Sean Mannion Takes On Play Calling for Philadelphia Eagles

There is a brand new play caller in Philadelphia by the name of Sean Mannion. He's never called plays, and coach, his resume says this. He's been a coach for roughly 29 months, and he's gonna be a play caller, and this is his first game. What's the challenge on being a play caller, especially with an experienced group of players like the Eagles have going into this commander game this weekend? The most important thing for a guy, especially a guy that lacks experience as a game adjustment, so many of these young guys coming in and become play callers are system guys. They know the system, they run plays, and they can pick and choose what they wanna run, but if something happens out there that they're not prepared to see, you have to change gear, you have to change personnel, you have to change what you're doing, and to me, that's the difference between being a good play caller and just another guy or a system guy, and I don't know that he's got that kind of experience. Maybe he does, but it takes a lot of years of studying the game and knowing what to do when things get different, and they can get different really quick. All of a sudden, they're bringing the heat 70% of the time. You gotta have answers for all those things, to run the ball and to throw the ball, and a guy with that little experience, and I'm sure he's a smart guy, obviously, and very capable, I'm sure, but I think the experience and being able to adjust during a game is gonna be something you have to really look at. You know, Coach, one of the critical things that I've been with him is this. You know, you might be able to draw a playoff, and you may be able to design a route, but to me, it's guys like you, Coach, situational play calling. There's a reason why Vic Fangio on the other side sits in the booth by himself. He doesn't want anybody near him. It's his game. It's his ball of wax. He makes the calls, and that's why that defense looks the way it does, and they're elevating players, so for me, situational play calling, how can you be on the same page if you don't even know if you're gonna call plays What's difficult, and that's why I say, when I say system guys, they have these plays from the system, but they don't necessarily understand the situations and why you're doing it and when to take the shot. This is a good time for this. You know, they just kind of run plays. You know what I mean, Dan? So what you're talking about is absolutely true. You know, these situations come up. You gotta have an answer. There's a time on third and one to fake it and take a shot at the end zone. You know, what's the score? What were they doing on offense? All those things have gotta be going on in your head, and you gotta have a good feel for that, and the guys that do, they don't go off that. You're gonna go off that script. You've gotta be able to adjust and see the situation and know what to do with it. Coach, do you agree with this? Jimmy Johnson told me this years ago. Certain play callers wanna put a lot of points up, and they wanna put a lot of yards up. There's certain play callers that wanna win games, and to me, I want the play caller that wants to win games. I mean, being able to utilize the talent that they have there in the huddle. How did you balance that? Because you wanna maximize your offense as much as possible, but you wanna win games as well. Now, you can't control the other side of the football if you're giving up five yards to carry. How do you go along, and how do you balance that heading into a game? Well, you do have to play off your defense. You have to understand the situation of the game as well and how well your defense is playing, but I would disagree with him. Kind of neither to me. Dan, it was always a performance level. We were always chasing excellence. We were trying to see how good we could be, and if we ever attained that where we were as good as we thought we could be, then we were gonna win all of them. We weren't gonna lose a game, and that's what we chased, and along the line, you get yards, you get completions, you play defense. All the good things that come along with it, but the bottom line is to win, and if you're playing at the highest level, you're gonna win games, and so it was always performance-oriented in how well you play and what you do and you compete. That's why the stories about Monday night, hey, you gotta get up for it. It's a Monday night game. Everybody's gonna be watching it, blah, blah, blah. Why aren't you that way every week? Why aren't you playing a Monday night game every time you line up on Sunday? You know what I mean? So every week's a playoff game to me, and that's the way we looked at it. It was pedal to the metal. Thank you. Who we're playing, we're trying to see how good we could play that week and how good we can get. It was about your process each week, not about your opponent, if I'm getting it right. Hey, Coach, I want to go back about you guys doing it, right? I want to go back to what John Madden said during your time. When you were in that group, Coach, I remember Coach Madden saying this. I've never seen anything like this. These guys are throwing all over the yard. They're just completing everything at will. You had Warner throwing 45-yard touchdown passes every single game, it seemed. It was just an unstoppable offense, and it was dubbed the greatest show on turf. When you're in a groove like that, Coach, what's it feel like to be in a groove like that? Well, the confidence that comes out of that room when you're putting plays in. You know, it's funny, Dan. I walk in there, and they're all leaning forward with their pencils. They're ready for the game plan. They want to know, you know, each one of those receivers has got in his mind how he's going to fit into that. And you've got to have something for everybody. And that's the thrill of that, is being able to do that, because these guys will respond. It's just, you just keep feeding them, and they get better, and better, and better, and better. And there's no text, or there's no rote way on how you're going to play that game. You look at what's going on out there, what you have, and you go to work. You know, if they're in the quarter defense, we know that there's going to be a deep all over the middle, and how are we going to get that done? Those kinds of things. If they're in too deep, we know that we're going to pound that ball inside, and we're going to take some shots up the middle. Those kinds of things are a granted force, but how you're going to do it, and who's going to do it, that's the fun of putting a game plan together.