No Matter Who Is The Eagles Offensive Coordinator – Two Other Things Must Change

by Marc Narducci | Jan 23, 2026

The greatest offseason sport in Philadelphia is the offensive coordinator watch. It was no surprise that two days after the Eagles’ season-ending 23-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round, that offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo was fired after one season on the job.

Patullo, who completed his fifth season as an Eagles assistant, was in over his head as an OC, but it will be short-sighted to suggest that the problems will cease with his dismissal.

Actually, there is apparently a chance he remains with the team. That hasn’t been determined as of press time, but the Eagles won’t allow him to get near calling the plays.

We thought the best person the Eagles could have hired was Kevin Stefanski, but the former Penn star who was recently fired as the head coach at Cleveland, has accepted the head coaching position at Atlanta.

Former Miami head coach Mike McDaniel is somebody who won’t lack OC job offers, but apparently McDaniel is waiting to see if he can pull a Stefanski and earn a head coaching job after recently being fired.

McDaniel has intricate schemes, something that the vanilla offense that the Eagles ran sorely lacked.

ESPN reported that former NY Giants head coach Brian Daboll will interview for the OC job. Again, Daboll, who is credited with helping the development of a young Josh Allen in Buffalo, would appear to be a good candidate.

In fact, there are several good candidates out there, but no matter who is hired two things have to happen for it to work.

First off, head coach Nick Sirianni has to have his hands off the offense. Remember in his first season, Sirianni fired himself as offensive coordinator before the midway point of the season and gave the duties to Shane Steichen, who was instrumental in the Eagles reaching the Super Bowl the next season.

Steichen earned the head coaching job at Indianapolis as a result. The following season, Brian Johnson, another first-time overmatched offensive coordinator, had little success. Sirianni had his fingerprints more on that offense and the Eagles collapsed, suffering a late-season swoon and exiting in the first round of the playoffs.

Kellen Moore was hired as the OC in 2024, and the Eagles won the Super Bowl, earning Moore the head coaching job with the New Orleans Saints.

BTW – Moore did a nice job with the 6-11 Saints, who many felt could have been the worst team in the NFL at the beginning of the season.

The second thing that has to happen is that Jalen Hurts must be amenable to running the ball more. When asked about running the ball, Hurts insisted that he would do anything it takes to win, but there were reports that he didn’t want to run as much and whether that is true or not, the statistics showed that he ran the ball less and also less effectively.

Hurts has been a full-time starter in the NFL for five seasons.

This year he had his lowest rushing attempts (105) and yardage (421). His average yards per carry of 4.0 was his second worst in those five seasons.

Want to guess the other?

That was 2023 when the offense fell apart. Hurts averaged just 3.9 yards per carry.

We get it why Hurts would not like to run as much. Quarterbacks have a great chance of injury if they run more.

Still, that was part of his game that made Hurts a dynamic quarterback. Without a viable running threat, he simply isn’t good enough.

It’s no coincidence that Hurts’ two best playoff games were the Eagles Super Bowl appearances when he ran the ball so effectively. He threw the ball well in both, but he was also a running threat.

In the 38-35 loss to Kansas City, he threw for 301 yards and a touchdown, but also rushed for 70 yards and three scores on 15 carries.

Article continues below

- Seizing the Moment

After the spring season was canceled last year due to the pandemic, these standout student-athletes from South Jersey are hoping to make the most of their opportunities in 2021.

Last year’s Super Bowl, when Hurts was the MVP, he completed 17-of-22 for 221 yards, two touchdowns and one interception while rushing for 72 yards on 11 carries (6.5 avg.) and one TD.

His running makes him a better passer because it forces the defense to respect all aspects of his game. When he is not running or not doing it effectively, he simply isn’t good enough to consistently beat teams from the pocket.

No matter who is the new offensive coordinator, they will have to incorporate Hurts as more of a runner.

And even if there aren’t many designed runs, Hurts has the ability to take off when his receivers are covered. He has to be convinced to do it more.

Hurts will be 28 next season and quarterbacks who rely strongly on the run, usually have shorter careers.

We’re not saying he has to do it all the time, but Hurts must make the defense respect his running ability.

This season and especially late in the year, teams decided that Hurts had to beat them as a passer, and we all know how that strategy worked out.

Photo of Eagles QB Jalen Hurts / Courtesy of the Philadelphia Eagles

Author: Marc Narducci

No Matter Who Is The Eagles Offensive Coordinator – Two Other Things Must Change

Related Articles

Archives