The Eagles tried to keep their quarterback switch under wraps, but the plan unraveled before Sunday’s game against the Giants.
Nick Sirianni said Friday that he had wanted to hold back the news that Joe Milton would start in Week 9 instead of Tanner McKee. The idea was to keep New York guessing for as long as possible. Instead, the information leaked after Wednesday’s practice, and the move became public well before the Eagles could spring it on anyone.
The timeline tells the story. On Monday, Sirianni told reporters in a video press conference that McKee was “our guy.”
By Tuesday, McKee had been told he was no longer the starter, though that did not become known until Thursday. Then on Wednesday, Sirianni spoke at the Jefferson Health Training Complex without announcing a change, and less than two hours later ESPN reported that McKee was being replaced by Milton.
After practice, neither quarterback addressed reporters in the locker room.
Some players gave the impression they were still in the dark. Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson both tried to suggest there wasn’t clarity yet at quarterback. Dallas Goedert, though, said the team had been told Milton would start “minutes” before ESPN broke the news.
Sirianni made his reasoning plain on Friday, his first time speaking with the media since the report leaked.
“I was going to hold onto that for as long as I possibly could,” Sirianni said. “I’m not real shy with you guys.
I’m going to tell you guys what I want to tell you guys. I respect the job that y’all have to do.
But I’m going to tell you guys what I’m going to tell you guys because I have to protect the team.
“Every second that goes by in a situation like that where you can hold onto information as long as you possibly can is a little less time for the opponent to get ready for the game. And so, I know there’s a lot of interest on what you want to hear, what the fans want to hear. My job is to win football games and do everything that we can do to help win football games and protect the guys here on this football team and handle everything we can inside.”
This wasn’t new territory for Sirianni. He said he has withheld information before in the name of creating a “competitive advantage,” and that was the goal here too: keep the Giants preparing for McKee until the last possible moment. That didn’t happen once Adam Schefter reported the change.
The Eagles are stuck in a six-game losing streak and looking for something to jolt the offense. Milton, who has been in the building for three weeks, brings a different profile than McKee.
He can move, and that matters behind a line that has struggled to keep pressure off the quarterback. McKee was sacked five times against the Washington Commander last Sunday, a reminder of how rough things have been up front.
Milton also gives Philadelphia a cannon arm, and the Eagles are hoping that combination can wake up an offense that has gone quiet.
Sirianni said McKee “played solid” in his three starts. McKee, who was Jalen Hurts’ backup last season, completed 72 of 114 passes for 638 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
“That’s always a difficult thing to think through. Because it isn’t ever just on one person,” Sirianni said. “But this is just what I felt what we had to do at this particular moment to give us the best chance to win this weekend.”
He said the decision was discussed in “great, great detail” with general manager Howie Roseman and the offensive staff, but he emphasized that the final call was his.
“At the end of the day, I have to make the decision,” Sirianni said.
When asked what changed from Monday, when he called McKee “our guy,” to Tuesday, when McKee was told he had been benched, Sirianni kept it simple.
“You think through things. ... As you start to put ideas down, things are fluid.”
For a few days, the quarterback situation at the Jefferson Health Training Complex was exactly that. Fluid. In the end, though, the secret didn’t stay secret.
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