An odd decision by Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni nearly cost the team a win, but the coach defended his decision. Also, an NFL insider brought receipts to defend Sirianni’s controversial call to chuck the ball deep to A.J. Brown on fourth down in the game’s final minute.
The Eagles escaped the Packers with a 10-7 win on Monday night, avoiding a tie when a long field goal attempt on the game’s final play missed badly.
Philadelphia had the ball at the Packers’ 35-yard line and could have punted on fourth down. But Sirianni opted for the long pass that was well covered and fell incomplete.
Eagles HC Nick Sirianni has supporters
The decision wasn’t crazy, according to a post on X by Eliot Shorr-Parks.
“I thought going for it on 4th down was the right decision by Sirianni
Try to end the game right there. Hurts/Devonta/AJ have been good in that specific spot on that specific play type over the years
I’ll take my chance on that over maybe 15 yards of field position”
Also, Shorr said a better throw ends it. But the video seemed to show Brown was far from wide open.
“The Eagles got what they wanted on 4th down. With a better throw that is a completion, and the game is over. They have hit on this play tons of times. Perfectly acceptable, that’s what Sirianni went with. It just didn’t work.”
It seems like Shorr-Parks is more interested in supporting Sirianni than anything else. His logic doesn’t hold a lot of water. He said “that specific spot on that specific play” as if the Eagles had been in that exact place — score, clock time, etc. — multiple times, and Sirianni made the same decision, and it had worked multiple times.
Also, he said losing 15 yards of field position is worth the risk. First, it would have to be a bad punt to only get 15 yards of field position. A good high kick would have pinned the Packers at the 10-yard line or less. That’s a huge difference from the 35-yard line.
Plus, Shorr-Parks seems to ignore the fact that Sirianni's decision nearly put the game into overtime. The Packers barely missed a deep pass on first down that would have put them in position for a chip-shot field goal attempt.
