How Nick Sirianni nearly turned a blowout win into a catastrophe

It could have been so much easier.

The Eagles made Sunday’s game against the Jaguars much harder than it had to be, and while there were a few reasons for that – poor execution in a couple places and questionable officiating and replay calls in a couple others – a handful of bizarre coaching decisions were the main reason the Eagles were unable to put the Jaguars away after leading 22-0 in the third quarter.

And while every offensive call could theoretically come from either play caller Kellen Moore or head coach Nick Sirianni, ultimately Sirianni is responsible for everything that happens, and it’s fair to assume that critical decisions like when to go for two, when to punt, when to kick a field goal are all coming from the head coach.

And this was really bad.

The Eagles held on for a 28-23 win thanks to Nakobe Dean's end zone interception, but the Jaguars were 13 yards from handing the Eagles the 2nd-largest blown lead in franchise history.

And they never should have been in that position.

Let’s recap:

The first two-point conversion attempt

With 22 seconds left in the second quarter, the Eagles took a 16-0 lead on Saquon Barkley’s 19-yard touchdown run, and Jake Elliott made the PAT but DaVon Hamilton jumped offsides, and Sirianni took the point off the scoreboard and went for two. Although Jalen Hurts appeared to get the ball across the line, the attempt was ruled unsuccessful. Take the point and you’re up 17-0. Against a bad team, no need to get fancy. Kick the PAT.

The second two-point conversion attempt

With 9 ½ minutes left in the third quarter, the Eagles took a 22-0 lead on Jalen Hurts’ 18-yard TD run. Andre Cisco was called for a personal foul on the touchdown, so the ball was moved to the 1 and again Sirianni again elected to go for two. And again, Hurts was stopped short of the end zone. Kick the PAT, don’t chase points against a bad team and you’re up 23-0 … and should be 24-0.

The 4^th-and-1 pass play

Now up 22-16 with 1:25 left in the third quarter the Eagles had a 4^{th and about a foot at} the Jaguars’ 25-yard-line. Instead of a tush push, a Saquon run or a quick pass, the Eagles called some sort of ill-fated slow-developing pass play that had zero chance of working. Hurts threw incomplete to avoid a sack, but he could fall down and pick up a foot. Or kick a 43-yard field goal and make it a two-possession game. Kick the two PATs and a field goal here and it’s 27-16.

The third two-point conversion attempt

With 7:49 left in the fourth quarter, DeVonta Smith’s miracle TD made it 28-16 (should have been 33-16). Once again, the Eagles went for two, but this time it actually made sense because two points make it a 14-point game and one point doesn’t help you. Of course if they just kicked the first two PATs they could have kicked the third and now it's 34-16. Don't chase points against bad teams.

The 57-yard field goal attempt

After the Jaguars closed to within five at 28-23, the Eagles had a 4^th-and-4 on the Jaguars’ 39 with 2:16 left. Jake Elliott is a fantastic kicker, but even with a field goal it’s still a one-possession game and 57 yards is a long kick, especially on a cool night. Elliott is 4-for-7 in his career from 57 yards and out but 0-for-2 this year. You can punt and trust Braden Mann to drop one inside the 10 and rely on a defense that was very good again Sunday or you can go for it and trust Hurts to get the first down. The risk with attempting a low-percentage field goal is if you miss you give the Jaguars – who already have all the momentum – possession just inside midfield. Which is exactly what happened. The Jags took over at their own 47 and got down to the Eagles’ 13 before Nakobe Dean finally ended the suspense and got the Eagles a win.

Sirianni said he liked the Eagles’ chances to convert the two-point conversions but would re-evaluate everything during the week.

“You always think about everything,” he said. “You think about who you have. You think about your past experiences with it. You always look at the analytics of it. We’ve been pretty good with those. Today they did a good job. And I’ll look at everything. In the moment I’m always doing what I think is best for the football team. 

“Today it didn’t work. That’s the way it goes. That’s the hat I have to wear. When we get a fourth down and we convert a fourth down, nothing is really said. When we don’t, I understand there will be questions.”

There will be questions because sometimes being aggressive isn’t being smart. 

You have to consider the opponent and the situation and momentum and a lot of factors that maybe analytics doesn't consider.

“I have to be able to have the balls to do that really at the end of the day and say, ‘Am I doing everything I can do to help us win the game?’” he said. 

“In those moments I thought I was, but I’ll go back and relook at them. I’m always going to be hypercritical of myself. When it doesn’t work, I’m definitely going to think even more about it.”

As for the pass play on fourth down, Sirianni said that was a product of the Jaguars – ranked 31^st in defense – having success on those first two tush pushes. So instead of doing what they do best or running a quick-hitting high-percentage short pass, there’s Hurts scrambling around 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage getting chased by a bunch of Jaguars.

It was a play that never had a chance.

“Any time you get stuffed on it you think twice and try to go a different route,” he said. “You know, they got us. They did a good job of it. We’re going to have to do a better job as coaches helping them succeed. 

“We’ve worked really hard at that play. That play has been our bread and butter and it didn’t work (Sunday). What do we do as coaches? We’ll look at the tape and see where we made a mistake as far as execution, but we will look at ourselves as coaches first and see where we can help them out in those scenarios.

“We’ll be hypercritical on ourselves, but good job to Jacksonville for getting that play stopped. To be quite honest with you, not a lot of people have been able to stop that, and they did a good job.”

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