Eagles’ Nick Sirianni addresses unfortunate Week 9 fourth down decisions

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.