Eagles and Commanders make poor decisions that cost them wins during tough week for NFC East
Poor situational management cost Philadelphia and Washington victories
Poor situational management cost Philadelphia and Washington victories. The Giants squandered chances, too.
It was a tough Sunday for the NFC East and a rough Week 5 altogether for the division, including Dallas losing at home Thursday night to a previously winless team and an undrafted rookie quarterback.
The depleted Eagles gave away an improbable victory in London.
The Commanders inexplicably ran the clock out on themselves in field-goal range and had to settle for a tie against the Giants, who wasted two chances to win in overtime.
Down four offensive linemen, Saquon Barkley and two running backs and No. 1 receiver DeVonta Smith, the Eagles still had a chance to beat Jacksonville when Jake Elliott kicked a 48-yard field goal with eight seconds left.
The Jaguars had no timeouts remaining so Philadelphia should’ve kicked the ball into the end zone for a touchback and forced them to run a play from the 35 needing about 25 yards to get in field-goal position.
Instead, Elliott kept the ball in play and Ameer Abdullah returned it 53 yards against a unit that allowed a touchdown on the opening kick that was negated by penalty. Abdullah was tackled at Philly’s 39 with a second to go, giving Cam Little an opportunity to drill a 57-yarder for a 19-17 victory.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni immediately regretted the decision.
“I lost us that game,” Sirianni said. “And that’s what I said to our guys. And what hurts there is that the guys fought so hard and then I don’t make the decision that I should make at the end of the game and I cost us that game and I put that fully on me.”
Special teams coach Michael Clay also deserves blame for not choosing to go for a touchback.
There was a similar scenario in the Ravens-Cowboys game in Brazil in Week 3. In that one, Dallas elected to kick the ball out of the end zone after Brandon Aubrey made a 23-yard field goal to tie the score at 31 with seven seconds remaining. Unlike Jacksonville, Baltimore had a timeout so the touchback wasn’t the right call. Lamar Jackson completed a 27-yard pass to Zay Flowers, the Ravens stopped the clock and Tyler Loop made a 56-yard field goal for a 34-31 victory.
The Eagles should’ve been in position to kick the winning goal as time expired but the offense mismanaged the sequence leading up to Elliott’s attempt.
They were in Elliott’s range with a first down at the Jaguars 34 after Jalen Hurts completed a 17-yard pass to Dallas Goedert and Jacksonville used its second timeout to stop the clock with 25 ticks left.
But Hurts threw incomplete on first down, wasting only four seconds and stopping the clock. A run play would’ve forced the Jaguars to use their last timeout. Hurts then connected with Makai Lemon for a 7-yard gain on second down but the rookie receiver went out of bounds instead of going down, which stopped the clock and saved Jacksonville’s timeout. On third down, Dameon Pierce lost three yards on a run and the Jaguars used their last timeout with 12 seconds left.
Asked about the play-calling, Hurts said: “It’s not my place. I’m prepared as a QB to not worry about those things. I honor the play call, honor the things that come into the game. When I’m up at night, I think, ‘Should I have said something?’ But ultimately there’s a commitment to going out there and executing.”
Hurts didn’t want to second-guess his coaches publicly but he didn’t challenge the calls in the moment.
The Eagles (2-3) have lost three straight for the first time since 2021.
Jaguars coach Liam Coen made some questionable decisions of his own. Jacksonville had a first down at Philadelphia’s 1 in the final minute of the first half with 15 seconds left and one timeout. After a run for no gain on first down, the Jaguars used their last timeout. Trevor Lawrence then threw incomplete twice and Bhayshul Tuten lost 6 yards on a run on the last play of the half instead of the Jags kicking a field goal.
Coen again passed up a short field goal down 14-10 with 6:40 left in the game. Lawrence threw incomplete from Philadelphia’s 5. The Jaguars had trouble with a backup long snapper but the field goals were chip shots. DaVon Hamilton’s snap on the game-winner was spot on.
In Washington, the Giants and Commanders each had chances to run the clock down and kick a field goal to win in overtime. New York was in position with two minutes remaining to try a 42-yarder. But Dominic Zvada had already missed from 50, 57 and 46 yards so coach John Harbaugh wanted to get it closer. However, Cam Skattebo fumbled to give Washington an opportunity.
Jayden Daniels drove the Commanders to the Giants 26. On first down, Rachaad White ran two yards and was tackled with just under 50 seconds to go. With no timeouts remaining, Washington had a few options because a field goal would’ve ended the game. Instead of spiking the ball to stop the clock and kicking, the Commanders huddled. Daniels went to the line of scrimmage with around 20 seconds remaining and snapped the ball with 12 to go. He didn’t spike it or throw it out of bounds. Daniels ran, got tackled and Washington had no time for a field goal.
Commanders coach Dan Quinn took the blame and it’s unclear whether Daniels thought the team had a timeout.
“The sequencing of that does not fall on (Daniels),” Quinn said. “It’s an outside throw or a clock — an out of bounds throw, or a clock. That has to come from me. I have to put him in that spot. I can do that earlier and we can finish the kick earlier. We don’t need to gain more yards.”
No matter who made the decisions for the Eagles and Commanders (1-3-1), the mistakes were inexcusable.
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