Bad Decision-Making Cost the Eagles a Win in London

The Eagles crossed the Atlantic to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in Tottenham, England, and the game ended in one of the most disappointing ways possible.

This game began and ended with special teams fireworks and bad decisions. On the opening kickoff, Parker Washington returned the kickoff for a touchdown, but it was called back, in part due to a fight on the game’s opening play between Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Bryan Thomas Jr.

This was just the beginning of the bad decision-making.

The third-down offense is the clearest place to start looking. The Eagles were better in this game, converting 6-of-15 on Sunday but are now 8-of-36 over the past three games. Offensive coordinator Sean Mannion keeps putting the offense in situations it can’t overcome, whether that is the play calls on early downs or the routes that leave quarterback Jalen Hurts short of the sticks. The Eagles’ running game, which once set the tone for this offense, now gets abandoned later in games because they can’t stay on the field.

The fourth-down calls make it worse. The Eagles went for it twice Sunday and did not convert once. Aggression is fine when it works, but each failed attempt handed Jacksonville the ball as well as the momentum of the game. Head coach Nick Sirianni has leaned into desperation for three straight weeks, and each time the offense has not been able to capitalize on it.

All of this paled next to the decision that decided the game. With eight seconds left and the Eagles leading 17-16, right after Jake Elliott kicked a clutch field goal, Sirianni chose not to kick the ball through the back of the end zone.

The Jaguars returned it 53 yards. With one second on the clock, they kicked a 57-yard field goal that won it. A touchback would have forced Jacksonville to drive the length of the field, as they had no timeouts remaining. Instead, their special teams got them in field goal range for Cam Little, who has some of the best range in the NFL. This bad decision cost the Eagles the game, and Sirianni did not hide from it afterward.

“I didn’t make the right decision. I lost us that game. And that’s what I said to our guys,” Sirianni said postgame. “What hurts there is that the guys fought so hard, and then I don’t make the decision I should make and costs us the game. I put that fully on me.”

It was the right thing to say, and it does not change the outcome of the game. This is the type of deflating loss that can affect the trust that the team has in the decisions that are made. The emotional swing in the last eight seconds of the game hit hard. Elliott thought he had the game won, and then had to watch Little kick the actual game-winning field goal.

“It sucks,” Elliott said. “You come all this way, you think you’re in the driver’s seat to win a big game and now we’re feeling pretty down.”

Decisions like this in the heat of the moment are not something that can happen at the NFL level. Sirianni has earned a bit of grace, but the goodwill will wear off fast if another game like this happens.

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