On Friday, Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen spoke with members of the Philadelphia media, where he confirmed he’ll be the primary play caller for Philly’s offense in 2022.
Steichen went on to confirm that he essentially took over the play calling duties about halfway through the 2021 season.
Throughout the first half of last year, the Eagles offense was pass happy. Jalen Hurts struggled to find consistency with this approach and in turn the Eagles struggled to score points. At the halfway point against the Detroit Lions, Nick Sirianni and Steichen changed things up.
The Eagles became the most run-heavy team in the league, finishing the year with a run-pass ratio of 52.7% to 47.3%. Only two other teams in the NFL ran the ball on at least 50% of their offensive plays, Tennessee and New Orleans.
From Week 8 on, the Eagles went 7-3 and finished the season as the No. 1 rushing team in football, totaling 2,715 yards on the ground while averaging 159.7 rushing yards per game and 4.9 yards per attempt.
Now that Steichen is the unquestioned play caller, the heavy emphasis on the running game should remain in place. From what we’ve seen, he has a clear understanding of how to get the most out of Hurts. Every good play caller understands the strengths/weaknesses of their quarterback.
Steichen’s role as the play caller should help Sirianni as well. There were times last season when it appeared Sirianni was a bit overwhelmed with both calling plays and handling the play-to-play duties of being the head coach. Whether it was questionable challenges, oddly timed trick plays, or unnecessary timeouts, Sirianni had his ups and downs last year. It got cleaned up as the season went on, and some of that has to be attributed to the shift in play calling duties.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The Eagles had success with Steichen as their play caller in the latter half of 2021. There’s no reason to switch it up now.
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