Nick Sirianni Says “Its Always Him” After Derek Barnett Penalty
Eagles defensive end Derek Barnett has been no stranger to being penalized at some inopportune times.
Like on Monday night in the game against the Dallas Cowboys, Barnett was called for defensive offsides on 3rd down and eight, making it, instead, a 3rd and three.
Dallas completed a pass for eight yards, giving them a first-down. They ended marching down the field with a 13 play, 65-yard drive chewing up 7:50 of the clock and giving the Cowboys a 20-7 lead after an Ezekiel Elliot 3-yard touchdown run.
It's not Barnett's first time being whistled for a penalty in a key spot. Overall, the former first-round pick has been flagged for eight personal fouls in his career (six unnecessary roughness penalties, two roughing the QB's), including in a key spot in Week 3 against San Francisco.
According to veteran Eagles writer Ruben Frank from NBC Sports Philadelphia, Barnett now has 23 penalties and 19.5 sacks in his NFL career.
Sirianni was asked if he thought discipline was an issue with Barnett after another costly penalty.
"No, I don’t think so," Sirianni answered. "I was frustrated with the pre-snap penalties regardless if it was Derek or if it was anybody. We had them on offense. We had them on defense. I don’t think we had any pre-snap penalties on special teams. It was my frustration with the team as a whole and it starts with me. It’s my responsibility to get the penalty thing right. It’s on me. I don’t blame any player for that. We’ve just got to get better at it and it starts with me.”
While that might have been his answer when asked after the game, during the game he didn't seem to be too happy with Barnett getting whistled for the infraction.
As the ESPN TV camera had Sirianni on camera where he appears to say, "Its always him."
You have to wonder if Brandon Graham wasn't hurt if the team would drop his snap count. He played in 71% of the snaps on Monday, with Josh Sweat playing in 64% and Ryan Kerrigan getting 35% of the snaps.
Some names to keep an eye on are rookies Patrick Johnson and Milton Williams who each got a decent amount of playing time on Monday night.