of their sports talk radio to see what the consensus reaction was, if any. They were frustrated but not as angry as I expected. Since the dissatisfaction with the offense in this manner has been simmering all year, there was sort of an air of resignation about the whole thing.
Everyone I heard took firing Patullo as a given. He was promoted from within, without interviewing any outsiders, to a job he'd never done before. And it went poorly all season long, everyone agreed. As Patullo had worked with Sirianni since before the Eagles job, it was derisively characterized as "hiring his buddy" and the GM and owner were also criticized for allowing the hire. Head coach, GM, and owner were all criticized for not making this change midseason when it was clearly not working.
Other conclusions:
QB Hurts was criticized for reacting to pressure which wasn't there, not just the last play but in general. They are very much stuck with him because of his contract but also the obvious scarcity of better QBs, so the issue is getting an OC who can maximize what he does well.
WR Brown was criticized for drops and an attitude problem. Opinions were mixed on exploring a trade to get him out of town.
RB Barkley was criticized for a drop and generally not being useful in the passing game. Being on the same field as McCaffrey for this game didn't help the optics there, probably.
The O-line was noted to be significantly worse than last year, but partially due to injuries. Nonetheless improvements/investments were deemed necessary.
My two cents:
the issue of the last play being so basic/unimaginative is really compounded by the timeout. It would have been more understandable without the timeout. But the Head Coach, OC, and QB put their heads together on the sideline, and then trotted out a play which put no defenders in conflict, didn't scheme anyone open, and totally relied upon physically out-executing the other guys. Even though the Eagles did have the better talent on the field, that's not giving yourself the best chance to win.
Hurts has some notable limitations or exploitable tendencies. All QBs do. And then there are these rumors/reports that he doesn't like or can't handle lots of pre-snap motion and such. So this OC hire is going to be interesting. Will they get someone who caters to him/makes him comfortable, or someone who will push/further shape him? Obviously it will be some of both, but which way will the balance tip?
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