Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said the team is still trying to figure out their identity following their Week 4 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
On Monday, head coach Nick Sirianni dove into what finding their identity means and dodged the question of how long it could take.
"Identity is what you do well, right? Identity is what you do well, what you do consistent, and what you hang your hat on," Sirianni said. "That changes year in, year out. What our identity was in ’21, ’22, ’23, all those years had little differences in who you are.
"Same thing now. You figure that out as you go throughout the year. I’m not sure you see any team right now that says, ‘This is our identity.’ There are some, probably, but there are not a lot."
Sirianni explained that a team's identity is what they do well. He didn't say what that was for the Eagles right now, but he did point out the tackling problem on defense and the blocking problem on offense.
"You’re figuring out what you do well because it is still a small sample size," Sirianni said. "And all you’re trying to do is repeat the things that you do well, and hide those things, complement those things. You’re trying to not do the things that you don’t do so well.
"Again, it always starts with what the players do well, first and foremost. Not what I like, not what [Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore] likes, not what [Passing Game Coordinator/Associate Head Coach] Kevin [Patullo] likes, not what [Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland] Stout likes, but what our players do well. That’s forever changing throughout the season."
While Sirianni couldn't pinpoint their identity on the field, he named what it looks like off of the field, starting with accountability.
"I think your identity you can say is this, but it’s constantly evolving through the season," Sirianni said. "I know one thing that we can say our identity is as a football team that we talk a ton about is our team, our accountability, our detail, and our toughness that we’re constantly trying to work on and become better at that at all times.
"We feel like we have had moments of that throughout every game that we’ve had and shown that. But, like anything, we’ve got to make sure we’re consistent with it."
The Eagles enter their Week 5 bye on Monday where they should spend more time correcting their mistakes, rather than resting, and hopefully, take one step closer to finding their identity before it's too late.
