Sirianni shoots down theory that Hurts called plays in 2nd half vs. Rams
Sirianni shoots down theory that Hurts called plays in 2nd half vs. Rams originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles' miraculous 33-26 come-from-behind win over the Rams was a tale of two halves offensively.
After getting almost nothing going in the first half, the passing offense erupted in the second, fueling an incredible comeback to erase a 19-point deficit.
But head coach Nick Sirianni on Monday shot down the theory that quarterback Jalen Hurts was calling the offensive plays for that second-half eruption. It was still first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo at the helm, Sirianni said.
Kevin called the plays yesterday in that second half," Sirianni said. But make no mistake about it, Jalen does a great job of communicating. Jalen sees the field really, really, really well. He can come back and tell you what happened without even looking at a picture. And then you look at the picture like, Yeah, that's exactly what happened.' Jalen has a great feel for how that's going.
And so there's communication, right? There's talk through it, everything like that. But yeah, Kevin called the plays. Kevin will continue to call the plays. But I love the communication that we get from Jalen."
The Eagles' offense sputtered for the entire first half against the Rams. At halftime, Hurts had thrown for just 17 yards and A.J. Brown didn't have a single catch. All that changed in the second. The Eagles needed to pass, they put Fred Johnson at right tackle and utilized some tempo to kickstart the offense.
It all worked.
In the second half, Hurts completed 17 of 24 passes for 209 yards with 3 touchdowns. Brown had 6 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. And DeVonta Smith had 6 for 44 and a touchdown.
While Sirianni said Hurts wasn't the one calling the plays, it's clear that Hurts' input made a difference in the win on Sunday.
He's always had a good relationship with Kevin, regardless of Kevin being the coordinator or not," Sirianni said. And Jalen's always seen the field really well. Obviously, he gets better and better and better [with] reps that he takes throughout his career. I think a lot of quarterbacks are that way. And so we've always valued what he sees out there because he can really tell us what he sees out there even better than a picture can show it when you're when you're looking at it.
So that's a really good asset to have as a coaching staff because there's all these things that he does so well that helps us win football games. That's just another one, right? The way he can communicate and talk to us of what he's seeing. That's what you need. That's what you want out of your quarterback. I'm glad we have a quarterback like Jalen Hurts that does that and consistently does that."
Because the Eagles were utilizing tempo in that second half, Hurts did seemingly have more autonomy at the line. But if we take Sirianni at his word, Patullo was still calling the plays and that's going to continue.
Perhaps the offensive success in the second half against the Rams will change the offensive mindset of the 2025 Eagles. Maybe they'll be a little more aggressive going forward.
That's something Hurts said in a FOX postgame interview, when he said the Eagles were playing not to lose" in the first half.
"If that doesn't show you what type of team we are, I don't know what does."
A stunned @JalenHurts joined Pam Oliver after the @Eagles' emotional win at home over the Rams! pic.twitter.com/CebVCD2i1G
- FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 21, 2025
What we said all week, particularly Jalen and Kevin, and obviously I thought that this as well, was we're the offense," Sirianni said. We got to be in this mode of attacking. And that's what our mindset was. And, you know, obviously the first half didn't play out that way for multiple different reasons. But I think that's what Jalen's saying there. I think that's what AJ [Brown is] saying here.
But what I definitely felt from our team is there was this supreme confidence, especially as we started to chip away. We had a bad first half. Then that second half starts like, all right, let's go.' We regroup, let's go. And it got worse, right? It got worse. But then they just, all I saw a team doing was doing everything they could do to find a way to win this game."