PHILADELPHIA — In the aftermath of Sunday's nail-biting 25-20 victory over the New England Patriots, the Philadelphia Eagles' first-year offensive coordinator Brian Johnson received plenty of criticism from fans and analysts.
Some Bird watchers were confused by the lack of touches for star tight end Dallas Goedert and newly acquired running back D'Andre Swift. Others were baffled by the rusty play of quarterback Jalen Hurts, who struggled to find a rhythm most of the game, and the Eagles' somewhat conservative play selection, which allowed the Patriots to battle back into the game after Philly jumped out to a quick 16-0 lead.
It all adds up to a tense week for Johnson, who is calling plays for the first time under head coach Nick Sirianni following the departure of former offensive coordinator Shane Steichen, who is now head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.
After the game, Sirianni defended Johnson's play calling, pointing out that the Patriots have a strong defense and arguably the best coach of all time in Bill Belichick, who had an entire offseason to study the Eagles and come up with a game plan.
“I thought[Johnson] called a great game,” Sirianni told NBC Sports Philadelphia. “I thought he made some adjustments in the second half to throw it a little bit more knowing that we were struggling in the running game.
“Now, was it our cleanest performance offensively? No. We have a lot of mistakes to clean up and we’ve got a short time to do so."
The Eagles host the Minnesota Vikings in a prime-time game Thursday night, so they have a short week of preparation to work out Sunday's kinks.
Sirianni and the rest of the Eagles will have to hope Johnson is up to the task.
Given his successful background, there's reason to believe he will.
Prior to his promotion to offensive coordinator, Johnson spent two years guiding the Eagles' quarterbacks and is at least partially responsible for the quick ascension of Hurts, who went from a relatively unheralded fourth-round draft pick in 2020 to a league MVP candidate last season.
Had Steichen not been hired by Indy, opening a pathway for Johnson's rise, many NFL analysts believed Johnson would have gotten a coordinator job elsewhere.
With Johnson's guidance, Hurts became the second-youngest quarterback in league history to win 14 regular-season games last year, behind Dan Marino in 1984 (23 years old), according to Johnson's bio on the team's website.
Hurts also ranked second in the NFL in touchdown-to-interception ratio (3.67), third in passer rating (101.5), yards per attempt (8.0) and total yards per game (297.4), and fourth in total touchdowns (35, tied Randall Cunningham's franchise record set in 1990).
Additionally, Hurts had the second-most rushing touchdowns (13) ever by a quarterback, trailing only Cam Newton in 2011 (14).
Before he joined the Eagles' coaching staff, Johnson spent three seasons at the University of Florida, serving as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. In 2020, with Johnson running the offense, the Gators had the most prolific passing offense (387.6 ypg) in the FBS while ranking seventh in total offense (509.8 ypg) and eighth in scoring offense (39.8 ppg).
Johnson, 36, also had college coaching stops at Utah, Mississippi State, and Houston. He got his first job in 2010 at age 22, serving as quarterbacks coach for the Utes under Kyle Whittingham, who promoted him to offensive coordinator after two seasons.
Before getting into coaching, Johnson played quarterback at Utah, where he left as the winningest QB in program history with a 26-7 career record. After unsuccessfully attempting to catch on with a professional team, Johnson turned to coaching and began his current career trajectory.