It looked like the Eagles had a win locked up in London to open the Sunday slate of games in Week 5. Philadelphia led 17-16 with just 8 seconds left when it kicked the ball off to the Jaguars.
However, head coach Nick Sirianni called for a routine kickoff, leaving the door wide open for the Jaguars.
Sirianni’s gamble backfired. Jaguars return man Ameer Abdullah took the kickoff all the way to the Eagles’ 39-yard line. Moments later, Jaguars kicker Cam Little nailed a clutch 57-yard field goal to seal Jacksonville’s walk-off victory.
Following the game, Sirianni took complete accountability for the decision.
“Our guys fought their butts off today,” Sirianni said. “Defense had an outstanding game. Special teams did a nice job kicking there. I didn’t make the right decision and I lost us that game and that’s what I said to our guys.”
Sirianni was visibly gutted for his players. While he didn’t dive into the specifics of why he made the call, his focus remained on the fact that he let his team down with the wrong decision.
“What hurts there is that you know the guys fought so hard and I didn’t make the decision that I should have made at the end of the game,” Sirianni said. “I lost us that game and I put that fully on me.”
Regardless of the decision, the pressure is mounting on Sirianni to deliver. Sitting at 2-3 in a wide-open NFC East and dealing with a growing list of offensive injuries, self-inflicted mistakes on special teams are a costly trend the Eagles simply can’t afford.
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