October 12, 2026
After a devastating 19-17 loss by the Eagles yesterday in London, I was in a state of absolute shock.
No, not because of Nick Sirianni’s massive blunder to kick to ball to Jacksonville returner Ameer Abdullah with eight seconds left. It’s hardly a secret that whenever the Birds have to count on the coach’s ability to think under pressure, they’re doomed. There may never have been a dumber strategist in Eagles history than the clown they currently employ on the sideline.
And no, I was not flabbergasted because the offense somehow made it down the field in the final minutes while missing more than half of its starters. Jalen Hurts overcame countless obstacles to get Jake Elliott into field-goal range for what should have been the winning kick. With four missing linemen, three missing running backs and his top receiver back home, Hurts got the job done.
And no, I was not gobsmacked because the Jaguars and the officials did everything they could to make the international trip a success for the Eagles and their insanely loyal fans. The Jags committed 13 penalties for 100 yards, lost the turnover battle, couldn’t deal with the loss of their long snapper and had no clue what to do inside the red zone. They had no business winning that game.
The reason I remain shocked the next morning after that astounding finish is that, for once, Sirianni went off-script and admitted that he, and he alone, was responsible for a loss that will haunt his team for the rest of this dismal season, if not longer.
I have said it many times in this blog over the years, but it bears repeating today. Nick Sirianni may have an impressive record and a Super-Bowl win on his resume, but he is, to be kind, not as smart as the average NFL coach. I interviewed him after every game for three years. He isn’t just in the lower half of the thousands of sports figures I interrogated in my half-century in the media; he’s in the lower half of the lower half. In other words, in the bottom 25% of all of them.
When Sirianni was hired here — a major surprise to most of the NFL because of his inexperience — he famously stumbled and mumbled through his first news conference, spent the first season comparing his team to trees and dogs, and then surrendered to analytics pre-programming on the field and PR scripting off it.
Unfortunately, there was no way to prepare Sirianni for the situation he faced in the final seconds against Jacksonville. No analytics chart was there to tell the coach to kick the damn ball in the end zone rather than to a dangerous returner who had already run for a (penalty-negated) touchdown on the opening kickoff.
No chart should be necessary for something as logical as that. Just give the Jags the ball at their own 35, eight ticks left and no timeouts. Protect the sidelines, keep the ball in the middle of the field until the clock runs out, and then celebrate on the seven-hour flight back to Philadelphia.
So simple. So obvious.
In fact, Sirianni could have spared himself that final mistake if he had simply run the clock down further before the go-ahead field goal. The Eagles were already well with field-goal range with 25 seconds left, first down at the Jags 34. Instead of bleeding the Jacksonville timeouts and lining up the kick, Sirianni (and his handpicked novice play-caller Sean Mannion) dialed up two passes that stopped the clock and gave the Jaguars a chance.
Remember when we still weren’t so sure how dumb Sirianni was strategically? Remember how upset we got when he didn’t go for it on fourth down against the Bears when he should have, or when he did go for it against the Rams and shouldn’t have? Those were all misdemeanors compared to the felony on Sunday in London.
One of the many rehearsed answers Sirianni offers after every loss is that it’s never one player or one coach responsible for a loss. You win as a team, you lose as a team. Blah, blah, blah.
Not this time. This time, in a moment of stunning and uncharacteristic honesty, the coach blamed the only person worthy of that distinction.
“I cost us that game,” he said. “That one’s on me. There’s no way around it. I just didn’t do my job in that situation.”
Of course, in case you actually believed for a second that the coach learned from the gaffe, he quickly added: “We wanted everything to be as black and white as we possibly can, but there’s gray in it, right?”
Wrong. There is absolutely no question, based not on advanced analytics but on the simplest rationale, that the only decision was to avoid a kickoff return from one of the best at it over the past decade. None. Abdullah had already burned the kick-return team, the Birds were missing their best special-teamer, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., because of a fight after that play, and there was virtually no way for the Jags to get into field-goal position with eight seconds left.
To their credit, the media followed up by asking what was gray about the decision, but Sirianni declined to explain. How can you shoulder all the blame and then, in the next breath, hedge like that? If there is an argument for not kicking the ball into the end zone, or even out of bounds, what is it?
By Tuesday, after consultation with his PR puppet- masters, Sirianni will have an explanation that better attempts to polish the worst turd in the coach’s six years here. Believe none of it.
The coach blew the game. Period.
What makes that outrageous ending even worse is the fact that, before the fatal error, Sirianni was having one of his better days as an NFL coach. The defense befuddled Trevor Lawrence most of the day, the offense somehow survived a bunch of nobodies blocking for Hurts, and — despite the usual second-half lull — that makeshift lineup made enough plays to grab the lead with eight seconds left.
Speaking of Hurts, his critics will still find plenty to whine about, but he did enough to win amid the carnage of the worst injury epidemic in Sirianni’s six years here.
The quarterback deserved to win. The rest of the team deserved to win. Above all, those thousands of fans who dug deep into their savings to cheer for their team in London deserved to have a happy and triumphant ride home.
Is the truth finally coming out about Nick Sirianni? Is the coach starting to frustrate his bosses as much as he is the fans right now? Is this the beginning of the end for him here?
We can only hope.
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Upon further consideration. . . .
- If I went to London to see that debacle, I would ask for my money back. Eagles fans turned that event 3,545 miles away into a home game – so much so that they caused two false starts in the red zone on one Jacksonville drive. Those tens of thousands of fans, resplendent in their Eagles garb, deserved so much better than that ending on Sunday.
- Please spare your sympathy for a Birds team that is riddled with injuries this season. The only thing this year proves is how fortunate they have been in the past few seasons. And who knows? Maybe now they’ll realize all of those cowardly decisions designed to prevent injuries during the preseason were not the reason for their previous good health. They were lucky. And now they’re not.
- I hope you shared my amusement at LeBron James’ decision to make his debut as a Sixer not here in Philadelphia but much closer to home in Brooklyn. Yes, he played in the second preseason contest. After all, it was so convenient, he didn’t even need the helicopter. If you’re wondering why I keep harping on LeBron’s decision to live in New York this year, stay tuned. I guarantee it will be a very big deal here soon.
- Baltimore’s decision to burn a second-round draft pick in 2028 for two-time Pro Bowler Cam Jurgens was a rather loud indictment of the Eagles, and specifically OL coach Chris Kuper. Why didn’t anyone grill Kuper on why he moved Jurgens from his natural position at center to guard, where the veteran lineman became a turnstile this season? And why, the moment Jurgens left for Baltimore, did the Ravens move him back to center? I can answer that one. Because Chris Kuper has no clue what he’s doing. That’s why.
- What’s going on right now with the Flyers is sad. Incredibly sad. After their improbable run last year, they clearly were not ready to start the new season. Just when it appeared that hockey was becoming relevant here again, the Flyers went out and lost the first seven games of 2026-27. What’s happening right now is unacceptable, starting with the timid words of mealy-mouthed GM Danny Briere.
- Tony Romo is not having a good year. First, CBS cut ties with him after he was arrested for DUI this summer. And then last week the Korn Ferry Tour – a feeder system to the PGA – disqualified him from its tournament when the ex-Cowboy signed a scorecard that shaved at least a couple of strokes from his score on a qualifying round. Call me a cynic, but I’m starting to think there will not be a bidding war for Romo’s broadcasting services.