What Sean Mannion’s Shrine Bowl play-calling can tell us about his vision for the Eagles

Well, as I am extremely sad, I managed to get hold of the All-22 of the Shrine Bowl, and I charted every single offensive play. New Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion was the OC for the West team, so it gives us a little insight into his ability to run an offense and what he may want to install with the Eagles next year.

The Shrine Bowl isn’t about winning, and it’s not really about showing off play design either. I wasn’t looking for success at all. I was focusing on sequencing more than anything. The Shrine Bowl gave Mannion a chance to quickly install an offense and show everyone he can run it. With only a week to prepare, I expect most coaches to default to what they trust. That’s why the play-calling itself, while limited in scope, can still be useful to study. 

That’s where Sean Mannion’s Shrine Bowl film becomes useful. I charted all 67 offensive plays Mannion called in the Shrine Bowl. I can’t post any All22 clips myself (as I shouldn’t have access to the film…) but luckily Devin Jackson and others have posted some clips. So, I’ve used some throughout!

This Looked Like a Minor System Install

The first thing that stands out from the charting is how seriously Mannion took this game. He did not treat this like an audition for creativity or a chance to show off loads of fancy designs. He treated it like a condensed install. It was a very purposeful gameplan. There were no wasted calls.

Across 67 plays, the offense was almost perfectly balanced: 52% pass, 48% run. This wasn’t a wide menu. It was a narrow one, where plays were repeated and sequenced very clearly. 

That aligns cleanly with the offensive family Mannion comes from. The McVay–Shanahan ecosystem is not built around individual plays. It’s built around families of concepts that are often used in different ways. That philosophy was clear even in a basic setting.

Under Center Usage Followed a Familiar Blueprint

Mannion’s use of under center was very evident in this game. Just over half of all snaps came from under center, but the split becomes more revealing when separated by play type. 75% of all runs were called from under center, while over 70% of passes came from shotgun. That distribution is not accidental. It closely mirrors how offenses like the Rams, Packers, and 49ers structure their identities. I checked these offense numbers from 2025, and that split is almost identical to what they use. 

In those systems, defenses are trained to associate under center alignment with a run roughly 70% of the time. That expectation is deliberate. It conditions linebackers to step downhill, holds edge defenders in place, and creates the space that play-action needs to function efficiently. When the offense does throw from under center, it doesn’t need exotic design, as the linebackers are already late. We will get to play-action in a bit!

Mannion’s numbers landed squarely in that same range. That matters because it suggests philosophical alignment with the coaches he has played under and coached with. 

A Narrow Run Menu

The run game itself was intentionally tight. Of the 32 runs charted, outside zone and power accounted for nearly two-thirds of all calls, with inside zone making up most of the remainder. There was more power than I expected. That lack of variety is expected in this type of game. In this offensive family, the run game is the foundation of the offense, and it’s not just about gaining yards on a per-snap basis. Outside zone and power provide consistent backfield action and consistent defensive reactions. For example, linebackers are often taught to key on pulling guards. Those reactions are what the passing game is built to exploit later. 

With only a week to install, Mannion leaned on concepts that are easy to teach, easy to repeat, and easy to expand. We did see a couple of inside toss runs, which is also a classic staple in the McVay-Shanahan world.

This wasn’t about winning the run game on its own. It was about establishing rules that the defense would follow. Mannion using a lot of outside zone is not a surprise at all, because…

Run and Pass Were Clearly Married

Even within a simplified menu, the connection between run and pass was obvious. Outside zone runs led to boot action. It happened over and over. The same formations and backfield looks kept reappearing with different endings.

That’s the core principle of this coaching tree. It’s a very different philosophy from the Eagles’ approach in recent years. The Eagles’ offense in recent seasons often felt like two parallel tracks. There was a run game designed by someone, and a pass game layered on top of it, that was designed by someone else. Mannion’s Shrine Bowl calls suggest a different approach, in which the run game is designed specifically to support the pass game. Even in one game, you could see the outlines of sequencing beginning to form.

Even with unfamiliar quarterbacks and limited prep time, roughly a quarter of all pass plays involved play-action or boot action. That’s a meaningful number to keep an eye on. Play-action was a big part of the offense. 

Tight Ends and Fullbacks Were Important

One of the clearest philosophical signals from the data was personnel usage. 12 and 21 personnel accounted for more than half of all snaps, and those groupings were not situational. They were central to how the offense functioned.

Tight ends were not treated as optional receivers. They were blockers used in different ways. Fullbacks were used to add numbers at the point of attack and to sell play-action convincingly. These players were essential to the illusion that the offense was trying to create.

That emphasis fits perfectly with the McVay–Shanahan model. Those systems rely on tight ends and fullbacks to make everything else believable. If they don’t block, the whole structure doesn’t work. Mannion’s play-calling made it clear that this offense is built from the inside out.

Receivers Were Often Schemed Open

On the passing side, the data points toward a zone-stress philosophy rather than an isolation-based one. Flood concepts accounted for 20% of all passes, making it the most frequently used concept. I saw some 4-strong concepts that I really enjoyed, too. A lot of simple, quick game concepts made up the largest share of throws, which isn’t too surprising given this game plan has to be installed quickly. We did some see hitches (sorry), comebacks, and quick outs that looked like quick, easy throws.

The most interesting thing was that Flood showed up repeatedly in different forms. It was used off boot action, from heavy personnel and from 11 personnel. That repetition is a feature of this system. It looks complicated, but it’s simple. There were a number of easy throws in this game, where the system made things easy for the quarterback. 

The result was receivers often finding space through alignment and structure rather than winning isolated matchups. Condensed formations, layered routes, and spacing did much of the work. That should stand out to anyone who watched the Eagles rely heavily on isolation routes and contested catches last season.

Another interesting point, I saw Mesh Rail (Mesh = two receivers crossing, Rail = a wheel by the RB) at least 3 times. This was a Chip Kelly classic! It’s a fantastic man-beater.

A Straightforward Red Zone Philosophy

Inside the red zone, the approach stayed consistent. The offense ran the ball on 60% of red-zone snaps, with power runs making up the majority of those attempts. When Mannion did throw, the concepts were defined and efficient, rather than isolation routes or fancy designs. When spacing was restricted, Mannion relied on physicality and power up front, which is worth noting. 

Final Thoughts

This could have been an entire waste of time, but you know, I like to think it tells us something! No single Shrine Bowl game will tell us whether Sean Mannion will succeed as an NFL offensive coordinator, or even exactly what he will run. But it does tell us how he thinks, and I think we can learn something about his philosophy and identity. 

If you are interested, I am recording a full watch-along of the All22 with Shane Haff for our Patreon, where I will break down every single snap and show the sequencing in action. The video is available on Patreon here. Charting took forever, so if you want access to all the data and support my work, please consider joining!