Nick Sirianni made two decisions that hurt his team on Monday night in a crushing 22-21 loss to the Falcons — and only one could be put on Saquon Barkley.
The Eagles coach dialed up a pass play for Barkley on third-and-3 with 1:46 remaining in Monday’s matchup against the Falcons, a ball that was dropped by their prized new addition.
Conventional wisdom would be to run the ball on third and short with Atlanta having no timeouts to use, which would have run the clock down to the one-minute mark.
“They were running a certain defense and junking it up in the middle,” Sirianni told reporters after the game. “So we were trying to go on around the outside, and it didn’t work.”
The play call would have worked had the not-so-sure-handed Barkley dropped the ball.
Saquon Barkley with a costly drop that would have given the Eagles a first down and likely, ends the game.
Instead, the Eagles kick the field goal and give the Falcons one last chance to win. pic.twitter.com/0GmOJEL3AK
— Doug Rush (@TheDougRush) September 17, 2024
Nick Sirianni is getting plenty of criticism for his late game playcalling. Getty Images
Had Barkley caught the ball, he would have likely gotten a first down and the game would have been effectively over.
From there, Sirianni elected to kick the field goal instead of go for it and win the game.
“The decision to pass it there, again like I said, when they were junking it up inside, with it then being fourth and three to go for it, I thought with them not having any timeouts, I wanted them to be down a touchdown and see if they could drive the field. And they did. Hat’s off to them,” Sirianni said.
Another questionable decision by Sirianni was not going for it on fourth down, ESPN’s Seth Walder added, pointing out that the analytics say go for it with the win probability going up five percent by going for it instead of kicking.
Saquon Barkley’s dropped pass ruined Monday’s win against the Falcons. X, @
The Eagles decided to kick the field goal on fourth down.
“That was a sneaky big error on 4th-and-3,” Walder posted on X with a graphic that shows the Eagles had a 90.2 percent chance to win the game with a made field goal versus a 95 percent chance if they went for it. “You lose either way if they score a touchdown. And opponents are irrationally conservative down 3. They will go for the win now.”
Leading by six points, Sirianni’s defense was burnt by Kirk Cousins, who easily moved the Falcons down the field on six plays for the game-winning score.
Adding to the pain for Sirianni is that Barkley was never a sure-handed receiver while a member of the Giants.
The star running back has 16 drops since the 2021 season, the most at the position in the NFL.
Saquon Barkley knows he let his team down on Monday. Getty Images
The Eagles coach probably could’ve gone for it on fourth down, too. Getty Images
“I let my team down today,” Barkley told reporters after the game, knowing that a first down would’ve ended the game.
Philadelphia will need a short memory this week as they travel to the Big Easy to face the 2-0 New Orleans Saints in just five days.
