There is growing unrest in the Philadelphia Eagles locker room with players becoming frustrated with coach Nick Sirianni’s calls after an alarming slide in form.
The Eagles, last season’s runners-up in the Super Bowl, started the season in superb form but have now lost four of their last five, with their problems heightened by an extraordinary collapse at home to Arizona Cardinals on New Year’s Eve.
And according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, there is discontent among the Eagles team at Sirianni’s calls in what is described as a ‘fractured’ locker room. It comes at a dreadful time for the Eagles, with one game remaining in the regular season before the playoffs begin.
Frustration in the team was perhaps most visible through wide receiver A.J. Brown, who was shaking his head as he walked off the field in the fourth quarter of the Cardinals game with scores level at 28, having not been picked out on the play.
After the game, Brown refused to answer questions from the media in the locker room on his team’s latest loss.
Nick Sirianni is facing scrutiny from his own locker room with the Eagles in awful form
Speaking Tuesday, offensive coordinator Brian Johnson admitted that he needs to get Brown more involved in plays.
‘A.J. is a great player, and we’ve got to force him the ball sometimes and make sure we get him going,’ Johnson said.
‘He’s had a fantastic year to this point. I think he’s still on pace to have a career year.
‘A.J. is somebody that obviously everybody in this building has a lot of trust, a lot of respect for and we’ve got to do a great job of getting him the ball. I have to do a great job of getting him the ball.’
There have been signs in recent weeks of uncertainty behind the scenes at the Eagles.
Sirianni made a surprising change at defensive coordinator midway through the season, demoting Sean Desai and replacing him with Matt Patricia in December.
There were also reports last month, also in the Inquirer, that Eagles bosses would like quarterback Jalen Hurts to be more outgoing and they fear he isolates himself in difficult stages of the season.
The Eagles round out the season on Sunday against New York Giants – the one team they have beaten in the last few weeks – at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Their record for the season stands at 11-5 and they are second to the Cowboys in the NFC East.
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