Had the Philadelphia Eagles failed to outlast the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9, the man most to blame for the loss would have been Nick Sirianni.
Now sure, the Eagles made mistakes here and there, a fumble by Saquon Barkley that shouldn't have been, a pick by Jalen Hurts that was ultimately called back, and the rare missed field goal by Jake Elliott, but consistently, Sirianni was leaving points on the board in pursuit of big-time plays and left fans feeling uneasy as a result.
Was the Eagles coach simply being greedy to go for it on fourth down multiple times instead of kicking field goals? Or did he instead see something in the Jaguars he wanted to exploit, even if it ultimately didn't work out?
Discussing his decision-making after the game with reporters, Sirianni noted that while things didn't shake out his way, he still wouldn't change the choices he made, as he felt they were what was best for the Eagles at the moment.
“We’ve done pretty good with those in the past. You always think about everything. 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,” Sirianni told reporters.
“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. Again, 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?’ 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.”
Interesting stuff, right? Well, wait, it gets even better, as Sirianni laid out a silver lining in the Eagles' Week 9 efforts, as plenty of players did execute when it mattered most against the Jaguars.
Nick Sirianni is still proud of the Eagles for executing in Week 9
Turning his attention from his own issues to the Eagles' successes mid-question during his post-game media availability session, Sirianni decided to celebrate some of the stars from Week 9, including some fantastic back-seven defenders and his top two offensive weapons, Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley.
“So, I’m just happy with the way the guys played. I thought we played with great fundamentals today. I will be interested to see what our tackling numbers are coming out of today. I thought [LB] Zack Baun tackled his butt off. [S] Reed [Blankenship] had some good tackles; [DB] Coop [Cooper DeJean],” Sirianni told reporters.
“We caught the ball well. There were some unbelievable catches both offensively and defensively with a lot of things that we talk about. We took the ball away well. I’ll get some clarification on [RB] Saquon [Barkley]’s fumble, but I thought we took care of the ball and [QB] Jalen [Hurts] did a great job taking care of the football. I thought our fundamentals we work so hard on were really on point today, which helped us get the win today. It’s tough to win.”
When it came right down to it, the Eagles secured the win in Week 9 because they were a more talented team than the Jaguars and that showed out in the end. Against a better team, however, Sirianni's decision-making could become a much bigger issue, as when he's being outcoached by teams with losing records on the regular, his prospects against Super Bowl contenders are concerning.