainly other factors, like 4th down attempts in lieu of field goals, and a pair of red zone entries in which they simply just ran the clock out in the fourth quarter, but outliers aside, they’re still lagging behind.