Jalen Hurts isn’t blinking on Sean Mannion.
That much was clear at Hurts’ weekly media session, where the Eagles quarterback went out of his way to defend the first-year offensive coordinator as Philadelphia tries to find its footing on offense. Hurts called Mannion “a warrior, a soldier” and said the rough patch the team is in can actually strengthen the relationship rather than weaken it.
“Obviously these times are where times you get to build with someone and go through things with someone, and I think that builds equity in everything that we do together,” Hurts said. “And so I’m excited to go to bat with him.”
That backing matters because the Eagles are in the middle of an ugly offensive stretch. They’re 2-2, but the numbers behind that record are hard to ignore: 18.8 points per game, about 270 yards per game, and a passing attack that has struggled to get moving. The last two losses were especially rough - a 27-7 defeat in Chicago, then a 24-20 home loss to the Rams that featured just 172 total yards and an 0-for-12 mark on third down.
Hurts has kept pointing the conversation back to execution. After the Rams game, he used the phrase “poor execution” over and over and refused to place the blame on Mannion’s game plan.
Head coach Nick Sirianni has acknowledged the heat Mannion is taking. “He’s gonna wear a lot of this. There’s no doubt,” Sirianni said.
For his part, Mannion isn’t showing any signs of backing away from what he was hired to run. Brought over from the Packers’ quarterbacks room with ties to the McVay-O’Connell-LaFleur tree, he said the staff still believes in the under-center, outside-zone, play-action approach and plans to “keep leaning into” it.
“We're here and we're implementing something that we absolutely believe in,” said Mannion. “You're always looking, like we've said, throughout this process, to make it as good as it can be and add tweaks and add wrinkles here and there.
“We believe in the things that we've installed and that we've implemented from a fundamental perspective in terms of the structure of our offense. We're going to keep leaning into that and make it as good as it can be.
… Really nothing's changed in terms of our outlook on our offense, and our identity and what we want to be offensively. But each week, you're always looking to attack in the best way possible, either by looking at yourself and the things that you can add and tweak or looking at your opponent and what needs to be tailored to that."
Still, the results haven’t matched the plan. Through four games, the Eagles have used play-action at one of the league’s lowest rates and have been inefficient from under center, which has fueled criticism that the system and the roster aren’t syncing up yet.
Hurts has been consistent about the relationship with Mannion since the start of the season, saying early on that he wanted to be patient as they built in-game chemistry with a play-caller working from the booth for the first time in his NFL career. He also talked about getting “hip-to-hip” with Mannion over time.
The first two wins - over the Commanders and the Titans - helped hide some of the growing pains. The last two games have exposed them.
Now the Eagles head to London on Sunday to face a talented Jacksonville team while trying to rediscover the offense they described in the spring.
And they’ll be doing it with a patchwork offensive line. Lane Johnson retired on Tuesday, Cam Jurgens was traded to Baltimore on Wednesday, and Drew Kendall may also be unavailable after missing practice on Wednesday and Thursday with a knee injury.
Mannion has made it clear he isn’t changing his core beliefs, even if those ideas haven’t consistently shown up on Sundays. For now, Hurts is still standing beside him.
In Philadelphia, that kind of support can buy time. It doesn’t buy points. And if Hurts’ tone changes, Mannion will suddenly be facing much bigger questions about what comes next.
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Landon Dickerson, Dallas Goedert, Moro Ojomo, Nolan Smith Jr. and Saquon Barkley all surfaced in that kind of speculation, each for different reasons tied to performance, health or contract status. None of it amounts to a confirmed follow-up move, but the Eagles have made clear they are willing to consider bigger names if the return matches the price, which makes the next step in Rosemans thinking the part worth watching. [Read more 🡒]