With Nick Sirianni as head coach, the Philadelphia Eagles are going to be bold. The team is already 3-for-4 on fourth down attempts this season, after leading the league with a 67.86 conversion percentage in 2023.
A pair of bold coaching decisions came back to haunt the Eagles in Monday night’s stunning, 22-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
The Eagles (1-1) were on the verge of icing the game late, leading 18-15 and facing a third-and-3 at the Atlanta 10 yard line. The Falcons had just used their final timeout with 1:46 remaining in regulation.
But in similar fashion to Week 1, when offensive coordinator Kellen Moore called a gutsy pass play in a clock-killing situation in a win over the Green Bay Packers, the Eagles went to the air again.
This time it proved costly. Moore dialed up a play to get Hurts outside the pocket, with running back Saquon Barkley in the flat. Hurts had the option to tuck the ball and run, but with Barkley wide open near the first-down marker, he attempted the pass. The throw was right on the money, but Barkley dropped it, stopping the clock and opening the door for Kirk Cousins’ eventual game-winning drive.
More: Eagles Week 2 snap counts: Rookie Cooper DeJean remains stuck in Vic Fangio’s dog house
Sirianni said he agrees with staying unpredictable in clock-killing situations, before getting snippy with reporters when pressed on who actually made the third-and-3 play call.
“Kellen’s the offensive coordinator and makes the calls,” Sirianni snapped back, “if you’re trying to stir that up?”
“You can overrule him on those?” the reporter questioned.
“Yeah, I’m the head coach,” the coach replied.
Another questionable decision worth mentioning came much earlier in the game.
In the first quarter, the Eagles had a 10-play, 55-yard drive that yielded zero points. On 4th-and-4 from the Atlanta 9 yard line, Sirianni elected to bypass a chip-shot field goal, keeping his offense on the field. Hurts’ intended pass to tight end Dallas Goedert fell incomplete, and the Eagles turned the ball over on downs.
In hindsight, those early three points would have come in handy.
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