Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / The DiCecco Daily: Going Inside Additions Of Sean Mannion, Josh Grizzard, And Direction Of The Eagles' Offense
Transcript
- 0:09Speaker 1: Hey, what's happened? Everybody? Welcome into another edition of the
- 0:12Speaker 1: Czech o'dealy. It's Andrew Dichecko here Eagles beat reporter Friendsidethirds
- 0:17Speaker 1: dot com and we got some Eagles news. On Thursday,
- 0:21Speaker 1: the Eagles announced that they've hired Sean Mannion to be
- 0:26Speaker 1: the new offensive coordinator. The search is over. There's some
- 0:29Speaker 1: intrigue here with this addition, and there's also some different
- 0:35Speaker 1: aspects of the coaching hire that I think we need
- 0:38Speaker 1: to discuss because it's a big swing, no doubt for
- 0:41Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles, who cast a very wide net. They
- 0:45Speaker 1: go outside of their comfort level, and this coach, Sean Mannion,
- 0:51Speaker 1: does not have any prioritize to Nick Sirianni. So they
- 0:55Speaker 1: really did their due diligence here, and I think you
- 0:58Speaker 1: liked it. It was an extensive search and it wasn't
- 1:01Speaker 1: a name that really surfaced until later in the process.
- 1:04Speaker 1: But Seawan Mannion clearly wowed the Eagles in those interviews,
- 1:08Speaker 1: he had two of them, and everything that I've sort
- 1:12Speaker 1: of gathered, this is an intelligent, bright offensive mind. And yes,
- 1:18Speaker 1: he coached just two years in the NFL as an
- 1:20Speaker 1: offensive assistant in twenty four. In twenty twenty five, he
- 1:24Speaker 1: was the quarterbacks coach. But you have to look at
- 1:28Speaker 1: the the product there in twenty twenty five, Jordan Love
- 1:34Speaker 1: Malik Willis. They both performed very well. Malik Willis was
- 1:37Speaker 1: sort of a reclamation project there when he needed to play.
- 1:41Speaker 1: I thought that he showed tangible signs of growth. Jordan
- 1:44Speaker 1: Love had the best season of his career. This was
- 1:47Speaker 1: a coach and Sean Mannion who may not register all
- 1:51Speaker 1: that much as a household name to those on the outside,
- 1:55Speaker 1: but in NFL circles, make the mistake about it, he
- 1:57Speaker 1: was a viewed as a fast rising coach and as
- 2:02Speaker 1: sending coach who has head coaching potential. So the Eagles
- 2:09Speaker 1: maybe get a year ahead of getting a coach like
- 2:12Speaker 1: Shawn Mannion, because I have to imagine, had he remained
- 2:15Speaker 1: in Green Bay and assuming everything with status quo, he
- 2:20Speaker 1: would be a hot commodity for an offensive coordinator position.
- 2:24Speaker 1: We saw how many there were this year. Next season,
- 2:27Speaker 1: he would be somebody that I think a lot of
- 2:29Speaker 1: teams would be covening. So the Eagles identified the talent,
- 2:32Speaker 1: assuming presumably they liked his vision, his ideas, his plans
- 2:37Speaker 1: for reimagining the offense, his plans for working with Jalen
- 2:41Speaker 1: Hurts and helping him elevate his game to an even
- 2:44Speaker 1: greater level, add some different wrinkles to the offense that
- 2:48Speaker 1: they haven't seen before, different concepts and ideologies. Look. Shawn
- 2:53Speaker 1: Mannion has been around a number of different coaches in
- 2:56Speaker 1: his career. Drafted in the third round back in twenty fifteen,
- 3:00Speaker 1: he was was a player with the Rams, and but
- 3:05Speaker 1: he's been with Sean McVay, He's been with Matt Lafleur obviously,
- 3:10Speaker 1: He's been with Clint Kobiak when he was with the
- 3:13Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks. He's been with Kevin O'Connell. He's been with
- 3:15Speaker 1: Kevin Stefanski. So there's so many different minds that I
- 3:21Speaker 1: think you can't help but learn from and absorb if
- 3:24Speaker 1: you're someone like Sean Manny and who I went into
- 3:27Speaker 1: this process with the understanding of this was someone who
- 3:31Speaker 1: had a football IQ that was off the charts, who
- 3:34Speaker 1: was someone who was believed to be well, who had
- 3:37Speaker 1: proven to be a sponge and have a very high
- 3:40Speaker 1: level football IQ, but be extremely intelligent. And so you
- 3:45Speaker 1: take all those things into account, and the coaches that
- 3:48Speaker 1: he's worked with the quarterbacks that he's been on staff with,
- 3:52Speaker 1: and I think that there's obvious reasons for intrigue. All
- 3:56Speaker 1: that being said, there's also reasons to look at this
- 4:00Speaker 1: with a critical eye, right because this is a coach
- 4:04Speaker 1: who is very lean when it comes to experience. He
- 4:08Speaker 1: elevated to an offensive Cordator roll very quickly by NFL
- 4:13Speaker 1: standards just two years ago. From a perspective, he was
- 4:16Speaker 1: a quarterback on the Seattle Seahawks practice squad, So his
- 4:20Speaker 1: rise has been sort of meteoric considering. And it says
- 4:26Speaker 1: a lot when you hear out of Green Bay what
- 4:30Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur, all the ringing endorsements that he's thrown out
- 4:33Speaker 1: there when asked about Manion, or you see a lot
- 4:39Speaker 1: of the post on social media that it's going to
- 4:42Speaker 1: be a big loss from those who cover the Green
- 4:44Speaker 1: Bay Packers, and it kind of reminds me a little
- 4:47Speaker 1: bit of how the Eagles fans and how we covering
- 4:51Speaker 1: the team feel about Christian Parker. When the Eagles lost
- 4:54Speaker 1: Christian parkerter Dallas, that was a big loss, maybe unbeknownst
- 4:59Speaker 1: to those on the outside, but for those who do
- 5:02Speaker 1: the value that he brought. Yes, that was a big loss,
- 5:06Speaker 1: and I think Mannion was viewed as sort of their
- 5:10Speaker 1: their young coach that no one really knew about and
- 5:13Speaker 1: had the potential to really be a hot commodity. Next season, Well,
- 5:17Speaker 1: he goes into Philadelphia and he will be now tasked
- 5:21Speaker 1: with trying to bring this offense back to life, modernize
- 5:26Speaker 1: it a little bit. And I guess the skepticism, if
- 5:31Speaker 1: you will, comes from the fact that he's never called
- 5:33Speaker 1: plays before. Now he's calling plays at the East West
- 5:38Speaker 1: Shrine Bowl, So that's something to keep an eye on,
- 5:42Speaker 1: I mean. And the only way to get experience is
- 5:45Speaker 1: by getting experience. I think in any profession, you often hear, well,
- 5:52Speaker 1: this person has more experience. Well, eventually you have to
- 5:55Speaker 1: get that experience somehow, and I think he did enough
- 5:59Speaker 1: in those interview He presented himself well and sort of
- 6:03Speaker 1: gave them a glimpse into his mind and his vision
- 6:06Speaker 1: for what he looks to do with this offense. And
- 6:09Speaker 1: it was clearly enough. And I don't even know that
- 6:12Speaker 1: that was a name that was even thought of until
- 6:16Speaker 1: late in the process. But that is a byproduct of
- 6:19Speaker 1: when you have an extensive search. Sometimes there's a coach
- 6:23Speaker 1: that maybe he didn't necessarily have, you know, predominantly on
- 6:27Speaker 1: your radar who pops up because of how he presents himself.
- 6:32Speaker 1: And so I think Mannion's one of those coaches. It
- 6:35Speaker 1: started out that Mike McDaniel and Brian Dable, two experienced coaches,
- 6:40Speaker 1: were going to be at the forefront of this, and
- 6:43Speaker 1: as both both of those coaches sort of went their
- 6:46Speaker 1: own way and went a different way, and I think
- 6:51Speaker 1: you saw the Eagles sort of look into the looking
- 6:55Speaker 1: there's someone like a Charlie Weis, junior at the college
- 6:58Speaker 1: level who's never called plays at the pro game obviously
- 7:02Speaker 1: at the pro level, and and look at different coaches
- 7:07Speaker 1: that Draw Johnson is another one, And so they were
- 7:11Speaker 1: kind of exploring all these different ideas and options and
- 7:15Speaker 1: turns out that it'll be Mannian. But if the Eagles
- 7:18Speaker 1: got rid of Kevin Patullo after one season didn't call plays,
- 7:22Speaker 1: didn't go well for him. Same thing for Brian Johnson,
- 7:25Speaker 1: he didn't call plays though he had a top ten
- 7:28Speaker 1: offense and he was ousted. It's fair to wonder because
- 7:33Speaker 1: are are those who still were skeptical going into last
- 7:36Speaker 1: season about Kevin Petullo having not called plays, but now
- 7:39Speaker 1: are all of a sudden really excited for the Mannian hire.
- 7:44Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's a little tough there to kind
- 7:48Speaker 1: of to sell me on on on the fact that
- 7:51Speaker 1: you've seen enough of Sean Baddy and to give you
- 7:53Speaker 1: that kind of intrigue. I'm intrigued because of the just
- 8:00Speaker 1: the youth that he brings, the minds and the coaches
- 8:04Speaker 1: that he's been around, the players that he's been around,
- 8:06Speaker 1: the fact that when he was at college at Oregon State,
- 8:09Speaker 1: he ran a very intricate West Coast offense under Mike Riley.
- 8:14Speaker 1: He picked it up extremely fast. He soaked it up
- 8:17Speaker 1: like a sponge. He's able to facilitate what he knows
- 8:22Speaker 1: and help other players and help other people and just
- 8:25Speaker 1: really convey his point in a way that I think
- 8:27Speaker 1: can be digested by everyone. And so you take all
- 8:31Speaker 1: that into account. Those are the makings of a good coach.
- 8:34Speaker 1: But in reality, we have no idea what he's going
- 8:37Speaker 1: to be until you get to the regular season, because
- 8:40Speaker 1: that's where you're able to see how the offense is
- 8:43Speaker 1: coming together. Because in training camp you might get a
- 8:46Speaker 1: sense for it, you might have an inkling of what
- 8:49Speaker 1: it could look like in the regular season, but you
- 8:51Speaker 1: don't really know until not even in the preseason. You
- 8:54Speaker 1: won't know obviously until you get to the regular season.
- 8:57Speaker 1: But I will say this, you have to to afford
- 9:02Speaker 1: a first year play caller the opportunity to grow into
- 9:08Speaker 1: the role, to learn on the job, because there are
- 9:10Speaker 1: going to be growing pains. There are going to be
- 9:13Speaker 1: times where he's going to take his lumps. But what
- 9:16Speaker 1: I've observed and being in Philadelphia and living in this
- 9:21Speaker 1: area my whole life, there's not a lot of patience
- 9:24Speaker 1: that's exercised. So it sounds great on the surface, but
- 9:27Speaker 1: I'm telling you there's going to be moments that may
- 9:31Speaker 1: not be perfect. There may be some turbulence that should
- 9:33Speaker 1: be expected that should be baked in to when you
- 9:36Speaker 1: bring in a coach like this, But you gotta let
- 9:39Speaker 1: them work through those challenges. Much like a young rookie
- 9:41Speaker 1: or a young player who is struggling. You don't necessarily
- 9:45Speaker 1: always have to pull them or think that it's a
- 9:50Speaker 1: lost cause. No, you let them work through those challenges.
- 9:53Speaker 1: And I'm sure there'll be plenty who will agree with me,
- 9:57Speaker 1: but there's also going to be some that say, oh, yeah,
- 10:00Speaker 1: here you and then they get to week Two, the
- 10:03Speaker 1: offense doesn't meet this meet the market or off a
- 10:06Speaker 1: game or whatever the case is, and he's gonna be
- 10:09Speaker 1: heavily scrutinized. That's that's what comes with playing in this city.
- 10:13Speaker 1: It's a passionate fan base. The expectations are sky high,
- 10:17Speaker 1: and they should be when you look at the roster
- 10:19Speaker 1: and the window that they have that's still open to
- 10:22Speaker 1: take advantage that Super Bowl window. But yes, just understand that.
- 10:26Speaker 1: Just exercise a little bit of patience here with this
- 10:30Speaker 1: higher because I see the Eagles vision. Maybe he picks
- 10:34Speaker 1: things up instantaneously. Doesn't always, it doesn't always go that way.
- 10:38Speaker 1: Play calling is an art, it's not a science, and
- 10:41Speaker 1: so I think all of those different things factors need
- 10:44Speaker 1: to be taken into the equation. That's all. Now. The
- 10:49Speaker 1: last piece is that if you're looking at it from
- 10:53Speaker 1: us with the skeptical eye, well, will this fully be
- 10:57Speaker 1: Sean Mannion's offense? Or is Nick Sirianni and I weigh
- 11:00Speaker 1: in a little bit and have some say it's a
- 11:04Speaker 1: tough question because Mannion, as I mentioned, has not called
- 11:09Speaker 1: plays before, so it's hard to say yes or no.
- 11:12Speaker 1: You should give that coach full autonomy. I think right
- 11:16Speaker 1: now that they should and Nick Sirianni should step in
- 11:20Speaker 1: if it's warranted and be there to support Sean. But
- 11:24Speaker 1: I don't know if it's necessary for Nick Sirianni to
- 11:28Speaker 1: be overly involved with the offense. Let Sean maybe put
- 11:31Speaker 1: his spin on it and direct it where he sees fit.
- 11:37Speaker 1: If you're not happy with it, if you think there
- 11:39Speaker 1: needs to be some alterations, then you step in. You're
- 11:42Speaker 1: the CEO, head coach, and I have to feels like
- 11:44Speaker 1: I have to remind everybody who likes to discount Nick Sirianni.
- 11:47Speaker 1: He's the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. So in
- 11:50Speaker 1: other words, if he feels he needs to interject or
- 11:53Speaker 1: step in or add his perspective to it, he's going
- 11:58Speaker 1: to do it. I feel like he's getting a little
- 12:01Speaker 1: bit disrespected here. I'm not saying he's this offensive, wonder kind,
- 12:05Speaker 1: but he is the head coach of the Philadelphi Eagles
- 12:07Speaker 1: and he deserves that respect. So I think, only if
- 12:10Speaker 1: it's necessary or warranted, should he be not even saying
- 12:14Speaker 1: heavy handed, but offer his his thoughts into the matter.
- 12:18Speaker 1: But I think and and and when the when the
- 12:22Speaker 1: hire was was finalized and all that. My immediate thoughts
- 12:26Speaker 1: were it would it would serve Manion well if they
- 12:29Speaker 1: had a senior assistant in some capacity to support him,
- 12:34Speaker 1: to be a sounding board for the Eagles to potentially
- 12:37Speaker 1: turn to if this doesn't work, because they didn't have
- 12:40Speaker 1: that last season. He had Scott Leffler, but he was
- 12:42Speaker 1: coming from his dime in Bowing Green. He was the
- 12:45Speaker 1: quarterbacks coach. He had Parks Frasier, who had called plays
- 12:48Speaker 1: before he stepped in, but he wasn't really someone who
- 12:53Speaker 1: has dealt with a lot of experience in that In
- 12:55Speaker 1: that with that kind of position in a pressure market
- 12:59Speaker 1: like Philadelphia, they didn't really have anybody to turn to.
- 13:02Speaker 1: And I think if you look back on last season,
- 13:05Speaker 1: what could they have done to help Kevin Patool a
- 13:07Speaker 1: little bit more? Surround them with a veteran coach like
- 13:12Speaker 1: a Frank Reich or someone of that ilk, maybe a
- 13:16Speaker 1: Matt Nagi. Those type of coaches are someone who I
- 13:19Speaker 1: think they should be able to add to the staff
- 13:23Speaker 1: just to give them that kind of help.
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- 16:39Speaker 1: The Eagles did on Friday morning announce that they've hired
- 16:43Speaker 1: Josh Grizzard to be the passing game Coordinator, a role
- 16:48Speaker 1: that was previously held by Parks Fraser. So presumably Parks
- 16:51Speaker 1: Fraser will be on the outs, but Josh Grizzard interviewed
- 16:54Speaker 1: multiple times for the Eagles offensive coordinator role. He was
- 16:57Speaker 1: last season the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Bucket years,
- 17:00Speaker 1: where he called plays. Of course, he was the pass
- 17:03Speaker 1: game coordinator for the Buccaneers the year before, and I
- 17:05Speaker 1: spent a number of years with Miami Dolphins where he
- 17:07Speaker 1: served a number of different roles, including a two year
- 17:10Speaker 1: stint coaching wide receivers. So you have now a coach
- 17:14Speaker 1: in Josh Grizzard who's fresh off of a year in
- 17:17Speaker 1: which he called plays and was the pass game cordinator
- 17:20Speaker 1: of the year before, so he liked the experience there.
- 17:22Speaker 1: He's also a young coach. He's thirty five years old,
- 17:25Speaker 1: and he's going to bring some fresh ideas and concepts,
- 17:29Speaker 1: and he has an act for helping create space when
- 17:33Speaker 1: it comes to the passing game. I believe you're gonna
- 17:35Speaker 1: see more of a vertical element to the passing game
- 17:38Speaker 1: based off of what we saw with Mannion. I mean,
- 17:41Speaker 1: we really have nothing to base Manion's time with the
- 17:45Speaker 1: Packers off of, but for Grizzard, there was a lot
- 17:48Speaker 1: of spacing. Players were able to have some separation, they
- 17:52Speaker 1: were able to stress teams deep and there was more
- 17:55Speaker 1: of a focus on that. I thought the concepts were
- 17:58Speaker 1: a little bit more advanced, if you will. And you
- 18:01Speaker 1: couple that with Mannion who's coming from a Green Bay
- 18:04Speaker 1: Packers team that ran a lot of play action that
- 18:09Speaker 1: there was there was more motion than the Eagles ran.
- 18:12Speaker 1: Put it that way, and there's more middle of the
- 18:15Speaker 1: field us that you saw the Packers play last season.
- 18:18Speaker 1: So those are things that I'm curious to see if
- 18:20Speaker 1: they translate over in Philadelphia, if some of those same
- 18:23Speaker 1: things manifest what Mannion's vision is for the offense, how
- 18:26Speaker 1: can he take this group to the next level the
- 18:29Speaker 1: level that they should have been last season. And look,
- 18:33Speaker 1: right now, we have no way of knowing that. You
- 18:36Speaker 1: don't know if the hire is going to prove to
- 18:38Speaker 1: be someone who they knock it out of the park
- 18:41Speaker 1: it's a home run or if it's a ground out single.
- 18:44Speaker 1: You just don't know. We don't have enough information. It's
- 18:47Speaker 1: not until September that we'll have a clearer picture. But
- 18:49Speaker 1: for right now, I really like the Eagles process through this,
- 18:53Speaker 1: and this is a coach that, based off of everything
- 18:57Speaker 1: that I've gathered, is interesting to me. I think he
- 19:00Speaker 1: does carry some intrigue, and I'm really anxious to or
- 19:04Speaker 1: interested to hear from him when he's available and does
- 19:07Speaker 1: his presser to get a better sense of maybe his
- 19:10Speaker 1: vision moving forward. But I think that there is reason
- 19:13Speaker 1: for optimism here, and we'll certainly learn more in the
- 19:17Speaker 1: coming months. But for now, that's going to do it
- 19:19Speaker 1: for this edition of the Czech O Daily. I am
- 19:21Speaker 1: Andrew Decheco, and I'll catch you all on the next one.