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Nick Sirianni Maintains that there was “Aggression” in Appalling QB Run/QB Run/Bubble Screen Drive

I guess we begrudgingly have to talk about the Eagles and that wretched excuse for a “performance” from Sunday afternoon. Here’s Nick Sirianni maintaining that the final drive, which featured two QB runs and a bubble screen, was aggressive:
You mentioned that second-to-last drive. You said maybe you guys could have been more aggressive. I guess what was the approach for that drive? Was it to bleed more of the clock and also, there were some miscommunications on that drive, you guys had the timeout on the third and 20 and the substitution that came in late. What was behind that?(E.J. Smith)
NICK SIRIANNI: Just that, just a little miscommunication. Again, any time something like that happens, that’s on me. The coach-to-quarterback communication, that’s always — that’s on me. As far as the drive, again you think through different things and different scenarios. We did feel like there was aggression in the play call to be able to run the run that we ran.
But when something like that doesn’t work out, you think to yourself, well, we should have done it the other way, right? And that’s just the mud you drag yourself through as a coach. Sometimes the decisions work. Sometimes they don’t work, and when they don’t work, when you’re not the one out there, you know, playing, you think to yourself, what could we have done differently in that scenario, and of course the different thought process would have been to be passive in that scenario.
And shoot, that’s something that we’ve got to live with and we’ve got to think through, and that’s all in attempts for us to get better.
Then I know there was earlier in the year against Washington, we scored — we scored fast. We had that double move to AJ, scored fast and that game ended up going into overtime. And not that you think through that. Again, you try to use clock while still being aggressive. If that was easy, everybody would be able to do that, and so it’s not an easy task. I thought it was really important that we got ourselves points, obviously, there, but also get as many first downs as we possibly could and score a touchdown. Hey, it didn’t work out that way, and looking at it, we think to ourselves, all right, this didn’t work.
This was from Nick’s day-after press conference, on Monday. When asked specifically why the Eagles went QB run/QB run/bubble screen on that drive, he initially said after the game that “I don’t think that’s conservative there if they are blitzing a bunch of gaps there, you’re running a gap scheme that has a chance to hit for big yards that we needed to get back into it.“
Sirianni also mentioned “getting into range” for a field goal because the wind was against them, which seems pointless now because Jake Elliott converted from 43 yards with no issue.
Make no mistake, that entire sequence was among the worst things you’ll ever see a football team do:
- D’Andre Swift out of the shotgun for one yard
- A.J. Brown SLANT (!) for 18 yards and a first down
- Swift bounces one outside, holding on Jordan Mailata for a 10 yard loss
- Eagles can’t get the right personnel on the field
- Jack Stoll comes in, so of course they’re running Jalen Hurts (gain of 4)
- Julio Jones comes back in, another QB run to the same side (loss of 3)
- viral “what the hell are you doing?” lady shown on television
- Eagles waste a timeout
- 3rd and 19 bubble screen to Kenny Gainwell, 170 pound blocker DeVonta Smith injured on the play
- A.J. Brown shown on television shaking his head while walking off the field
You tell me if that’s conservative or aggressive. The division is on the line, the #2 seed is on the line, and they deliver that offensive sequence on their home field. Just absolutely terrible. Wretched. Hideous.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com