A couple days after another forgettable performance on defense, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni on Tuesday said he has “total confidence” in defensive coordinator Sean Desai. “That’s why we hired him for the job,” Sirianni said. But it’s clear some things need to change. The Eagles have given up 33+ points in three consecutive games, including blowout losses to the 49ers and Cowboys in back-to-back weeks to drop them to 10-3 on the season. When asked what’s at the top of the list of things to get cleaned up on defense, Sirianni didn’t hesitate.
“I think really where it is, the yards pile up on you when you are giving up some third downs,” Sirianni said. “Again, the problem is everywhere, there, right? Where we are on third down, we got to coach them better, put them in better spots, detail it out for them, and execute better.”
While the Eagles have obviously played some really high-powered offenses the last three weeks — Bills, 49ers, Cowboys — they’ve really fallen off in this key situational category. They just can’t seem to get off the field. Over they last three weeks, the Eagles have given up conversions on an astounding 61.2% of the third downs they’ve faced. That’s the highest opposing third-down percentage in the NFL over the last three weeks — 4.7% higher than the next-worst Commanders. It’s also the worst three-game span from any team in the NFL all season.
And that 61.2% conversion rate is the highest of any three-game span in a single season for the Eagles since at least 1991, which is as far back as StatHead records go for third-down conversions. So this isn’t just bad. This is really bad. Historically bad. Saying the Eagles are giving up “some” conversions on third downs isn’t really accurate. They’re given up a ton. The Eagles have the worst third-down
