Nick Sirianni says he can design offense around Wentz or Hurts

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During his introductory press conference last week, Eagles new head coach Nick Sirianni said he hadn’t even thought about naming a starting quarterback yet.

OK, that’s hard to believe.

But Sirianni has obviously inherited a tricky quarterback situation in Philadelphia. No one really knows how it’s going to work out, but in an NBC10 1-on-1 interview with John Clark, Sirianni said he’s confident in his ability to build an offense around either quarterback — Carson Wentz or Jalen Hurts.

That confidence comes from what the Colts have been able to do with three different starters in the last three seasons.

“I really do,” Sirianni said. “We went through the hard times. The week before the season when Andrew (Luck) retired, we went through the hard times. Let’s start again. And that’s kind of the philosophy that I love to have. The good, the bad, no matter what, you just start again. You have a good play, start again. You have a bad play, start again. It’s the same thing here with quarterbacks.

“All three of those guys were really good and they did a great job. But you just start again. What did Andrew do good? It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t play here anymore. What does Jacoby (Brissett) do good? Start again. We just got Philip Rivers, what does he do good? What did Jacoby do good? Doesn’t matter. Start again. And so you just start again over and over and over again. I’m confident that’s in our mindset, that’s in our DNA, to start again and to figure out what our guys do best and put them in the best situations to be in.”

In 2018, with Luck, the Colts had the No. 5 offense in the NFL and they had the second-most passing attempts in the league. That offense was built behind the strength of a really talented quarterback and the Colts went 10-6.

In 2019, after Luck retired just before the season, they had to start over with Brissett. The Colts went from second in the NFL in pass attempts to 24th the next season. And they began to rely more on their running attack with a top-10 rushing offense, but went 7-9.

And in 2020, after getting Rivers, the Colts found a middle ground. They were 20th in pass attempts and were 10th in rushing attempts on their way to an 11-5 record and another playoff berth.

After Rivers retired, the Colts will likely have their fourth different starting quarterback in four years but that’s for Reich to figure out. (Heck, maybe it’ll even end up being Wentz.) In Philly, it will be up to Sirianni to develop the Eagles’ offense around Wentz or Hurts, depending on how the next few months go.

The fact that the Colts were able to have success with different types of quarterbacks should give Eagles fans some hope with the current QB situation in Philly. But … it’s also important to remember that Wentz and Hurts are very different quarterbacks so the offense with either of them will look very different. Because of that, you’d think the Eagles will want to make this decision and move forward. A competition between two guys with vastly different styles might be difficult.

But Sirianni has been consistent in saying that he’s going to create an offense that plays to his players’ strengths.

Sirianni told Clark about his brother Jay’s experience as a high school coach. Jay coached his team with a pro style, spread offense and even a Wing T during his time as the head coach at Southwestern Central High School in Jamestown, New York. Yes, the NFL is a much different level, but the idea remains the same.

“It’s just what we do,” Sirianni said. “It’s just what I’ve always done.”

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