By admin 
LONDON – Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni stood in front of his team Sunday evening at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and later on a stage in front of a podium and blamed himself.
“What hurts there is that the guys fought so hard and then I don’t make the decision that I should make at the end of the game and I cost us that game,” Sirianni said after the Eagles nearly pulled off a stunner, only to have Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Cam Little connect on a 57-yard field goal as time expired that delivered the Eagles a crushing blow in a 19-17 loss.
“I didn’t make the right decision, and I lost us that game,” Sirianni said.
The final moments of Sunday’s game gave Eagles fans that traveled across the Atlantic the full range of emotions. They sent those win probability graphs from one end of the spectrum to the other. They sent the Eagles back on a long flight home at 2-3, and according to the head coach, it was entirely his fault.
The Eagles, down several key players to injury, authored a go-ahead drive that ended with Jake Elliott making a 48-yard field goal with eight seconds left that gave the Eagles a 17-16 lead. The Jaguars were out of timeouts. But instead of telling Elliott to kick the ball through the end zone, which would have set Jacksonville up on the 35-yard line, the Eagles made the decision to keep the ball in play and try to cover a kick.
This, despite Jacksonville finding earlier success on returns, including an opening kickoff that went for a touchdown only to be called back because of a hold. This, despite special teams ace Jeremiah Trotter Jr. getting ejected from the game on that opening kick. This, despite the toll of the injuries forcing personnel changes that could have made covering the kick more difficult.
Elliott celebrated his go-ahead make, likely thinking the game was in hand. The message relayed to him, he said, was to keep the ball in play.
“There was so little time for me to kind of gather myself between those two things,” he said. “I just went out and did what I was told and I wish it obviously turned out better.
“It sucks. You come all this way and think you’re in the driver’s seat to win a big game and now we’re feeling pretty down.”
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Sirianni declined to go into detail about the decision-making process and whether they followed their typical rule for that scenario. He and special teams coach Michael Clay study situational decisions frequently.
Sirianni was asked if the recent ending to the Dallas-Baltimore game in Brazil was on his mind. In that situation, Dallas tied the game at 31 with seven seconds on the clock. Baltimore had a timeout. The Cowboys elected to kick the ball into the end zone for a touchback. The Ravens were able to complete a pass over the middle of the field and call a timeout with one second left, which set up kicker Tyler Loop for a 56-yard game-winner.
Because Jacksonville did not have a timeout, the Eagles could have played a defense that guarded against sideline throws and forced Jacksonville to stay inbounds, which would’ve ran the clock out.
“There’s really nothing else to say,” Sirianni said. “I didn’t make the right decision in that situation. They returned it to where they returned it and then they made a kick. Credit to them on that.”
Wrong decision or not, the Eagles still could have covered the kick better.
Returner Ameer Abdullah caught the ball at the 8-yard line and started up the right side of the field. He planted his right foot at the 20 and cut to the inside, leaving Arnold Ebiketie and Kelee Ringo, who appeared to overpursue, scrambling. Smael Mondon Jr. dove toward Abdullah’s legs but couldn’t tackle him, which left Elliott as one of the last line’s of defense. Elliott got in Abdullah’s way, slowing him down before Jonathan Jones made a tackle at the Eagles’ 39-yard line.
“We could have done a better job going down there and tackling the ball carrier,” said Ebiketie, who was one of three edge rushers the Eagles finished the game with after Jalyx Hunt was injured at the end of the first half. “Unfortunately we didn’t do that and we have to live with the result.”
Sirianni sounded like someone who would be living with it for a while.
“It hurts because the guys fought their [butts] off and had a chance to win the game,” Sirianni said. “For me to not make the right decision in that, you feel like you let everyone down.
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“Those ones stick with you, and that’ll stick with me for a long time.”
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