Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is being second-guessed a ton this week. That comes with the territory when you lose a game your team was in complete control of with less than 2 minutes remaining in regulation.
Among Sirianni’s most scrutinized decisions on Monday night:
- Not overruling offensive coordinator Kellen Moore’s play call on third-and-3, which resulted in a drop by Saquon Barkley that saved precious time for the Falcons, who were out of timeouts and wound up marching downfield for the game-winning TD.
- Kicking the 28-yard field goal on the ensuing play with 1:42 remaining, rather than going for it on fourth-and-3 from the Atlanta 10 yard line with a chance to win the game.
Sirianni doubled down on those decisions Wednesday — especially going for the field goal and a six-point lead before kicking the ball back to Atlanta — in his session with the media:
I’ve put myself in that situation prior to the call. So I felt like, in the moment, my conviction in the moment was I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
Is the outcome always what you want? No, your conviction in the call — I was completely convicted that kicking the field goal there was the right decision based off all my studies. Now, I come back and reevaluate it… and I’m even more convicted, to be quite honest with you, just because of everything that goes into that.
There’s something to be said about trusting your research, and Sirianni referenced a number of games in the past where teams bypassed a field goal attempt in similar scenarios. There’s also something to be said about the feel for a situation live — like putting the game in the hands of your struggling defense. After risking a clock stoppage by calling a pass on third-and-3, why not double down and keep the offense out there on fourth down?
MORE: Sirianni gets snippy with reporters post-game after aggressive calls backfire vs. Falcons
You could argue Sirianni botched this situation on third down by not running the football and, at the very least, draining the clock to under a minute before giving the ball back to Kirk Cousins with no timeouts. In my opinion, going back to the tush-push on third down would almost guarantee a positive gain, based on percentages, and the Eagles could then decide what to do on fourth and short with the added benefit of a running clock.
It’s a fun and polarizing topic. Sirianni can have all the conviction in his decision making that he wants. The Eagles lost a game they had no business losing, and because of that the heat is on and the second-guessing is warranted.
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