Sunday in London was another rough day in the office for Nick Sirianni and the Philadelphia Eagles.
Heading into the game, the Eagles were underdogs due to their recent struggles and a loaded injury report full of key players.
Despite all of that, the Eagles were in control of the scoreboard, holding a lead with under 10 seconds left to go. One bad decision on special teams led to a solid return, which turned into a walk-off field goal for the Eagles to lose.
After the game, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni placed blame on himself. Nobody paying attention thought that was simply a move from the head coach to redirect accountability from somebody else onto him.
The management of the game down the stretch was worth the criticism. Ultimately, that comes down to the head coach. And the former Eagles fullback Jon Ritchie sounded off on Sirianni on Monday morning.
Ex-Eagles Player Calls Out ‘Embarrassing’ Nick Sirianni After Jaguars Loss
“The guy who’s supposed to be one of the 32 best football minds in the world, is that what we saw? No, that was embarrassing,” Ritchie said on 94WIP.
“Nick, holy cow, man! It’s the end of the game. First of all, you don’t throw it on first and second down in that situation when you’re driving to go put a game away with a field goal, you play to, you know, kick the field goal as time expires.”
Not only did the Eagles leave eight seconds for the Jaguars to play with, but they didn’t kick for a touchback. As a result, the Jaguars got into field goal range after knocking off seven seconds, and they kicked as time expired.
“How on earth could you get on the horn and say, ‘Jake [Elliott], I want you to keep this ball in play.'” Ritchie added. That was Sirianni’s decision, and ultimately, it contributed to the loss.
Now, the Eagles are 2-3, heading into Week 6 with a game against the Carolina Panthers at Lincoln Financial Field.