Nick Sirianni Coached Like A Coward Today, And It Cost The Eagles The Game
The Eagles defense is bad. They do not have the manpower. Today may have been their worst performance yet. They didn’t force a single punt, against the Cardinals of all teams. But there is not much the coaches, or the players on the field can do about that. Howie Roseman failed in putting together this defense. The Eagles just have to play with the hand they were dealt, as bad as it may be. But the offense does not have that problem. In fact, the offense is overflowing with talent. Which makes it all the more baffling how cowardly Nick Sirianni coached on their second-to-last drive.
They got the ball back at midfield, with 5 minutes to go after a failed onside kick by Arizona. They moved it all the way up to the 20, but a Jordan Mailata holding call forced them back into 1st and 20. And from that point on, they pretty much gave up on the drive. Two designed QB runs, and a screen pass later, they were kicking a FG, and giving Arizona the ball back with lots of time left. As we know, the Cardinals went down and scored a game-winning TD, with ease.
They have a QB who was runner-up for the MVP last season. They have 2 1000 yard receivers. But they did not even attempt to get the ball down the field to get a first down. They ran it twice, then checked down. It felt like as soon as they got into 1st and 20, they were content to settle for a FG. What makes it worse is we saw them convert a 3rd and 20 just last week.
Nick Sirianni made that choice knowing his defense didn’t get any stops all game long. He made that choice knowing that his chances of stopping the Cardinals were slim to none. What they needed was a TD, and to run more time off the clock. Sirianni, despite being gifted good field position, accomplished neither of those things.
So as bad as the defense was, and they were really bad, Nick Sirianni will wear the shame of this loss. Because when the game was on the line, he chickened out. If they had scored a TD, and the Cardinals went on to score a TD anyway and tie it, we could at least say the offense did its part and the defense was just too bad to have a chance at winning. But the Eagles had a chance, Sirianni just blew it. And that is why the Eagles lost the game.
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