The Eagles are 1-0, but have some reason for concern after the offense struggled vs. the Patriots

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – As Nick Sirianni walked to the podium he asked an aide if his former coordinators Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon, and his former boss Frank Reich won in their first games as head coaches of the Colts, Cardinals, and Panthers, respectively.

They did not.

It’s tough to win the NFL, as the cliche goes, but the Eagles’ ugly 25-20 victory over the Patriots on Sunday suggested the opposite: It’s also tough to lose when you have superior talent.

And despite some questionable decision-making from Sirianni and play-calling from Steichen’s and Gannon’s replacements — Brian Johnson and Sean Desai — the Eagles escaped Gillette Stadium with a season opener that they better hope had more to do with new faces at the coordinator spots than anything related to their competency.

» READ MORE: The Eagles’ season-opening victory over Patriots is ugly, with a capital UGH

But at the risk of falling into a Week 1 overreaction trap, there was obvious reason for concern, especially on the offensive side of the ball where the Eagles had little change this offseason, the most significant being Johnson.

Sirianni didn’t seem to take issue with his offensive coordinator’s first game ever as an NFL play-caller, even though it was statistically speaking that unit’s worst outing since 2021.

“I thought he was awesome,” Sirianni said. “I thought he adjusted. Communication was great. I didn’t feel [there were] operation problems on the offensive side. We had some operation problems elsewhere. … Brian’s cool and calm and has a great demeanor about himself.

“He made some adjustments in the second half to throw it more knowing we were struggling in the run game.”

» READ MORE: Kenneth Gainwell emerges as Eagles go with three halfbacks in the opener

The numbers were far from awesome, though. The offense scored only one touchdown — thanks to the short field set up by a Jordan Davis forced fumble — and settled for four field goals. The Eagles finished with only 251 total yards and 4.1 yards per play — lower than any game last season aside from the 3.9 yards they were held to by the Cowboys in Week 6.

Sirianni credited Bill Belichick and the Patriots, and rightfully so. If they were going to have any chance against the defending NFC champions, they were going to have to hang their hats on their defense.

They have top-end personnel led by edge rusher Matthew Judon, but Belichick employed a coverage scheme that kept Hurts and his receivers off-kilter for most of the game.

“I don’t know what their game plan was,” receiver DeVonta Smith said. “They did a great job of disguising their coverage. We never knew what they were doing, so I honestly can’t tell you what they were doing.”

According to receiver A.J. Brown, the Patriots were trusting their cornerbacks on the outside, but clogging up the middle with defenders passing off in match-up zones.

“I think Belichick did a really good job of just throwing lots of stuff at us,” Brown said. “Changing a lot of things up at the last minute, and it was tough. I don’t think we were not prepared, but I just think he was throwing so many curveballs and it was just hard to adjust.”

» READ MORE: Eagles’ DeVonta Smith ‘rocks the baby’ with his TD celebration the day after his newborn daughter arrived

Hurts, though, had a different take on the Patriots’ pre-snap disguises.

“The NFL is a huge league of disguises,” he said. “That’s what it is … so for us, I don’t think it’s necessarily about anyone else. It’s about us and how we control the things that we can.”

Hurts completed 9 of 13 passes in the first half, but for just 47 yards. Johnson’s halftime adjustments opened up the passing game some in the second half. Brown and Smith caught nine passes for 126 yards after the break.

But New England took away the deep half from the outside receivers and, most impressively, the short half from Dallas Goedert. The tight end was shut out and had only one target the entire game. Some of that had to do with the defense, but there were a few occasions when Hurts simply missed him.

“We can’t go a game without getting him the football. He’s too good of a playmaker,” Sirianni said. “But there were some things that the Patriots did that made it difficult to get him quick, easy touches.”

A steady rain factored into Johnson’s run-heavy play-calling in the first half. It worked well on the opening drive with starting running back Kenneth Gainwell carrying the load. But the series stalled on third down on a play that seemed to confuse the offense and resulted in a busted block that allowed Judon a free pass at Hurts.

Darius Slay’s pick-six gave the Eagles a 10-0 lead, and Hurts hit Smith in the end zone on a sprint out after the Davis turnover, but the offense went three-and-out on its next four possessions.

One of the drives ended with a Boston Scott run up the middle on third-and-10.

“That third-and-10, if I get [Patriots linebacker Ja’Whaun] Bentley and we pin this down, that play’s a first down,” Eagles center Jason Kelce said. “I know it’s questionable. But in my opinion that call was wide open. … Shane, if we’re talking about play-calling, he used to run the ball all the time on third down.”

Sirianni said run calls in those situations could be labeled aggressive, but the Eagles were often passive. He ran out the clock before the half even though he had two timeouts and 25 seconds left, and Johnson once settled for a 56-yard Jake Elliott field goal — which he, of course, made — with a run on third-and-20.

While Sirianni said Johnson called the game “with conviction,” Hurts seemed to acknowledge that there will be an adjustment period.

“That’s something that we are navigating,” he said, “and that is something that happens when you have different roles and new guys and new places and new faces. We’re going to continue to grow.”

Sirianni conceded that rust may have contributed to the overall sloppiness. He opted to not play his starters in the preseason for the first time, something he indicated that he regretted.

“I’ll re-evaluate that,” Sirianni said. “Second thought, if I had to do it all over again right now, I’d say, yeah, I’d play the starters one or two drives in the preseason.”

Hurts didn’t want to look back, and the same could be said for how he viewed the game he had just finished. He didn’t get much assistance from his offensive line and his play-caller, but he missed reads, took sacks, and had what could have been a game-turning fumble with three and a half minutes remaining.

“I think we obviously have things that we need to work on and have to be better in those situations when the ball is in my hands, and I take full accountability for that,” Hurts said. “But good thing about it is we get the opportunity to play on Thursday.”

And the best thing about it is they won a game they had every right to lose.