Sirianni explains why he took blame for questionable 4th down call

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni explains how and why he'll call plays sometimes.

By Dave Zangaro • Published September 24, 2024

 

During his postgame press conference following the Eagles’ 15-12 victory over the Saints on Sunday, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni volunteered some information.

It wasn’t just his decision to go for it on 4th-and-1 with 14 seconds left in the first half.

He also called the play.

"At that 4th-and-1 at the end of the half, I called that. Not Kellen (Moore),” Sirianni said on Sunday afternoon. "I called that play at the end of the half, not Kellen. Kellen did not. I called it. That’s what I thought was best for the football team at that particular case. That was my decision, I did it, it didn’t work and we’ll get better. I’ll get better from it.”

The Eagles ended up winning the game but those decisions brought Sirianni’s game-management skills into question for the second straight week. In this case, most of the public analytic models suggested the Eagles kick a field goal in that situation.

But instead of kicking a field goal to tie the game up at 3-3, Sirianni called a run play that was a wrinkle off the tush push and the Eagles were stuffed short of the line to gain. Had the Eagles gotten a first down, they would have used their final timeout of the half. Sirianni said he thought the Eagles would have two plays if they converted but they didn’t.

On Monday afternoon, Sirianni didn’t want to explain his reasoning on the fourth down decisions against the Saints — he went into great detail about his decisions last week — but he was also asked how often he calls a play.

"Here and there that's gonna happen,” Sirianni said. "That's regardless of whether it's ’21, ’22, ’23 or ’24. We’re all coming up with the game plan together, we're all putting in the work together. We got good minds on the offensive side and defensive side. And so, you talk through things. Kellen’s obviously the one calling plays. But everything is collaborative as far as the way we go through our process and in-game.”

The Eagles’ head coach explained that while Moore is the offensive coordinator and primary play caller, it’s a collaborative process. Sometimes Sirianni will have suggestions but they can also come from the Eagles’ other offensive coaches.

Sirianni said the play-calling process has been a collaboration at every stop in his NFL career and assumes it’s that way across the league.

On Monday, Sirianni explained that the coaches are coming up with the game plan together throughout the week. Of course, the difference this year is that Sirianni is more of a CEO coach and is no longer in every single offensive meeting like he was when Shane Steichen and Brian Johnson were the offensive coordinators. This is also Moore’s scheme.

When everyone knows the offensive coordinator is the play-caller, having a head coach step in and call his own plays here and there can muddy the waters a bit. Especially when a play doesn’t work.

That’s why Sirianni said he raised his hand to take blame for the play call that didn’t work on Sunday.

"I also understand the scrutiny that will happen when something like that happens,” Sirianni said. "I wanted you guys to know yesterday that in that scenario, that with a questionable call there, that I made that decision, right? And so that's why I let you guys in on that. Because Kellen didn't need to bear that because I did that. 

"And so that's why I brought you in on that yesterday, not to open the door of, ‘Well, how many times you call this? Or how many times you call that? It’s collaborative. And in that particular case, I called that one and it didn't work. And when that happens, I'll always make sure that you guys know about that.”

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/sirianni-explains-why-he-took-blame-for-questionable-4th-down-call/617939/

I would say fair play to Sirianni for taking the blame and deflecting from Moore. I will say in his favour he is good at being held to account and taking the blame even if it isn’t his fault.

However, on this one I’m not going to say that. Why? Because we can be very sure on this one that it was Sirianni making that call. He was talking to Jalen for a long time ahead of that play and Moore was off to the side doing I don’t really know what. So I think it was Sirianni who made that big decision and called the play.

On 9/26/2024 at 5:55 AM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I would say fair play to Sirianni for taking the blame and deflecting from Moore. I will say in his favour he is good at being held to account and taking the blame even if it isn’t his fault.

However, on this one I’m not going to say that. Why? Because we can be very sure on this one that it was Sirianni making that call. He was talking to Jalen for a long time ahead of that play and Moore was off to the side doing I don’t really know what. So I think it was Sirianni who made that big decision and called the play.

I agree and I was yelling at the TV for him to get the hell away from him...I thought like I'm sure most thought that we were trying to at best try to get the Saints D to jump

but not our Nicky...it was a dumb play and he made several bad decisions the last couple weeks.

19 hours ago, Breeze 44 said:

I agree and I was yelling at the TV for him to get the hell away from him...I thought like I'm sure most thought that we were trying to at best try to get the Saints D to jump

but not our Nicky...it was a dumb play and he made several bad decisions the last couple weeks.

He just isn’t very good when it comes to those big decisions. He hasn’t been really since 2022 when everything went for us (until the SB).

I think sometimes he needs reminders that he just sucks at play calling. It's truly a horrible trait of his. I know he feels inept, but why mess with stuff that you keep sucking at? Just be who you're supposed to be during game day... analytics and a cheerleader! Leave the play calling to the men! You wanna learn how to play call... do it in pre season, even that wouldn't help you, bc in the real season the defenses actually game plan and adjust on the fly. We didn't go to the SB bc of your play calling, we went bc you didn't. F off!!!!

Rant over!

6 hours ago, Portyansky said:

I think sometimes he needs reminders that he just sucks at play calling. It's truly a horrible trait of his. I know he feels inept, but why mess with stuff that you keep sucking at? Just be who you're supposed to be during game day... analytics and a cheerleader! Leave the play calling to the men! You wanna learn how to play call... do it in pre season, even that wouldn't help you, bc in the real season the defenses actually game plan and adjust on the fly. We didn't go to the SB bc of your play calling, we went bc you didn't. F off!!!!

Rant over!

Spot on bud! Couldn’t agree more. The way Sirianni can help this team is by not helping this team. If most of the players like him then cool, be the HC guys want to play for. Nothing more.

I also think this week he undermined one of his few positive traits. He’s always very good at taking accountability when things go wrong. But this week didn’t he say he is always going to take the blame when things go wrong? So in other words the coaches and players can mess up, he’ll take the blame no matter what.

42 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Spot on bud! Couldn’t agree more. The way Sirianni can help this team is by not helping this team. If most of the players like him then cool, be the HC guys want to play for. Nothing more.

I also think this week he undermined one of his few positive traits. He’s always very good at taking accountability when things go wrong. But this week didn’t he say he is always going to take the blame when things go wrong? So in other words the coaches and players can mess up, he’ll take the blame no matter what.

Which sorta has me wondering did Moore really make the call to not tush push, and Siri is just the fall guy 

In short and paraphrased:

Sirianni: "I'm a dummy."

The World: "We know."

9 hours ago, Portyansky said:

Which sorta has me wondering did Moore really make the call to not tush push, and Siri is just the fall guy 

No I think Sirianni made that call because he was in long discussions with Hurts prior to it. But it’s fair to question given what Sirianni has said this week.

1 hour ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

No I think Sirianni made that call because he was in long discussions with Hurts prior to it. But it’s fair to question given what Sirianni has said this week.

I'm giving him too much credit. Lol